Daron Aric Hagen  American composer and pianist

Born: Milwaukee, 04.11.1961 

Hagen began the study of piano, music theory, conducting and composition when he was fourteen at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, working with teachers as diverse as Leonard Bernstein, David Diamond, Witold Lutoslawski, Ned Rorem, and Joseph Schwantner. 
From 1996 to 1998 Hagen served on the faculty of the Curtis Institute. From 1988-1997 he taught as a professor at Bard College (composition). During this period Hagen also served several semesters on the faculties of New York University and the City College of New York.
Hagen first received international popular and critical acclaim for his opera Shining Brow, about the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, which was premiered in 1992. His works have been commissioned by many of America’s foremost musical institutions, including the New York Philharmonic (which commissioned Philharmonia for it's 150th anniversary), Much Ado, commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the Curtis Institute of Music, Angels, commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the artist retreat Yaddo and premiered by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Concerto for Brass Quintet, commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the University of Wisconsin, Heliotrope, commissioned for the 75th anniversary of ASCAP and premiered by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Waking Father, commissioned by the Kings Singers,  Susurrus for the National Symphony Orchestra, and a new double concerto, Romeo and Juliet, for Jeffrey Khaner (flute), Sara SantAmbrosio (cello) and the Albany Symphony Orchestra.

Seven Last Words (Concerto for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra)
This concerto was commissioned for Gary Graffman to introduce with the New Mexico Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic.

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Alfred Matthew Hale

Claverton, Stoke Bishop, near Bristol, 21.11.1876 - Rake, Liss. near Petersfield, Hampshire, 12.01.1960.

He was out of a well-to-do-family and the boy grew up dreaming of independent means concentrating on the music. He had developed a special interest for English poems and orchestration of English folk-song in the manner of Vaughan Williams and Percy Granger which were his keen interest and he was able to devote all his time to this living idyllically in his house near Petersfield, Hampshire.
Already in 1912 his works were being performed and everything must have seemed inexpressibly promising - if it were not for the outbreak of WW I  4 August 1914. Being 38 Hale thought it ridiculous to be called up, but in 1917 he was conscripted only to be found by his superiors totally unfit for anything than the job as batman in the Royal Flying Course. 
After his release i 1919 he thought he would be able to resume his work, but the first thing he did was to write a 658 pages diary (an immense document consisting of 164,000 words and weighing ten pounds) of what he called A note of the War 1914-1918 and this war that he really not had "fought" himself occupied his mind the rest of his days. Later on he married and took up water colouring but his accumulated works were ultimately destroyed when a pipe burst in the house where they were stored. 
Never the less he did reach the amount of 90 musical opus numbers, some 78 without and in practically all genres and leaving an estate of over £ 15.000, 

For the Left Hand  Alone; tree pieces op. 95  (1952) (Goodwin & Tubb)

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Frederich Hall

Born: ?

Prelude in F major (a gavotte)  1926 (Allan & Co.)

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Born: Montreal, 05.09.1961

Writing about Hamelin is certainly no easy task since he has established himself throughout the world as a virtuoso extraordinaire. Many pianists have been described as virtuosos - and they certainly are, but with Hamelin you have to hear it to believe it. As one piano virtuoso - I know - said: he is a pianist-killer. And yet his unbelievable abilities are not an end in itself - but a mere tool for making music, and this he does. Even compared with virtuoso legends like Simon Barere in the famous Blumenfeld étude Hamelin's playing stands out and leaves you with the feeling that he is nowhere close to his limits - in fact his playing makes you forget the difficulties involved.
Hamelin began playing the piano at the age of five and at nine he entered l’École Vincent-d'Indy - an advanced school of music which was started by sister Marie-Stéphane (Hélène Côté: 1888 - 1985) of the order Les Sœurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie - and which is now affiliated with the Université de Montréal. 
Here his first teachers were Yvonne Hubert (1895-1988) and sister Rita de la Croix. Later Hamelin continued his studies at the Temple University in Philadelphia - (B.Mus.1983 and M.Mus.1985) - where his principal teachers were Harvey D. Wedeen and Russell Sherman - the latter a renowned performer himself who has voiced some remarkable opinions on becomming a pianist: E.g. To succeed as a pianist, one's intelligence quotient should reside on either of two distinct levels: an I.Q. of below 110 or above 140. The lively curiosity which distinguishes those who are in between, will militate against the focused tenacity required to play the piano and to master its physical and structural labyrinths.
After his debut Hamelin quickly established himself as one of the world's leading pianists and one of the greatest technicians on the keyboard ever with concert tours to practically every place of musical importance in the world and as a participant in close to every festival you would care to mention. 
In 2005 Hamelin was honoured to be made an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Québec.

He does play the standard repertory but has specialized in and recorded music by less frequently heard  composers like Alkan, Blanchet, Bolcom, Busoni, Vladimir Dechevov, Eckhardt-Gramatté, Samuel Feinberg, Radamés Gnattali, Adolf Henselt, Kapustin, Korngold, Arthur Vincent Lourie, Joseph Marx, Shchedrin, Georgi Lvovich Catoire, Godowsky, Michaiłowski, Leo Ornstein, Nikolai Roslavets, Frederic Rzewski, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Karol Szymanowski, Pancho Vladigerov and Edna Bentz Woods. 
Among his own compositions are a set of 12 Etudes in Minor Keys which take the essence of piano playing to new and often unexpected heights both musical, technical and humouristically. These pieces are either original or closely connected with other composers like Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin or Liszt in the form of paraphrases, ommagios etc. Notably the etudes No. 1 Bumble Bee (after Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - a rival to György Sziffra's famous Flight of the Bumble Bee), no. 3 d'après Paganini-Liszt (La campanella); a mounting avalanche of devastating pianistic problems, no.6: Essercizio per pianoforte (Ommagio a Domenico Scarlatti) with its whirlwind succession of rapid runs, terrifying leaps, typical Hamelinian (intentional) wrong-note harmonies and crossed hand passages, which - though according to what Hamelin told this author - were not intended give an extremely witty visible effect, no. 9: d'après Rossini and no. 10: d'après Chopin; (Idees Noires); a highly original and personal reinvention of Chopin's Black-key Etude op. 10 no. 5. 

	Hamelin demonstrating the first sketches of his Tchaikovsky-paraphrase  to Frédéric Meinders at the Husum Festival,  August 19 2006

Étude no. 7 (Based on Tchaikovsky: Lullaby op. 16 no. 1)
This etude was transcribed 2006 and premiered 2007.

Photos taken at the 20th Festival: Raritäten der Klaviermusik,  
Husum, Germany,  August 19 2006  © This author 

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Born: Kalmar, 27.02.1953

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Audrey Kooper Hammann American pianist and composer 

Born: Hartford, Connecticut, (presumable in the mid 1920s) 

Both Audrey Kooper and her mother were students of the concert pianist and teacher Raymond Augustus Lawson of the Howard University (and honorary member of Pi Kappa Lambda at Howard University, Washington D.C.) and Audrey made her debut as a pianist at the age of 11 in a concert at the Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall in Hartford, Connecticut. 
She has been composing already since she was 8 years old and while she was still in high school her parents decided she should spend her summers at University summer schools, studying with Ross Lee Finney at Smith College and Bruce Simonds at Yale's program in Norfolk, Connecticut where chamber music concerts outdoors and madrigal singing were encouraged. 
She was a scholarship student in composition with Werner Josten at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts where she graduated with A.B. Magna cum laude in 1943. She was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received the Settie Lehman Fatman Award for original composition at Smith and then received a full fellowship at the Juilliard Graduate School in New York City where she studied composition with Frederick Jacobi (1891-1952) and Bernard Wagenaar (1894-1971) and piano with Olga Samaroff (1882–1948 née Olga Hickenlooper and one time married to the conductor Leopold Stokowski). Samaroff trained people to teach in the Layman's Music Course held at Town Hall, and also encouraged Audrey to perform  with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra where she played Beethoven concerti, Tchaikovsky and many others. She also was a soloist with the Dayton, Cincinnati, Hartford, Milwaukee, and Smith Orchestras. 
After her graduation from Juilliard, she was part of the Four Piano Ensemble (managed by Sol Hurok) under the leadership of Stephen Kovach. For two years the unique foursome of two women and two men played memorized performances with their pianos in a dovetailed arrangement, making long successful tours throughout the United States and Canada with their four Steinway B Grands and concert benches.
As a Fulbright scholar in Paris, Audrey Kooper toured France as a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.S. Embassy, receiving reviews which praised her for her profound musicality. While in France she attended conferences presented by Nadia Boulanger whose influence she said: influenced me with her musical intensity and her compelling dynamism. 

