Ferdinand Hiller - Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 69 (1843)

Ferdinand Hiller

(24 October 1811 – 11 May 1885/74세)

was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director

Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 69 (1843)

1. Moderato, ma con energia e con fuoco
2. Andante espressivo (6:56)
3. Allegro con fuoco (12:50)

Michael Ponti and Radio Luxemburg Orchestra conducted by Louis de Froment

The Piano Concerto No 2 in F sharp minor Op 69 is considered to be Hiller’s most successful contribution to the genre. The work, which is dedicated to Wilhelmin Szarvady, was composed around the time Hiller moved from Frankfurt to Leipzig in the autumn of 1843. Despite the lack of rehearsal time, the premiere in the Gewandhaus on 26 October 1843 was a success. In this concerto Hiller clearly moved away from the Parisian virtuoso style: compared to his earlier concerto Op 5 this work finds a different solution to the ‘concerto problem’. All three movements are, in their form and development, conceived in a much more multi-layered manner, with piano and orchestra dovetailing more frequently.

Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus (originally Isaac Hildesheim, a name that he changed late in the 18th century to conceal his Jewish origins) was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph. Hiller’s talent was discovered early and he was taught piano by the leading Frankfurt musician Alois Schmitt, violin by Jörg Hofmann, and harmony and counterpoint by Georg Jacob Vollweiler; at 10 he performed a Mozart concerto in public; and two years later, he produced his first composition.

In 1822, the 13-year-old Felix Mendelssohn entered his life. The Mendelssohn family was at that time staying briefly in Frankfurt and the young Hiller visited them where he was immensely impressed by the playing of Felix (and even more so by that of his sister Fanny Mendelssohn). When their acquaintance was renewed in 1825 the two boys found an immediate close friendship, which was to last until 1843. Hiller tactfully describes their falling out as arising from "social, and not from personal susceptibilities." But in fact it seems to have been more to do with Hiller’s succession to Mendelssohn as director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1843.

From 1825 to 1827, Hiller was a pupil of Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Weimar; while he was with Hummel at Beethoven’s deathbed, Hiller secured a lock of Beethoven's hair. From 1828 to 1835, Hiller based himself in Paris, where he was engaged as teacher of composition at Choron's School of Music.
In addition to Mendelssohn, he attracted the attention of Rossini who assisted him to launch his first opera, Romilda (which was a failure), at Milan. Mendelssohn obtained for Hiller an entrée to the Gewandhaus, and afforded an opportunity for the public presentation of Hiller's oratorio Die Zerstörung Jerusalems (The Destruction of Jerusalem, 1840). After a year of study in Church music at Rome, Hiller returned to Leipzig, and during the season of 1843-44 conducted the Gewandhaus concerts. By this time his position in the musical world was established, and honors and appointments were showered upon him. In 1845 Robert Schumann dedicated to Hiller his piano concerto. Hiller became municipal kapellmeister of Düsseldorf in 1847, and in 1850 received a similar appointment at Cologne, where he founded Cologne Conservatoire that year and remained as Kapellmeister until 1884. During this time, he was twelve times festival director of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, and conducted the Gürzenich concerts. He worked in Dresden as well. Thus he played a leading part in Germany's musical life. And he was conductor at the Italian Opera in Paris during the season of 1852-53.