פרדיננד הילר

Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885), pianist, composer and conductor, born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Hiller was the son of the wealthy merchant Justus Hiller (originally Isaac Hildesheim). At the age of ten he played a concerto by Mozart in public. Between 1825-1827 he studied in Weimar with Johan Nepomuk Hummel and in 1827 he went to Vienna, where he visited Beethoven just before his death. From 1828 to 1835 Hiller lived in Paris. He later worked as conductor in Frankfurt, Leipzig (where he was a friend of Mendelssohn) and Dresden, and held the position of Music Director in Duesseldorf (1847) and Cologne (1850). He subsequently converted to Christianity. In 1850 he founded the Conservatory of Koln, Germany, and served as its director until his death. He composed approximately 200 works, including six operas, several oratorios (among them Die Zerstoerung Jerusalems, 1840; Saul, 1853), cantatas (among them Rebecca), symphonies, chamber music and settings for Psalms. He devoted himself to conducting and to writing the biographies of several Romantic composers of his generation. He also wrote a book on musical theory. In 1849 he was elected member of the Berlin Academy.