STEPHEN HELLER: 
 
 HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 

 
STEPHEN HELLER 
 
 HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 cjfrom the Jfreneh of 
 
 H. BARBEDETTE. 
 
 ROBERT BROWN-BORTHWICK, 
 
 Vicar of All Saints', Scarborough. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 ASHDOWN & PARRY, 
 
 HANOVER SQUARE, W. 
 
 MDCCCLXXVII. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/stephenhellerhisOObarb_O 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Chapter 
 
 Page 
 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 I. 
 
 Biographical Sketch 
 
 I 
 
 2 . 
 
 The works of Heller compared to those of Chopin 
 
 19 
 
 3- 
 
 A general view of the works of Heller ... 
 
 25 
 
 4- 
 
 In what does artistic originality consist ? Heller, 
 while being thoroughly original, influenced 
 
 
 
 by Mendelssohn and Schumann 
 
 28 
 
 5- 
 
 Caprices, etc., of Heller, on works of Schubert, 
 
 
 
 Mendelssohn, Weber, and Beethoven 
 
 36 
 
 6 . 
 
 Original works — Sonatas, Scherzos, Caprices, 
 
 
 
 Fantaisies 
 
 42 
 
 7 - 
 
 Vaises, Tarentelles, Polonaises ... 
 
 49 
 
 8. 
 
 Impromptus 
 
 54 
 
 9- 
 
 Nocturnes, Ballades, Romances sans Paroles... 
 
 56 
 
 IO. 
 
 Musical feelings inspired by Nature — Prome- 
 
 
 
 nades d'un solitaire, Dans les bois 
 
 60 
 
 1 1. 
 
 Nuits blanches, Pieces d’ Album 
 
 70 
 
 12. 
 
 Preludes ... 
 
 75 
 
 i3- 
 
 Studies 
 
 7 * 
 
 14 . 
 
 Various pieces 
 
 83 
 
 J 5- 
 
 On virtuosity in music ... 
 
 Complete Catalogue of the works of Heller. 
 
 84 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JN the year 1866, the illustrious critic, M. 
 
 Fetis, wrote thus of Stephen Heller : — 
 ■“ At a time of universal decadence like the 
 present, when art has fallen as low as it 
 inevitably must whenever public opinion and 
 the moral tone of society have become de- 
 based — it is consoling to meet here and there 
 with a well-tempered mind, powerful enough 
 to resist the popular impulse and to manifest 
 the force of its individuality by work which 
 bears the impress of genius, thoughtfulness, 
 and constructive skill. And whether this 
 genius be expressed on a large scale or in 
 miniature, its results are equally interesting, 
 and will take their place among the monu- 
 ments of the history of art. 
 
11. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 “ The courage of Stephen Heller in ful- 
 filling his own special mission in his day and 
 generation commands our admiration, all the 
 more because he did not at first receive the 
 appreciation which was his due ; and also 
 because, instead of being discouraged by the 
 neglect to which he was subjected, he rose to 
 a higher and higher level, and devoted himself 
 day by day to cultivating, by sedulous work, 
 the talent which God had given him. 
 
 “True poetry — without which all art is 
 lifeless — can express itself as well in the sonnet 
 as in the epic, since neither greatness nor 
 beauty are measurable by rule or by size. 
 Within the narrow limits of form to which 
 Stephen Heller has confined the expression 
 of his thoughts, there is no lack either of the 
 one or the other. This is now universally 
 recognised ; for while the public is often unjust 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 111. 
 
 to an unknown name, however great the signs 
 of genius, it is always glad to welcome that 
 of one who has triumphed over difficulties.” 
 
 These words, true ten years ago, are now 
 more than ever true ; for Stephen Heller has 
 won a well-deserved and world-wide repu- 
 tation. 
 
 It is for this reason that we have placed 
 at the head of our proposed “ Studies on 
 Contemporary Artists ” the name of a com- 
 poser for whose character and genius we have 
 a strong and sympathetic admiration. 
 
STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TEPHEN HELLER was born at Pesth, 
 
 in Hungary, on the 15th of May, 1815. 
 
 His name, however, as well as the character 
 of his music, reveals his German origin. # 
 
 H is father sent him to the college of the 
 Piarist fathers ; but the ruling passion of the 
 child was his intense love of music. His first 
 instructor in the art was not quite the man to 
 lead his pupil into the path of the ideal, for 
 he was a Bohemian bandsman of a regiment 
 of artillery then quartered at Pesth. At a later 
 period he was succeeded by a M. Franz Brauer 
 — a better music master. At nine years of age 
 
 * His parents were both natives of Bohemia and were born 
 near Eger. His grand-parents were Austrian. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Heller played with his master, at the Pesth 
 theatre, a concerto by Dussek for two piano- 
 fortes. A few years later his passion for 
 music, coupled with the successes he had 
 achieved as a performer, induced his father 
 to yield to his entreaties and the advice of 
 friends, and he left his son free permission to 
 enter upon the career towards which the young 
 lad felt so irresistible a call. He was sent to 
 Vienna to pursue his studies under Charles 
 Czerny. But that celebrated musician de- 
 manded so exorbitant a remuneration that 
 Heller was unable to procure from him more 
 than a very few lessons. He became the 
 pupil of another professor M. Antoine Halm — 
 at that time famous at Vienna, not only as a 
 o-ood musician, but as one of the few friends of 
 
 •o> 
 
 Beethoven, who had a very high regard for him. 
 
 In the year 1827, young Heller was playing 
 at concerts in Vienna and at Pesth — being at 
 that time between twelve and thirteen years 
 old. And now commenced that Odyssey of 
 wandering through Germany which was des- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 3 
 
 tined one day to land him in Paris, where, like 
 Chopin, he found his future home. 
 
 Accompanied by his father — who managed 
 the financial and other business details of the 
 tour — young Heller journeyed through Hun- 
 gary, Poland, and Northern Germany, giving 
 concerts. There was at that time a rage for infant 
 prodigies, who swarmed all over the country. 
 The boy had a brilliant touch, and the confi- 
 dence of untried youth. Moreover, he had the 
 rarer gift — that of improvisation. It was an- 
 nounced in the programmes that at the end of 
 the concerts Stephen Heller would extemporize 
 on themes suggested by the audience. These 
 flights of fancy — -freie phantasie , as they were 
 called — captivated the public. 
 
 Whence came these lucubrations, of a 
 youthful imagination, which none of the works 
 of the great masters had suggested ? The 
 child knew nothing of Beethoven, and but little 
 — -scarcely anything — of Mozart or Haydn. 
 He might have casually and inattentively 
 
 listened to one of their quartets or symphonies 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 at Vienna ; but he had never studied one of 
 these master-pieces. His musical education 
 had been confined exclusively to the correct 
 execution of some of the concertos of 
 Moscheles, Hummel, and Ries, several brilliant 
 fantasias and some rondos by the same com- 
 posers. He had practised a few airs with 
 variations by Herz, and a few concert pieces by 
 Kalkbrenner. 
 
 If this kind of life did not tend to form the 
 musical taste of the young performer, it had its 
 advantages in other respects. If it did not 
 make him an artist, it at all events made a man 
 of him. Young Heller was very observant 
 and of a reflective turn of mind. His impres- 
 sions stamped themselves indelibly on his 
 brain ; and later on when the true artfet began 
 to appear in his character and work, he had 
 only to draw forth from this casket the rich 
 stores which his memory had treasured up 
 from early youth. If his fingers did but 
 wander over the keys there burst forth a 
 shower of melodies of which the sources lay far 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 5 
 
 back* in these early impulses of a youthful heart 
 and a precocious intellect. 
 
 There was nothing he did not see, no one 
 he did not hear, during those three or four 
 years when, like the young Wilhelm Meister, 
 he served his apprenticeship to life on the stage 
 of the wide world. He saw artists of every 
 kind — some acknowledged as great by the 
 whole world, some great only in their native 
 village. He saw learned professors in famous 
 universities, whose wives and daughters talked 
 of Mozart and of Beethoven as their parents 
 talked of Grotius and Puffendorf or of Virgil 
 and Tacitus, and who played with rapture 
 Herz’s Airs with Variations and Steibelt’s 
 ■Storm. 
 
 Everybody in Germany cultivated music 
 and affected to be an artist, from the prompter 
 in the theatre at Dessau, who, because he was 
 a German, had thought it necessary in self- 
 respect to compose his share of Oratorios 
 and Symphonies, to the President of the 
 Supreme Court who was not above the com- 
 
6 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 position of a sentimental “ Lied.” All these 
 gave a hearty welcome to the young boy who 
 knew so well how to express his thoughts 
 upon the forte-piano . 
 
 While his father took charge of all the 
 business arrangements of their campaign, and 
 like a prudent general, maintained the invading 
 troop at the enemy’s cost, young Heller looked 
 on, incessantly observing and classifying in 
 his brain the various incidents of the moving 
 panorama which in that world of strange con- 
 trasts, of Magyar and Sclave, was ever passing 
 before his eye. He came into contact with 
 Polish nobles, some proud of their race and 
 steeped in the passions and vices of feudal 
 times, others wiser, more enlightened and larger 
 minded ; with Russian princes, some of them 
 despotic and tyrannical, adoring Voltaire and 
 Rousseau and knouting women ; others as 
 finical and fastidious as a petit-maitre of the last 
 century. He met patriots on the high road to 
 exile bearing with them in their broken hearts 
 the sacred image of their country. And on 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 7 
 
 approaching the more civilized regions of 
 Germany, how often, past all count, was he 
 beset by the innumerable horde of seedy 
 journalists, unappreciated daubers, and unpub- 
 lished composers ! 
 
 Goethe has narrated for us the years of 
 apprenticeship and the years of travel of 
 Wilhelm Meister ; and it is much to be 
 deplored that Heller never committed his re- 
 collections to paper. For the impressions of 
 childhood are ever the most vivid and endur- 
 ing. It is the starting point of life ; and 
 many a resolution of ripened manhood is due 
 to one of these impressions that has remained 
 hidden in a corner of the brain. This it is 
 which gives such a charm to the stories of the 
 childhood of great heroes — real or fictitious. 
 
 After spending a winter at Cracow young 
 Heller visited Breslau, Dresden, Leipzig, 
 Magdeburg, Brunswick, Cassel, Hanover and 
 Hamburg. Here he remained during the 
 second winter and as usual gave concerts. 
 But tired of this unsettled life he resolved 
 
8 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 to return to Hungary accompanied by his 
 father. Passing through Cassel, Frankfort, and 
 Nuremburg, he reached Augsburg exhausted 
 and ill. He was now nearly seventeen and 
 began for the first time to realise that his 
 musical education was not begun, but that he 
 was merely a pianist with a brilliant touch, 
 knowing nothing of art but what were called 
 Concert pieces. A few lessons in harmony 
 which he had received at Pesth from the aged 
 organist Cibalka constituted his entire stock of 
 musical science. 
 
 A lady of position and influence heard 
 Heller play at a concert in Augsburg, and 
 interested herself in the lad. Her children 
 were just commencing the study of the piano- 
 forte. He was requested to give them some 
 lessons, and to take up his abode with them 
 in the capacity of a friend. His father left 
 him with this family, and returned to his own 
 home at Pesth. Just about this time a 
 French composer named Chelard, who had 
 written music to Macbeth , was director of the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 9 
 
 opera at Augsburg. Heller for some time 
 placed himself under his tuition in composition. 
 But the acquaintance that was most serviceable 
 to him was that of Count Fugger, a descendant 
 of the illustrious family of that name. The 
 count was a leading man in society and in high 
 command in the Bavarian army. His military 
 talents were far from being appreciated by his 
 fellow-soldiers ; but he was a man of immense 
 reading and possessed a rich general and 
 musical library. He was moreover a philo- 
 sopher, and a Christian in the highest sense 
 of the word. He it was who first opened 
 the eyes of Heller to the mistaken path in 
 which he had been led. He placed the 
 treasures of his library at his disposal. The 
 sonatas of Beethoven revealed to him at 
 once a hitherto undiscovered world. And the 
 moment was opportune, for the young artist 
 was just beginning to be disgusted with his 
 profession of concert-giver. He had a vague 
 feeling that he was not pursuing the paths of 
 true art. He began to study the literature of his 
 
IO 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 art, and to make himself acquainted with the 
 masterpieces of ancient music as well as with 
 the works of good modern composers. He 
 began to love — even to adore — Beethoven, 
 Mozart, Haydn ; later on he became enamoured 
 of Mendelssohn and Chopin. He was the first 
 to play at Augsburg the works of Chopin, 
 but — it must be admitted — without success. 
 Chopin’s day was yet to come. Heller then 
 tried composition. He wrote several pianoforte 
 solos as well as concerted pieces, and set to 
 music words by Goethe, Heine, Rtickert and 
 Uhland. 
 
