Gustave J. Stoeckel

Gustave Jakob Stoeckel (1819 - ca. 1900) was a longtime music instructor and college organist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Born in Bavaria, Stoeckel came to the United States in 1848, and joined the University in 1855 when he was appointed organist of Yale College Chapel. He pioneered Yale's program in music and was one of its first faculty, beginning to teach vocal music that same year. In 1868, he became the first faculty director of the Yale Glee Club, Yale's oldest singing group, now a professionally led 80-voice choir of international fame. [Yale Glee Club. Songs of Yale. New Haven, CT: Yale Glee Club, 2006.]

Stoeckel compiled a hymnal with the title "Sacred Music", first published in 1868. He held the position of organist at Yale's chapel for over 30 years, beginning in 1860 until his resignation in May of 1894. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B03EFD71630E033A2575BC1A9609C94659ED7CF "New York Times"] , "Yale Commencement Work". June 18, 1894] He made his last appearance as a professor of music performing preludes and postludes for the graduating class at the commencement exercises held in Battell Chapel on Sunday, June 24, 1894.

Stoeckel Hall of Yale University is named in honour of Gustave J. Stoeckel. Since 1954, it has been used by Yale's School of Music, and will be the home of the Yale College Department of Music when its renovations are completed in January of 2009. The building, at the corner of College and Wall Streets, was built in 1897 in the Venetian Gothic style [ http://www.facilities.yale.edu/Campus/Building1.asp?lstBldg=1900] , and is exemplary of the architectural variance and detail of Yale's buildings from that era.

Battell Chapel is named for Joseph Battell, whose 1854 gift enabled the university to begin offering music education. [http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/96-12-20-01.all.html "Yale School of Art", news release, December 20, 1996] ] Stoeckel Hall houses the Norfolk Summer School headquarters, faculty studios, and the Oral History, American Music Project with its audio and videotaped interviews of Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Duke Ellington and others.

External links

* Gustave J. Stoeckel, "Sacred Music", paperback reprint by Kessinger (Kila, Montana: 2003), 168 pp. ISBN 0766154785
* David Stanley Smith, "Gustave Stoeckel, Yale pioneer in music", Connecticut State Library Biographical Sketches, Vol. 73, No. 20, 1939
* review of D.S. Smith's book on Stoeckel in "The New England Quarterly, "Vol. 13, No. 1 (Mar., 1940), p. 148)
* Luther Noss, '"Music Comes to Yale" in "American Music," Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 337-346
* [http://www.yale.edu/oham/frameabout.html Oral History, American Music] (OHAM)

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