Gaul, Alfred Robert

1837-

English organist and composer; born in Norwich, was a chorister in Norwich Cathedral from 1846, and later pupil and assistant to Dr. Buck, the organist. At the age of seventeen he became organist of Fakenham, and in 1859 left to take the position at Lady Wood, Birmingham, and in 1868, at St. Augustine's, Edgbaston. In the meantime he had obtained the degree of Bachelor of Music at Cambridge, in 1863. He became conductor of the Walsall Philharmonic Society in 1887, and up to 1904, possibly later, was teacher of harmony and counterpoint and conductor of a singing class at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, also teaching at King Edward's High School for Girls and at the Blind Asylum. He played at the Bow and Bromley Institute in 1888, and has conducted performances of his own works in many English towns. His choral works are Hezekiah, an oratorio: First Psalm, a sacred cantata; Ninety-sixth Psalm for solo voices and eight-part chorus; Ruth, a sacred cantata; The Holy City; Passion music; Joan of Arc; 150th Psalm; The Ten Virgins; Israel in the Wilderness; and Una, with libretto adapted from Spenser's Faerie Queene. Other works are anthems, part-songs and glees, including The Shipwreck, a prize glee; The Death of Adonis; Silent Land; Better Land; The Dav is Done; Ferry Maiden: Footsteps of Angels; The Reaper and the Flowers; Jack Frost; an ode, A Song of Life, some hymns, chants, and pieces for piano. The Holy City has been very popular in this country, but Ruth, also well known, was the first large work to call attention to his compositions. It has been spoken of as a fresh and melodious work, well contrasted in its several parts.

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