 After a few years passed in this way he 
 went to visit his parents at Pesth. But he 
 did not remain long, and returned to his dear 
 Augsburg, there to give himself up entirely 
 to study. 
 
 In the year 1836 he happened to see a 
 number of a newspaper called Zeitschrift, 
 which w r as edited at Leipsic by Schumann, 
 who offered therein to criticise the manuscript 
 compositions of any young composers who 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. II 
 
 might be disposed to forward them to him for 
 that purpose. Heller had written and pub- 
 lished, during his travels, five or six airs with 
 variations, as well as some rondos and fan- 
 tasias. But, after his more serious studies at 
 Augsburg, he had written a scherzo and three 
 impromptus (Op. 7 and 8), which were of a 
 very different stamp. He forwarded them, 
 with a letter, to Schumann. The masters in- 
 terest was aroused, and he sent for Hellers 
 first six works, in which, however, he told 
 him that he failed to find the high standard 
 of excellence which Ops. 7 and 8 displayed. 
 He delighted the young composer by inform- 
 ing him that he had persuaded Kistner, of 
 Leipsic, to publish these two manuscripts. 
 Heller did not know a single note of 
 Schumanns music ; indeed, he was under the 
 impression that he was a purely theoretical 
 critic. They then commenced a correspon- 
 dence which was kept up till within a few 
 years of the last illness of that great com- 
 poser. Schumann was full of kindness to 
 
12 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 young Heller, and lavished upon him much 
 encouragement. Another work, Sonata Op. 
 9, was published by Kistner, through the 
 mediation of Schumann. It has never 
 been reprinted in France. Stephen Heller 
 long treasured Schumann’s letters ; but, un- 
 fortunately, he lost them during a removal, 
 and was deeply grieved that he could not 
 therefore hand them to Madame Schumann 
 when she was preparing the biography of 
 her husband. 
 
 In 1837 Kalkbrenner came to Augsburg, 
 and condescended to play a duet with Stephen 
 Heller at a concert. He persuaded the latter 
 to complete his education as a pianist by 
 some years of study under himself. Heller, 
 like every one, was captivated by his brilliant 
 and elegant touch, and considered him, along 
 with Moscheles, whom he had heard at 
 Vienna, the most marvellous of pianists. 
 Schumann, too, did not fail to urge him to 
 work hard at the pianoforte, and assured him 
 that nothing was so important as to be able 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 1 3 
 
 to play his own compositions in a masterly 
 way ; that no one can interpret a composers 
 ideas so well as himself, and thus that, at 
 whatever cost, he must labour to acquire the 
 mechanical power of doing so. 
 
 The counsels of Schumann on the one 
 hand, combined with the Parisian eloquence 
 of Kalkbrenner on the other, promising Heller, 
 if he came to Paris, the aid of the constant 
 advice, friendship, and influence of his pro- 
 tector, decided him to quit the beloved scene 
 of his calm and peaceful studies. He bade 
 adieu, for ever, to that sweet and undisturbed 
 life, where cares were unknown. 
 
 This sacrifice was rendered less bitter than 
 it would have been by the death of Count 
 Fugger. In losing him Heller lost more than 
 a friend ; for the count had been to him like 
 a father, and without him Augsburg seemed 
 no longer Augsburg. Count Fugger had pro- 
 mised to bequeath to Heller his library and 
 his pianofortes ; but the family were probably 
 ignorant of this promise, and their relative 
 
i4 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 having died intestate, his rich treasures were 
 dispersed by his heirs. 
 
 Heller arrived in Paris in October 1838, 
 with but a modest sum in his pocket, and 
 destitute of other resources. He called upon 
 Kalkbrenner, from whom he received two or 
 three lessons, but was soon obliged to discon- 
 tinue them ; for the masters terms were 
 peculiar. He required that the young artist 
 should pay £ 20 a year ; should undertake to 
 remain five years under his direction, which 
 consisted in passing a monthly examination — 
 for he was relegated, as far as teaching was 
 concerned, to one of Kalkbrenner’s pupils ; 
 and that he should publish nothing without 
 the professor’s consent, lest the pupil should 
 compromise the reputation of his teacher ! 
 
 The first years of Heller’s sojourn in Paris 
 were melancholy ones. For he was by nature 
 proud, reserved, with a shyness he found it 
 impossible to overcome. Moreover, he clung 
 passionately to independence of thought and 
 action. He declined to purchase the satis- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 15 
 
 faction of his self-esteem at the price of that 
 independence. On his arrival in Paris it was 
 in his power, had he chosen, to attach him- 
 self to those who were powerful, or in the way 
 to become so Those who frequented the salons 
 to which he might have had the entrie have 
 since then risen to high positions in the world 
 of finance, of diplomacy, of statesmanship, and 
 even of art. Indeed, the entree to the recep- 
 tions of a few great ladies of the period, at 
 the commencement of the reign of Louis 
 Philippe, was a passport to certain distinction 
 of one kind or another. And gifted, as Heller 
 was, with a handsome countenance, a noble 
 bearing, and very attractive qualities, he was 
 certain, had he followed the example of others, 
 to arrive at speedy distinction. But Heller 
 was not made of such stuff. He preferred to 
 plough his own furrow, unaided. And he did 
 so, but slowly indeed, and at the cost of many 
 disappointments. He loved art for its own 
 sake, not for the sake of what it brought 
 him. He was unversed in those polite insin- 
 
i6 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 cerities which are the passports to society. 
 He loved simplicity and straightforwardness in 
 everything. He would not allow that prin- 
 ciples should be sacrificed to the supposed 
 necessities of the moment. He made very 
 little use, therefore, of great people, but went 
 through the world closely observing all around 
 him ; and repudiating the advice of so-called 
 practical people, withdrew into himself. More- 
 over, the few attempts that he had made to 
 bring himself forward in a legitimate way had 
 not been encouraging. For when he came to 
 Paris the taste for pianoforte music had not 
 developed as it has done during the last ten 
 years. Heller had once or twice played to a 
 small company his Scherzo, Op. 24, and his 
 Studies, Op. 16, etc. The delicate beauties of 
 this music had not been appreciated by his 
 audience. And so he gave up playing alto- 
 gether ; and it is astonishing how, in spite of 
 this, his works have become known. For when 
 an artist does not risk the production of his 
 own works, his friends must work for him. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 17 
 
 ■ I 
 
 The artists are few and far between who were 
 willing to introduce his works to the public. 
 And yet the works of Heller abound with the 
 very elements of success, for any artist who 
 has the power and the will to interpret them. 
 The eminent pianist, Charles Halle, at that 
 time settled in Paris, where he was highly 
 esteemed and appreciated, was one of the few 
 artists who dared to play the music of Stephen 
 Heller in public. M. Charles Halle, having 
 lost many of his friends by the events of 1848, 
 removed to London, where he now occupies a 
 high position as an artist. He is a finished 
 pianist and a great musician. He not only 
 played the minor pieces of Heller, but also 
 his Caprice Symphonique , Op. 28.* 
 
 It is, however, a fact that in whatever way 
 it has come to pass, the music of Stephen 
 
 * Among the few artists who have contributed to the popu- 
 larity of Heller’s music, is M. Lecouppey, the eminent Professor 
 of the Conservatoire of Paris, who was the first among his 
 colleagues to place the compositions of Heller on the list of the 
 authorized standard music of that institution. 
 
 C 
 
STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 18 
 
 Heller is now — without any effort of his own 
 — of world-wide renown. It is published in 
 Germany, in England, and in France. The 
 moment seems to have arrived when we can 
 take a bird’s-eye view of the life and work 
 of this great artist, who is destined to become 
 more and more appreciated as he becomes 
 more and more known, and who will leave 
 behind him an undying name in the history 
 of music. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HE works of Heller are at least as im- 
 
 x portant as those of Chopin. With the 
 exception of the “Concerto,” the “Trio,” and 
 the “ Mazurka,” he has attempted the same 
 class of compositions. The “ Study,” the 
 “ Prelude,” the “ Sonata,” the “ Scherzo,” the 
 “Impromptu,” the “Ballade,” the “Nocturne,” 
 the “Waltz,” the “Tarantella,” the “Polo- 
 naise ”— these are the forms most familiar in 
 his writings. In every one of these he has 
 been even more prolific than Chopin. 
 
 Like Chopin, he comes of a nationality 
 sympathetic with France, of a race remarkable 
 for musical talent. Chopin is Sclavonic ; 
 Heller is a Hungarian. But his music, let us 
 say at once, is altogether German in character, 
 and does not betray his origin. We have 
 tried in vain to discover in his numerous com- 
 positions any trace of his nationality, of that 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 colouring peculiar to the popular songs of 
 Hungary, or even an echo of any of those 
 Zingari melodies so common throughout his 
 native country, and so wild and peculiar in 
 their effect. Only in his Album cUdii a la 
 J eunesse do we find some faint trace of them ; 
 and perhaps a little more markedly in one of 
 the Pliant asie-stiicke which are dedicated to 
 Madame Berthold Damcke. One exception, 
 however, must be made ; for we find this 
 character unmistakably in a beautiful Polonaise, 
 of which we shall have to speak hereafter. 
 
 Like Chopin, Heller has written for the 
 pianoforte only. Like him, too, his composi- 
 tions are all original, and with the exception 
 of a few of his earliest works, he has not 
 yielded to the temptation of contemporary 
 pianists who display their musical skill by 
 more or less brilliant variations upon operatic 
 airs. 
 
 Like Chopin, again, Heller is a dreamer, a 
 poet, a “ Penseroso.” Like him, he has a 
 horror of vulgarity ; his “ form ” is exquisite,, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 21 
 
 his idea always noble ; and yet Chopin has 
 acquired a brilliant fame, which has not yet 
 followed Stephen Heller. 
 
 Let us enquire into the causes of this dif- 
 ference in their destinies. We shall find them 
 first in their circumstances, and secondly in 
 some characteristic differences in the genius 
 of the two men. 
 
 Chopin came to France at a time when the 
 enthusiasm of the French for Poland and the 
 Poles was at its height. His own fate was 
 associated with that of an unfortunate people. 
 To sympathising hearts and lively imaginations 
 he appeared to wear the martyr’s crown. He 
 had the mysterious fascination of a visitor from 
 a distant country. Chopin fell upon the Age 
 of Romanticism, and his life was a romance. 
 A blighted love, a lost country, health so feeble 
 that his life seemed but a breath — what more 
 was needed to touch the hearts of beautiful 
 duchesses, who prided themselves upon being 
 called his pupils, and crowded around his 
 pianoforte whenever he condescended to let 
 
22 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 his fingers roam over the keys. His very 
 death was romantic, and added to his fame. 
 That bed heaped up with flowers, the great 
 ladies weeping around his pallet, the soul 
 exhaling like a breath of air from the body 
 which had scarcely held it prisoner — all this 
 was a romance in itself. 
 
 Such circumstances gave to the music of 
 Chopin an unprecedented celebrity and success. 
 Everybody wished to be called pupil of a 
 master who had had but few. Every one 
 wanted to play his music, though there were 
 few indeed who could comprehend and master 
 its inmost significance. Moreover, his music 
 had in it all the elements which suited that 
 romantic period. Chopin was one of the 
 despairing heroes of his age. His tones had 
 about them an element of deep tragedy ; and 
 as his sorrows were real, they found a ready 
 echo in the hearts of men. This, too, must 
 be remembered : Chopin was a man of high 
 position. His very despair was lofty and aris- 
 tocratic. His music was essentially the music 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 23 
 
 of the salon. It must, however, be conceded 
 that it was not his greatest works that the 
 public most appreciated at first, but his short, 
 yet most exquisite, pieces — his Mazurkas, 
 Waltzes, and one or two of his Nocturnes. By- 
 and-bye his more important works came into 
 vogue, when players found how well adapted 
 they were to the display of their execution. 
 Ever since they have been in constant demand. 
 
 Heller has not, perhaps, attained the great 
 artistic originality of Chopin. But his music 
 deserves to be classed in very close proximity 
 to that of his illustrious rival. How is it, then, 
 that justice has been so tardily rendered to its 
 merits ? 
 
 Partly, perhaps, because he came to Paris 
 unknown, and by his own choice remained 
 unknown. He did not play his own music. 
 There was no romance about his history. But 
 there is another reason inherent in the very 
 character of his music. At the very moment 
 when there was a furore for great execution, 
 Heller had declared war against it. He never 
 
24 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 would worship that false goddess. In his com- 
 positions all is deep feeling, not display. More- 
 over, though his music is melancholy, it is not 
 tragic. His sorrow is modest; it shrinks from 
 demonstrativeness. Chopin’s music has some- 
 thing domineering and imposing about it ; 
 Heller’s, fine as it is, is more chastened and 
 self-controlled. His is the music of the fire- 
 side, of the hours of retirement and meditation. 
 But the day will come when, without professing 
 to rival Chopin’s, it will be no less popular, and 
 yet better known. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OTEPHEN HELLER’S compositions con- 
 ^ sist of about 150 works, some of them 
 containing many numbers. In these produc- 
 tions, as in the generality of those of composers 
 whose work has been spread over many years, 
 we find not so much a succession of different 
 styles as a succession of varieties of the same 
 style. Few have been without these changes, 
 which result from a law of nature. 
 
