Edward Taylor Paull was a minor American composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, arranger

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

, and sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

 publisher.

Musical Style

He had some success with a few titles which enabled him to set up his own self-publishing company. His music was entirely slight and uniformly facile by comparison to all of his contemporaries and was intended for the piano sheet music trade.

In order to sell music which was essentially page-filling noise the music was marketed with uniquely colourful front cover illustrations to catch the eye of buyers. For this reason alone the music has become highly collectable in the modern era and has latterly aroused interest in the composer although the musical contents remain resolutely turgid.

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

Program music

Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the 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.

He was born in Gerrardstown

Gerrardstown, West Virginia

Gerrardstown is an unincorporated village located along West Virginia Route 51 in Berkeley County in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. It was laid out in 1784 by David Gerrard and served as the site of the first Baptist church west of the Blue Ridge Mountains...

, in what is now West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, and died in Brooklyn, NY.

Compositions

1894

The Chariot Race or Ben Hur March

1895

The Old Man's Story

The Stranger's Story, or Why Do Our Loved Ones Leave Us

1896

Charge of the Light Brigade

The New York and Coney Island Cycle March

1898

The Ice Palace March

America Forever! March

If You Were Only By My Side

We'll Stand by the Flag

He's Goin' to Hab a Hot Time Bye & Bye [w/Harry S. Miller]

Uncle Jasper's Jubilee

1899

A Warmin' Up In Dixie

1900

Dawn of the Century

1901

The Witch's Whirl Waltzes

When Johnny Goes A Camping [w/Vincent P. Bryan]

Our Wedding Bells Will Ring Out Some Day [w/Arthur Treveylan]

1902

The Storm King

1903

The Burning of Rome

1904

The Circus Parade

The Romany Rye

1905

The Jolly Blacksmiths

Paul Revere's Ride

1906

Silver Sleigh Bells

1907

The Triumphant Banner

The Masquerade

1908

The Home Coming March

1909

Lincoln Centennial Grand March

The Dashing Cavaliers

1912

The Roaring Volcano

Ring Out, Wild Bells

1913

Kaiser Jubliee March

1914

Paull's Hesitiation Waltz

Herald of Peace March

1915

Battle of the Nations

Tipperary Guards

1916

Woman Forever

1917

Battle of Gettysburg

1918

Pershing's Crusaders

Hurrah! For the Liberty Boys, Hurrah!

1919

Spirit of France

American Wedding March

1922

Sheridan's Ride

Custer's Last Charge

1924

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Spirit of the U. S. A.

1926

Top of the World (published posthumously)