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Hans Gál was born in Brunn am Gebirge near Vienna in 1890, as the son of a Hungarian doctor of Jewish descent. His musical talents were recognized early and he received piano lessons from one of the leading teachers in Vienna, Richard Robert. Alongside a teaching appointment at the New Conservatoire, he also studied musicology under Guido Adler at the University of Vienna and composition under Eusebius Mandyczewski, who had belonged to Brahms' circle of friends. Already as a young composer, he won the Austrian State Prize for Composition in 1915. Throughout his life he received many honors, among others: doctorates from Universities in Edinburgh, Vienna and Mainz, the highest state honor from his native Austria, as well as the 'Litteris et Artibus' for serving the arts, and Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth herself. Despite winning such major awards, Gál never managed to regain the popularity he had had before 1933. He died in October 1987 at the age of ninety-seven, with much of his work unknown and rarely performed. However, in the wake of the recent revival of awareness of the music banned by the Nazis as 'entartet' ('degenerate'), the last years have seen signs of an increasing interest in his work, which has resulted in numerous performances, recordings and publications. Nevertheless, Gál's large output still awaits the attention and recognition it deserves.
Hans Gál (1890-1987)