 In the first part of his career we find him, as 
 it were, feeling his way. He is compelled, in 
 •order to obtain a hearing, to give way to the 
 spirit of the age, and to compose fantasias and 
 variations upon fashionable themes. He de- 
 sires, nevertheless, to retain his individuality, 
 and from time to time he ventures upon some- 
 thing original — an impromptu, or a charac- 
 teristic piece. In these it was that the true 
 artist began to reveal himself. But his style 
 
26 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 was scarcely yet formed, and his true self was 
 not completely shown. This was but the 
 earnest of what was to come. 
 
 But it was not long before the composer 
 attained to self-mastery. And soon a rich 
 harvest of compositions, finished with perfect 
 taste, began to appear. The ideas were clear,, 
 and they were conscientiously worked out. 
 The style had taken shape ; it had developed,, 
 and revealed the individuality of the author. 
 It was the summer of his life. And although 
 the works of that happy time are not those 
 upon which the author himself sets the 
 highest value, such works are almost always 
 those which are endorsed by posterity. For 
 when the autumn of life is reached, the ideas 
 have neither the freshness of youth nor the 
 force, precision, and strength of the noontide 
 of life. Even great composers are then apt to 
 yield to the temptation of casting about for new 
 paths, and venturing upon untried experiments. 
 
 Heller has not yet arrived at this stage, 
 for he has not yet passed through the “three 
 
Ills LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 27 
 
 styles;” he has not completed the cycle of 
 artistic development. But his life-work is 
 already sufficiently great and developed for us 
 to survey its influence with profit. 
 
 The outset of a composers career and 
 work can never form the subject of a serious 
 monograph. For how often have the most 
 brilliant promises ended in the most melan- 
 choly failures ! And, on the other hand, how 
 often have seemingly humble and modest 
 abilities grown to the proportions of genius ! 
 
 When, however, an artist has passed the 
 springtide of his career, and yielded some 
 harvest, his work may be profitably studied ; 
 for we have an organic whole at which to 
 look. It can be analysed ; its various elements 
 can be discovered ; the proportions in which 
 they are combined can be registered ; and, in 
 fine, a definite rank assigned to him in the 
 history of his art. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CTEPHEN HELLER is certainly a dis- 
 ciple of Mendelssohn. And yet he has 
 a style of his own, a real originality. Let us 
 explain our meaning. 
 
 Mendelssohn was undoubtedly the great 
 musical educator of our day. No living musi- 
 cian has escaped his influence. And even 
 those who aim at the most entire originality 
 betray unconsciously the effects upon them- 
 selves of his great genius. Schumann, who 
 wielded in turn the sceptre of music in 
 Germany, is his direct successor, and the 
 composers who in our own time are aspiring 
 to the foremost rank in European music, such 
 as Raff, Brahms, and Rubinstein, are to a 
 certain extent his disciples.' 5 ' 
 
 * As far as dramatic music is concerned, the influence of 
 Weber has been greater. Meyerbeer certainly proceeds from 
 Weber, as does also Wagner. With us Gounod, on the other 
 hand, owes more to the influence of Mendelssohn. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 29 
 
 Mendelssohn had all the qualities requisite 
 for occupying the high-priesthood of music 
 which had before been held by Sebastian Bach 
 and Handel. His personal appearance was 
 dignified and noble ; his domestic virtues won 
 the esteem of all ; he was rich ; his connections 
 with the world of music were unbounded ; 
 favoured by fortune he had amassed treasures 
 of literary and musical lore which made him 
 the most learned and accomplished musician of 
 his time. He practiced his art with the fervour 
 of a priest ministering in the order of his 
 course. He never spoke of it but in terms 
 of devout reverence, and he himself never 
 published a single composition till it had 
 received the last touch of careful elaboration. 
 He was scrupulously careful as to “form,” 
 and his most trifling Lieder are as perfectly 
 elaborated and as delicately finished as his 
 greatest works. 
 
 His compositions were received by the 
 public with never-failing cordiality. Foreign 
 artists came to the Gewandhaus to have their 
 
.30 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 musical reputation consecrated under his baton. 
 The greatest composers craved his counsel. 
 
 He certainly played the role of sovereign 
 pontiff unchallenged. Never since his day has 
 there appeared so grand a figure. Schumann 
 was too one-sided to inherit all his authority. 
 One who was destined to end his days with 
 loss of reason could never aspire to- the place 
 of that calm and mighty master. 
 
 Did, then, Mendelssohn deserve that high 
 place by an originality so great as to make 
 him the revealer, the prophet of a new order 
 of things ? Let us try to define what origin- 
 ality in art really is. The first man who 
 dreamed of tracing figures upon the sand, who 
 moulded the clay with his fingers to reproduce 
 the forms which arrested his sight ; the first 
 who, either with his voice or by mechanical 
 art, tried to imitate the songs of the birds, 
 such an one was without doubt the first, the 
 most original of all artists. And yet he, too, 
 had a master — even nature. Those who came 
 after him improved upon his invention, and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 31 
 
 doubtless, even in thus improving, stamped 
 upon their work some impress of their own 
 originality. But in all their work there ap- 
 peared still that which had been found out 
 by the original inventor. It is ever thus. 
 Haydn and Mozart are the offspring of the 
 Italian masters. And Beethoven is derived 
 from Haydn and Mozart. 
 
 And so Mendelssohn profited by all who 
 went before him. He amalgamated all that 
 was severe in Bach with all that was romantic 
 in Weber; and yet notwithstanding what M. 
 Fetis has said of him — he created a style of 
 his own, a style on which he fixed his own 
 imprint, a style which is peculiarly his own, and 
 is neither that of Bach nor of Weber. An 
 artists originality is made in part out of the 
 originality of his predecessors. It is thus that 
 the chemist from known substances compounds 
 hitherto unknown ones. Nevertheless, the 
 originality of an artist is of immense importance. 
 And it is this individuality of an artist that 
 stamps upon his work a character of its own. Is 
 
3 2 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 his temperament calm, his soul meditative and 
 dreamy ? Even so his music. Is he by nature 
 feverish, nervous, excitable ? You will find 
 his character reproduced in his works. The 
 circumstances in his life too are important. 
 Works of art will have a different impress 
 according as they are produced in quiet or in 
 troubled times, in the bosom of peaceful and 
 well-regulated social life, or in the throng of 
 events which make life complicated and trying. 
 
 This theory would require much space for 
 its full exposition. Suffice it to say, in return- 
 ing to our subject, that in the work of a great 
 master three classes of elements must be taken 
 into account by the critic. First, those which 
 combine to form his style. Of these the major 
 part are traditional ; and however skilful may 
 be the combination, it is always possible to 
 distinguish that which is traditional from that 
 which is strictly the author’s own. Next come 
 the elements which are derived from the 
 artist’s own temperament. It is these which 
 make up real originality ; for, as to the third 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 33 
 
 class of elements — those which arise out of 
 his surrounding’s and his outward circumstances 
 — these are usually subordinated to the indi- 
 vidual nature, which ever looks upon things 
 from its own point of view. One will remain 
 comparatively unmoved in the midst of dis- 
 tracting surroundings ; another will be agitated 
 by the most trivial incident, even when all 
 around is peace. 
 
 We can verify this theory by applying it 
 to the case of Schumann. The style of this 
 composer is derived from tradition, traceable 
 through Mendelssohn to Weber, to Bach, and 
 yet further. It is possible to distinguish the 
 elements which combined to form his style ; 
 but the true source of his originality is his 
 temperament ; a temperament ill-balanced, ill- 
 adjusted, stimulating him sometimes to the 
 most sublime conceptions, at other times re- 
 stricting him to a region where the atmosphere 
 is oppressive, where utterance seems to fail, 
 where imagination can no longer embody itself 
 in any definite form. Schumann one day 
 
34 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 bursts upon us resplendent with light ; on the 
 morrow he is veiled in the gloomiest shadow. 
 He is one of the strangest figures that ever 
 tempted the pen of a biographer or a critic. 
 His life was a romance, a romance with a 
 tragical end. Yet he is one of the greatest of 
 artists, \me who has exercised, as he still does, 
 and will continue to do, a widespread influence. 
 
 If we have digressed from Heller to speak 
 of Mendelssohn and Schumann, it is because 
 it seems to us difficult to treat of the former 
 without some notice of the two great masters 
 whom he seems to follow. One remarkable 
 fact must be mentioned. When Stephen Heller 
 submitted his first attempts to Schumann, the 
 latter was struck by some points of resemblance 
 between his own music and that of the young 
 composer. But Heller was at the time un- 
 acquainted with a single note of Schumanns 
 music, and took him simply for a critic. It is 
 from Mendelssohn above all that his style is 
 derived ; his affinity with Schumann seems 
 to us to consist merely in occasional suggestions 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 35 
 
 which recall him. Yet, having once acknow- 
 ledged his artistic kinsmanship, let us hasten 
 to add that Hellers style is no mere copy of 
 another; it is stamped, to the highest extent, 
 with that real originality which is the offspring 
 of character and temperament. 
 
 D 2 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 T N the catalogue of Stephen Heller’s works, 
 A published at Leipsic in 1868, and com- 
 pleted up to the present time (1876), we find a 
 series of about forty pieces of a character 
 altogether peculiar to themselves. They are 
 those founded on the works of others — caprices, 
 rondos, improvisations, and variations upon 
 operatic or other well-known airs. And these 
 again we might sub-classify. Some are the 
 works of his youth, before his style became 
 formed, when he was doubtful of himself — 
 timid essays upon the works of others. This 
 is the only way in which a beginner can attract 
 notice and take up a position in which hereafter 
 he can display his true character. And it is 
 necessary to take into consideration the circum- 
 stances which have induced even the greatest 
 composers to publish productions of this kind. 
 The taste for music is universal, but that taste 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 37 
 
 is far from a pure one. The public as a whole 
 is much more ready to welcome trifles, such as 
 variations upon some theme which has caught 
 the popular ear, than serious work put together 
 with learning and skill. The latter is valued 
 only by the few who are true musicians. Such 
 compositions, if a publisher undertakes their 
 risk, must be floated by a mass of lesser works 
 made to suit the popular taste, such as will 
 indemnify him for the outlay on the greater 
 ones. It is only when a composer has once 
 made his name and has thus acquired a cele- 
 brity that will command a sale for all he pro- 
 duces that the publisher will give him free 
 -course and cease to tie him down with galling 
 and disheartening conditions. Thus it was that 
 even such great masters as Beethoven and 
 Mozart condescended to give publicity to such 
 secondary works as their Rondos and Airs with 
 variations with which the public were pleased 
 and which helped the sale of their master- 
 pieces. 
 
 Heller did not escape this lot. He was 
 
STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 33 
 
 induced to compose — at the instance of pub- 
 lishers- — Caprices, Impromptus, Variations upon 
 the operas then in vogue, such as those of 
 Auber, Halevy, Monsigny’s “Deserter,” Felicien 
 David’s “Desert,” Meyerbeers “ Prophete,” and 
 the melodies of Reber, which were at that time 
 highly prized. Perhaps he now regrets that 
 these ever saw the light. But without these 
 his greater works could never have made their 
 way. And yet many of these minor pieces are 
 truly charming, and in all of them may be 
 discerned the elegance and purity which form 
 the peculiar charm of Hellers genius. 
 
 Some among these certainly he ought not 
 to regret, for they are the echoes of his 
 personal feeling. They are those suggested by 
 the works of masters for whom he has ever 
 professed a kind of worship — Schubert, Men- 
 delssohn, and Beethoven. 
 
 Schubert’s melodies are an inexhaustible 
 mine. None need blush or be wearied in the 
 task of delving for some of the priceless pearls 
 in that treasury, that he may call upon the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 39 
 
 public to listen to that which is so beautiful 
 that, in whatever setting, it must be enchanting. 
 Heller did no fruitless work when he published 
 ten caprices on the best-known melodies of that 
 great master, together with an album of thirty- 
 three of Schuberts Lieder, transcribed as only 
 Heller could have transcribed them. 
 
 But it is to those which were inspired by 
 Mendelssohn that we may most profitably direct 
 attention. We do not allude to the Caprices 
 upon his melodies (Op. 67 and 72), but to three 
 works which seem to us of the first importance 
 — Op. 69, 76 and 77. 
 
