Battle of Gettysburg March Descriptive by E. T. Paul / SOLD

Battle of Gettysburg March Descriptive By E. T. Paul - Detailed artwork on the cover shows Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.  Music is a reenactment of Pickett’s charge, the battle raging, and his orders to retreat.  Piano music includes notations to sound like a bugle call to arms, cannon, and fife and drum corps. 

“The topics Paull chose for his own pieces, or from among many submissions sent to him, most often centered on disasters, wars, victory, or exciting activities. They lent themselves to the public's desire for the spectacular, celebratory or the profound. Many of the marches were very descriptive, often including text queues entailing what each section of the piece was intended to represent in terms of action or exposition. This may have been more for the amusement of the pianist than the listener, unless there was someone to announce the action as the music was played.”

Shrink wrapped to archival board and have archival corners , board measures approximately 20" x 16".  This would make an incredible acquisition for any collector and music lover. 

Edward Taylor Paull (February 16, 1858 – November 25, 1924) was a minor American composer, arranger, and sheet music publisher.

He had some success with a few titles which enabled him to set up his own self-publishing company. His music was intended for the piano sheet music trade.

He began publishing in 1894, specializing in marches.

In order to sell music, the music was marketed with uniquely colorful front cover illustrations to catch the eye of buyers. He was the first music publisher to use five-color lithography for his sheet music. For this reason alone music published by his firm has become highly collectible in the modern era and has latterly aroused interest in the composer.

To further boost sales he marketed his music as "descriptives" and ascribed certain sections of the music to allude to certain depictions of events on the cover illustration. This type of publication alludes to its being comparable to program music whilst never achieving the requisite complexity. The marketing of the pieces as "descriptives" (often a latter enhanced recycling of earlier published material) enabled the same music to be sold a second time around to the wide market of beginner-level pianists who had been accustomed to fare of this kind since Pridham's "Battle March of Delhi" in the mid-19th century. On this musical level his true contemporaries were the British writers Ezra Read and Theo Bonheur of the same period.

His first publication was for the Richmond Music Company in Richmond, VA where he was general manager. The first publication was "The Chariot Race of Ben Hur March" with a full-color cover.

Inventory Number: MUS 037 / SOLD