Strauss from Zsámbék – Josef Gung'l
Josef Gung’l (Gungl Joseph) was born in the town of Zsámbék (Ger. Schambeck), 35 km from Budapest on 1 December 1809. Similar to his nephew Johann, young Joseph also showed musical talent at an early age.
"Composer and conductor József (Josef) Gungl (1809-1889), born in Zsámbék attended a primary school in this building" The plaque also commemorates his nephew, János (Johann) Gungl (1818-1883), a known composer, violinist and conductor.
The talented youngster studied the theory of music and in 1828, at the age of 18, enlisted with the 5th Artillery Regiment in Pest where he was subsequently admitted to officer school. His music career took off swiftly – Josef was looked upon as a violin virtuoso and a skilled orchestrator. He was one of the first bandmasters who began adding string instruments to wind instruments during concerts. News of the young musician spread quickly and as a result Bote & Bock, a Berlin music publishing house, made an offer to Josef. Thus the score of his first composition, a Hungarian march, was published in 1836.
Part of the score of Hungarian march Op. 1 together with an image of the young Josef.
Gung’l will never forget his homeland and Hungary will always be in the musician's mind, busy with composing ever more elaborate and refined pieces. Soon he had his own orchestra (comprising 36 musicians) and went on his first tour around Austria and Germany. Then he played in London, Stockholm and Amsterdam to name but a few. Similar to Johann Strauss II (whom he was friends with) he gave numerous concerts in Pavlovsk, Russia, which, just as those in West Europe, were a tremendous success. Gung’l demonstrated that apart from being an outstanding conductor and composer, he was also an apt organiser. However, just as other 19th century waltz kings he did not remain within the confines of Europe for long and in 1848, together with his orchestra he embarked upon a voyage to New York abroad the steam-ship "Washington". One of his most magnificent waltzes and his best known piece, the Traume auf dem Ozean Op. 80 was coined during that period of his career as a composer. It dedicated to paper aboard the aforementioned steam-ship.
Träume auf dem Ozean, Op. 80 waltz performed by Berliner Symphoniker and conducted by Robert Stolz
The American tour, just like all the others, was successful and reverberated around the dance music world. Virginia, Josef's second daughter was born during his time in New York. It soon tuned out that she was a talented opera singer. "Gung'l" orchestra's reputation was such that it was invited to take part in an inaugural ball dedicated to Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States and also entrusted with premiere performances of classical music masterpieces. After returning from America, Gung’l becomes bandmaster at the 23rd Infantry Regiment in Brno. However, he did not stay there for long and soon he moved to Munich and then Frankfurt, where his daughter shone on stages as an eminent prima donna. Plans to travel to Paris were scrapped in 1866 due to the death of Kajetana, his beloved wife. He only started touring two years later when he performed in Geneva.
Apart from composing new dance pieces, Josef also pursued ever more ambitious projects. One such project was the establishment of an orchestra in Bad Reichenhall in 1868. And it is still there today. Gung'l also visited Poland. In 1873 he played in Warsaw. The same year he held a series of very successful concerts in London's Covent Garden, which turned out to be an impressive overture to concerts given in that city in 1874, 1875 and 1880. Co-organising opera balls in Paris in 1881 was the last significant achievement of the now ageing composer. Josef, cared for by his beloved daughter Virginia, died in Weimar on February 1st, 1889.
Throughout his long and fruitful career, Josef Gung’l composed more than 400 orchestra pieces – waltzes, polkas, galops, csárdáses and marches. Apart from the aforementioned waltz Op. 80, some of the best known works by "Strauss from Zsámbék" include waltzes (Amoretten-Tänze Op. 161, Casino-Tänze, Op. 237, Soldatenlieder Op. 83 and Hydropathen op. 149) as well as a csárdás (Zsámbéki Op. 163).
Casino-Tänze, Op. 237 waltz by the Czech Chamber Orchestra from Pardubice, conducted by John Georgiadis.
A plaque commemorating the composer in his family Zsámbék "In 1809 composer and conductor József Gung'l was born in a house that stood here."
Sources:
-https://zsambekinfo.hu/latnivalok/naporas-iskola-zsambek/
- http://www.parlando.hu/2015/2015-2/VALOGATAS-A-MAGYAR-ZENEMUVESZEK.htm
- http://liegnitz.pl/index.php?OBJ/14
- http://lithes.uni-graz.at/handbuch/gungl_joseph.html
- https://www.biographien.ac.at/oebl_2/107.pdf
- http://www.edition-musik-suedost.de/html/gungl_josef.html
- https://www.musiklexikon.ac.at/ml/musik_g/gungl_familie.xml
- A. Dreher, Josef Gung’l – Ein Tanzkomponist der Strauß-Zeit, 2014
Written by: Adam Bielecki