 Op. 69 is called “ Fantasia in the Sonata 
 dorm ” and is founded upon the popular air, 
 “Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rath.” In taking 
 for his subject this very simple melody, to 
 which he closely adheres, and in adopting it by 
 simple modifications of its rhythm to suit the 
 requirements of the Andante, the Scherzo, and 
 the Finale, Heller has provided an interesting 
 and beautiful composition, and so completely 
 has he emancipated himself from his own style, 
 
40 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 that the piece might easily be passed off, to an 
 inexperienced hearer, as an original work of 
 Mendelssohn. 
 
 The same remark might be applied to Op. 
 76 — a caprice founded on the airs of the opera 
 called “Son and Stranger,” which goes a step 
 further than the other and is still better Men- 
 delssohn. 
 
 In Saltarello, Op. 77, founded on a move- 
 ment from the Fourth Symphony, Heller has 
 shown more of his own work. This, however, 
 with the two last-named compositions, makes 
 up a whole of the highest importance. Heller 
 has attempted the same kind of work in his 
 five studies on “ Freischutz.” Here we find 
 the style of Weber, and of Weber at his best. 
 In Op. 127 Heller has marvellously repro- 
 duced the method and the very features of the 
 original, and has set a model to all those who 
 desire to illustrate , as the fashionable word is, 
 the immortal works of the great masters. In 
 Op. 130 and 133, he has done the same by 
 Beethoven. In Op. 130 he has taken as his 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 41 
 
 subject, on which he builds thirty variations, one 
 which Beethoven himself had similarly used. 
 In Op. 133 his subject is the Andante of the 
 Sonata in f minor. And admirably it is done. 
 These two works require for their interpreta- 
 tion an executant of the first order. They are 
 distinguished by their profound knowledge of 
 Beethoven’s style — of whose works a large 
 number are capable of an endless variety of 
 treatment at the hands of the cunning artificer. 
 
 These two are among the most remarkable 
 of Heller’s works; and here again we cannot 
 but admire the triumphant way in which he 
 has acquitted himself in a most perilous ex- 
 periment. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LTHOUGH Heller has shown especial 
 
 1 preference for works on a small scale, he 
 has composed some of greater magnitude, and 
 has displayed in them so much ability that 
 we cannot help wondering by what train of 
 circumstances a man of such noble powers has 
 not more frequently allowed his genius a higher 
 flight and a wider range. 
 
 We have more than once shown our prefer- 
 ence for that fine form of composition called 
 the Sonata, a form in which all great works 
 are cast, from its simplest expression in the 
 pianoforte Sonata up to the orchestral Sym- 
 phony. The Sonata is so diversified that each 
 movement can be detached and elaborated into 
 an extensive work, so that the Andante, the 
 Scherzo, the Rondo, each separately developed, 
 are works of themselves in which the composer 
 can employ the most varied resources of his art. 
 
Ills LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 43 
 
 Let us see what Heller has done in his use of 
 the Sonata and its derivatives. 
 
 The first sonata (Op. 9), is written in a 
 most elaborate form, but to our mind lacks 
 melody. When the author wrote it, he sent 
 it, movement by movement, to Schumann. 
 That illustrious critic and composer, while 
 recognizing in it the germ of real musical 
 ability, nevertheless was sparing in his praise 
 of this work, of which he published an analysis 
 in his musical newspaper. 
 
 The second Sonata, Op. 65, is the work of 
 one who knows his own power. Its style is de- 
 cisive and concentrated, and there is a loftiness 
 about the whole work. But there is a want of 
 definiteness and variety in the melody. In the 
 first movement the subject is more of a formula 
 than a melody, and to this the composer 
 adheres faithfully to the end. It is splendidly 
 developed, but the style is somewhat uneven 
 and its general character rather sombre. The 
 melody of the Andante partakes of the same 
 character, and so does the Intermezzo. In the 
 
44 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Trio the same formula re-appears that opened 
 the sonata. The Epilogue appears to us the 
 best movement, and displays great energy. 
 Such is our impression of this work, a work 
 most remarkable from many points of view, but 
 the capital defect of which seems to us to be a 
 too great sameness in style. 
 
 The third Sonata (Op. 88), is less connected 
 in style and not so fully developed. But there 
 is a charm in every movement, and the entire 
 work strikes us as one of Hellers finest inspira- 
 tions. The first movement is brimful of 
 melody, and in it the composer introduces an 
 element rarely found save in the concerto — a 
 kind of cadence that prepares the conclusion. 
 But this artifice is employed here with so much 
 skill and discretion that it does not alter the 
 character of the piece. The Scherzo oscillates 
 between the triple time which has some resem- 
 blance to a Tarantella and a more accented 
 triple time. The effect thus produced is 
 charming. The Allegretto, very soberly devel- 
 oped, is full of a melancholy poetry. The 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 45 
 
 Finale is very short, and carries one completely 
 away by its brilliancy and dash. These differ- 
 ences of colouring in the movements are most 
 happy, and sustain the attention unflagging 
 from beginning to end. 
 
 Heller has published four Scherzos. The 
 first (Op. 8 ), dedicated to Robert Schumann, is 
 written with care and purity. It displays 
 tenderness of a high order and affords promise 
 of future greatness, but it has been surpassed 
 by subsequent compositions. 
 
 Op. 24, dedicated to Liszt, is full of fresh- 
 ness, youth and originality. It is evidently a 
 work written in the spring-time of life, when all 
 is sunny and smiling. The Scherzo Fantastique 
 (Op. 57), is of a less serene character. It 
 answers well to its title, and contains some 
 extremely original points. The whole of the 
 first movement exhibits a rare knowledge of 
 rhythm and some ravishing contrasts. The 
 middle part is very weird, and in looking at the 
 work as a whole we cannot but regret that it 
 was not scored for full orchestra, for the capa- 
 
4 6 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 bilities of which it displays most ample and 
 tempting material. 
 
 The fourth Scherzo (Op. 108), is pianoforte 
 music proper. It is lovely work, and may rival 
 the best efforts of Chopin in its own way. 
 
 We now come to a class of compositions 
 which must be treated by themselves. We 
 refer to his great Caprices — pieces without 
 precedent in their character. In these re- 
 markable productions Heller’s individuality 
 comes out very strongly — an originality which 
 is all his own. Here he is under obligations 
 to no predecessor. 
 
 The Caprice (Op. 27) opens with a beautiful 
 introduction of the loftiest and grandest cha- 
 racter. The Presto is overwhelming in its 
 brilliancy ; and although the melody is not 
 extremely striking, it is ingeniously developed 
 and the effects are so piquant and unexpected, 
 that the attention is never allowed to flag. 
 
 The Capi'ice Symphonique (Op. 28) is con- 
 ceived on an extended scale. The treatment 
 is brilliant, the melodies extremely fine, and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 47 
 
 the workmanship learned without being - dry. 
 This long piece draws to a close, in the major 
 key, with a beautiful melody a la Mendelssohn, 
 which expands into a dazzling coda. At the 
 time when Charles Halle first introduced this 
 piece to his audiences, musical education was 
 not advanced enough to appreciate it at its 
 real worth. 
 
 The Presto Capriccioso (Op. 64) is nearly 
 as elaborately developed, but in a totally 
 different style. Nothing can be more in- 
 genious than this lovely piece, which abounds 
 in delightful melodies, exquisite passages, and 
 poetical inspirations. It is a marvel of beauty 
 from the first note to the last. 
 
 The Caprice Humoristique (Op. 112) is not 
 so fully developed. The Mezzo Canto is a little 
 disconnected ; but the first movement, repro- 
 duced with slight changes, towards the close, is 
 sparkling with dashing and unexpected changes. 
 
 The pianoforte Fantasia (Op. 54) is a 
 vigorous piece, full of energy, and altogether 
 a fine work. It closes with a brilliant coda. 
 
48 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 The Fantaisie Caprice (Op. 113) is less to 
 our liking. Notwithstanding many interesting 
 passages, it lacks vigour and pleasing effect. 
 
 The musician who could write the Sonata 
 (Op. 88), the Scherzo Fantastique , the four 
 Caprices , and the Fantaisie (Op. 54), was 
 evidently gifted by nature for the composition 
 of works of far greater magnitude. How, 
 then, comes it, that he has so often confined 
 his genius to the production of little pieces ? 
 How is it that he has restricted himself to 
 the easel, when he might have immortalized 
 himself in the larger expanses of the fresco ? 
 
 Perhaps the answer might furnish a melan- 
 choly story — that of too many artists repelled 
 by the difficulties of life, reduced to find it 
 all but impossible to gain a hearing, unless 
 they restrict themselves to a limited sphere, 
 and yield to prejudices against which they 
 have not energy enough to contend. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ■“ OTEPHEN HELLER/’ says M. Fetis, 
 ^ “ is naturally contemplative. A lover 
 
 of solitude, he avoids the vulgarity as well of 
 the drawing-room as of the street. He lives 
 among his own thoughts, with the poets his 
 every-day companions. He works at his 
 own time, and as fancy takes him. His 
 contemplations are not always sad, as one 
 might fancy from his appearance and conversa- 
 tion. Nothing better proves the variety of 
 his impressions, than the varied character of 
 his compositions. He renders with equal 
 success the dash of the scherzo, of the chase, 
 or of the waltz, the sweet calm of the Pastorale, 
 the elegant involutions of the Arabesque, the 
 wantonness of the Tarantella; fiery passion, 
 side by side with serene tenderness ; the fresh- 
 ness of morning with the evening repose. His 
 free fancy is at home in them all.” 
 
50 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Heller has composed a great number of 
 waltzes. In the first five (Ops. 42, 43, 44, 59, 62) 
 the influence of Chopin is perceptible. The 
 divisions and development are alike ; there is 
 the same peculiarity in the form ; poetry in 
 the conception of them all. The whole five 
 might have been signed Chopin, without fear 
 of question, and would be called masterpieces. 
 Without giving so lofty a title to pieces of a 
 class which has never had pretensions to 
 sublimity, let us say that these waltzes will 
 not suffer by comparison with those of the 
 Polish master; and that the only fault, if fault 
 it be, which could be laid to their charge, is 
 that of recalling too closely an original allowed 
 to be inimitable. The two waltzes (Op. 93) 
 dedicated to M. Antonin Marmontel, are of 
 a more personal character, so to speak, and 
 are tinged with a more melancholy tone. Both 
 these characteristics are still more perceptible 
 in the Valse-reveries (Op. 122), nine in number. 
 They are very short, full of sentiment, and, 
 except the rhythm, have nothing in common 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 51 
 
 with the waltz proper. They would please 
 lovers of the contemplative better than Heller’s 
 earlier and more brilliant works. 
 
 The twelve Landler which make up Op. 97 
 have a peculiar flavour. Pieces of this kind 
 do not admit of lengthened treatment. They 
 belong to a popular form which some German 
 composers have frequently treated very happily. 
 
 Heller’s are Viennese in character. No. 7 
 reminds us of one of Schubert’s, who was fond 
 of this sort of composition. In Op. 107 the 
 composer has endeavoured to develope this 
 form a little more, and he has thus produced 
 a collection of pieces original and elevated in 
 style, but hardly corresponding to their title. 
 
 Heller has been more prolific than Chopin, 
 who only wrote one Tarantella. For he has 
 written seven Tarantellas and one Venitienne, 
 which is indeed only another variety of the 
 same. The Venitienne (Op. 52) and the 
 Tarantella (Op. 53) are those we like the best. 
 They have all the dash and sparkle that 
 
 belong to these forms. In his Tarantellas, 
 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 dedicated to Madame Schumann, and in the 
 two Op. 137 Heller has tried to escape from 
 conventionality. How far, it may be asked, 
 has he succeeded ? It is very difficult to give 
 an original turn to an accepted and almost 
 stereotyped form. 
 
 The Polonaise is a much higher class of 
 composition than either the Waltz or the 
 Tarantella. The rhythm is full of dignity, and 
 allows to the imagination a bolder flight. We 
 much regret that Heller has only written three 
 Polonaises (Op. T04 and 132). The first is 
 distinguished by a chivalric measure, at once 
 bold and elegant. Its only drawback is a 
 certain vagueness in the melody of the middle 
 movement. At the same time this vagueness 
 creates an expectation and desire of the return 
 of the subject which re-enters with great effect. 
 In the two pieces of Op. 132, especially in 
 the first, the composer rises almost to the 
 sublime. The Polonaise in f minor reminds 
 us of Chopin’s best inspirations. There 
 is in this remarkable composition a stately 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 53 
 
 boldness of movement, a precision of idea, and 
 a nobility of sentiment such as are rarely found. 
 The composer has caught exactly the national 
 character of that martial measure. He has 
 rarely displayed greater energy and originality. 
 The Polonaise in a minor is not so lofty, but 
 is also a noble work. 
 
