Edward Taylor Paull (b. February 16, 1858 in Gerardstown, West Virginia; d. November 25, 1924 in New York City) started out as a fledgling publisher and composer until he hit upon a formula in the mid-1890s that launched him to success. It started with his first published march, The Chariot Race, also known as the Ben Hur March. His thought was to grab the potential pianist or listener's attention before they even heard the piece. This was accomplished through the process of some extraordinary cover art, sometimes suggested or designed by Paull, and printed with an expensive five-color lithograph process utilized primarily by the A. Hoen and Company printing firm in Richmond, Virginia. The names of many of the lithograph artists have been obfuscated by that of the firm. The process involves creating grooved stone faces in which the desired portion to be printed must be represented in relief. There were four or five stones for each cover, depending on color depth; one for each primary color, and one for black. That these artists made all of these stones overlay to create a single multi-color picture is a testament to their amazing skill.
The topics Paull chose, most often disasters, wars, victory, or exciting activities, lent themselves to the public's desire for the spectacular or the profound. The music often included descriptions entailing what each section.
Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
