Johann Adam Hiller

Hiller, Johann Adam Hiller (25 December 1728 – 16 June 1804) was a German composer, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet Christian Felix Weiße.

Hiller was a teacher who encouraged musical education for women, his pupils including Elisabeth Mara and Corona Schröter. He was Kapellmeister of Abel Seyler's theatrical company, and became the first Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Biography By the death of his father in 1734, Hiller was left dependent to a large extent on the charity of friends. He came from a musical family, and also learned the basics of music from a school master in his home town, Wendisch-Ossig. From 1740 to 1745, he was a student at the Gymnasium in Görlitz, where his fine soprano voice earned him free tuition. He died at the age of 75 in Leipzig in 1804. He was the father of the composer Friedrich Adam Hiller (c. 1767–1812), but he was not related to the musician Ferdinand Hiller.

Operas

A theme from Hiller's opera Der Aerndtekranz (1771) was the basis for Max Reger's orchestral Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller (1907).

Literary production Hiller's major contribution in this field include the Wöchentliche Nachrichten, a music journal in which he published reviews of performances, new music publications, and essays on various music related topics. From his articles in this journal it becomes clear that Hiller was open to new trends in music, and that he preferred Hasse over J. S. Bach and Gluck. Writings of Hiller on aesthetic issues include the Abhandlung über die Nachahmung der Natur in der Musik (1754) and Über die Musik und deren Wirkungen (1781), which is a translation from Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon's .

As a historian, Hiller published a series of anecdotes and biographies, the Anecdoten zur Lebensgeschichte großer Regenten und berühmter Staatsmänner and Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit and the Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit.

The majority of his writings concern pedagogy. In these publications Hiller presents himself as a highly competent teacher who regarded knowledge of music an essential part of everyone's education.

Writings "Abhandlung über die Nachahmung der Natur in der Musik" in Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg: Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1754) Anecdoten zur Lebensgeschichte großer Regenten und berühmter Staatsmänner (Leipzig, 1766–72) As an editor: Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anmerkungen die Musik betreffend (Leipzig, 1766–70) Anweisung zur Singekunst in der deutschen und italienischen Sprache (Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1773) Musikalisches Handbuch für die Liebhaber des Gesanges und Claviers (Leipzig, 1773) Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange (Leipzig, 1774, enlarged 1798) Exempel-Buch der Anweisung zum Singen (Leipzig, 1774) Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange (Leipzig, 1780) Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit (Leipzig, 1784). Includes autobiography. Über Metastasio und seine Werke (Leipzig, 1786) Nachricht von der Aufführung des Händelschen Messias, in der Domkirche zu Berlin den 19. May 1786(Berlin, 1786) Fragmente aus Händels Messias, nebst Betrachtungen über die Aufführung Händelscher Singcompositionen (Leipzig, 1787) Über Alt und Neu in der Musik (Leipzig, 1787) Was ist wahre Kirchenmusik? (Leipzig, 1789) Co-authored with J. A. Hasse: Beyträge zu wahrer Kirchenmusik (Leipzig, 2/1791) Kurze und erleichterte Anweisung zum Singen (Leipzig, 1792) Anweisung zum Violinspielen für Schulen und zum Selbstunterrichte (Leipzig, 1792) Erinnerungen gegen das Melodien-Register in Freyes kleiner Lieder-Konkordanz (Leipzig, 1798)