	Nadia Boulanger

After returning to the United States she has taught at Smith College, Webster University and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. She married William Hammann and moved to St. Louis where she continued her career as a concert pianist and taught piano and composition. She also studied composition herself with Robert Wykes at Washington University and Bach under the supervision of Rosalyn Tureck during Tureck's one semester stay at this university. 
Recent compositions include an orchestral tone poem Pan premiered in 2004 by the Webster University Symphony under Allen Carl Larson. In 2005 the St. Louis Chamber Chorus premiered her unaccompanied choral setting Ships by  Walt Whitman and in 2006 recorded The Ship Starting on Singing St. Louis - recorded on CD with The St. Louis Chamber Choir conducted by Philip Barnes.

Julius Handrock  German pianist and composer

Naumberg, 1830 - Halle, 1894

Handrock was educated at the Leipzig Conservatory but was active as piano teacher in Halle. His oeuvre can be divided in two: salon pieces and instructive works. Among the first are many sonatines, waltzes, polonaises and character pieces.

	The signature of Handrock

Moderne Schule der Geläufigkeit (Modern School of Velocity) op. 99 Vol. II  c.1883 (Kahnt)

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Ronald Hanmer

Raigate, Surrey, England, 02.02.1917 - Brisbane, Australia, 23.05.1994

Hanmer was educated at Blackheath Conservatory and began his professional career - like so many other musicians of his generation - as a cinema organist and dance band arranger. His skills for arranging and composing were fully employed from the 1940s onwards, and his orchestrations of shows for amateur companies are still in demand all over the world. The brass band world owes him a lot since his works are very often used as test pieces.
Hanmer composed more than 700 works for various London Production Music publishers - including potpourris, with titles like Bouquet de Paris, Capstan and Windlass, The Heather and the Thistle, Heritage of England, The Holly and the Mistletoe, The Oak and the Rose and Memories of Hungary, and original genre pieces in orchestral or piano versions such as On a Windy Day, Limelight Lady, Dot and Carry One and Fashion Parade. 
In 1975 he emigrated to Australia and discovered - to his great surprise - that his composition Pastorale introduced a famous long-running radio serial Blue Hills. In Britain he is remembered for his Changing Moods, which was used as the theme for radio's Adventures of P.C. 49.

(Two pieces) 1. Click Go the Shears, 2. Waltzing Mathilde
Probably - and for rather obvious reasons - written after 1975.

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Born: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 19.11.1949 

Hannan studied musicology at the University of Sydney, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree 1972, and a PhD. in 1978. His B.Mus.(Hons.) and doctoral theses were on the music of Peter Sculthorpe, and since then has been writing about Australian composers, especially Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards.  
Hannan started his compositional career in 1972, as a jingle writer and composer of film music and music for theatre. In the late 1970s he began composing concert music, particularly for the piano, and in 1980 undertook postgraduate studies in composition with Sculthorpe. Besides Hannan has studied Ethnomusicology on a Fulbright Postdoctoral Award at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1983 and 1984.
Hannan has been a lecturer, music education consultant, examiner and editor of music terms for Macquarie Dictionary and A Dictionary of New Words, editorial advisor for Companion to Music in Australia (The Currency Press/Cambridge University Press), and Australian advisor for Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 
Besides publishing many articles Hannan has contributed to the New Grove Dictionary of Opera. 
He has performed with rock groups, for theatrical performances, and in performances of his own compositions and is currently an Associate Professor at Southern Cross University.
Among other things Hannan has composed six major virtuosic concert works, a host of works for young performers, and other works of a more experimental or humorous nature.

Modal Melodies for Single Hand
12 single note tunes in the following modes (that is the "old" Church modes with scales using only the white keys on the keyboard): Dorian (D-d), Phrygian (E-e), Lydian (F-f), Mixolydian (G-g), Hypodorian (A-a) and Hypophrygian (B-b).

Rising Emotions, Study  

Shaky Ground, Study  

Meander II, Study  (All three studies: “Australian piano music. Volume 4”,edited by Sally Mays. Currency Press, Sydney, 2000) They are part of Seven Studies for Single Hands (1981): 1. Chant for right hand, 2. Rising emotions for left hand, 3. Shaky Ground for left hand, 4. Tragic Song for right hand, 5. Meander I for right hand, 6. Meander II for left hand and 7. Strange Dialogue for right hand. They are available at the Australian Music Center.

Michael Hannan's web site.

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Born: ?

Capriccio  1882 (Tonger)
This piece is mentioned in Hofmeisters Handbuch der Klavierliteratur 1880-185 p. 235

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1870 - 1932 

Harris was organist of St Leonard's Church, Streatham, South London from 1903. 
Little else known about him but that he has been described as an inspired teacher of harmony and counterpoint, His own compositions include songs and anthems and he published at least 40 pieces for the organ

Left Hand Studies: Five Easy Studies (for the Left or the Right hand)  1930 (Warren & Phillips)

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Rudolf Hasert  German pianist

04.02.1826 - 1877

Hasert was himself for several years unable to play with his right hand due to muscular pains.

Fantasie de bravour on Casta diva from Bellini's Norma  (c.1855 André)

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Hans Leo Hassler  German organist and composer

Nuremberg, 25.10.1564 - Frankfurt am Mein, 09.06.1612

Hassler was a pupil of his father, Isaac Hassler and - according to the funeral sermon - was brought up in the fear of God, in the free arts and especially in the praiseworthy art of music. 
In all evidence Hassler went to Venice to become a pupil of Andrea Gabrieli (1533 – 1585) after which he was recalled to Augsburg as  a personal organist to Octavian Fugger. During that time much of his music - both instrumental and vocal - was printed and made public.
In 1612 he was appointed organist at Our lady's Church in Nuremberg where he composed his choral prelude Hertzlich tut mir verlangen which with a slight change of rhythm became O Haupt voll Blut und Wundern - which Johann Sebastian Bach used to so astonishing effect in the Sct. Matthew Passion that it became one of the most moving hymns ever. He later retreated to Ulm but in both places he was held in high esteem.

(Hertzlich tut mir verlangen)  (See Frédéric Meinders)

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Jean Hasse 

 Born, Cleveland, Ohio, 20.08.1958 

Jean Hasse graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory, Ohio, specializing in piano, conducting and instrumental music education followed by graduate work and teaching at Cleveland State University. Her varied career has included working as a teacher, multi-instrumentalist, concert producer, music copyist, editor and publisher, including forming Visible Music in 1987. She has had composing residencies at U.S. artist colonies and has received commissions from soloists and chamber ensembles in the U.S. and U.K. She moved to England in December 1994 and works as a composer, pianist and publisher. While living in Boston, she was a member of the popular music ensemble The Composers in Red Sneakers and she has  received commissions from a number of solo performers and chamber ensembles in USA and England to where she moved in December 1994 to live in London as a composer, pianist, publisher and producer/composer of ringing tones.
Hasse's music has been heard throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Australia, with performances at such diverse venues as the Tanglewood Music Center, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, London's South Bank Centre, and at numerous festivals. Many of her works attempt to give audiences a slightly unusual listening experience, with some pieces beginning as extra-musical ideas that are transformed into sound. 
Compositions include Oh (small ensemble), Reflecting Dreams (fifty brass), Moths - for a few hundred whistlers, Tuning ('piano tuner' and ensemble), Pocket Pieces (piano), and other works for chamber, brass ensembles, chorus, soloists and film. 

