Heller, Stephen (1813 or 1814–1888)

Hungarian pianist and composer. At the age of nine he caused some sensation as a boy pianist. He studied in Paris, France, and worked there as a pianist and teacher until his death, becoming one of the group which included Hector Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Charles Hallé. He wrote entirely for the piano, except two works with violin entitled Pensées fugitives, in collaboration with Heinrich Ernst, and achieved an individual style of great lyrical charm.

Heller was born in Pest. He studied with Anton Halm in Vienna, Austria, made his first public appearance at Pest in his teens, and later went on tour in Germany. He lived in Augsburg, Germany, 1830–38 after a long illness, working quietly at composition, and settled in Paris in 1838. In 1850 and 1862 he visited England.

Works Piano four sonatas, a very large number of studies, variations, and fantasies on operatic tunes, five Tarantellas, Caprice on Schubert's Trout, several sets entitled Im Walde, Promenades d'un solitaire (after Rousseau's letters on botany), Blumen-, Frucht- und Dornenstücke (after Jean Paul, 1853), Dans le bois, Nuits blanches, and other pieces.