Stephen Heller (1815 – 1888) was a Hungarian pianist,
teacher and composer whose career spanned the period
from Schumann to Bizet.Heller was an influence for
later Romantic composers. He outlived his reputation,
and was a near-forgotten figure at his death in 1888.
He was born in Pest (now Budapest), Hungary in 1815. He
had been destined for a legal career, but instead
decided to devote his life to music. At the age of nine
he performed Jan Ladislav Dussek's Concerto for Two
Pianos with his te...(+)
Stephen Heller (1815 – 1888) was a Hungarian pianist,
teacher and composer whose career spanned the period
from Schumann to Bizet.Heller was an influence for
later Romantic composers. He outlived his reputation,
and was a near-forgotten figure at his death in 1888.
He was born in Pest (now Budapest), Hungary in 1815. He
had been destined for a legal career, but instead
decided to devote his life to music. At the age of nine
he performed Jan Ladislav Dussek's Concerto for Two
Pianos with his teacher, F. Brauer, at the Budapest
Theater. He played so well that he was sent to study in
Vienna, Austria, under Carl Czerny. Unable to afford
Czerny's expensive fees, he became a student of Anton
Halm. After a success in the first public concert in
Vienna at the age of 15, his father undertook a concert
tour through Hungary, Poland and Germany.
Heller returned to Budapest by way of Kassel,
Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Hamburg, and Augsburg. After
passing the winter of 1829 at Hamburg, he was taken ill
at Augsburg in the summer of 1830. He abandoned the
tour there and was soon afterwards adopted by a wealthy
patron of music.
At the age of 25, he travelled to Paris, where he
became closely acquainted with Hector Berlioz,
Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and other renowned
composers of his era. Here Heller achieved distinction
both as a concert performer and as a teacher. He taught
piano to Isidor Philipp, who later became head of the
piano department of the Conservatoire de Paris.
In 1849 Heller performed in England, where in 1850 he
was the subject of a long serial article (that is
divided between many issues) devoted to his music in
the British Musical World. In 1862 he performed
Mozart's E-flat concerto for two pianos with Charles
Hallé at The Crystal Palace. He spent the last
twenty-five years of his life in Paris.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Heller).
Although originally composed for Piano, I created this
Interpretation of the Etüde (Op. 47 No. 23) for String
Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).