1923 Born September 15 in Vienna, Austria
1935-41 Organ instruction with the organist of the Vienna Cathedral, Wilhelm Mück from 1941 Répétiteur and choirmaster (choir of the Vienna Association of the Friends of Music, Vienna Academy of Singing, Vienna Volksoper)
1941-45 Studies at the then “Reichs” Academy of Music in Vienna with Bruno Seidlhofer (piano, organ, harpsichord) and Friedrich Reidinger (music theory and composition)
1942 Diploma in organ and harpsichord
1942 The Province of Styria “Joseph Marx” Music Prize 1942-45 Military service as communications aide and as medical orderly in Vienna.
1945 Marriage to the pianist and harpsichordist Ernestine (Erna) Hladik 1945-79 Professor for organ at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
From 1945 International career as soloist and conductor, frequent member of competition juries
1952 First prize at the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem, Netherlands
1954 Austrian National Sponsorship Prize for Choir Composition
1956 Schott Award
1957 Awarded the title of professor
1960 Member of the Austrian Arts Senate
1963 City of Vienna Culture Prize
1968 City of Vienna Cross of Honour for Arts and Science
1969 Grand Austrian State Award
1978 Honorary Member of the Vienna Academy of Singing
1979 Died on March 25 in Vienna
Sacred music occupies the most prominent part of Heiller’s œuvre. The works written for his own major instrument, the organ, also often have their main focus on religious subjects. Already in his early works, Heiller is far removed from conservative late-romantic currents; remarkable is the consistent linear polyphony of his music. Polyrhythmic structures and polytonality are common elements, the modal tonality is often extended, although the chromatic is used very economically. Especially for the organ works, his models are Johann Nepomuk David and Franz Schmidt, but also already Paul Hindemith as well as Johann Sebastian Bach and the masters of the Flemish Renaissance. Among the most important works of this first period is the Second Organ Sonata (1947). From the mid-1950s, his primarily linear style is complemented by a harmonic treatment reminiscent of French composers. For example, the four Corpus Christi pieces In Festo Corporis Christi for organ (1957) show an affinity to works by Jehan Alain and Olivier Messiaen. In combination with the frequent use of dodecaphonic elements, this French colouring also calls to mind Frank Martin, who is Heiller's model for the use of tonal functionality within the twelvetone series. Often, twelve-tone melodies are freely harmonised, respectively, with an underlay of freely structured chords, as can be heard especially in the cantata In Principio Erat Verbum (after the gospel of St. John, 1965) for tenor, mixed chorus, orchestra and organ, or in the Stabat Mater for mixed chorus and orchestra (1968). A twelve-tone theme is also the structural basis for the three movements of the bravura Organ Concerto (1963). This highly effective work soon attained international acclaim, as did the Concerto for Harpsichord, Organ Positive and Chamber Orchestra (1972), in which the two solo instruments are - atypically for Heiller - mainly concerned with building static patterns which are counterpointed with a highly transparent orchestral setting. Modelled notably on Gregorian Chant, the rhythm is most often treated freely by Heiller and is determined in vocal works by the declamation of the text, resulting in a metrically free, often very complex structure. Consequently, meters and barlines are often relinquished, as in the eucharistic motet Seele Christi, Heilige Mich for mixed chorus a cappella (1951), respectively, the meter changes constantly, even in short a cappella choral settings such as Tantum Ergo I - on a twelve-tone model (1960), O Rex gentium (1960) or Stufen (Hermann Hesse, 1961). One of Heiller's most important vocal-symphonic works was composed in this period: the oratorio François Villon for speaker, soloists, chorus and orchestra (libretto by Franz Krieg using ballades by Villon in free translation, 1956), whose main subject is the divergence between the artist and the human being. One of the most popular among the later works is the strongly rhythmical Dance Toccata for organ (1970) with its several thematically linked episodes of an emphatic dance-like character. The works of the 1970s are characterised, on the one hand, by increasingly dissonant chord-configurations, as in the Jubilatio for organ (1976), and on the other by a simpler, more transparent treatment, as in the Small Partita “Erhalt uns, Herr, bei Deinem Wort” for organ (1977). (Christian Heindl, transl. by Nicolas Radulescu). (Doblinger Catalogue)