 In short, in what is commonly called 
 Dance Music, especially in the Waltzes and the 
 Polonaise, Heller has ventured, not without 
 success, to compete with Chopin. Certainly 
 his first five Waltzes and his Polonaises are 
 worthy of that great and lamented composer. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I 'HE very name Impromptu recalls the 
 delightful productions of Chopin. And 
 Heller has not deviated much from the forms 
 he adopted. He usually opens with a rapid 
 and agitated movement, which is succeeded by 
 a Mezzo Canto , and finishes with a recurrence 
 to the original subject. His Impromptus are 
 among the very best of his works. Op. 84, 
 Allegro Vivace , with single notes repeated 
 alternately by each hand, and the two Im- 
 promptus, Op. 129, which are more original 
 and tinged with a poetic tenderness, may be 
 instanced. And among the Impromptus we 
 might include two Intermedes (Op. 135 ), which 
 are both similar in plan, and are both truly 
 exquisite. 
 
 Of a different style are his four Phantasie- 
 Stiicke (Op. 99), dedicated to Madame Damcke> 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 55 
 
 which may be classed as Impromptus , and are 
 very fine. The first two are the most interest- 
 ing; the third, Hungarian in style, is less so; 
 and the fourth, a kind of recitative, would be 
 perfect but for its being twice interrupted by 
 a rather abrupt % movement, which is wanting 
 in dignity. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ELLER’S Nocturnes are not equal to 
 
 L 1 those of Chopin, which are almost 
 unapproachable in their perfection and finish. 
 
 In this class of composition (Op. 91, 103,. 
 1 31), he has launched out in fresh waters. It 
 is certain that No. 2 of Op. 91 is quite sui 
 generis. No. 1 of Op. 131, the most beautiful 
 of all, is interrupted by the introduction of a 
 very lively tarantella movement, the effect of 
 which is peculiar. No. 3 opens as a polonaise,, 
 and ends with a brilliancy unusual in that class 
 of composition. 
 
 For originality, we prefer No. 3 of Op. 
 91, called Nocturne- Serenade, dedicated to 
 Mademoiselle Ninette Falck, a very effective 
 composition of a most poetical character, but 
 which is really simply a serenade, and a very 
 beautiful one too. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 57 
 
 The title Serenade belongs legitimately only 
 to Op. 56. This is one of our authors best- 
 known works. It is highly developed, full of 
 charming points ; and it dates from a period 
 when the composer was pursuing, with careful 
 precision, the methods of composition which 
 have made his style so well-marked. We 
 notice in it a particular method of modulation, 
 which gives to his music a character of its 
 own, such as the alternate use of one hand, 
 a practice which Mendelssohn had almost 
 reduced to a system, as well as a mode of 
 treatment of the melody in octaves by both 
 hands at once. Hellers SSrSnade merits a 
 place among his best productions. But it is 
 music that appeals to the refined, and is not 
 attractive to the public at large. 
 
 In the Ballade style we find two works, 
 three pieces (Op. 121) dedicated to M. Vincent 
 Adler (. Ballade , Conte , Reve die gondolier ), and 
 Op. 1 1 5, three Ballades dedicated to M. Auber. 
 This last work, in a somewhat severe style, is 
 interesting as a study; but Op. 121 will be 
 
58 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 more popular. The Ballade and the Conte 
 are instinct with catching melody, happy turns, 
 and poetic fire. The Reve du gondolier is 
 somewhat abruptly closed, but yet full of 
 charms. 
 
 The two Canzonettes (Op. 60 and ioo) were 
 composed at long intervals ; and we confess 
 our inability to know why they were thus 
 intituled. The Italian Canzonette is generally 
 very short, and with a popular rhythm.. The 
 form adopted by Heller is just the reverse, and 
 is elaborately and learnedly developed. Of 
 these two works, we prefer the first (Op. 60). 
 It is extremely interesting, notwithstanding the 
 strangeness of the first subject, which opens 
 in a singularly heavy and vague manner. 
 Gradually, however, the melody takes shape 
 and completeness. One of its merits is the 
 clever way in which it is worked out ; the 
 interest of the piece increases by degrees, and 
 when the melody re-appears towards the close, 
 it seems to have lost its strangeness. The 
 coda is very brilliant, but — as we have already 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 59 
 
 said — there is not the smallest trace of the 
 Canzonette about it. 
 
 Heller has, in Op. 105, three very simple 
 and pretty pieces, tried the “ Song without 
 Words,” and in Op. 120 has succeeded much 
 better. If we may be permitted to name our 
 favourites among the pieces of Op. 120, they 
 are No. 4, the Andante , which is lofty in style; 
 and also 5 and 6, “ Question ” and “ Answer,” 
 which are most interesting. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 T N certain of his works — the Promenades d’zm 
 Solitaire , the Dans les Bois, and the Scenes 
 Pastorales — Heller has tried to express the 
 feelings, or rather the sentiment, awakened by 
 rural scenes. There are few subjects more 
 interesting than that of the influence exerted 
 upon art by the contemplation of Nature. 
 
 The Greeks, the progenitors of all art, 
 living under a clear sky beside a blue sea 
 bathed in light, drew from the outward world 
 that serenity which appears in all their works. 
 Their statues have a character of tranquil 
 majesty and of chaste beauty that has never 
 since been approached. The ancients lived 
 much more with Nature than we do. But if 
 they loved her, they feared her too. Some 
 among them regarded her wholly as an object of 
 fear, a capricious and changeful being, charming 
 in her caresses but pitiless in her wrath. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 6 1 
 
 Nature, they thought, like man, had passions. 
 If a brilliant sun gilded mountain and cape, if a 
 cool breeze refreshed the languid air, if the blue 
 waves of the ocean broke in music on the 
 shore — then Nature seemed to men a genial 
 mother, lavishing upon her children the smiles 
 of her eyes and the perfume of her warm 
 breath. But if clouds veiled the broad expanse 
 of heaven, she was frowning. If the rain poured 
 down in floods, she was weeping. If the tem- 
 pest roared, and the lightning cleft the cloud, 
 these were the outbursts of her fury. Nature, 
 then, must be formidable, they thought ; and it 
 was this latter aspect which chiefly impressed 
 the ancient Roman poets, who sang more fre- 
 quently of the sacred awfulness of the mighty 
 woods, and the dread mysteries of the gloomy 
 chasms, than of the gentle dews of the morning 
 and the sweet peacefulness of the fields. Virgil 
 alone, as he stood on the threshold of the later 
 times, looked on Nature under her most radiant 
 aspect, under her serenest sky. 
 
 The Middle Ages, full of superstition and 
 
6 2 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 terror, saw the Evil One everywhere. They 
 peopled every forest with fairies and sprites, 
 and went back to the most absurd of Pagan 
 fancies. 
 
 The moderns have understood Nature better. 
 Science has dissipated the illusions which were 
 the terror of our forefathers, and torn aside the 
 veil which concealed the true forms of all 
 things. The world to us is the theatre in 
 which we have to play out our destiny — a stage 
 where all is living, all is moving, all is changing, 
 from the elements, which combine by the mys- 
 terious laws of their affinity, to man, the most 
 intelligent and the most changeful of all. 
 
 The author, whether of poetry or prose, 
 describes Nature in his books ; the painter 
 idealises while he reproduces her ; the musician 
 can only translate into his own tongue the im- 
 pression that the outward world makes upon him. 
 It is not now within our scope to discourse at 
 length upon painting, and to estimate the value 
 of modern landscape. Not only do our artists 
 reproduce Nature with marvellous skill, but 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 6 3 
 
 they know how to put upon their canvas the 
 subtle meaning, the living reflection of their 
 own emotions. Their works tell us under 
 what aspect they themselves saw the outward 
 world — the very feelings which agitated their 
 minds. Place two painters of equal ability 
 before the same landscape. They each re- 
 produce the same scene. But how unlike are 
 the two pictures ! The impression we receive 
 will not be so much the scene itself, as the 
 feelings under which the artist viewed it. And 
 this it is which makes the difference between 
 Art and Photography. The photograph gives 
 us the transcript of matter — dead, not living. 
 The artist commences with Nature. To him 
 she lives, she throbs, she speaks ; he thrills 
 at her touch ; he conceives a thought ; he puts 
 his thought upon his canvas ; and his canvas 
 itself becomes a living thing. 
 
 The musician cannot transcribe Nature; 
 but he can tell us what he felt at her touch. 
 With some musicians, emotion is supreme ; as 
 with Beethoven, in the Pastoral Symphony y 
 
■6 4 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 or Weber, in Der Freischiitz ; with others, 
 reflection. Over Heller, who is neither a 
 Beethoven nor a Weber, but who is perfect 
 within his own bounds, reflection reigns with 
 over-mastering power. See how he has ex- 
 pressed it in these delightful works which he 
 calls Promenades d'un Solitaire , Dans les Bois , 
 and Scenes Pastorales. 
 
 In calling his first collection the Promenades 
 d'un Solitaire , Heller seems as though he 
 had borrowed the title from Rousseau. This 
 becomes almost certain from Op. ioi, which 
 is called Reverie du Promeneur Solitaire 
 (J. J. Rousseau).'"' Rousseau understood and 
 loved Nature. He would have willingly 
 passed his life in contemplation and peaceful 
 dreams among the Jura valleys, or on some 
 lonely isle of one of the Swiss Lakes. 
 But his restless temperament, his belief in 
 imaginary plots against him, never allowed 
 him to obtain the quiet he sought. When his 
 
 * To one of his RCveries is prefixed a motto taken from the 
 same celebrated author. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 65 
 
 end drew near, he looked out for a peaceful 
 refuge in the country, where he might end his 
 days in communion with that Nature whom 
 he so dearly loved. Rousseau’s Dreams are, 
 as it were, his adieu to earth. 
 
 It is evident that in his “ Solitary Walks,’' 
 Heller is inspired by Nature.. Or, rather, it 
 is evident that they are the careful work of his 
 own desk, by his own fireside, with the vivid 
 impressions of Nature guiding his dexterous 
 hand. It is not his person, but his thoughts, 
 that wander by the stream-side, and through 
 forest glades, and in peaceful corn-fields. It 
 is the work of the poet-musician — all poetic, 
 not realistic. 
 
 But whether Stephen Heller in his Pro- 
 menades (Tun Solitaire is rehearsing his own 
 actual experiences by field, and flood, and 
 harvest scene, or is merely giving utterance 
 to his imaginations — the sentiment of his 
 compositions is at one with their title. For 
 perfection we should have to mention them 
 all (Op. 78, 80, 89) ; but we confess our 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 special liking for Nos. i and 2 of Op. 78, and 
 for 2, 3 and 6 of Op. 80, and for No. 3 of 
 Op. 89. Were the last scored for orchestra 
 a la Mendelssohn, it would make a short but 
 superb page of instrumentation. 
 
 In the Dans les Bois Heller has not disdained 
 to avail himself to some extent of the con- 
 ventional phrases connected with forest and 
 hunting scenes ; and this collection, is, therefore, 
 somewhat more descriptive and less reflective 
 than the Promenades . 
 
 We cannot but think of Weber in con- 
 nection with forest and hunting scenes, and 
 we scarcely think that Heller has escaped his 
 reminiscences. Perhaps the Dans les Bois will 
 be less popular than the Pro 7 nenades d'un 
 Solitaire. Nevertheless, they are higher in 
 style, and the musical expression is more 
 powerful. Many of the movements would bear 
 orchestration. We would specially mention 
 No. 1 of Op. 86, which is full of mystery and 
 poetry; No. 3 is energetic and passionate, and 
 the harmony of No. 6 is beautiful and original, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 67 
 
 the finale (No. 7), combining the different sub- 
 jects of the collection, being exquisitely beautiful. 
 
 The different pieces of Op. 128 have sepa- 
 rate titles, F EntrSe en Foret , the Promenade du 
 Chasseur and the Fleur Solitaire are charming 
 inspirations. The last collection (Op. 136) have 
 a peculiar interest, inasmuch as the composer 
 had in his mind the characters in Freischutz, 
 A gat he, Max , Caspar , and Annette. He has 
 evidently caught his inspiration from certain 
 situations in the plot of the same opera, and 
 thus, to some extent, rivalled his great prede- 
 cessor. This was a bold thing to do. And 
 we do not say that Heller’s miniature is equal 
 to the life-size picture of the great Weber. 
 But we cannot deny that he has given us very 
 interesting work under very difficult conditions. 
 