Silk Water  1992  Written for Leon Fleisher, who gave the premier 12th October 1992. 
In an introduction to Silk Water the composer writes: "The overall mood of Silk Water relates to the calmness of suspended time. While composing the piece I visited the Atlantic Ocean, and standing deep in the water moved my hands across the dark, tranquil surface".

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Frederic L. Hatch  

Born: ?

Träumerei 
Arrangement of Schumann's famous piece and transposed to D flat major  1920 (Presser)

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Gustav Havemann  German violinist, pianist, conductor and composer

Güstrow, Germany, 15.03.1882 - Schöneiche, 02.01.1960

Havemann studied the violin with his father, and became a member of the court orchestra in Schwerin, before he entered High School of Music in Berlin. While still in his youth he was the concertmaster in several places f.ex. Hamburg and at the Dresden State Opera from 1915 to 1920 After this and to the end of the war he was a professor  at the High School of Music in Berlin. 
In the early 1920s Gustav Havemann founded the Havemann String Quartet himself playing first violin, Georg Kühnau, second violin, Hans Mahlke, Viola and Adolf Steiner, cello. They performed both classical and modern music, some of which was considered 'avant-garde' at that time, including pieces by Alban Berg and Alois Hába. Thus the quartet performed Alban Berg's string quartet, Op. 3 at the Chamber Music Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music on August 2, 1923. Berg wrote to his wife, "... I reveled in the sound and the solemn sweetness of my own music. You cannot imagine it from what you have heard of the piece. The so-called wildest and riskiest passages were pure euphony in the classic sense." 
The Nazi era left its mark on Gustav Havemann. As a well-known professor he was a welcome member of the Presidium (Board) of the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich Music Chamber - that was the Nazis' union of musicians). So at first he - to some degree went along with the party's anti-Semitic line in the early 1930s - f.ex. as head of the Kampfbund Orchestra - but later he was wise enough to put his foot down - he wanted out - and got himself fired. 

According to The New York Times of July 18, 1935 Havemann was removed as the 'leader' of the Reichsmusikkammer (which he was not) because of his intervention on behalf of Jewish and other 'unwanted' composers:

"A further development in the anti-Semitic campaign, disclosed today, was the ousting of Professor Gustav Havemann as leader of the Reich Musicians' Club. He incurred Minister of Propaganda Paul Joseph Göbbels' displeasure when he intervened in behalf of Paul Hindemith, composer under the Nazi ban. Professor Havemann sided with Wilhelm Furtwängler, who resigned last December as leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor of the Municipal Opera, in opposing the Nazi boycott of Mr. Hindemith's works for his alleged Jewish affiliations."

The Reichsmusikkammer was formed already on 15th November 1933 with Richard Strauss as president. He resigned on 13th July 1935 and was succeeded by professor Dr. Peter Raabe. Furtwängler soon again resumed his post as leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - a post he held - partly to protect his orchestra - until early in 1945, when he together with Albert Speer concocted a plan to thwart Göbbles' plans and save the members of the orchestra  from being drafted to the Volkssturm (Peoples Storm - an insane and desperate act from the Nazi leaders to prevent Berlin from being taken by the Allies). Furtwängler's last concert was on 23rd January and the orchestra's final performance was on 12th April. Speer's plan worked - he had simply used his influence to remove the names of the orchestral members from the drafting lists. 

Meine täglichen Studien für die linke Hand allein  (My daily studies for the left hand alone) 1913 (Franz Jost)
Drills in thirds and scales.

Text extracted and pictures from Paul Havemann's genealogical homepage about the Havemann family

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William (Richard) Hawkey  New Zealand composer

Born: Timaru, New Zealand, 19.01.1932 

Hawkey was  educated South School Timaru, South School , Invercargill Southland Boys' High School and Canterbury University College.
From 1956 to 1962 Hawkey was head of Music at St. Andrew' College, Christchurch New Zealand. He has been acting head of School of Performing Arts, Torrents College of Advanced Educations South Australia since 1956. He was Reader in Music at The University of Canterbury from 1962 yo 1976 and conductor of  and Musical Director of of Christchurch Harmonic Society. fromm1960 to 1976.
Hawkey he also worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide. He was also foundating president of  of Christchurch Organists' Association, Former Vice-President of Christchurch Orchestral Society, Former Vice-President of Christchurch Recorded Music Society and he has been conductor of the University of Canterbury Singers. This and a much longer list of appointments are evident to a very active person for Australian music

Two Pieces for the Left Hand Alone: 1. Playmates, 2. Colours  (Allan's Music Australia, ca. 1984)

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(Franz) Joseph Haydn  Austrian composer

Rohrau, Lower Austria, 31.03.1732 - Vienna, 31.05.1809

Haydn did not write any work for the left hand alone, but at least he must have toyed with the idea. In one of his piano trios there are twenty bars for the left hand alone. There is no musical or technical reason for this - even though another melodic line is introduced in the right hand at bar nr. 21. So we can only guess why Haydn did this. Maybe he went for the visual effect - and this should not be underestimated among musicians - though - of course, it does not give much meaning in these CD-days. 

(Otto Strasser - former leader of the second violin group in The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra told in his memoirs, that Furtwängler wanted very long bowing from the violins in some special part of the funeral march from the Eroica symphony. Why? - this would have no acoustical effect. No -  Furtwängler replied - but think of the visual impact on the audience.)

The twenty bars mentioned above are from Haydn's piano trio in B flat major Hob XV nr. 20. Solo con mano sinistra simply means: Solo with the left hand. composed in London in 1794 and first published in the same year by Longman & Broderip, London.

Then - again - perhaps Haydn was only applying this effect to give himself time to play the twenty bars and stroke his chin with a most pensive air. Many things in musical scores have very non musical reasons - you would be surprised - see Fumagalli!

See also Paul Wittgenstein in the catalogue and appendix 

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O. L. Hayes

Born: ?

One Hand Waltz  (Century)

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David Matthew Haynes  Australian composer and pianist

Born: Sydney, Australia, 30.04.1960

 Largely self-taught, Haynes did not receive formal musical instruction until the age of eighteen. At the age of nineteen he entered the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and studied piano under Professor Igor Hmelnitsky, himself a pupil of Alexander Hmelnitsky (father) and Ignaz Friedman. It was during this period that Haynes developed an interest in the more arcane byways of the keyboard repertoire.
As a pianist, Haynes has given Australian premiers of works such as the Alkan Sonata Les quatre âges (The Four Ages) op. 33, the neglected Sonata in B-flat minor by Julius Reubke (1834-1858) and Zichy’s arrangement for left hand of Schubert’s Erlkönig. In addition, the transcriptions of Alkan, Samuil Feinberg (1890-1962), John Foulds (1880-1939), Godowsky, Percy Grainger (1882-1961) and Sosa figure largely in his repertoire.
As a composer and arranger Haynes is the the first Australian composer to produce a concerto for left hand. This work was composed and first performed in late 1999 at the University of New South Wales, where Haynes taught both musicology and orchestration. A second left hand concerto is currently being written. Also notable are the arrangements for left hand of works listed below. In 2005 Haynes completed a Ph.D. thesis entitled Context and Process in Arrangement and Transcription for Solo Piano, Left Hand Alone. In the thesis Haynes examines the various methodologies adopted in left hand arrangement. 

Original compositions (for piano left hand):

Concerto No. 1 for Left Hand and orchestra  (MS) (1999)
This concerto is written in a style of extended tonality.

