Heiller, Anton
Heiller, Anton
Heiller, Anton, esteemed Austrian organist, conductor, pedagogue, and composer; b. Vienna, Sept. 15, 1923; d. there, March 25, 1979. He received training in piano, organ, harpsichord, and composition at the Vienna Academy of Music (1941–2). After winning the Haarlem competition for organ improvisation in 1952, he was notably successful as an organ virtuoso, excelling especially in the music of Bach. In 1945 he joined the faculty of the Vienna Academy of Music; after it became the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, he was made a prof, there in 1971. In 1969 he was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Music. In his compositions, he displayed an adept handling of polyphonic writing; in some of his music, he utilized the 12-tone method.
Works
Toccata for 2 Pianos (1945); 2 organ sonatas (1946, 1953); Tentatio Jesu, chamber oratorio for Tenor, Bass, Chorus, and 2 Pianos (1952); In festo corporis Christi for Organ (1957); Missa super modos duodecimales for Chorus and 7 Instruments (1960); Organ Concerto (1963); In principio eret verbum for Tenor, Chorus, Orch., and Organ (1965); Stabat mater for Chorus and Orch. (1968); Adventsmusik for Chorus and Organ (1971); Pas-sionsmusik for Children’s Chorus and Organ (1975); other masses; cantatas.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire