4 - Heiller and America

Summary

“Heiller will be remembered as one of the greatest organists of the twentieth century and as one of history's most enlightened and convincing interpreters of the music of J. S. Bach.” These words appeared as part of the opening paragraph of the obituary in one of the two leading periodicals for organists in the United States, and the author, himself a Heiller student (1963/64), usually chose his words with care. “Anton Heiller accepted his first American students in the mid-fifties. From that time until his death there was a constant flow of students, young and old, to his studio and to his masterclasses,” noted the other periodical. The opening of this obituary took up the complete front page; a large photo of the deceased filled the top half of the page. Such prominence was no coincidence: Anton Heiller was, after Marcel Dupré, by far the most influential European organist in North America.

This chapter on North America will be given somewhat more space, not only to support the statement above but also because this context offers the opportunity to document many other matters of interest, including Heiller's method of travel.

European musicians had been present in the United States to a varying degree and under a variety of circumstances for a long time—through concerts, seminars, visiting professorships, or just through the medium of recordings. Artists from Europe automatically enjoyed a certain prestige right through to the 1980s. They embodied the old tradition, and moreover, it was often assumed without question that Europeans somehow naturally knew “how it's done.” The transfer of European performance concepts to North America is a more complex issue in the case of organ music than with the music of other instruments. First of all, there were great differences in organ building. For instance, we often find 32ʹ pedal stops on organs in very small rooms, probably an unconscious desire to create the illusion of that “great, mighty church building.” This (unfortunately) does not alter the acoustic situation.