Transcriptions:

3 Paganini Studies (Caprices No. 9, 14 & 24) (MS) (1998)

Gavotte and Gigue from Bach’s Cello Suite No.6  (MS) (2001)

2 Schubert Songs (Litanei & Das Wandern) (MS) (2003)

2 Scarlatti Sonatas (K. 347 & K. 425)  (MS) (2004)

These arrangements and copies of the thesis are available from the author at ferneklang@hotmail.com

Clara Koehler Heberlein

Born: ?

Polka Mignonne (duet for two left hands) (Presser)

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Lennart Hedwall   Swedish composer and pianist

Born: Gothenburg, Sweden 16.09.1932 - 

During his time in school he received instruction in piano from Carl Tillius and learned musical theory from Torsten Sörenson. He studied at the KMH 1951-59 (piano) with Olof Wibergh and Gottfrid Boon and in conducting from the conductor Tor Mann.
Later Hedwall became a pupil of two of his homeland's foremost composers: Sven-Erik Bäck and Karl Birger Blomdahl at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm before he went on to Darmstadt in Germany for further studies - later also in Wien, Hilversum and Paris. Since then he made a career as a pianist, organist at St Mikaels Chapell i Segeltorp and performed as a organ soloist in concerts all over Sweden. He also has served as conductor with the Örebro Orchestral Society and in theatres of Stockholm and his home town Gothenburg as well as being guest conductor with many orchestras in Sweden (Riksteatern (1958-60), Stora Teatern (1962-65), The Royal Theater (1967-68) and Örebro Orkesterstiftelse (1968-74) and abroad. But also as an accompanist in record studios and in the Swedish Radio has he been in great demand. Between 1868 and 1997 he was teacher at the Opera High School and he became D.phil in music in 1995 with a paper about Music in Värmland in the 18th century. Apart from this he has published several biographies about Hugo Alfvén, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Erik Gustav Geijer. 
He was among the avant-garde of young Swedish composers in the early 1950s, but with time his expressive register broadened and his music has become more linear and freely tonal, often with a lyrical bent. He has produced music in most musical genres over the past 50 years, including over 300 songs (mostly to texts by Swedish writers), two operas, orchestral works, solo concertos for oboe, cello and flute, works for string orchestra and works for different types of solo ensembles. This new album from Phono Suecia features excerpts from a wide range of Hedwall’s music, providing a ideal introduction to this ambitious Scandinavian composer.

Preludio e pastorale per pianoforte mano sinistra (for piano left hand)  (2001) (SMIC)
This work is dedicated to Tomas Tranströmer

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Stephen [István] Heller  Hungarian-French piano virtuoso and composer

Pest, 15.05.1813 - Paris, 14.01.1888

Heller showed extraordinary talent as a boy and after having had some lessons in piano playing and harmony from local teachers, his father was convinced that he might make a career as pianist. So the boy was sent to Vienna with the intension to study with Czerny. However he turned out to be too expensive a teacher so one Anton Halm was chosen instead.
In 1828 Heller started on a prolonged concert tour that proved to be a humanly failure: it affected his health, disgusted him with the life of a traveling virtuoso and the whole business ended with a nervous breakdown in 1830. By that time he had reached Augsburg and here he ran into some luck. A lady of the aristocracy engaged him as teacher for her children so that he could afford taking lessons in composition himself and a Count Fugger became his patron supervising his general education. 
It was during this time in Augsburg he began to compose seriously and Robert Schumann - to whom Heller had written - found him a publisher. Still he thought he needed more instruction so he went to Paris to become a pupil of Kalkbrenner, but his conditions were so exorbitant that the whole idea was given up. 
But Heller stayed in Paris for the rest of his life giving concerts working as a music critic and composing. At the same time he published a book with studies L'Art de phraser which turned out to be such a success that it gave him financial security. His output is practically only for the piano for which he composed about two hundred pieces. He did not compose anything for the left hand alone but the study below, which has been arranged by C. C. Dean is taken from the introduction to L'Art de phraser.

(Étude op. 127 no.2 (No. 2 des Quatre études sur Le Freischütz de Weber)  (Paris: Hamelle)
The reason for this piece being put in brackets is that only the first two odd pages are for the left hand alone. At bar xxx the right hand joins in - after which the etude is for both hands as correctly mentioned in Hortence Parent: Répertoire Encyclopédique du Pianiste, vol.  I,  p. 281. But so many bars for the left hand alone certainly indicates that also Heller was intrigued by the idea of playing with one hand.

(Il Penseroso op. 45 nr. 16) Arranged by C. C. Dean 

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Robert Helps  American Composer and pianist

Passiac, New Jersey, 23.09.1929 - Tampa, Florida, 01.12.2001

Robert Helps got his education as a pianist primarily with Abby Whiteside and as a composer with Roger Sessions after which he toured extensively with famous performers as Bethany Beardslee, Isidore Cohen, Rudolf Kolisch, Phyllis Curtin, soprano, and Aaron Copland, and for many years he gave a lot of works their world premières for internationally known chamber music and contemporary music organizations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, and elsewhere.
Helps worked as professor of piano at different institutions: the New England Conservatory the San Francisco Conservatory, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Manhattan School of Music and finally as Professor of Music at the University of South Florida, Tampa, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
He was a recipient of many awards and many of his works were commissioned by famous funds and institutions.
Among his achievements as a performer was memorial solo recitals with music by his teacher Roger Sessions and his output as a composer counts symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music and pieces for piano and organ.

Music for the Left Hand  1975 (Associated)
The work is in three parts which the composer characterizes: 1. Highly textural and "impressionistic", 2. Vocal, 3. Virtuosic - in this case a toccata. Helps wrote the work to himself during a time when he was having troubles with his right arm.

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Oscar van Hemel   Dutch pianist, viola player and composer

Antwerp, Holland, 03.08.1892 - Hilversum, 09.07.1981 

Hemel got his education as a composer at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp where his teachers were August de Boeck and Lodowijk Mortelmans. After leaving the conservatory - having won the Royal Medal - he studied for three years from 1930 with Willem Pijper.
In the meantime his first professional engagement was a viola player at the Dutch Opera in Amsterdam, in 1918 he taught the piano, viola and theory at the Music School in Bergen op Zoom and from 1948 to 1955 he was attached to what is today known as Brabant Conservatory in Tilburg where he taught theory and viola.
From 1949 he lived in Hilversum where he mainly worked as a composer - although he was often also used as a jury member at different competitions.
Among his works are 5 symphonies, 8 concertos, chamber music (string quartets, string trios, piano works and pieces for wind), songs, choir works (De stad and a Te Deum) and the two operas Viviane 1950) and De Prostituée (1978).

Sonatina  1959 (Donemus)

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Swan Hennessy  American pianist and composer of Irish descent

Rockford, Illinois, 1866 - Paris 1929 

Some of Hennessy's works became very popular as typical lighter music: the Suite Opus 46 of 1913, with its riotous finale very much in the manner of Percy Grainger, the Serenade in G, opus 65 both for string quartet and the Petit Trio Celtic Opus 52 for violin, viola and cello.
Among his other works are f.ex. 4 string quartets, a trio for  two clarinets and bassoon and the piano work A la manière de … 30 pastiches pour piano, where Hennessy imitates the styles of Brahms, Franck, Grieg, Schumann, Fauré, Dvorak, Richard Strauss, Heller, Debussy, Benjamin Goddard,, Reger, Borodin, Mendelssohn, d'Indy, Clementi, "a young talent of the avant garde", Turina, Rossini, Weber, Scarlatti, Verdi, Chopin, Chabrier, Liszt, Liszt, Schubert Handel, Massenet, Johann Strauss, Ravel and finally Hugo Wolf - no easy undertaking - and something which shows a thorough knowledge of these composers' styles. Henessy's music was often light and with great humor and at least three of his "chamber" works would be at home in a programme of lighter music: the Suite Opus 46 from 1913, which has a riotous finale very much in the manner of Percy Grainger, the Serenade in G, opus 65 both for string quartet and the Petit Trio Celtic Opus 52 for violin, viola and cello.

