Paul Boepple (Choral Conductor)

Born: July 19, 1896 - Basel, Switzerland
Died: December 21, 1970 - North Bennington^Billboard or Brattleboro^Baker’s, Vermont, USA

The Swiss-Americam leading choral conductor and pedagogue, Paul Boepple, took courses at the Dalcroze Institute in Geneva, and adopted the Dalcroze system in his own method of teaching music; from 1918 to 1926 he was a member of the faculty of the Institute.

In 1926 Paul Boepple emigrated to the USA. He directed the Dalcroze School of Music in New York (1926-1932); then taught at the Chicago Musical College (1932-1934) and at the Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey (1935-1938). Subsequently he taught at Bennington College in Vermont (1944-1964).

Paul Boepple was director of the Dessoff Choirs from 1937 to 1968, when he retired. He is credited with exposing USA audiences to Josquin de Pres, Claude LeJeune, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Heinrich Schütz and other previously unheard composers for most Americans. He also reintroduced such neglected oratorios as George Frideric Handel’s Israel in Egypt, which he recorded, to USA audiences. As a choral conductor, he gave numerous performances of modern works. Among the premiers he led was the world premiere of Arthur Honegger’s Judith in Switzerland in 1924. His recordings with the Dessoff Choirs appeared on Vox and Counterpoint.

Paul Boepple died of pneumonia in 1970 at age 74.

Source: Billboard Newsweekly (January 9, 1971); Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997); Flickr (Photo 01 - All rights reserved by J.-C. Curtet)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (October 2010)

Paul Boepple: Short Biography | Dessoff Choirs | Recordings of Vocal Works

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