Anton Heiller: Organist, Composer, Conductor

365 Pages·2014·9.935 MB·English

by  Peter Planyavsky, Christa Rumsey

A NTON HEILLER is one of the twentieth century’s most renowned and
influential organists. Born in 1923, Heiller was trained in Vienna and rose
A
to prominence quickly, giving his first solo recital at the age of twenty-two.
Before concentrating on the organ exclusively, he was a successful conductor of the
symphonic repertoire, and, from 1945 until his untimely death in 1979, he was profes- N
sor of organ at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His interpreta- A N T O N
tions of Bach, which included registration
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and articulation, as well as a consideration
of the theological underpinnings, would O H E I L L E R
change the way Bach is played.
Anton Heiller: Organist, Composer,
N
Conductor provides an assessment of
Heiller’s works and teaching, while also
examining his complex personality, one

torn between strong religious devotion
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and the world of artistry. The narrative also
offers a unique view of the organ world in
the decades after World War II, featuring E
the important organs, builders, and organ-
I
ists across North America and Europe.
L
“PeterPlanyavsky’sbookaccomplishesadifficulttask:thatofdoingjusticetothe
L
lifeofamonumentalmusician.Planyavsky,himselfanorganistofinternational
prominence,avoidsthepitfallofpresentingHeillerasprimarilyanorganist,instead E
presentingacompellingpictureofHeillerasthecompletemusician,givingample
R
roomtoadiscussionofhiscareerasaconductoraswellastoadiscussionofhis
manycompositions.Theresultisacomprehensiveandengagingaccountofaper-
sonwhowasadominantfigureinEuropeanmusicalcultureforseveraldecades
ofthetwentiethcenturyandwhoseinfluencewasfeltfarbeyondthecircleofthe
Viennesemusicalscene.”
  —WILLIAMPORTER,EastmanSchoolofMusic(UniversityofRochester)
P
L
PETER PLANYAVSKY was Anton Heiller’s successor as an organ professor in Vienna, A
and organist of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna from 1969 through 2004. He is also N
Y
a prolific composer, improviser, and conductor. CHRISTA RUMSEY, a former student A
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of Heiller’s, translated the book from the original German.
S
K
Y
Front cover image: Anton Heiller at the organ, about 1969. Back cover image: Anton Heiller Organist, Composer, Conductor
conducting, about 1957. Courtesy of the Anton Heiller Estate.
P E T E R P L A N YAV S K Y
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620-2731, USA
P.O. Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK Translated by Christa Rumsey
www.urpress.com
Anton Heiller
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Eastman Studies in Music
Ralph P. Locke, Senior Editor
Eastman School of Music
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Anton Heiller
Organist, Composer, Conductor
Peter Planyavsky
Translated by Christa Rumsey
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Copyright © 2014 by Peter Planyavsky
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2014
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-497-0
ISSN: 1071-9989
Unless otherwise indicated, photographs in the text are reproduced courtesy of
the Anton Heiller Estate.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Planyavsky, Peter, author.
[Anton Heiller. English]
Anton Heiller : organist, composer, conductor / Peter Planyavsky ; translated by
Christa Rumsey.
pages cm — (Eastman studies in music, ISSN 1071-9989 ; v. 116)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58046-497-0 (hardcover : alkaline paper) — ISBN 1-58046-497-1
(hardcover : alkaline paper) 1. Heiller, Anton, 1923–1 979. 2. Organists—
Austria—Biography. 3. Composers—Austria—Biography. I. Rumsey, Christa,
1943– translator. II. Title. III. Series: Eastman studies in music ; v. 116.
ML410.H435P5313 2014
786.5092—dc23
[B] 2014024599
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
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Contents
Translator’s Note vii
Preface xiii
Abbreviations xxi
1 Very Early, Very Fast, Very Steep 1
2 Beginning in the Golden West: Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Switzerland 33
3 Haarlem and the Rest of Europe 48
4 Heiller and America 72
5 Short Midday, Long Sunset 95
6 All the Registers of a Soul 127
7 Compositions before ca. 1956 150
8 Compositions after ca. 1956 176
9 What He Thought, How He Played 216
Appendix: Organ Specifications 237
Chronology 241
Notes 259
List of Compositions 279
Discography 287
Bibliography 323
Index of Names 329
Index of Subjects 337
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Translator’s Note
Anton Heiller’s working life spanned the period between World War II and
1979. This was an era of immense change in Austria. Institutions came and
went, or they remained, but changed their names. For most of these years
Heiller taught at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Academy
of Music and Performing Arts), often just called Musikakademie. Before
the war it had been the Reichsmusikhochschule, and after 1970 it became
the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst (University of Music and
the Performing Arts), or Musikhochschule (Music University). Even more
recently, in 1998, it was renamed Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst
(University of Music and Performing Arts). All that is complicated enough,
but it is compounded by the fact that the entire education system worked dif-
ferently in Austria at that time, and certainly differently compared to other
countries around the world. To avoid adding extra confusion by translating
these terms I have retained their German names. The Kirchenmusikabteilung
(Department of Church Music), which was housed on a separate campus, will
appear under its English name. It took up a large number of rooms in no. 26
Singerstrasse (the entire third fl oor), spilling over into the neighboring house
at no. 8 Seilerstätte (third and fourth fl oors). The rooms, halls, and even the
main corridor housed a number of practice and teaching instruments.
The main concert venues in Vienna, the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus
do not lend themselves well to translation. They appear here under
their German names. Each is run by a corporation, the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde and the Konzerthausgesellschaft, respectively, and each build-
ing contains a number of concert venues; the smaller ones, named after com-
posers of note (Brahmssaal, Mozartsaal, etc.), and a large main hall. Associated
with these two venues are Vienna’s two main choirs, the Wiener Singverein and
the Wiener Singakademie. These were the choirs that performed the large-
scale oratorio performances in the two venues.
The orchestras, choirs, and various performing groups have also retained
