1803–1888 · France
Henri Herz was born in Vienna and died in Paris on 5 January 1888. A virtuoso pianist and composer, he wrote eight piano concertos, rondos, variations and many other pieces. Herz also made pianos and taught at the Paris Conservatoire.
Henri Herz came into the world in Vienna on 6 January. He later became a French pianist and composer of Austrian origin. At birth he was named Heinrich. The boy had his first music lessons from his father, and then studied in Koblenz with the organist Daniel Hünten.
In 1816 Herz entered the Paris Conservatoire. Piano was his subject under Louis-Barthélémy Pradher; Victor Dourlen taught him harmony, and Anton Reicha composition. His brother Jacques Simon Herz was a fellow student there and also went on to become a pianist and teacher.
In Paris under the Restoration, Herz counted among the best-known pianist-composers, although over time Liszt and Chopin took his place.
He gave many concerts, travelling across Europe, including Warsaw, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Herz toured in the Americas: in the United States, Mexico and South America. In the United States he went as far as San Francisco.
Herz described his impressions of these journeys in a book, Mes voyages en Amérique. It came out in Paris in 1866, and an English translation followed in 1963.
In 1838 Herz and his brother built a concert hall with 668 seats in Paris, on the rue de la Victoire. Halls attached to instrument-making firms were important venues in the city at the time, and the Herz brothers followed that example. The brothers' special piano school was housed in the same building.
Berlioz and Offenbach both performed here, and in 1854 Berlioz presented L'Enfance du Christ in this hall. The building was still hosting concerts in 1874, the year it was pulled down.
Herz founded a piano factory. It became one of the three most important in France, alongside the firms of Érard and Pleyel. At the World's Fair of 1855, Herz's instruments received the highest award.
He also improved the action. Herz simplified Sébastien Érard's double repetition, and the spring known as the Herz spring helped the mechanism of the instrument reach its modern form. In his instruments the hammers also became multi-layered.
The dactylion, his invention for exercising the fingers, spread widely among pianists and students across Europe. Herz also wrote a textbook, Méthode complète de piano.
From 1842 to 1874 Herz taught at the Paris Conservatoire, appointed professor of piano by Auber. His pupils included Marie Jaëll and Carlotta Patti. Jaëll entered his class in 1856, a child of ten.
Together with his brother, Herz ran a private school of his own.
Herz became an Officer of the Legion of Honour; the decree is dated 24 January 1863.
Henri Herz died in Paris on 5 January 1888. He was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery, and on 27 November 1902 his remains were moved to Monaco.
Herz wrote almost exclusively for the piano. His output includes eight concertos for piano and orchestra, 14 rondos, many fantasias, variations, nocturnes, waltzes, studies and marches, and a single sonata. The catalogues give more than two hundred opus numbers, and most of the works are variations.
In its day his music was hugely popular and was reissued many times. The best known were the Variations on «Ma Fanchette est charmante», op. 10 (1823), and above all the Variations on «La violette», op. 48 (1829). Herz also contributed to Hexaméron, where he is the author of the fourth variation on Bellini's theme.
His piano style was judged in different ways. Many thought it flashy but superficial. Robert Schumann numbered among his critics; Clara Schumann, by contrast, valued the music for the way it tests how a performer interprets it.
The site has two solo piano pieces by Herz: «rossini cenerentola» and «sonnambula». Both are of intermediate-plus difficulty.