2 Etudes (J. Hamelle)

Introduction, Twelve Variations and a Fugue  1910 (E. Demets)
The theme for the introduction, the variations and the fugue is "Chopsticks" (Princesse to-ben in Danish).

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Marcella A. Henry 

Born: ?

Gem from Flotow's opera Martha  1913

Shepherd's Lullaby  1911

Annie Laurie  1915

Robin Adair  1915

Home, Sweet Home  1916

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Hans Werner Henze  German composer

Gütersloh, Westfalen, 01.07.1926

Henze started his musical training at the music school in Brunswick but this was interrupted when he was conscripted in 1944 to the German armed forces which were now on retreat and on the point of surrender. 
After the war he resumed his musical studies with René Leibowitz and worked in Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Koblenz and Wiesbaden. His first composition, a chamber concerto, was performed as early as 1946. At first he composed in a Stravinsky inspired neo-classical style (First Symphony, 1947) but with Leibowitz he was introduced to 12-note serialism though unlike his contemporaries he kept his music open to a wide range of materials.
In 1953 he moved to Italy, where he spent the next nine years, first on the island of Ischia and then in Naples. Here he composed his two operas König Hirsch and Der Prinz von Homburg and his three-act ballet Undine. In 1963 he moved to Rome and Castel Gandolfo and three years later finally settled in Marino, a village to the south of Rome notable for its wine-making. Among the principal works written there are Elegy for Young Lovers and The Bassarids (both in collaboration with W.H. Auden), Der Junge Lord (a comic opera to a libretto by Ingeborg Bachmann), After that came The River and The English Cat (both with Edward Bond), the full-length ballet Orpheus, a free version of Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse and, finally, Das Verratene Meer and Venus und Adonis (both to librettos by Hans-Ulrich Treichel). Lately Hans Werner Henze has composed an opera for the 2003 Salzburg Festival, L'Upupa oder Der Triumph der Sohnesliebe to his own libretto.
The last 10-12  years have also seen the composition of four symphonies, nos. 7 to 10, all of which belong to the nineteenth- and twentieth-century German symphonic tradition in terms of their length and demands. All have enjoyed great international acclaim. 
Hans Werner Henze has also written a whole series of solo concertos, as well as piano pieces and chamber music, including five string quartets, works for small mixed ensembles, cantatas, a full-length oratorio entitled Das Floss der Medusa and several shorter orchestral compositions, most notably Fraternité and Scorribanda Sinfonica.
He also left his mark on European music through his activities as a teacher and for many years  taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Musikhochschule in Cologne and at the Tanglewood Festival.

La mano sinistra (The Left Hand); Piece for Leon  1990 (Schott)
Leon being Leon Fleisher for whom Henze wrote the work.

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Paul Silva Herard  

1883 - 1961 

Etude op. 103 nr. 12 from 12 Etudes pianisticques pour la main gauche  1910 (Alphonse Leduc)
The first 11 of the pieces are not for the left hand alone; they are for both hands together - but dealing with special problems for the left hand.

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Josef Herz

xxx

Intermezzo für die linke Hand
The piece was written for Wittgenstein and the manuscript was found among his belongings after his wife's death.

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Marjorie Hicks  Canadian organist, pianist and composer

Born: London, 1915 - 

2 indispositions: nr. 1. Indisposed Right Hand; Lamentoso, slow  1969 (BMI Canada)
nr. 2 is for the indisposed left hand - that is a piece for the right hand - just in case you get mixed up.

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Jennifer Higdon  American composer, flute player and pianist

Born: Brooklyn, New York, 31.12.1962

Miss Higdon spent her first 10 years in Atlanta, Georgia and Seymour, Tennessee and she studied the flute at the Bowling Green State University, where she also attended a conducting course of Robert Spano, and the University of Pennsylvania. As far as composition she studied with teachers as David Loeb and George Crumb. 
From 2005 she is Composer-in-Residence at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music. Today her works are performed by practically all major American orchestras and ensembles. Higdon has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Ithaca College's Hecksher Prize, Composers Inc. (the Lee Ettelson Prize), the University of Delaware New Music Competition, the Louisville Orchestra New Music Search, and the Cincinnati Symphony's Young Composer's Competition. 

Scenes from the Poet's Dreams (piano left hand, string quartet) 1999 (Lawdon Press)
This piano quintet was written for Gary Graffman and first performed by him and the Lark String Quartet. 

Photo of Jennifer Higdon: Candace di Carlo 

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Gary Higginson  British pianist, singer,  teacher and composer

Born 29.12.1952

Higginson is today a Director of Music at a public school in Cumbria. He was trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the same time a private pupil of Edmund Rubbra (composition) and of Patric Standford (orchestration), whilst studying modern techniques with Buxton Orr and analysis with Alfred Nieman. Later, when a student at Birmingham University, he continued his composition studies under John Joubert.
Higginson  is also a composer, singer and writer on music, with especial interest in the Medieval and Renaissance periods and in 20th Century Music. At the Guildhall School, he trained as a counter tenor singing mainly medieval and renaissance music with Philip Pickett's New London Consort and also with the John Alldis Choir. Later he became a lay clerk and has continued to sing professionally, both as a counter-tenor and as a tenor.  He has written over 150 Opused compositions, in every genre. This œvre includes several orchestral works, two operas for young people, two string quartets, a great deal of church and Christmas music, a Piano Quartet,.solo sonatas for every standard woodwind and string instrument, songs and song-cycles, educational music, for voices, piano solo, flute solo etc, pieces for brass band and military bands. His music has recently been heard in South America, France and Ireland. 
Mr. Higginson has acted as  Director of Music at Bredon School Tewkesbury. Assistant at St. Helen's School Abingdon. Director at St. Margarets School Exeter, and now Director of Music at Our Lady's Chetwynde School, Barrow in Furness Cumbria.
Among Higginson writings are English Renaissance composers, several on papers  about Edmund Rubbra especially at the time of his centenary and he is increasingly in demand as a reviewer and writer on music especially for the British Music Society and the Composer Magazine. He has produced articles on English Renaissance polyphonic composers, the Music of Buxton Orr and the music of Carey Blyton.

The Forgotten Temple  2004 (Fand Music) 
According to the composer's notes his inspiration was the Lebanese composer Bechara El-Koury's Symphony Les Ruins de Beyrouth and Higginson have tried to conjure up a biblical landscape but north of Watford gap and perhaps closer to the moors near his home.

Dance of the Intervals  2004 (Fand Music)
The background of this piece was Higginson's realization that some intervals were easier to play with the left hand than others. So he wanted to devise a tricky little fast piece which uses them all with slightly unpredictable rhythms, almost as a didactic exercise to enable the player to move quickly from one interval to another and back again.

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Paul Hindemith  German composer, teacher, conductor and viola player

Hanau, 16.11.1895 - Frankfurt, 28.12.1963

Hindemith was born into a musical family - but not one that considered it proper to make a living out of music even though the children - Toni, Paul and Rudolf had formed the Frankfurt Children's Trio. So - due to this opposition - Paul left his home at the age of eleven firmly decided upon a musical career. After making his living in cafés and different dance bands he entered Dr. Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt where he became a pupil of Arnold Mendelssohn (a half cousin to Felix 1855-1933) and Bernhard Sekles (1872-1934) - the latter also became teacher for Paul's 5 year younger brother Rudolf, who played the cello. 
In 1915 he was appointed leader and conductor of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra where he stayed for eight years. At the same time he founded the Donaueschingen Chamber Music Festival. In 1923 he gave up his orchestral post to become a chamber musician - he had already played in the Rebner Quartet - first 2nd violin and later viola, but now with three others he formed the Amar-Hindemith  String Quartet which traveled all over Europe.

