FERDINAND

See also:

• FERDINAND HILLER (181i-1885)
• HILLER, JOHANN ADAM (1728–1804)

HILLER (181i-1885)  , German composer, was born at Frankfort-on-Main, on the 24th of October 1811 . His first master was Aloys Schmitt, and when he was ten years of age his compositions and talent led his father, a well-to-do man, to send him to Hummel in Weimar . There he devoted himself to composition, among his work being the entr'actes, to Maria Stuart, through which he made Goethe's acquaintance . Under Hummel, Hiller made great strides as a pianist, so much so that early in 1827 he went on a tour to Vienna, where he met Beethoven and produced his first quartet . After a brief visit home Hiller went to Paris in 1829, where he lived till 1836 . His father's death necessitated his return to Frankfort for a time, but on the 8th of January 1839 he produced at Milan his opera La Romilda, and began to write his oratorio Die Zerstorung Jerusalem., one of his best works . Then he went to Leipzig, to his friend Mendelssohn, where in 1843–1844 he conducted a number of the Gewandhaus concerts and produced his oratorio . After a further visit . to Italy to study sacred music, Hiller produced two operas, Ein Traum and Conradin, at Dresden in 1845 and 1847 respectively; he went as conductor to Dusseldorf in 1847 and Cologne in r85o, and conducted at the Opera Italien in Paris in 1851 and 1852 . At Cologne he became a power as conductor of the Gurzenich concerts and head of the Conservatorium . In 1884 he retired, and died on the 12th of May in the following year . Hiller frequently visited England . He composed a work for the opening of the Royal Albert Hall, his Nala and Damayanti was performed at Birmingham, and he gave a series of pianoforte recitals of his own compositions at the Hanover Square Rooms in 1871 .

He had a perfect mastery over technique and

form in musical composition, but his works are generally dry . He was a sound pianist and teacher, and occasionally a brilliant writer on musical matters . His compositions, numbering about two hundred, include six operas, two oratorios, six or seven cantatas, much chamber music and a once-popular pianoforte concerto .