 Heller has written other works in the pas- 
 toral style— three Eclogues (Op. 92), dedicated 
 to M. Lecouppey, which exhibit workmanship 
 of the finest and most delicate description ; two 
 Scenes pastorales (Op. 50), less elaborate, less 
 delicately chiselled, but free and firm in their 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 handling ; and some Bergeries (Op. 106) which 
 are short but very original, and which it would 
 be interesting to compare with Beethoven’s 
 Bagatelles — those modestly named but very 
 striking pieces. 
 
 Heller’s musical ideas clothe themselves 
 well in the form of the “ Song without Words.” 
 Many of his pieces, whatever he may call 
 them, are “ Lieder ” in the best sense. This 
 thoroughly German type is one of the happiest 
 outside the classical forms. It is modest in 
 its pretensions, but one under which the great 
 composers, such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, and 
 Schumann, have often comprehended a whole 
 drama. Heller’s Op. 73 is a very interesting 
 specimen ; nothing can be lovelier than his 
 Cradle Song, or more dramatic than his Hunts- 
 mans Song. Each is in itself an exquisite little 
 poem. 
 
 Heller is quite at home in pieces descriptive 
 of the chase. We find it in the Dans les Bois 
 as in Op. 102 ; and finally in La Chasse, Etude 
 caracteristique (Op. 29). This striking piece 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 69 
 
 was the earliest of Heller’s compositions that 
 met with popular appreciation and success. 
 Even now there are some persons who have 
 no idea, that besides La C/iasse, there is a whole 
 pile of glorious and delightful music, into which 
 the author has thrown his whole power, in 
 which he has displayed the finest conceivable 
 inventive capacity, and the most exquisite 
 tenderness of feeling. Heller is, for such 
 people, “The author of La Chasse ” — just as 
 formerly in France Schubert was “the author 
 of La Serenade” It is really sometimes almost 
 a disadvantage to an artist to have composed 
 one popular piece ; for twenty years the 
 “ Marche des Pdldrins ” told against Berlioz ; 
 it became a convenient handle for those who 
 wanted to depreciate his other works. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HP HE eighteen pieces which compose the 
 collection entitled Nuits Blanches (Op. 82) 
 are not descriptive ; they are simply lyrical 
 effusions, full of sentiment. Their form is 
 beautiful, and the melody almost always re- 
 markable. 
 
 The three collections of which we have 
 just spoken — the Promenades d'un Solitaire y 
 the Dans les Bois, and the Nulls Blanches — 
 form an era in the history of music, for their 
 composer has struck out a new type. The 
 form of these pieces is absolutely novel, for 
 they neither answer to the “ Song without 
 Words,” to the nocturne, nor to anything 
 previously known. They are an entirely new 
 conception, and are as truly the invention of 
 Heller, as the “Song without Words” is the 
 creation of Mendelssohn. Nothing like them 
 was ever written before Heller, and all which 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 7 i 
 
 have since appeared of a similar character are 
 due to him. 
 
 In Op. 126, Heller has composed three 
 Overtures for the pianoforte, in different styles 
 — one dramatic, a second pastoral, and a third 
 for a comic opera. He has proved by these 
 that he is master of the symphonic style. Of 
 these three pieces, the dramatic one seems the 
 best. 
 
 We shall now combine, in one glance, a 
 number of works of different degrees of im- 
 portance, which even the composer himself 
 would have found it difficult to classify. He 
 has given them rather vague titles ; indeed, 
 he could hardly do otherwise. 
 
 (1) Six Feuillets cT Album (Op. 83). We 
 should have been disposed to call these Pre- 
 ludes. They are very short, but very charming, 
 and recall forcibly the best inspirations of Op. 
 81, previously published. 
 
 (2) Pour un Album (Op. 1 10). These two 
 are pieces of which the one is considerably 
 developed, lofty in style, somewhat sombre, and 
 
7 2 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 a little cold ; the other, A llegretto con tenerezza , 
 very short. 
 
 (3) Petit Album (Op. 134). In this we 
 find a great diversity of styles : a “ Novelette ” 
 (a title borrowed from Schumann), a “ Scherzo,” 
 a “ Romance,” an “Arabesque,” a “ Question,” 
 and an “Answer.” The first, in its opening 
 bars (perhaps because of the title), seems to us 
 to recall Schumann ; the Romance is charming ; 
 but the last two are the most interesting, the 
 “ Question ” and “ Answer.” This is the second 
 time that Heller uses this artifice. The idea 
 is ingenious, and the effect happy — almost 
 enchanting. 
 
 (4) Album a la Jeunesse (Op. 138). This 
 is, again, one of Schumann’s titles. It con- 
 sists of twenty-five pieces, in four books, with 
 explanatory titles. They are little gems, ex- 
 quisitely cut and perfectly set. The scenes 
 entitled Tziganyi (Gipsies) is particularly 
 interesting. 
 
 (5) Feuilles Volantes (Op. 123) — five pieces, 
 more developed, somewhat vague in character, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 73 
 
 but not devoid of poetic charm. No. 3, in 
 f major, is a very striking composition. 
 
 (6) Two Cakiers (Op. 114) contain a very 
 fine prelude — as, indeed, are all Heller’s pre- 
 ludes — a piece with a title borrowed from 
 Schumann (Kinder scenen) , which is charming 
 and full of simplicity, and a Presto Scherzoso, 
 which is not quite up to the mark of the 
 Scherzos we have already discussed. 
 
 (7) Op. hi, called Morceaux de ballet , is 
 a beautiful collection, and quite in the sym- 
 phonic style. Well scored, they would make 
 a remarkable intermezzo, especially if the third 
 piece of Op. 118 were added as a finale. This 
 last — will the composer forgive us for saying 
 so ? — is a veritable show-piece, very difficult 
 and very effective. It could, however, be 
 scored for orchestra, and would make a fine 
 ending to Op. 111, of which the conclusion 
 is pianissimo . The other pieces of Op. 118, 
 called Boictade and Feuillet d' Album, are very 
 short. The latter is a very pretty Song 
 without Words. 
 
74 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 (8) Op. 124, Scenes d' Enfant, Again one 
 of Schumann’s titles ; his Scenes of Childhood 
 are remarkable. It was dangerous ground on 
 which to rival Schumann. It cannot be 
 denied, however, that Heller’s are interesting, 
 melodious, and rhythmical. The composer has 
 purposely refrained from giving titles to these 
 pieces. He wished, doubtless, only to picture 
 childhood in general — its simplicity, its inno- 
 cence ; whereas Schumann had in each scene 
 a particular and definite object before him,, 
 which he points out by the title. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 T N the form of a Prelude, again, Heller 
 A has been a true inventor. Prcz-ludium , 
 properly speaking, is a movement that precedes 
 another. Formerly every Fugue was preceded 
 by its own Prelude. Sometimes it had a 
 vague character, as in some of Handel’s pieces, 
 more frequently, as in Bach, it had a very 
 restricted form and was itself almost a Fugue, 
 or, at all events, was to some extent canonic 
 in form. 
 
 Afterwards it became the usual introduction 
 to a Solo for the player to allow his fingers 
 to roam rather vaguely over the keys, so as 
 to prepare the auditor for the piece that was 
 to follow. Some composers, as for instance, 
 Clementi and Czerny, reduced these introduc- 
 tions to set forms, and composed Preludes in 
 every key, which were to precede any piece in 
 the same key. But this was a mistake ; for 
 
76 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 it does not follow that because a Prelude and 
 a succeeding piece are in the same key, that 
 they are, therefore, appropriate to each other. 
 
 Chopins beautiful preludes avoid this 
 error, but are not in reality Preludes. Some 
 are Studies — complete pieces ; others are the 
 sketches, so to speak, of his more elaborate 
 works. 
 
 Heller’s Prelude is a short piece, but com- 
 plete in ail its parts — a consistent whole. He 
 is the creator of this form. We may instance 
 his Arabesques (Op. 49) the first of his attempts 
 in this line ; his Traumbilder (Op. 79) are an 
 advance on the preceding ; and his Preludes 
 (Op. 81) an admirable collection, of which each 
 is worthy of mention. Those entitled Chanson 
 de Mai , Reverie , Feu follet , Arabesque , Chant 
 de Berceau , Sonnet , are little masterpieces in 
 taste and feeling. 
 
 In the three remarkable Preludes (Op. 
 1 1 7) dedicated to M. Niels Gade, Heller has 
 endeavoured to depart from his usual form. 
 These are more developed, and perhaps the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 77- 
 
 title of Etude would be more appropriate to 
 them than that of Prehtde. 
 
 Op. 1 1 9, Preludes a Mademoiselle Lili, go 
 to the opposite extreme. There are thirty-two 
 of them in thirty-four pages — microscopic in 
 proportion, yet full of delicate traits ; exquisite 
 form, yet thorough originality. But how few 
 will appreciate the mine of poetry and exquisite 
 workmanship in all these pages of little pieces l 
 How many even among the sincere admirers 
 of Stephen Heller will prefer Op. 49, 79, and 
 81 — less refined, but more vigorous and full- 
 bodied. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IT ELLER has written over two hundred 
 A 1 Pianoforte Studies. He is one of the 
 most prolific composers in this style. But let 
 us be careful to add, that his Studies differ 
 entirely from the compositions usually bearing 
 this title. He did not desire to compose 
 simply Finger Exercises. He desired to com- 
 bine the utile with the dulce. Nor did he wish 
 to write such elaborately grand works as the 
 
 f 
 
 Etudes of Chopin. His are small lyrical 
 poems, apart altogether from any educational 
 purposes. He wished to compose beautiful 
 pieces, in every rhythm, and with every possible 
 harmony — restricting himself only in regard 
 to the degree of difficulty in execution, which 
 he set before him, to that end simplifying the 
 form and avoiding all that was not absolutely 
 necessary to the expression of his thoughts. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 79 
 
 His starting-point is, Op. 16, The Art of 
 Phrasing — twenty-four Studies, composed at 
 his own inspiration, and without any immediate 
 thought of publication. They are in every 
 form. We find among them the Prelude 
 Impromptu, Canzonette, Romance, Eclogue, etc. 
 When Heller played them in Paris, they 
 were not fully appreciated. An enlightened 
 patroness of Art, Madame Jenny Mongolfier 
 — who was the greatest musical authority in 
 Lyons, where she still passes, in a ripe old 
 age, a very retired life — came across the 
 Studies accidentally. They were published by 
 Schlesinger. She was so struck by them that 
 she wrote to Heller himself, to find out what 
 she could about the unknown author of such 
 charming pieces. Ever afterwards, she did 
 what she could, within the limits of her means, 
 to make the work known, and not without 
 considerable opposition. 
 
 Success, however, came at last — and with 
 success, of course, publishers ! Heller was 
 solicited to write Studies. And thus it came 
 
8o 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 to pass that he wrote the twenty-five Studies 
 of Op. 45, as an introduction to Op. 16. He 
 then wrote Op. 46 to precede Op. 45 ; and 
 afterwards Op. 47 as an introduction to Op. 46. 
 He had to compose three or four Studies a day, 
 to cut out passages which the publishers 
 thought too “ learned ” or too difficult, and 
 to substitute others. However, it was these 
 Studies which for a long time were his only 
 successful publications. Heller was quoted as 
 a charming composer of Studies. His other 
 works went for nothing. 
 
 These very Studies are now a large source 
 of revenue to the publishers, while some of 
 Heller’s compositions into which he threw his 
 whole soul and all his genius, lie unknown upon 
 the shelf. 
 
 After thirty years, a professor of the piano- 
 forte in the Conservatoire of Vienna — M. Hans 
 Schmitt — has just published a pamphlet on the 
 subject of these Studies. He has added the 
 Preludes (Op. 81) and the Album (Op. 138) ; 
 has classified these two hundred and four pieces. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 8l 
 
 pointed out the order in which they should be 
 attempted by the student, and declared them 
 indispensable to the art of modern pianoforte 
 playing. 
 
 Op. 90, called Nouvelles Etudes , belongs to 
 a totally different order of ideas from Ops. 16, 
 45, 46, and 47. These were not composed to 
 order. They form a series which remind us of 
 the Promenades Pun Solitaire , and are of the 
 very highest type. From the first, which 
 pictures the naughty child astray in the woods, 
 to the last which portrays the sufferings of 
 mature age — the dramatic side of life, the 
 inspiration is sustained, and without intending 
 it, Heller has perhaps written one of his finest 
 and most touching works. 
 
 Op. 125 — Twenty-four Nouvelles Etudes 
 dExpression are rather in the style of the 
 Preludes a Lili. They are minute in size, and 
 exquisitely charming and delicate. The last 
 of them — the Le^on de piano , with the five- 
 finger exercise and the reminiscence of Cramer, 
 is one of the most charmin gFantasias imaginable. 
 