Rudolf Hindemith, cello - Walther 
Caspar, 2nd violin - Licco Amar, 
1st violin - Paul Hindemith, viola 

In 1931 he left the quartet to join a trio with Szymon Goldberg, violin and Emanuel Feuermann, cello but already in 1927 he had been called to Berlin as professor of composition at the High School of Music - a post he held until 1935.

Front page of the Newspaper "The 
Attack" with attack on Hindemith  

During the Nazi Regime his music was banned after which he left his country - first for Switzerland, and in 1938 he settled in USA as teacher of the Yale and Harvard Universities before returning to Europe in 1953.
Hindemith's first works were composed before he was ten years old and during the following 55 odd years he turned into on of the most prolific composers of modern time. He played many instruments himself which gave him an insight which is rare among composers and the creative process came easily to him. 
His stylistic attitude was typical for the generation that saw WW I as a cultural turning point with a need to distance themselves from the 19th century and Hindemith chose to direct his attention to the strict and orderly world of the Baroque. His music concentrated on polyphony of which he became a true master but for many years his music spoke more to the intellect than to the heart. He was one of the founders of the Laienmusikbewegng (Laymen's musical movement) - with music that was intended to provide amateurs with works of quality - but easy to perform - but he later laid a certain distance to this movement. 
Hindemith never really abandoned the principle of tonality but he did create his own system - or definition of tonal tension and relaxation which is one of the most interesting things about his method of composition. Thus his harmonies were often bold and his music has a tremendous drive and often buoyancy bordering on a humor which was rare at the time.
Later his style became milder and warmer and his orchestral works like Mathis der Maler, Symphonic Metamorphosis over a Theme by Weber, Philharmonic Concerto and Symphony in E flat belong to the master pieces of the 20th century.

But considering his style in the 1920s it still remains a mystery why Wittgenstein commissioned a piano concerto from him. Musically the two men were worlds apart and even if Hindemith (just like Prokofiev) wisely chose to accommodate the music for the much more conservative pianist, the project was doomed to be a failure. 
Hindemith did have his fears about how Wittgenstein would receive the concerto and he wrote to the pianist from Frankfurt on 4th may 1923: "I would be sorry if you are not pleased with the piece - perhaps it might sound a bit strange to you at first. I have written it with great love and like it very much myself." He even offered Wittgenstein that they should meet and go through the concerto together to clear up any problems which seemed incomprehensible to the pianist.
The work was sent in parts as the work progressed: "Tomorrow I'll send the last three movement. I have not been able to copy the first one since I have had very much work lately. I hope you can read my writing - I am in the habit of writing my scores with a pencil since I often make improvement at the last moment."
And then there was the question about the fee: "I have a big favor to ask; could you tomorrow send me part of the fee we agreed upon - let's say half. I am restoring an old tower for the money and the work can begin any day if you send the money." Hindemith was obviously a shrewd businessman, since he specifically wanted the money in Dollars and not in Marks or Crowns, as he had noticed that the dollar was increasing its worth and the cost of materials and labor had not yet followed this rise.
Hindemith had already arranged for the premiere of the concerto in the beginning of the concert season 1924. The conductor Julius Preuwer from Breslau had just (August 1923) been appointed General Music Director in Weimar and he had agreed upon the premiere with Wittgenstein. But - as feared, Wittgenstein didn't like the work. In his usual rather blunt way he wrote back to the composer: "I don't understand one note of it - and I am not going to play it". After this the concerto "disappeared". End of story - or is it?

Hindemith's cow-herd-tower in 
Frankfurt which was restored 
for Wittgenstein's money   

Dmitry Hintze  Finnish composer

St. Petersburg, 06.02.1914 - Jyväskyla, 15.11.1997

Hintze studied at the Viipuri Music Institute with Eleonore Friskin and Sergej Kulanko (piano) and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Ernst Linko (piano).
He later performed as a soloist and accompanist throughout Finland. He worked as a piano teacher from 1947 to 1952 at the Viipuri Music Institute and as conductor at the Workers' Theatre in Jyväskyla from 1952 to 1957, where he also had his composition concert in 1952. His output includes primarily piano pieces based on the Russian tradition.
Beside his work as pianist and composer Hintze has also been music critic and as a skilled painter he has held several exhibitions.

Two preludes for left hand  (1952) (FIMIC)

Information: Finnish Music Information Centre (FIMIC)

A. L. Hirst  

Born: ?

Toujours prêt (Always ready) op. 23 nr. 5  1913 (Phillips & Page)
Mentioned in BBC, Music Library, Piano and organ catalogue, vol. I

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Neil Hobson English pianist and composer 

Born: Liverpool, 23.09.1933

For the following biography I am indebted to Neil Hobson's daughter Emma Cantons (herself an accomplished jazz musician) who found my all too sparse information on this site and was able to supply me with the following - sharing with me and my readers the great story of a man determined to fight his handicap:  

Neil Hobson came down to London in his early twenties, already an accomplished jazz pianist. He worked as a scene painter and quickly progressed to becoming a stage designer. By the age of 26 he had five shows in the west end running concurrently. He married my mother, Mary Lush, herself a gold-medallist pianist from the Royal Academy of Music, London but tragically one year later he suffered a major brain infection and was left paralyzed down his right side, unable to speak and in need of constant care.  
Through playing Bach organ pieces at the piano with my mother his speech gradually returned and he began to re-learn his skills as a jazz player. They had four children, three of whom are still living (I'm one of the twins!). In the late seventies the Disabled Living Foundation decided to preserve my father's wonderful arrangements of a series of jazz standards and the volume mentioned below was published. 
Though he never worked in the theatre again, he made a new career as a music therapist working with disabled children and adults through improvised music, at which he was always a complete natural. In the eighties his health declined and he moved into a specialist nursing home where he remains to this day, though in very frail health and no longer able to play the piano but he can still sing lines from Gershwin and Cole Porter to express himself.

Emma Canton's website www.myspace.com/emmacantons

Seven Jazz Improvisations on Songs of the 30's arranged for one hand: 1. Foggy Dew, 2. Georgia, 3. Manhattan, 4. Miss Otis Regrets, 5. Skylark, 6. The Folks Who Live on the Hill, 7. They can't take that away from me  1978 (Disabled Living Foundation)

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Caesar Hochstetter  German critic and editor

Born: ?

Apparently not much is known about Hochstetter except for the fact that he was a music critic who admired Max Reger and that Reger's Aquarellen op. 25 are dedicated to him. Hochstetter published the article: "Noch einmal Max Reger" in Die Redenden Künste 5 (1898/99) nr. 49, s. 943 f.

Album für einhändige Klavierspiel: 8 Stücke von Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Reger und Zichy (for right or left hand) 1915 (Breitkopf & Härtel)
Transcriptions

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Paul Höffer  German Composer and pianist

Barmen, Wuppertal, 21.12.1895 - Berlin 31.08.1949

Höffer was pupil of Kölner  and with Walter Georgii (piano) and after WW I he became a pupil of composition of Franz Bölche. In 1920 he entered the High School of Music in Berlin where his teachers in composition were Ernst Krenek, Alois Hába, Karl Rathaus and Franz Schreker and of Hermann Abendroth in conducting at Cologne.
He later became teacher at the High School of Music in Berlin - first in 1923 as piano teacher and in 1930 as professor of composition and theory. In 1948 he was appointed director of the institution but died suddenly of a heart attack the year after. Among his pupils was the Swedish composer Erland von Koch.
As a composer he belonged to the same school as Hindemith with his idea of Laienmusikbewegng (Laymen's musical movement) - with music that was intended to provide amateurs with works of quality - written in a modern idiom - but easy to perform. 
His first symphony (1926) which was influenced by the works of Hindemith had been much criticized and after some years where he received very little attention he changed his attitude deliberately in the late 1920s and beginning of the 1930s simplifying his music to attract a wider public. Höffer even made contributions to the great Nazi occasions such as the cantata Olympischer Schwur (Olympic Oath) for the Olympic Games in 1936.Sinfonie der grossen Stadt (1937) was a hymn to Berlin, the center of the third Reich and his oratorio Der reiche tag (The rich day -1938) did also suit the Nazi leaders. But his opera Der falsche Waldemar (The false Waldemar - 1934) did not. It was simply banned and from 1942 till after the War Höffer kept silent as composer. Besides this his works range from operas, oratorios, orchestral music and chamber music works and finally vocal compositions for choir or solo voice.   

