Heinrich Zöllner

Biography

Heinrich Zöllner (4 July 1854 – 8 May 1941) was a German composer and conductor.

Biography

The son of composer Carl Friedrich Zöllner, Heinrich Zöllner was born in Leipzig. From 1875 to 1877 he attended the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied music under Carl Reinecke, Salomon Jadassohn, and Ernst Friedrich Richter. In 1878, Zöllner became the director of music at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu) in Estonia where he stayed for almost seven years. In 1885, he joined the faculty at the Cologne Conservatory and while there he conducted the Cologne Male Voice Choir.
Zöllner moved to the United States in 1890 to become the conductor and director of the Deutscher Liederkranz in New York City. He remained in that position for eight years and achieved considerable success. His cantata, Die neue Welt (The New World), won a prize at the 1892 Cleveland Sängerfest.
Zöllner returned to Leipzig in 1898 to replace Hermann Kretzschmar as director of music at Leipzig University, taking over the Paulus male choir. Four years later he was appointed professor of composition at the university as a replacement for his mentor, Carl Reinecke. From 1903 to 1906, he was the editor of the Leipziger Tageblatt. He was conductor of the Flemish Opera in Antwerp from 1907 until his retirement in 1914. He retired to Freiburg and worked part-time as an opera critic for the Breisgauer Zeitung. He died in Freiburg aged 86.

Operas

Die lustigen Chinesinnen (1885 Cologne, Stadttheater)
Faust (19 October 1887, Munich, Hoftheater)
Matteo Falcone (18 December 1893, New York, Irving Place)
Bei Sedan (1 September 1895, Leipsig, Neues Theater)
Der Überfall (7 September 1895, Dresden, Hoftheater)
Das hölzerne Schwert (24 November 1897, Kassel, Hoftheater)
Die versunkene Glocke (8 July 1899, Berlin, Theater des Westens)
Frithjof (6 October 1910, Antwerp)
Zigeuner (15 March 1912, Stuttgart, Hoftheater)
Der Schützenkönig (18 December 1913, Elberfeld-Barmen, Stadttheater)

Choral works

Hymnus der Liebe
Die neue Welt
König Sigurds Brautfahrt
Die Heerschau
Bonifazius
Luther (Oratorium)