 G 
 
$2 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Heller has also written separate studies, Op. 
 96 and 1 1 6. In Op. 96, he has, contrary to 
 his wont, sacrificed to execution. Of the two 
 Studies in Op. 116, we prefer the first, which 
 overflows with feeling and poetry. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 J N this rapid analysis of Hellers works, we 
 have been compelled to pass over many. 
 But there are some which it would be unfair 
 to leave unnoticed, especially his twelve pieces 
 composed with Ernst, the great violinist, 
 under the title, Pensdes fugitives. They are 
 charming. We give, however, at the end, a 
 complete list of all Hellers works. This 
 catalogue alone will show the importance of 
 the structure that he has raised, and will, we 
 trust, inspire many with the desire to become 
 intimate with all its details. 
 
 G 2 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HE third period of an artist’s style consists 
 
 1 sometimes in an exaggeration of some of 
 his favourite methods of working. 
 
 At the commencement of his artistic career, 
 Heller wrote some elaborate works. Even 
 since then he has written a few. But of 
 late years he seems to have a tendency 
 to keep to short pieces. He has doubtless 
 seen, not without some alarm, that in order 
 to retain the attention of the public through- 
 out an entire Concerto, or an elaborately 
 worked Caprice, or even a Sonata, it is useless 
 to remain too long in pursuit of the ideal, but 
 that the ear must be amused by some of those 
 artifices which bring out the power of the 
 instrument — in a word, by execution. Heller 
 has no taste for mere execution. Where the 
 performance becomes too prominent, there, he 
 thinks, the thought vanishes. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 85 
 
 There is truth in this view of art. It is 
 evident that if too great value be set upon 
 mere external effect, the thought is neglected. 
 But is it quite wise to give up absolutely and 
 wholly such methods ? Must a pianist utterly 
 renounce the use of brilliant “ passages,’’ as 
 the Germans call them ? It is true that there 
 is a school of composers, now becoming extinct, 
 which has gone to the length of overlaying 
 thought by ornament, even while admitting 
 that there ought to be a thought latent in 
 every composition. Yet a passage may be 
 in itself melodious, or may mark, may suggest, 
 may recall a thought already expressed. May 
 not such a passage, if it be in accordance with 
 the character of the piece, be a rest to the 
 ear, a moment of suspense, which enables the 
 hearer, while listening to soothing sounds, to 
 meditate upon the first idea of the composer, 
 and to anticipate and wait for its recurrence ? 
 How many delicious effects of Hummel and 
 Field and Chopin are not in themselves actual 
 melodies ! 
 
86 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 We are well aware, as we began this essay 
 by stating, that greatness is only a relative 
 quality ; that it is entirely a question of pro- 
 portion and of symmetry ; that true beauty 
 can be shown as well in the colossal symphony 
 as in the Lied , and that a picture of Meissonier 
 may equal in value a huge canvas of Ingres. 
 
 At the same time, we must admit, our eyes- 
 and ears were created with certain proportions 
 that can alone satisfy them, and that cannot 
 be diminished at pleasure. Leaving, therefore, 
 out of the question some of Hellers “ minia- 
 tures,” we would now endeavour, in conclusion, 
 to sum up the characteristics of this great 
 composer as a whole, and to ascertain his true 
 place among the masters of art. 
 
 Is, then, Heller a Classicist or a Romanticist?’ 
 This we might have asked with all seriousness 
 some score of years ago. At this time of 
 day, the nineteenth century dispute between 
 Classicists and Romanticists is as much forgotten 
 as the eighteenth century disputes between 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 S7 
 
 Gltickists and Piccinists — which were, indeed, 
 disputes about words more than things. 
 
 Stephen Heller is simply a great artist who 
 knew how to be original, and dared to be so. 
 
 Art is not, as some would have it, confined 
 to narrow limits of expression and form, which 
 may never be passed. The purists of classic 
 art were foolish in supposing it to be impossible 
 to depart from certain conventional forms. And 
 the Romanticists, on the other hand, were little 
 less foolish when they discarded altogether the 
 forms which have been consecrated by age, 
 experience, and the admiration of centuries. 
 
 One thing is certain — that if we wish to 
 write a Sonata, a Trio, a Quartett, or a Sym- 
 phony in any form but that which was adopted 
 by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Men- 
 delssohn, we run great risk of entire failure. 
 Certain musical forms there are which have 
 hitherto been fixed, and which we ought to 
 respect. But we are not, therefore, forbidden 
 to discover new forms, and add them to cur 
 
 ancient treasures. 
 
88 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Beethoven created the Scherzo, which took 
 the place of the Minuet ; Mendelssohn im- 
 mortalized a new form, the “ Song without 
 Words;” still later Felicien David invented 
 the Ode Symphonique ; among pianists Chopin 
 originated the Impromptu ; Schumann created 
 new forms in his Children’s Scenes, his Carnival, 
 etc. ; and Stephen Heller has brought into 
 existence those delicious forms under which he 
 has presented to us his Dans les Bois and his 
 Promenades d'un Solitaire. 
 
 Heller, then, is so far a classical writer that 
 he respects classic forms. He is an innovator, 
 in so far as he has invented new ones which 
 must take their place for all time in the history 
 of his art. He might have been — had he 
 chosen — a great orchestral symphonist. He 
 has preferred, like Chopin, to remain simply 
 a composer of pianoforte music. Posterity 
 may possibly assign to him a lower niche 
 in the Temple of Fame, than had he chosen 
 to deal with larger methods, and attempt a 
 grander style. But to have been a pianist 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 89 
 
 like Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Chopin — 
 is this, indeed, little ? How many a composer 
 of more ambitious works, and of more popular 
 name, shines with infinitely less brightness in 
 the firmament of Art ! 
 
CATALOGUE 
 
 OF 
 
 PIANOFORTE WORKS 
 
 BY 
 
 STEPHEN HELLER. 
 
 Op. i. Theme de Paganini varie. 
 
 Op. 2. Les charmes de Hambourg. Rondeau brillant. 
 
 Op. 3. Fantaisie dramatique sur les operas “ Semiramide” et 
 “ Masaniello.” 
 
 Op. 4. Valse Favorite de Hubovsky. Variations brillantes. 
 
 Op. 5. Theme Polonais. Variations brillantes. 
 
 Op. 6. Zampa. Variations brillantes sur l’opera de Herold. 
 Op. 7. Trois impromptus : — 
 
 No. 1. Declaration. 
 
 2. Adieu. 
 
 3. Amour sans repos (Rastlose Liebe). 
 
 Op. 8. Rondo-scherzo. 
 
 Op. 9. Premiere Sonate. 
 
 Op. 10. Trois morceaux brillants : — 
 
 No. 1. Divertissement “L’elisire d’amore” (Donizetti)^ 
 
 2. Rondoletto “ Norma” (Bellini). 
 
 3. Rondoletto “ L’elisire d’amore ” (Donizetti). 
 
 Op. 11. Rondo-Valse. 
 
 Op. 12. La Cracovienne. Rondoletto du ballet “ The gipsy.’ 7 
 
Stephen Heller's Pianoforte Works. 
 
 ii 
 
 Op. 13. 
 
 Op. 14. 
 Op. 15. 
 Op. 16. 
 
 Op. 1 7. 
 
 Op. 18. 
 
 •Op. 19. 
 Op. 20. 
 Op. 21. 
 
 Op. 22. 
 Op. 23. 
 Op. 24. 
 Op. 25. 
 
 Op. 26. 
 Op. 27. 
 Op. 28. 
 Op. 29. 
 Op. 30. 
 
 Les Treize. Divertissement brillant sur Topera de 
 Halevy. 
 
 Passetemps. Six rondinos sur des melodies de Strauss 
 Les Treize. Rondino sur Topera de Halevy. 
 
 The art of Phrasing. Twenty-four studies through all 
 the keys. 
 
 Le Sherif. Six Caprices sur une romance de l’opera de 
 Halevy. 
 
 La chanson du pays. Improvisata sur une melodie de 
 Reber. 
 
 La captive. Deux caprices sur une melodie de Reber. 
 
 Hai Luli. Deux Impromptus sur une melodie de Reber. 
 Bergeronnette. Deux impromptus sur une melodie de 
 Reber. 
 
 La Favorita. Quatre rondos sur Topera de Donizetti. 
 Le guitarrero. Quatre rondos sur Topera de Halevy. 
 Deuxieme Scherzo. 
 
 Richard, Coeur de lion. Etude melodique sur Topdra de 
 Gretry. 
 
 Richard, Cceur de lion. Impromptu sur 1’op^ra de Gretry. 
 Caprice brillant in E flat. 
 
 Caprice Symphonique in A. 
 
 La Chasse (Die Jagd) Etude. 
 
 Dix pensdes fugitives (d’apres H. W. Ernst and Stephen 
 Heller) 
 
 No. 1. Passe. 
 
 2. Souvenir. 
 
 3. Romance. 
 
 4. Lied. 
 
 5. Agitato. 
 
 No. 6. Adieu. 
 
 7. Reverie. 
 
 8. Caprice. 
 
 9. Inquietude. 
 
 10. Intermezzo. 
 
Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. iii 
 
 Op. 31. La Juive. Petite fantaisie sur l’opera de Halevy. 
 
 Op. 32. La Juive. Bolero sur un motif de l’opira de Halivy. 
 
 Op. 33. La truite. Caprice brillant, milodie de Schubert. 
 
 Op. 34. Le roi des aulnes (The Erl King) Ballade de Schubert.. 
 Op. 35. L’eloge des larmes. Morceau de salon, melodie de 
 Schubert.' 
 
 Op. 36. La poste. Improvisata, melodie de Schubert. 
 
 Op. 37. Charles VI. Fantaisie sur l’opera de Halevy. 
 
 Op. 38. Charles VI. Caprice brillant sur l’opira de Halivy. 
 
 Op. 39. La kermesse. Danse Neerlandaise. 
 
 Op. 40. Miscellanies : — 
 
 No. 1. Reverie. 
 
 2. La petite mendiante. 
 
 3. Eglogue. 
 
 Op. 41. Le deserteur. Caprice sur un motif de l’opera de 
 Monsigny. 
 
 Op. 42. Valse ilegante. 
 
 Op. 43. Valse sentimentale. 
 
 Op. 44. Valse villageoise. 
 
 Op. 45. Twenty-five studies (Introduction to the “Art of 
 Phrasing.”) 
 
 Op. 46. 30 Etudes milodiques et progressives. 
 
 Op. 47. 25 Etudes pour former au sentiment du rhythme et h 
 l’expression. 
 
 Op. 48. No. 1. “ Charles VI.” Chant national de l’opira de 
 Halevy. 
 
 2. Sylvana. Une pastorale. 
 
 Op. 49. Quatre arabesques. 
 
 Op. 50. Scenes pastorales. 2 Books. 
 
IV 
 
 Stephen Heller's Pianoforte Works. 
 
 Op. 51. Le desert. Caprice brillant sur l’ode-symphonie de 
 F61icien David. 
 
 Op. 52. Venitienne. 
 
 Op. 53. Tarentelle (Premiere). 
 
 Op. 54. F antaisie- Stuck. 
 
 Op. 55. La fontaine. Caprice brillant, melodic de Schubert. 
 
 Op. 56. Serenade. 
 
 Op. 57. Scherzo fantastique. 
 
 Op. 58. Reveries. 
 
 Op. 59. Valse brillante. 
 
 Op. 60. Canzonetta. 
 
 Op. 61. Deuxieme Tarentelle. 
 
 Op. 62. Deux Vaises : — 
 
 No. 1, in D flat. 2, in A flat. 
 
 Op. 63. Capriccio. 
 
 Op. 64. Humoreske (Presto capriccioso). 
 
 Op. 65. Deuxieme grand sonate. 
 
 Op. 66. Le val d’Andorre. Caprice brillant sur l’opdra de Halevy 
 Op. 67. On song’s bright pinions. Improvisata sur la Mdlodie 
 de Mendelssohn, “ Auf Fliigeln des Gesanges.” 
 
 Op. 68. Hark ! hark ! the lark. Caprice brillant, m^lodie de 
 Schubert. 
 
 Op. 69. Fantaisie Sonate on Volkslied of Mendelssohn, “’Tis 
 thus decreed.” 
 
 Op. 70. “ Le Prophdte.” Caprice brill, sur 1’opera de Meyerbeer. 
 Op. 71. Aux manes de Frederic Chopin. Elegie et Marche. 
 
 Op. 72. No. 1. The Parting Song of Mendelssohn. Transcription. 
 
 2. Chant d’amour (Minnelied) of Mendelssohn. 
 
 Transcription. 
 
 3. Chant de fete of Mendelssohn. Transcription. 
 
Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. 
 
 v 
 
 Op. 73. No. 1. The huntsman’s song- (Chant du Chasseur). 
 