2 Etüden from 12 Etüden: 1. Largo, 2. Allegro vivace  1942 

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Richard Hoffman  English-American pianist

Manchester, 24.05.1831 - Mt. Kisco, NY, 17.08.1909

In his early youth Hoffmann studied with almost every famous piano teacher in Europe: Ignaz Moscheles, Marie Pleyel, Leopold de Meyer, Nicolas Rubinstein, Theodor Döhler and Liszt.

At the age of sixteen he went to New York where he made his début with the Philharmonic Society on 27th November 1847 with Mendelssohn's piano concerto in G minor (nr.1) and in 1854 he played the American premiere of Chopin's piano concerto in E minor. In the years between he had been accompanist to Jenny Lind and he later became an important figure and a highly regarded figure in the New York musical scene.
being elected honorary member of the Philharmonic Society. His compositions are mainly for the piano. 

Venetian Serenade  1907 (Presser)

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August W. Hoffmann

(1876 - 1957)

(Op. 100: 28 melodious and instructive left hand etudes for the pianoforte) (after Bertini's Passages from op29 and 32), carefully fingered and phrased, together with original melodies for the right hand, op100. Book I (Etudes 1-12)  (Cincinnati: Church; Karlsruhe: Kuntz)
Mentioned in Mrs. Adele Perry (Trowbridge) Compendium of Piano Material etc. p. 53, and Hofmeisters Handbuch der Klavierliteratur 1890-1903, p 375

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(No portrait)

Eruptio (Eruption for the left hand)  (2001)
This work is written on commission by the poet Caj Westerberg for the Swedish poet and pianist Tomas Tranströmer

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Josef Hofmann  Polish-American super virtuoso, composer and inventor

Crakow, Poland, 20.01.1876 - Los Angeles, 16.02.1957

Hofmann was one of the most remarkable prodigies among pianists. He grew up in a musical home with his father Casimir - being pianist, conductor and composer himself. Young Josef made his  public debut at the tender age of six and at nine he played Beethoven's first piano concerto in Berlin with Hans von Bülow conducting. On the 29th. November 1887 he made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House where all the great critics were amazed by the boy's phenomenal technique. In ten weeks he played 52 concerts: Solo recitals, duos with his father and even conducting his own orchestral work "Polonaise Americaine". 

He must also have had one of the most accurate perfect pitches in the history of music. The tuning fork at the Metropolitan (accepted by all to be precise) was dismissed by the boy as being "sharp". Nonsense! - he was told - but a physical analysis told that the fork was in fact - sharp!
As words were out that the boy's talents were being exploited at the risk of his health an anonymous  New York philanthropist (later identified as one Alfred Corning Clark) donated fifty thousand dollars on condition that Josef was withdrawn from the concert stage until he was 18.
Back in Europe the family settled in Berlin with Moszkowski as Hofmann's new teacher and in 1892 he started with Anton Rubinstein - later claiming that he was his only private pupil ever.
Hofmann became the  first pianist to make a commercial record (1887), and after his return to the stage he became one of the truly great virtuosos. He had small hands and therefore had Steinway build a Concert Grand to him with slightly narrower keys. 

Hofmann about the turn of the century. 
At that time his colleagues already
 regarded him as a Superman

Hofmann published more than 100 works under the pseudonym Michael Dvorsky (thereby playing with the Russian translation of Hofmann - that is "man of the court") but for a long time he simply denied that it was him - telling the newspapers - with a straight face - that Dvorsky was a very talented invalid French composer living at the Spanish Villa d'Eau of San Sebastian!.
As an inventor he held more than 70 patents of mechanical devices - some of them very well known even today; for example the electric window shield wiper for cars.

Etude in C major op. 37   (c.1905) (C. Dieckmann) - A marvelous piece and both published under his own name and recorded by him. 

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Wilfrid Holland  Australian composer

Born 1920

A little study for the left hand  ca. 1994 (Canberra : Wilfrid Holland)
This piece is part of Two Little Studies for Single hand of which Prelude is for the right hand alone.

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Alexis Holländer  German pianist, conductor and composer

Ratibor, Silesia, 25.02.1840 - Berlin, 05.02.1924

Holländer was educated in Breslau from 1856 to 1861 as pupil of Joseph Ignaz Schnabel and Adolf Hesse simultaneous with studies at the Royal Academy in Berlin under Eduard August Grell and A. W. Bach and as a private pupil of K. Böhmer. After this he was in 1861 appointed teacher at Theodore Kullak's Institute, at the same time conducting the Cäcilienverein and being nominated professor in 1888. His compositions are mostly chamber music and piano works and he edited a volume of the piano music of Robert Schumann, who was a great inspiration in his own work as a composer.
Both as conductor and pianist he introduced a number of works by Schumann and Brahms to the Berlin audiences. Holländer himself composed - in the style of Schumann - several interesting pieces. .
In his search for left hand music Paul Wittgenstein was very much pleased with Holländer's works which combine a rich melodic gift with true romantic feeling without sentimentality and an extreme sound technical finish.

6 Klavierstücke op. 31: 1. Abendbild (Evening Picture), 2. Etude, 3. Melodie, 4. Walzer, 5. Perpetuum Mobile, 6. Jagdlied (Hunting Song after Schumann's  from Album für die Jugend).  1884 (Schlesinger)

6. Klavierstücke op. 52: 1. Lied, 2. Scherzino, 3. Studie, 4. Menuetto, 5. Romanze, 6. Canon.  1897 (Schlesinger)

6 Fantasiestücke op. 66: 1. Gavotte, 2. Pilgerzug (Pilgrimage), 3. Nachtliches Ritt (Nightly Ride), 4. Schlummerlied (Lullaby), 5. Das Bächlein (The Brooklet), 6. Ländler.  c.1916 (Schlesinger)

Zwei Tondichtungen für die linke Hand allein (Two tone poems for the left hand alone) op. 69 (Schlesinger)
The two pieces are Venetian gondola-song and an arrangement of Schubert's Erlkönig both dedicated to Paul Wittgenstein.

Mit fliegenden Fahnen; Marsch (With flying colours; march)  (Universal)

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Camillo [Kamillo] (Andreas) Horn  Austrian composer and pianist

Reichenberg, Bohemia, 29.12.1860 - Vienna, 03.09.1941

Pupil of Bruckner

(Two pieces): Albumblatt op. 33 nr. 1 (Langsam), Fantasia op. 33 nr. 2  (1908)  (Kahnt)

Albumblätter op. 37 No. 1

Photo: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv http://www.bildarchiv.at

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Siegen, 21.6.1898 - ???

This Rudolf Horn is a rather elusive character of which very little is known. He was son of Karl Horn (1852 in - before 1944) and and Leonore Seelbach (1856 - before 1944).
Like Wittgenstein Horn lost his right arm during WW1. It was for him that Bortkiewicz wrote his Epithalame, the third piece in his op. 65.
In 1939 he  was i Hannover where he married Johanna Nush (born 31.07.1914 in Berlin but whom he had met in Siegen) and they thereafter lived in Baden. According to the MAGISTRAT DER STADT WIEN he returned to Vienna where he from 08.01.1944 shared an appartment with af friend 4, Resselgasse 5/II/17 but from 1951 every trace of him disappears.

