- Joseph Gungl
Joseph Gungl (
December 1 1810 -January 31 1889 ), was a Hungariancomposer ,bandmaster , and conductor.He was born in
Zsámbék ,Hungary . After working as a school-teacher inBuda , and learning the elements of music from the school-choirmaster, he became first oboist atGraz , and, at twenty-five, bandmaster of the 4th Regiment of Austrian Artillery.cite web |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/12030?q=gung%27l&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit |title=Gung'l, Josef in Oxford Music Online |accessdate=2008-10-02|publisher=Grove Music Online] His first composition, a Hungarian march, written in 1836, attracted some notice, and in 1843 he was able to establish anorchestra inBerlin . With this band he travelled far, even to theUnited States in 1849. Mendelssohn's complete "Midsummer Night's Dream " music is said to have been first played by Gungl's orchestra. In 1853 he became bandmaster to the 23rd Infantry Regiment atBrno , but in 1864 he moved toMunich , and in 1876 atFrankfurt , after having conducted with great success a series of promenade concerts at the Covent Garden inLondon in 1873. From Frankfurt, Gungl went toWeimar to live with his daughter, a well-known German opera singer, and died there.Gungl was a very prolific composer, and in his lifetime composed no less than 436 dances, the most popular of which being the waltzes "Amoretten", "Hydropaten", "Casino" and "Dreams on the Ocean", the "In Stiller Mitternacht"polka , and the "Blue Violets"mazurka . His Hungarian march was transcribed byFranz Liszt . His music is characterized by the same-easy flowing melodies and well-marked rhythm that distinguish the dances of the younger Strauss, to whom alone he can be ranked second in this kind of composition.References
*1911
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