their German names, with explanations where this seemed necessary. At
Heiller’s time, four symphony orchestras existed in Vienna: Die Wiener
Philharmoniker (the Vienna Philharmonic, its members largely identical
with the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper); Die Wiener
Symphoniker (municipal); Das Grosse Wiener Rundfunkorchester (the
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viii translator’s note
orchestra of the Austrian Radio and Television Corporation, subsequently
called ORF Symphony Orchestra and more recently referred to as “the RSO”);
Das Niederösterreichische Tonkünstler-Orchester (offi cially an institution of
the Province of Lower Austria, at fi rst resident in Vienna, but now in Sankt
Pölten, the new capital of Lower Austria).
Although Anton Heiller never had a regular position as church organist
he had contact with many churches. In most cases it was easier to retain their
German names. Terms like Kalvarienbergkirche and Minoritenkirche seemed less
confusing than “Church on the Mount of Calvary” and “Church of the Minorite
Order,” which no native of Vienna would readily recognize in this guise. In
the case of Vienna’s Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, the English name seemed the
more practical choice. The young Heiller was associated with Vienna’s two
opera houses, the Staatsoper (known in the English-speaking world, somewhat
incorrectly, as the Vienna State Opera) and the Volksoper, where lighter opera
and operetta are staged. They retain their German titles. The city of Vienna
itself sometimes gets its German name Wien, but at other times the English
equivalent seemed more appropriate.
During the past fi fty years there have even been some changes in terms
of the naming of certain organ compositions written hundreds of years ago.
Buxtehude’s organ works, in Heiller’s day titled “Praeludium und Fuge”
or “Toccata und Fuge,” have now generally returned to their original titles,
“Praeludium” or “Toccata,” and they have been cataloged and are further iden-
tifi ed with BuxWV numbers, which did not exist then. We decided to retain the
titles used in Heiller’s day, just as they appeared on his concert programs and
recordings.
In the chapters dealing with Heiller’s private life, especially his correspon-
dence, I have come across many German terms that are not translatable or else
do not make much sense outside the German-speaking area, at times even out-
side Vienna. In such cases I have retained the German and, where it seemed
appropriate, added a note. For instance, terms of endearment for his wife,
such as Schneckerle (little snail), which Heiller used frequently, are not unusual
in Vienna. Elsewhere they may sound quite odd. Heiller routinely addressed
his students as Kinderl (little child). This was quaint, even in Vienna, given that
his students were all adults, some young, some not so young, but it was very
much Heiller and we all remember and even cherish having been addressed
in this way. Anton Heiller was about forty years old when I was his student, but
very much a fatherly fi gure to a twenty-year-old, and to be addressed as Kinderl
soon became something quite fi tting and appropriate.
When I began studying with Anton Heiller he had not been to America and
his English was basic, although much better than was common in Vienna at the
time. Very few Viennese were fl uent in English and the language was not rou-
tinely taught at most schools. As his contact with the English-speaking world
increased, Heiller’s English improved and he was respected for being able to
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translator’s note ix
teach in this language both in the United States and also at the International
Summer Academy in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Heiller conducted nearly all
his correspondence with the US company Lilian Murtagh Concert Management
in English (sometimes with a little help). We felt that when reproducing such
correspondence in this book, we should retain as much as possible of his
English and “let the man speak for himself.” Where letters between Heiller and
Lilian Murtagh were in English we have left them unedited. His formulations
are often a little quaint, but that was Heiller! Only spelling and punctuation
have been corrected. Explanatory comments have been added where confu-
sion might arise. The bulk of Heiller’s correspondence was handwritten, pages
densely covered with his tiny script. For emphasis, he often used underlining.
We have reproduced this by using italics. Unfortunately we were not able to do
justice to his occasional double and triple underlining.
It has been quite diffi cult to portray Vienna and its life and culture for
English-speaking readers living on the other side of the world and half a cen-
tury later. I grew up in Heiller’s Viennese world and was familiar with its ways,
and I know how different things were. The nuclear family was close and pri-
vate. Relations between people were quite formal and polite. There was a much
deeper social gulf between teachers and students than is the case now. Heiller
managed to create a fatherly and benevolent image among his students despite
this, but by the same token, we never addressed him as anything but “Herr
Professor.” In a predominantly Roman Catholic Austria the link between every-
day life and the Church was much stronger than we can now imagine and that
applied especially to Heiller and his family who were devout Catholics, even by
Viennese standards. Occasionally, added information was necessary to clarify
issues that were common knowledge in Viennese Catholic circles. I hope that
during the process of translating and “bringing up to date” the details of every-
day life I have been able to retain some of the fl avor and atmosphere of the
world in which Anton Heiller lived.
There is one aspect of Anton Heiller’s legacy that was not discussed in the
original German edition of this book: his importance in the Australian organ
scene. Having lived and worked in Australia for well over forty years and know-
ing how he has helped shape organ culture here, I was very keen to have this
omission addressed, and the author agreed. This seems the appropriate place
to add a paragraph or two on this topic.
Anton Heiller may never have set foot in Australia, but he nevertheless has
had a great infl uence on organ playing in this country. Australia, as a former
British colony, had naturally followed in English footsteps where organ cul-
ture is concerned. The Orgelbewegung (organ revival movement), which Heiller
championed with such enthusiasm and which had such a profound effect on
his performance style, reached Australia extremely late. Apart from a few mod-
est mechanical action instruments that had been brought out to Australia in its
early days as a colony, organs here were of the English romantic style. Tracker
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