Richard Heuberger the Elder

This article is about the composer Richard Heuberger. For the historian of the same name, see Richard Heuberger the Younger .

Photo by Auguste Wimmer, 1894

Richard Franz Joseph Heuberger the Elder (born June 18, 1850 in Graz , † October 28, 1914 in Vienna ) was an Austrian composer , conductor , music teacher and music journalist .

Life

After leaving school, he began his career in engineering, but at the age of 27 he decided to switch to music. He studied at the Conservatory in Graz and, after successfully completing his degree in 1902, was entrusted with the management of the Academic Choral Society in Vienna. Later, Heuberger also took over the management of the Vienna Singing Academy . From 1902 he also taught at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna .

Richard Heuberger also made a name for himself as a music critic for various newspapers, first with the Neue Wiener Tagblatt , then from 1899 with the “Allgemeine Zeitung” ( Munich ). In 1896 he succeeded Eduard Hanslick as a music critic at the Wiener Neue Freie Presse . He also worked as a freelance journalist and editor. a. of the "New Musical Press". He died in Vienna in 1914 and is buried in Hinterbrühl .

His compositional work includes operas , ballets , operettas , songs , choirs and other instrumental compositions. His best-known work is the operetta The Opera Ball (libretto by Victor Léon ).

Heuberger was a freemason . In 1904 he was accepted into the "Zukunft" lodge in Pressburg (now Bratislava ). His guarantor was the pianist Alfred Grünfeld.

In 1955 the Heubergergasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named in his honor. In 1956 his grave at the Hinterbrühler Friedhof was converted into a grave of honor.

The historian Richard Heuberger the Younger was his son.

Works (selection)

Tomb at the Hinterbrühl cemetery

Operas

• The Adventures of a New Year's Eve (1886, libretto by Franz Schaumann )
• Manuel Venegas (1889, libretto by Joseph Victor Widmann )
• Mirjam or The Manifesto , Vienna, 1894.
• Barfüßele (1904, libretto by Victor Léon based on the story by Berthold Auerbach )
• The Last Night (1 act composed 1905/06)

Operettas

• The Opera Ball (1898)
• Your Excellency (1899)
• The six o'clock train (1900)
• The Baby (1902)
• The Three Graces (1906)
• Your Highness Affair or The Prince of Düsterstein (1909)
• Don Quixote (1910)

Ballets

• The Lautenschlägerin
• Troubled Peter

Songs

• Bridal song
• There is a linden tree in the deep valley
• A bird flew into the field

Instrumental works

• Night music for string orchestra , op. 7; Ms. Kistner, Leipzig, 1878.
• Variations on a Theme by Franz Schubert , op. 11; Ms. Kistner, Leipzig, 1880.
• Overture to Byron's "Cain" , op. 16; Ms. Kistner, Leipzig, 1883.

literature

• Peter Grunsky: Richard Heuberger, the opera professor . Böhlau, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-205-99328-4
• Karl Maria Pisarowitz:  Heuberger, Richard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 37 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Heuberger, Richard Franz Joseph. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1959, p. 308 f. (Direct links on p. 308 , p. 309 ).
• Peter Grunsky: Heuberger, Richard. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 .
• Richard Heuberger the Elder in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna

Web links

Commons : Richard Heuberger the Elder  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Richard Heuberger the Elder in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Heuberger, Richard Franz Joseph senior in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Songs by Richard Heuberger on The Art Song Project