A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Heller, Stephen

by Edward Dannreuther

HELLER, STEPHEN, born May 15, 1815, at Pesth, is an accomplished pianist, and author of a large number of pieces for his instrument, mostly on a small scale, but generally elegant in form and refined in diction. He has for the last twenty-five years enjoyed great popularity amongst cultivated amateurs in France and England. His first publication was a set of Variations in 1829, and his latest (Jan. 1879) is a Sonatina (op. 147). Next to his numerous Etudes and Preludes, the best of his publications consist of several series of morceaux put forth under quaint titles, such as 'Promenades d'un Solitaire' (taken from Rousseau's letters on Botany), 'Blumen-Frucht-und-Dornen Stücke' (from Jean Paul), 'Dans les Bois,' 'Nuits blanches,' etc. A 'Saltarello' on a phrase from Mendelssohn's Italian symphony (op. 77), five Tarantellas (op. 53, 61, 85, 87), a Caprice on Schubert's 'Forelle' (known as La Truite), are pieces wherein Heller rings the changes on his stock of musical material with delicate ingenuity, and exhibits less of that wearisome reiteration of some short phrase, without either development or attempt at attractive variety in treatment, which of late has grown into mannerism with him. He has also put forth four^[1] solo sonatas which have left no trace, and, together with Ernst the violinist, a set of 'Pensées fugitives' for piano and violin, which have met with great and deserved success amongst dilletante players.

Having appeared in public at Pesth at an early age, he made a tour through Germany, and settled for some years at Augsburg, where after a prolonged illness he found ample leisure to pursue his studies. Since 1838 he has resided in Paris, rarely playing in public, but much esteemed as a teacher and composer. He visited England in 1862, and played at the Crystal Palace with Halle on May 3 in Mozart's Concerto in E flat for 2 Pianos. His 'Life and Works' are the subjects of a monograph by H. Barbedette, translated into English by Rev. R. Brown Borthwick, 1877. [App. p.671 "Add that he came to England in February, 1850, and appeared at a concert at the Beethoven Rooms, on May 15 of that year. He stayed until August. Add also date of death, Jan, 14, 1888."]

[ E. D. ]

1. Op. 9, 65, 88, 143. See a review of the first of these by Schumann in his 'Gesam. Schriften.' iii. 186.