Stehle, Johann Gustav Eduard 02/17/1839 - 06/21/1915

Teacher, pianist, organist, composer. Organist and choir director of the cathedral in St. Gallen.

The son of a teacher and organist, Johann Gustav Eduard Stehle received a private musical education from an early age and began playing the organ during church services when he was twelve. His first compositions date to his schooldays. Between 1853 and 1856 studied composition, singing, piano and organ at seminaries in Weingarten and Schwäbisch Gmünd.

Stehle tool up his first teaching post in 1857 in Schussenried. In 1865 he went to Kaznach bei Saulgau and tried to find work not only as a teacher but as a conductor, pianist, organist and composer.

He served as organist and music director at Kolumban in Rorschach, where he founded a music school. In 1874 he succeeded Carl Greith as director of the cathedral choir and organist in St. Gallen, where he remained until his retirement in 1913.

In 1870 Stehle founded a “St. Gallen church music association”, which resulted in the foundation of many village choirs and finally a Swiss choir association. Musically-speaking, Stehle was the initiator of reforms in Swiss church music. For 25 years (1876-1901) he edited “Der Chorwächter”, the association’s official publication.
Stehle was a virtuoso organist and was an authority on organs in northern Switzerland.