 2. The soldier’s farewell (L’adieu du soldat). 
 
 3. Cradle song (Chanson de berceau). 
 
 Op. 74. No. 1. “L’enfant prodigue.” Fantaisie sur l’opdra 
 d’Auber. 
 
 2. “ L’enfant prodigue.” Valse brillant sur l’opdra 
 d’Auber. 
 
 Op. 75. No. 1. “La dame de pique.” Rondeau-caprice sur 
 l’opdra de Halevy. 
 
 2. “ La dame de pique.” Romance varide sur 
 l’op^ra de Halevy. 
 
 Op. 76. Caprice caract^ristique on themes from Mendelssohn’s 
 operetta “ Son and Stranger.” 
 
 Op. 77. Saltarello on a theme from the 4th Symphony of 
 Mendelssohn. 
 
 Op. 78. Promenades d’un solitaire. Six morceaux carac- 
 tdristiques : — 
 
 No. 1. Allegro vivo, in F sharp major. 
 
 2. Allegretto quasi allegro, in F. 
 
 3. Allegro, in B flat minor. 
 
 4. Andante, in B flat. 
 
 5. Allegretto con moto, in G. 
 
 6. Assai vivace, in G minor. 
 
 Op. 79. Dream Pictures (Traumbilder) : — 
 
 No. 1. Allegretto con moto, in C. 
 
 2. Allegro energico, in A minor. 
 
 3. Vivacissimo, in A. 
 
 4. Allegro agitato, in D minor. 
 
 5. Andantino, in B flat. 
 
 6. Molto vivace, in B flat minor. 
 
VI 
 
 Stephen Heller's Pia?ioforte Works. 
 
 Op. 80. Wanderstunden (Reveries d’artiste). Deuxieme suite- 
 de Promenades d’un solitaire : — 
 
 No. i. Poco agitato, in C minor. 
 
 2. Allegretto con grazia, in D flat. 
 
 3. Allegro appassionato, in B flat minor. 
 
 4. Lento con espressione, in F. 
 
 5. Assai vivace, in C minor. 
 
 6. Con moto, in B flat. 
 
 Op. 81. 24 Preludes in all the keys. 
 
 Op. 82. Restless nights (Nuits blanches). 18 Morceauxlyriques :: 
 No. 1. Vivace, in C. 
 
 2. Impetuoso, in A minor. 
 
 3. Lento con tenerezza, in G. 
 
 4. Molto animato, in E minor. 
 
 5. Andante quasi allegretto, in D. 
 
 6. Allegro deciso, in B minor. 
 
 7. Piii lento, in A. 
 
 8. Allegro appassionato, F sharp minor. 
 
 9. Allegretto con grazia, in E. 
 
 10. Allegro caratteristico, C sharp minor. 
 
 11. Andante con moto, in G flat. 
 
 12. Molto agitato, in B flat minor. 
 
 13. Allegretto grazioso, in D flat. 
 
 14. Piii moderato e plintivo, in F minor. 
 
 1 5. Andante placido, in F. 
 
 16. Allegro risoluto, in D minor. 
 
 17. Allegretto pastorale, in B flat. 
 
 18. Allegro non troppo, in G minor. 
 
 Op. 83. Feuillets d Album. Six Morceaux. 
 
 Op. 84. Impromptu. 
 
Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. 
 
 VII 
 
 Op. 85. Deux Tarentelles : — 
 
 No. 1, in A minor. 2, in A flat. 
 
 Op. 86. Dans les bois (Im Walde). Sept Reveries 
 No. 1. Allegretto con moto, in A flat. 
 
 2. Agitato con passione, in E flat minor. 
 
 3. Andante con moto, in E. 
 
 4. Allegro vivace, in A. 
 
 5. Allegretto, in A flat. 
 
 6. Allegro assai, in F. 
 
 7. Allegro risoluto, in F sharp. 
 
 Op. 87. Cinquieme Tarentelle. 
 
 Op. 88. Third Sonata. 
 
 Op. 89. In Wald und Flur. Troisieme suite de Promenades 
 d’un solitaire : — 
 
 No. 1. Agrestement, in B flat. 
 
 2. D’un mouvement tres vif et passionne, in D 
 
 minor. 
 
 3. Vivement et de bonne humeur, in D. 
 
 4. D’un mouvement agitd, in G minor. 
 
 5. Molto vivace, in F. 
 
 6. Assai vivace, in A. 
 
 Op. 90. 24 Nouvelles Etudes. 
 
 Op. 91. No. 1. Nocturne, in G. 
 
 2. Nocturne, in E. 
 
 3. Nocturne-Serenade, in G. 
 
 Op. 92. Trois Eglogues : — 
 
 No. 1, in F ; 2, in G ; 3, in C. 
 
 Op. 93. Deux Vaises : — 
 
 No. r, in D flat major ; 2, in E flat minor. 
 
 Op. 94. A tale (Tableau de genre). 
 
 H 
 
viii Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. 
 
 Op. 95. Allegro pastorale. 
 
 Op. 96. Grande etude de concert. 
 
 Op. 97. Douze Vaises : — 
 
 No. 1. Mouvement modtfre, in F. 
 
 2. Un peu plus mouvementd, in D. 
 
 3. Meme mouvement, in B flat. 
 
 4. Moins vite, in D. 
 
 5. Un peu lent, in A. 
 
 6. Quasi triste, in A minor. 
 
 7. Vivement, in F. 
 
 8. Delicatement, tendrement, in A flat. 
 
 9. Tres vivement, in D flat. 
 
 10. Moins vite, in C. 
 
 11. Tres rapide, in F minor. 
 
 12. Commodement, in F. 
 
 Op. 98. Improvisata sur une mdlodie de R. Schumann. 
 Op. 99. Quatre Fantaisie-Stiicke. 
 
 Op. 100. Deuxieme Canzonette. 
 
 Op. 101. Reveries du promeneur solitaire. 
 
 Op. 102. Morceau de chasse. 
 
 Op. 103. Nocturne, in G. 
 
 Op. 104. Polonaise, in E flat. 
 
 Op. 105. Trois Romances sans paroles : — 
 
 No. 1. Assai lento, in A. 
 
 2. Molto vivo, in A minor. 
 
 3. Vivo (An autumn leaf), in F. 
 
 Op. 106. Trois Bergeries. 
 
 Op. 107. Quatre Landler : — 
 
 No. 1, in F ; 2, in F ; 3, in F minor ; 4, in F. 
 Op. 108. Quatrieme scherzo. 
 
Stephen Heller's Pianoforte Works. 
 
 Op. 109. Feuilles d’automne. Deux morceaux. 
 
 Op. no. Une grande feuille et une petite (pour un Album). 
 Op. hi. Morceaux de ballet : — 
 
 No. 1. Pas noble. Intermede. 
 
 2. Pantomime. Couplets danses. 
 
 Op. 1 12. Caprice humoristique. 
 
 Op. 1 1 3. Fantaisie-caprice. 
 
 Op. 1 14. Deux cahiers : — 
 
 No. 1. Preludes et Scenes d’enfants. 
 
 2. Presto Scherzoso. 
 
 Op. 1 1 5. Trois ballades. 
 
 Op. 1 16. Deux etudes. 
 
 Op. 1 17. Trois preludes. 
 
 Op. 1 18. Varidtds. Trois morceaux. 
 
 Op. 1 19. 32 Preludes (a Mademoiselle Lili). 
 
 Op. 120. Lieder ohne Worte. 2 Books. 
 
 Op. 12 1. Trois morceaux : — 
 
 No. 1. Ballade. 
 
 2. Conte. 
 
 3. Reverie du gondolier. 
 
 Op. 122. Valse-reveries. 2 Books. 
 
 Op. 123. Feuilles volantes. 3 Books. 
 
 Op. 124. Scenes d’enfants. 2 Books. 
 
 Op. 125. 24 Nouvelles etudes d’expression et de rhythme. 
 Op. 126. Trois Ouvertures : — 
 
 No. 1, pour un drame. 
 
 2 , pour une pastorale. 
 
 3, pour un opdra comique. 
 
 Op. 127. Studies from “Der Freischiitz " (Weber). 
 
X 
 
 Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. 
 
 Op. 128. Dansles bois (Deuxieme serie) : — 
 
 No. 1. Entree. 
 
 2. Bruits de la foret. 
 
 3. Promenade du chasseur. 
 
 4. Fleur solitaire. 
 
 5. Ecureuil poursuivi. 
 
 6. Wald- Sage. 
 
 7. Retour. 
 
 Op. 129. Deux Impromptus : — 
 
 No. 1, in F ; 2, in C sharp minor. 
 
 Op. 130. 33 Variations sur un theme de Beethoven. 
 
 Op. 13 1. Trois Nocturnes : — 
 
 No. 1. Andante con moto, in A flat. 
 
 2. Lento, in G. 
 
 3. Allegro, in A minor. 
 
 Op. 132. Deux Polonaises : — 
 
 No. 1 in F minor, 2 in A minor. 
 
 Op. 133. 21 Variations on a theme by Beethoven. 
 Op. 134. Petit Album : — 
 
 No. 4. Arabesque. 
 
 No. 1. Novellette. 
 
 5. Questions. 
 
 6. Rdponse. 
 
 2. Scherzino. 
 
 3. Romance. 
 
 Op. 135. Deux Intermddes de concert : — 
 No. 1 in G minor, 2 in E major. 
 
 Op. 136. Dans les bois (Troisieme S^rie) : — 
 
 No. 1. Dans les bois. 
 
 2. Max. 
 
 3. Agathe. Max et Agathe. 
 
 4. Caspar. Couplets. 
 
 5. Annette et Agathe. 
 
 6. Fleurs sauvages. 
 
Stephen Heller s Pianoforte Works. 
 
 xi 
 
 Op. 137. No. 1. Sixieme Tarentelle. 
 
 2. Septieme Tarentelle. 
 
 Op. 138. Album dddie a la jeunesse (Notenbuch) in 4 Books : — 
 Bk. 1. Seven pieces. 
 
 2. Eight pieces. 
 
 3. Five pieces. 
 
 4. Five pieces. 
 
 Works to which no Opus numbers have been given : — 
 
 Eglogue, in A. 
 
 Esquisse, in F. 
 
 Priere, in C. 
 
 Romance de Popera “ La chaste Suzanne 
 Serenade in A. 
 
 Six songs of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, transcribed for the 
 Pianoforte : — - 
 
 No. 1. Echo answers (Alt-Deutsches Lied). 
 
 2. Oh! winter cruel winter (Hirtenlied). 
 
 3. Oh ! what means this strong emotion (Zuleika). 
 
 4. Of all the pretty darlings (Rheinisches Volkslied). 
 
 5. When through the Piazzata (Venetianisches 
 
 Gondellied). 
 
 6. Floating rides a soft and balmy breeze (Reiselied^ 
 Thirty-three songs of Schubert, transcribed for the Pianoforte : — 
 
 No. 1. I’d carve it on the bark of ev’ry tree (Ungeduld). 
 
 2. The voice of the tempest (Des Madchens Klage). 
 
 3. In silent woe I wander (Der Wanderer). 
 
 4. Within a streamlet (Die Forelle). 
 
 5. Thou whom I vowed to love (Sei mir gegriisst). 
 
xii Stephen Heller's Pianoforte Works. 
 
 Thirty-three songs of Schubert ( continued ) : — 
 
 6. As o’er the Alps (Der Alpenjaeger). 
 
 7. Sweet image thou (Du bist die Ruh’). 
 
 8. Im Walde (Dans le bosquet). 
 
 9. Good morrow (Bon jour). 
 
 10. The departure (Abschied). 
 
 11. Evening breezes gently stealing (Standchen.. 
 
 Serenade). 
 
 12. Last greeting (Adieu). 
 
 13. The Erl King (Der Erlkonig). 
 
 14. The postman’s horn (Die Post). 
 
 15. All my peace is gone (Marguerite). 
 
 16. Ave Maria (Lady of the Lake). 
 
 17. The forest calls (Cradle song). 
 
 18. The stars (Les astres). 
 
 19. The young girl and death (La jeunefille etlamort.) 
 
 20. The storm-winds are howling (Die junge Nonne) 
 
 21. The death bell (La cloche des agonisants). 
 
 22. Scents refreshing (Lob der Thranen). 
 
 23. The young mother (La jeune mere). 
 
 24. The queen of night (Rosamunde). 
 
 25. ’Mid the gay ripples (Barcarolle). 
 
 26. The fisherman (Le pecheur). 
 
 27. The echo (L’echo). 
 
 28. My dreams are o’er (Mes reves). 
 
 29. The traveller’s song (D^sir de voyager 
 
 30. I saw three stars (Les regrets). 
 
 31. When my tender heart (Der Muller und Der Bach). 
 
 32. The favoured colour (Die liebe Farbe). 
 
 33. The sportsmen’s song (Chanson des chasseurs). 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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