Koch, Caspar (Petrus)

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Koch, Caspar (Petrus)

Koch, Caspar (Petrus), German-American organist, pedagogue, and composer; b. Karnap, Nov. 25, 1872; d. Pittsburgh, April 3, 1970. He was taken to the U.S. by his parents (1881). He graduated from St. Francis Coll. in Joliet, 111., and later took courses with Heinrich Reimann and Franz Kullak in Berlin and at the Regensburg Kirchenmusikschule. He was Pittsburgh city organist (1904–54) and also organist at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church there; taught at the Carnegie Inst. of Technology (1914–41). He wrote the valuable Book of Scales for the Organ (1918) and the Organ Student’s Gradus ad Parnassum (1945) and also composed organ music.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Koch, Caspar (Petrus)

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