Johann Adam Hiller facts for kids
Johann Adam Hiller (born December 25, 1728 – died June 16, 1804) was a German composer, conductor, and writer about music. Many people consider him the person who created the Singspiel. This was an early type of German opera. In many of these operas, he worked closely with the poet Christian Felix Weiße.
Hiller was also a teacher who believed in musical education for women. Some of his famous students included Elisabeth Mara and Corona Schröter. He was the Kapellmeister (music director) for Abel Seyler's theater group. Later, he became the very first Kapellmeister of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
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Biography
Johann Adam Hiller was born in 1728. When his father died in 1734, Hiller had to rely on the kindness of friends to help him. He came from a musical family and learned music basics from a school teacher in his hometown, Wendisch-Ossig.
From 1740 to 1745, he studied at a school called the Gymnasium in Görlitz. His beautiful soprano singing voice helped him get free lessons there. In 1746, he went to study at the famous Kreuzschule in Dresden. There, he took lessons for keyboard and basso continuo (a type of musical accompaniment) with Gottfried August Homilius.
In 1751, Hiller started studying law at Leipzig University. He earned money by giving music lessons and performing in concerts. He played the flute and sang. Hiller loved the busy music scene in Leipzig. Slowly, music became his main job. He played an important part in the Großes Concert, which was the top concert group in Leipzig.
During this time, he wrote several symphonies, church songs (cantatas), and arias (solo songs). He also started a Singspiel called Das Orackle, but he didn't finish it. In 1754, Hiller published an essay about how music imitates nature. That same year, he got a big opportunity. He became a helper and teacher for the son of Count Brühl in Dresden. He went with the Count to Leipzig in 1758.
Hiller stayed in that job until 1760. Then, he had to quit because of health problems, including depression. While he was there, he thought about bringing back some special concerts. This idea eventually led to the creation of the Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts. He was their first conductor.
Back in Leipzig, Hiller became the director of the Großes Concert. He held this job until 1771. That year, he started a singing school. Four years later, Hiller created his own concert group called the Musikübende Gesellschaft. In his Leipzig school, he trained young musicians to sing and play instruments.
Two of his most famous students were Corona Schröter and Gertrud Elisabeth Mara. Both became very well-known singers. He also taught the organist and composer Daniel Gottlob Türk. In 1778, Hiller became the music director at the Paulinerkirche. This was the church of Leipzig University. During this time, he also organized special concerts for Lent called Concerts spirituels.
Many people believe Hiller created the Singspiel. This was the start of German comedy opera, different from French and Italian operas. His most important operas included: Lottchen am Hofe (Lottie at Court, 1760), Der Teufel ist los (The Devil is Loose, 1768), and Poltis, oder Das gerettete Troja (Poltis, or Troy Rescued, 1782). The words (lyrics) of his Singspiele were very good and stayed popular for a long time. He also wrote religious music, like a Passion Cantata and music for the one hundredth Psalm.
In the 1780s, Hiller got many new jobs. In 1781, he became the conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts. That same year, he visited the court of the Duke of Courland in Mitau. This trip led to Hiller becoming the Kapellmeister there four years later.
Besides his jobs at the Gewandhaus and the Paulinerkirche, in 1783 he also became the music director of the Neukirche. This made him a very important music leader in Leipzig. However, when he started his new job in Mitau in 1785, he left all his jobs in Leipzig. He resigned from his position in Courland after only one year. This was because of political problems at the court.
Since he no longer had a job in Leipzig, he had to organize concerts to earn money. Luckily, he got the job of music director for the city of Breslau in 1787. He stayed in Breslau for two years. In 1789, he returned to Leipzig to become the cantor (music director) at the Thomaskirche. In this role, he conducted the Thomanerchor, a famous choir that Johann Sebastian Bach had led before him. Hiller held this job until 1801, when he retired because of his age. He died in Leipzig in 1804, at 75 years old.
Hiller also did important work as an editor and publisher of other composers' music. He wrote a lot about music topics. He was one of the most important German music experts and writers of the 1700s. He was the father of composer Friedrich Adam Hiller (born around 1767–died 1812). However, he was not related to the musician Ferdinand Hiller.
Operas
A melody from Hiller's opera Der Aerndtekranz (1771) was later used by Max Reger. Reger created a famous orchestral piece called Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller (1907) based on it.
Literary Production
Hiller's important writings include the Wöchentliche Nachrichten. This was a music magazine where he published reviews of performances, new music, and essays on different music topics. From his articles, we can see that Hiller was open to new music styles. He preferred composers like Johann Adolph Hasse over J. S. Bach and Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Hiller also wrote about ideas in music, such as Abhandlung über die Nachahmung der Natur in der Musik (1754). He also translated a book called Observations sur la musique into German as Über die Musik und deren Wirkungen (1781).
As a historian, Hiller published stories and biographies. These included Anecdoten zur Lebensgeschichte großer Regenten und berühmter Staatsmänner (Stories about the lives of great rulers and famous statesmen) and Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit (Biographies of famous music scholars and composers of recent times).
Most of his writings were about teaching music. In these books, Hiller showed himself as a very skilled teacher. He believed that knowing about music was a key part of everyone's education.
Writings
- Wöchentliche Nachrichten und Anmerkungen die Musik betreffend (Leipzig, 1766–70) - A music journal he edited.
- Anweisung zur Singekunst in der deutschen und italienischen Sprache (Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1773) - Instructions for singing in German and Italian.
- Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange (Leipzig, 1774) - Instructions for correct musical singing.
- Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit (Leipzig, 1784) - Biographies of famous music scholars and composers. This book included his own autobiography.
- Anweisung zum Violinspielen für Schulen und zum Selbstunterrichte (Leipzig, 1792) - Instructions for violin playing for schools and self-study.