(Andante Cantabile from Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata)

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István Horváth-Thomas  Hungarian pianist and composer

Born: Pesc, 1948

Horváth-Thomas studied piano and organ in his home town Pesc and later composition in Budapest. From 1972 to 1976 he gave concerts alone and with the Gruber Trio from Wiesbaden.
For some time he stayed in Germany as independent composer, but is now back in Budapest.
In 1989 he was awarded for his Sinfonietta, which was premiered at composers' Festival in Baden-Würtemberg and in 1991 his Kreuzweg (Cross Road) was performed and recorded in Riga's Cathedral.
Horváth-Thomas has also been active as a recording artist for the SWR, Stuttgart and on CD - among others one with music by Zichy.
Among his compositions are Oh, Mammut-Mama (a stone age devotion) for symphonic brass band, piano music and chamber music (Bagatelles Hongroises for wind instruments and Chátuna (Wedding) over a Jidish theme for violin and piano).

Album for Piano Left Hand: 1. Orion-Nebel (Orion Fog),  2. Madrigal,  3.Metamorphosen über ein Thema von Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Metamorphoses on a theme by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy), and  4. Shalóm alejchém über einen althebräische Melodie" (Shalóm alejchém over an old Hebrew song) (Verlag Neue Musik GmbH Berlin)

The Chameleon (Spiritual)  (Verlag Neue Musik GmbH Berlin)

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Christina Hovemann

Born: ?

Twilight Shadows  1946 (Flammer)

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Hans Huber  Swiss composer, pianist and teacher

Eppenberg, Solothurn, Switzerland, 28.06.1852 - Locarno, 25.12.1921

After having his first lessons from his father - an accomplished amateur musician, Huber was allowed at the age of seven to follow a musicians career with the first systematical training at a religious institute in Solothurn, where they soon realized, that they could not teach him anything. Finally in 1870 he entered the Leipzig Conservatory as pupil of Carl Reinecke, Alfred Richter, Wenzel and Oscar Paul. After some years of teaching in Alsace Huber took up residence in Basel where he was appointed director of the Conservatory - a post he held until his retirement in 1918.
Hans Huber must be considered the most important Swiss composer of the late nineteenth century with a wide range of compositions to his credit: 8 symphonies, several operas, Masses and oratorios, concertos for piano and violin, a large number of chamber music, piano works and songs - all in a style somewhere between Brahms an Liszt.

Hans Huber

After having been neglected for almost a century his symphonies are now beginning to appear on CDs.

Die Schulung der linken Hand (The Schooling of the Left Hand) 

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Charles Huerter  American organist and composer of religious works

(1885 -1974)

Born in Brooklyn,  ?

Six Compositions: 1. Spring's Magic, 2. The White Butterfly, 3. from the Southland, 4. Restless Moments, 5. Summer Moon, 6. Bridlepaths.  1926 (Wood)

Dancing in the Sunlight  1927 (Schirmer)

Mask Dance 1927 (Schirmer)

Tango  1927 (Schirmer)

Marching  1927 (Schirmer)

By the Firelight  1928 (Schirmer)

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Ferdinand Hummel  German harp player, pianist, conductor and composer 

Berlin, 06.09.1855 - Berlin, 24.04.1928

Ferdinand Hummel started as a child prodigy and his father, who was a flute player in the Royal Orchestra in Berlin, took care of his son's first musical training instructing him in both the piano and the harp from the age of four (some say seven) gaining a King Wilhelm von Preussen Stipendium so he could study with Antonio Zamara at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. 
In the years 1864 to 1867 the boy toured with his father to South- and North Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia where he was hailed as a great harp virtuoso. Through a Royal grant he later went to study at New Academy of Music, Berlin (Theodor Kullak's institute) from 1868 to 1875 and later at the Royal High School for Music and Composition. with Woldemar Bargiel and Friedrich Kiel as his prime teachers. After his education he functioned as harp player in B. Bilse's Orchestra which was later to become the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1892 Hummel was appointed leader of the stage music at the Royal Theatre in Berlin becoming director from 1897 to 1917. 
As a composer he was very productive writing operas, chamber music, piano pieces and choral works. Today his music is forgotten but his operas are at least of some interest since they form a German equivalent to the Italian Verismo-style of Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo.
A list of his operas include: Mara op. 61 (1893), Angla op.60 (1894), Ein treuer Schelm op. 64 (A faithful rogue)(1894), Assarpai op. 65 (1898), Sophie von Brabant (Sophie from Brabant) (1899). Die Beichte op. 69 (The Confession)  (1900), Die Gefilde der Seligen (The Field of the Holy Ones) (1917) and Jenseits des Stroms (On the Other Side of the Stream) (1922).
Beside that Hummel composed music for the plays Das heilige Lachen (The Holy Laughing) and Sakuntala - both in 1903. Further he composed a symphony in D major op. 105, a piano concerto in B flat major op. 35, a piano quintet, a violin sonata, a horn sonata and other minor works.
By the way he was no relation of Johann Nepomuk Hummel.

5 Klavierstücke op. 43: 1. Frühlingsgrass (Grass in Spring), 2. Etude, 3. Walzer, 4. Lied (Song), 5. March  (Leipzig: Siegel)

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Miriam Hyde  Australian pianist and composer

Born: Adelaide, 15.01.1913 - Sydney, 11. 01. 2005.

Mrs. Hyde first studied music with her mother and later at the Elder Conservatorium (Adelaide University). Here she received two diplomas and at the age of 18 she graduated as Mus.bac. With a scholarship she spent three years studying at the Royal College of Music in London, where she also was soloist in two of her own piano concertos with the major London orchestras.
During this time she won three composition prizes. On her return to Adelaide she followed the advice of professor Arthur Benjamin and moved to Sydney as teacher at the Kambala School.
At the outbreak of the second World War in 1939 she married Marcus Edwards just before he went to battle in Libya, Greece and Crete, from which he returned safely to be re-united with his Miriam. 
During the years Mrs. Hyde has been busy with broadcasts, public performances, lectures, teaching, and always a busy pen, writing numerous articles and analyses for music journals, as well as close on 500 poems, some of which she has used for her own songs. Her literary activity culminated in her autobiography, Complete Accord, published in 1991 by Currency Press, Sydney, the royalties devoted to the scholarship that she won in 1931.
Particularly in the years from 1980, Miriam has received numerous accolades; in 1981 the OBE, and 1991 the AO (Officer of the Order of Australia). In her 80th year (1993) Macquarie University conferred on her an HonDLitt. In 1995 she was awarded an HonFMusA.
In December, 1998, the International Biographical Center, Cambridge, offered her nomination for International Woman of the Year, 1998-9, for Service to Music. Miriam has accepted this, if only in acknowledgement of the fact that, although Australia will always remain geographically isolated, it is not always cultural wilderness.

Concert waltz  1999 ("Composer’s autograph", Grosvenor Place, N.S.W. : Reproduced and distributed by Australian Music Centre)

Intermezzo op. 6

Rhapsodic study  1999 ("Composer’s autograph", Grosvenor Place, N.S.W. : Reproduced and distributed by Australian Music Centre)

Susan Bray's Album  A set of 10 small pieces for the left hand alone.
The history of this album is in fact so heart-warming and moving that it deserves to told here. 
On a concert Tour in the 1940s Miriam Hyde visited some friends and their guests. During the evening she played her Intermezzo and afterwards one of the guests (a Mr. Ken Bray) was especially moved. He had never imagined that it would be possible to play so beautifully and satisfyingly with only one hand. One of his daughters, Susan, was born without a right hand. Now he and his wife Esme realized that their daughter could study piano after all.  
This story moved Miriam Hyde so much that she at once set out to write this album of pieces for the little girl. Certainly a grand story about Australia's musical Grand Old Lady.

Source: National Library of Australia

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