Born in 1937 in Pittsburgh, Henry Papale earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition from Duquesne University in 1958 and his Master of Music in 1960 at the College--Conservatory of Music, studying Composition with James Hunter at the former and Felix Labunski at the latter, where he also studied advanced Music Theory with Scott Huston. After serving two years in the Army (including 1 year in Korea, where he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Furthering Korean-American Relations), he spent the next 45 years teaching and/or working for publishers. He taught in public schools; including 8 years as an accompanist and music history teacher at Point Park College, and two different Public Schools in New Jersey. He also earned his living for some thirteen years as Staff Composer and Arranger at Cincinnati’s World Library Publications and Phoenix’s NALR and the Toronto branch of Epoch-Universal Publications. He also did further post graduate work at NYU.
He married his wife Roberta in 1965 and is the happy father of Jennifer and Henry Jr. Roberta passed away in 2024 just a few months before their 59th wedding anniversary.
He has had many performances of his works across the U.S. and Canada. During his long life he has amassed over 191 Opus numbers which include 9 Operas, over 550 Works for Piano, over 218 Art Songs, 17 string quartets, 9 String Trios, 2 String Quintets, 2 Woodwind Quintets, 2 Piano Trios, 2 Piano Quartets, 1 Piano Quintet, 30 works for 1 to 13 woodwinds, strings & brass in various combinations, 10 works for Chorus and Chamber Orchestra, 3 orchestral works and 4 Concertos (1 each for Piano, Viola, Oboe, Bassoon. )
OPERAS: (Summaries of the Librettos may be had for free by simply sending the name of the Opera and the address of your Opera Company or University in an e-mail or a letter.
The Master Thief: A Comic Opera in 1 Act, 4 scenes.
Balloon: A theatre of the Absurd Opera in 1 act (with Chamber Orchestra)
The Nose: A Comic Opera in 11 Scenes (with Full Orchestra)
Bandilyebonu: A Theatre-of-the Absurd Drama: 2 Acts (with Full Orchestra)
Julia: A Dramatic Monologue for Soprano 1 Act (17 Arias) libretto based on the letters of Julia Ward Howe
Rumpelstiltskin: 2 Acts (with Full Orchestra)
Schneewittchen, (oder: die krankhaft eifersüchtige Königin) eine Tragikomödie in zwei Akten ( in German, with full orchestra) in 2 Acts
La Locandiera: Opera Buffa in 3 Acts (in Italian,)Libretto drawn from Goldoni’s Comedy)with full orchestra
The Shovel-Toothed Witch: a comic opera for children performed by adults. (at the present time only in Vocal Score)
The Only Green Planet: a comic musical for children, performed by middle school students. (Vocal Score only)
Pinocchio: for Narrator & 13 Instruments, in 36 “chapters.” A musical realization of Collodi's original story.