Mel Bay's Favorite Hymns for Classical Guitar
Joseph Castle (1913-1992) was born in Bloomington, Illinois. His childhood was spent on a fruit farm near Mackinaw, Illinois. When he was twelve, Joseph was "discovered" by Russel Harvey, a teacher at Illinois Wesleyan University with whom he studied violin. There were very few guitar teachers at the time Mr. Castle became interested in the guitar, so he was primarily self-taught on that instrument, using the Carcassi text. His interest in both plectrum and fingerstyle guitar started in high school. He played guitar and violin in large bands in Austin, Texas as well as violin in the Austin symphony and small chamber groups.Joseph graduated from the University of Texas in 1953 with a Bachelor of Music degree, majoring in violin and minoring in piano. From 1951 to 1953 he was concertmaster of the University Symphony Orchestra. He taught with the University of Texas String Project from 1952 to 1953. Joseph later returned to Austin, Texas, to devote his time to the classic guitar by teaching and making arrangements of solo and group guitar pieces. In 1960 his first collection of pieces for plectrum guitar ensemble was published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. Mr. Castle edited and arranged books for clssic guitar, violin, and piano for many years for Mel Bay Publications.In 1987, Joseph Castle was accepted into the Manuscript Archives Collection of the Fine Arts Division of the Dallas Public Lubrary. He donated the manuscript of this "Elegie for Strings" to the archives, which was one of two of his pieces performed in the Triennial Festival of Texas Composers.In addition to his teaching and composing activities, Castle tuned pianos for many years. He was interested in the historical temparaments for tuning.Joseph's musical activities included teaching in the string program of the public schools in Wichita Falls, Texas; professional string playing in the Castle trio and Castle String Quartet; Concertmaster, Autin Civic Orchestra; Classic guitar teacher, performer, and music editor. His "Suite in Spanish Style" for Alto Recorder or Flute and Classic Guitar was published by Loux Music in 1992. In 1991 he comleted a quartet for two recorders, viola da gamba, and classic guitar.