Harvey Bartlett Gaul (b. 12 Apr 1881, Brooklyn; d. 1 December 1945, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an American composer, organist, choirmaster, lecturer, music critic, and writer from Pittsburgh. He is memorialized by an annual award — the Harvey Gaul Memorial Composition Contest (aka The Harvey Gaul Prize) — bestowed to composers for outstanding work.

He was an organist for 35 years (1910–1945) at Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh. He is well known as a composer of church music.

Harvey Gaul Prize winners

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Harvey Gaul Award of the State Federation of Music Clubs (established while he was alive)

  • 1942 — Catherine Latta

1947: Friends of Harvey Gaul, Inc., contest administrator and sponsor

1960: Friends of Harvey Gaul, Inc., and the Carnegie Institute of Technology Department of Music, contest co-administrators and cosponsors

1980: The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, contest administrator and sponsor

  • 1983 — Robert D. Morris
  • 1989 — C. Bryan Rulon
  • 1991 — David Cleary
  • 1997 — Derek Bermel
  • 1999 — Brett Dietz (Hon. Mention)
  • 2001 — Matthew Fields (Hon. Mention)
  • 2001 — Pierre D. Jalbert
  • 2003 — Daniel Kellogg
  • 2005 — David T. Little
  • 2007 — Stacy Garrop
  • 2007 — Robert Paterson (Hon. Mention)
  • 2007 — Wang Jie (Hon. Mention)
  • 2009 — Ned McGowan
  • 2009 — D. J. Sparr (Hon. Mention)
  • 2009 — Clint Needham (Hon. Mention)
  • 2011 — Ted Hearne
  • 2011 — Dan Visconti (Hon. Mention)
  • 2011 — Sean Friar (Hon. Mention)
  • 2013 — Dan Visconti
  • 2013 — Amy Beth Kirsten (Hon. Mention)
  • 2013 — Kyle Duffee (Hon. Mention)
  • 2013 — Viet Cuong (Hon. Mention)

Notable students

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Family

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Harvey Bartlett Gaul married Harriette Lester Avery (b. 1886, Youngstown, Ohio) June 13, 1908, in Cleveland, Ohio. They had a two children: a son and a daughter.

The son, James Harvey Gaul, had been an archeologist (Harvard class of 1932, PhD Harvard 1940). During World War II, as a U.S. Naval Reservist Lieutenant, he died by German firing squad in late January 1945 at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp near Linz, Austria. Having worked with the Office of Naval Intelligence, in 1944, he had been transferred to the Office of Strategic Services. He had been captured by the Germans during a combat mission in Czecho-Slovakia, a country where he had worked as an archeologist.[3] The President of the United States presented him with the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously).

The daughter, Ione Gaul Walker (1914–1987), a painter, had been married to Hudson Dean Walker (1907–1976), an art dealer.[4]

Death

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Harvey Gaul died December 1, 1945, of injuries from an auto accident.[5]

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Cantata," by Paul Nelson, was composed for the Pennsylvania College for Women and premiered by a college group April 26, 1951, in Pittsburgh.

General references

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Inline citations

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  1. ^ "Cantata," by Paul Nelson (1951); OCLC 55110416
  2. ^ "Wirtel Wins 2nd in Music Contest," Dallas Morning News, March 7, 1965
  3. ^ "Archeological News and Discussions,"] American Journal of Archaeology,, October–December 1945, p. 582 JSTOR 499873)
  4. ^ Obituary: "Ione Gaul Walker, a Painter, Art Dealer and Patron, Dies," New York Times, October 10, 1987
  5. ^ "News Roundup: Pittsburgh," Stars and Stripes, Middle Pacific Issue, col. 3, pg. 6 (stateside page)
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