Joseph Gould

Gould, Joseph

Joseph Gould. Businessman, choir director, editor, composer, b Penn Yan, NY, 28 Jan 1833, d Montreal 27 Mar 1913. He moved with his family to Montreal in 1848. About 1864, with Freedom Hill (previously associated with the Montreal branch of A. & S. Nordheimer), he formed the firm Gould & Hill, which succeeded Nordheimer and operated a music and piano store until about 1870 and also published some sheet music. A.J. Boucher took over the publishing in 1867. Gould subsequently, until 1881, maintained an organ and piano warehouse under his own name. He founded (and managed and conducted 1864-94) the Mendelssohn Choir of Montreal and for several years was the vice-president of the Montreal Philharmonic Society. He also edited and published 1892-3 the semi-monthly journal Arcadia, devoted to music, art, and literature, and gave lectures on music to Montreal organizations. In 1892 he was approached by some of Montreal's leading musicians to head a new conservatory, but he declined. Gould composed several vocal pieces, two published in 1908 by J.W. Shaw, Montreal, and others 1912-13 by William Maxwell, New York. Three of his choral works, 'Out of the Depths,' 'Ave Verum,' and 'Panis Angelicus,' have been reprinted in CMH, vol 9. A few manuscripts are held at the National Library of Canada and at McGill University.