Hiller

Hiller, FERDINAND, pianist, musical composer, and writer on music, was born at Frankfort-on-Main on 24th October 1811. Having been a pupil of Hummel, he began to teach in his native town; but from 1829 to 1836 he laboured in Paris. The next nine years he spent partly in Italy, partly in Germany: it was during this period that he produced his best work, the oratorio Die Zerstörung von Jerusalem (1839). Then, after three years' service as municipal music-director in Düsseldorf (1847-50), he proceeded to Cologne, where he filled a similar post until his death, 10th May 1885. Amongst nearly 200 musical works which he published only a small number have retained their footing. But as a writer on musical subjects Hiller claims a higher place. His Übungen zum Studium der Harmonie und des Kontrapunktes (12th ed. 1886) is extensively used; and there is much valuable criticism in Aus dem Tonleben unserer Zeit (1868-71), monographs on Beethoven (1871) and Mendelssohn (1874; 2d ed. 1878), Musikalisches und Persönliches (1876), Briefe an eine Ungenannte (1877), Künstlerleben (1880), and Erinnerungsblätter (1884).