Henry Geehl

Henry Ernest Geehl [pronounced 'Gale'] (28 September 1881 – 14 January 1961) was an English pianist, conductor, composer and arranger.

Born in London in 1881, Geehl studied piano with Benno Schönberger and R. O. Morgan in London, and with Anton Schlieber in Vienna. He toured as a pianist and theatre conductor, and in 1919 joined the Trinity College of Music as a teacher, where he remained on staff as a teacher until a year before his death. His students included William Lovelock and Nicholas Temperley. He also became music editor for the Edwin Ashdown and Enoch publishing firm. In later life he lived at Coleshill, near Beaconsfield, Bucks, where he gave private lessons in piano, violin, and composition.

Henry Geehl had an affinity with music written for brass bands. He arranged Gustav Holst's A Moorside Suite for brass band, made many other arrangements and transcriptions, and was the first composer to write serious symphonic music directly for brass band. His Scena Sinfonica, in the style of an operatic selection, has been used as a test piece for brass bands. He claimed to have scored Edward Elgar's The Severn Suite for brass band from the composer's rough sketches, but the extent of his contribution is now disputed as a complete brass band score in Elgar's hand exists.

His other works include a symphony, concertos for piano and violin,Suite espagnole, Comedy Overture, In Fairyland, On the Cornish Coast, Rhapsody for band, Prince Charlie – 1745, piano pieces and songs.

His song "For You Alone" ("Für dich allein"; words by P. J. O'Reilly) achieved great popularity, being recorded by Enrico Caruso,Lauritz Melchior,Jussi Björling and Mario Lanza, among others. Eleanor Steber's rendition of "For You Alone" can be seen on this YouTube video. (It has been claimed that "For You Alone" was the only song ever sung in English by Caruso but that is contradicted by other evidence, such as his recording of George M. Cohan's "Over There").

...
Wikipedia