Description
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The composer and musicologist Hans Gál (1890-1987) was born on 5th August 1890, near Vienna. From December 1929 until March 1933 he was Director of the Music Conservatoire in Mainz, but was dismissed from his post after Hitler came to power. He returned to Vienna, but following the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938 he fled to Britain, where, together with other refugees, he was interned as an 'enemy alien'. After his release he settled in Edinburgh, where he remained a much-loved and active composer, teacher, performer and writer. Before 1933 he had enjoyed considerable success as a composer, particularly with his operas. After the War, his music became increasingly neglected and forgotten. In recent years, however, his substantial oeuvre has begun to be rediscovered.
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Eva Fox-Gál, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1944 as the third child of Hans and Hanna Gál, Eva Fox-Gál was brought up bilingually. She studied Modern Languages, majoring in German, at the University of Edinburgh. From 1971 to 2001 she taught literature at the University of York, England, with a special interest in Comparative Literature. Since then her main career has been as a homeopath and nutritionist, with her own practice. She is also active as a musician, playing piano and violin. She is an Honorary Vice-President of the Hans Gál Society, founded in 2005.Anthony Fox, born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 1943, Anthony Fox studied German and later Phonetics at the University of Edinburgh. After a year as Lektor for English Phonetics at the University of Tübingen in Germany, he was appointed to the Department of Linguistics and Phonetics at the University of Leeds and was for many years Head of Department. His doctorate on English and German Intonation was followed by further linguistic publications, including four books. Since his retirement he has been engaged, alongside further linguistic work, in maintaining the archive of his father-in-law, Hans Gál. He also plays the bassoon.
