Robert Heger
Remembered today more as a conductor than a composer, Robert Heger left a legacy of five operas and a substantial output of choral, orchestral, and chamber works that together divulge a masterly, if somewhat elusive post-Romantic voice. As a conductor, Heger was better known for his work in opera and made several famous opera recordings, including an abridged one of Der Rosenkavalier.
Heger was born in Strasbourg, France, on August 19, 1886. He began serious music study when he was 14 with composer/harpist Franz Stockhausen, from whom he took lessons locally for two years. In Zurich Heger was a pupil of conductor/composer Lothar Kempter from 1902-1905, and in Munich he studied with composer Max von Schillings in 1907-1908. Heger's Op. 14 Piano Trio (1908), probably his first important instrumental work, dates to his period of study with Schillings. Several earlier choral works (Opp. 6 & 13) had already demonstrated the composer possessed a fine grasp of vocal music.
After his study with Schillings, Heger launched his conducting career in Strasbourg, and following brief conducting stints in Germany -- Ulm and Barmen, from 1908-1911 -- he landed his first important post, at the Vienna Volksoper, in 1911. Two years later he began conducting opera in Nuremberg. It was during his Nuremberg period that he composed and premiered his first opera, Ein fest auf Haderslev (1919; rev. 1943). It was not a success, though the following year he tasted success in his new conducting post, this one at the Munich Opera, where he would stay until 1925.
During his Munich years he produced one of his more important choral works, Ein Friedenslied (1924), for soloists and orchestra. From 1925-1933, he conducted at the Vienna State Opera. During this period he wrote two of his finest works, the opera Der Bettler Namenlos (1932) and Variationen über ein Thema aus Verdis Maskenball (1933), for orchestra.
In 1933 Heger was appointed conductor at the Berlin State Opera. Here he remained through the turbulent war years, garnering several important commissions from the arts administrators, two of which resulted in the operas Der verlorene Sohn and Lady Hamilton. Heger left Berlin in 1950 to spend the remainder of his career at the Munich State Opera, where his successful 1967 revival of Der Bettler Namenlos helped give the work much deserved exposure. Heger died in Munich on January 14, 1978.
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Otto Nicolai : Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Les joyeuses commères de Windsor)
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 17 mrt. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lortzing: Zar und Zimmermann
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tannhäuser - Richard Wagner
Opera - Released by Preiser Records on 10 jun. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rheinberger: Der Stern von Bethlehem, Op. 164
Rita Streich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Symphonieorchester Graunke, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Carus on 1 dec. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Rosamunde, Op. 26, D. 797
Anneliese Rothenberger, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 15 dec. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tristan und Isolde
Opera - Released by Preiser Records on 18 jul. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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VERDI, G.: Rigoletto (Sung in German) [Opera] (Schlusnus) (1944)
Staatskapelle Berlin, Chor der Staatsoper Berlin, Robert Heger
Volledige opera's - Released by Eterna on 1 jan. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pfitzner / Grieg: Piano Concerto (Gieseking) (1943-44) (Hans Pfitzner - Edvard Grieg)
Walter Gieseking, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Berliner Philharmoniker, Albert Bittner, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 1 apr. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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František Benda: Flute Concertos
Robert Heger, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jiri Valek
Symfonische muziek - Released by Český rozhlas on 20 mei 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Götterdämmerung 3. Akt
Opera - Released by Preiser Records on 25 sep. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Collection of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vol. 2
Bronislaw Huberman, Robert Heger, Issay Dobrowen, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Infinity on 29 dec. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Tannhaüser, Excerpts (Mono Version)
Marianne Schech, Karl Paul, Bayerisches Staatsorchester , Robert Heger
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Préludes et ouvertures (Mono Version)
Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper München, Robert Heger
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Alles pflegt schon längst der Ruh'
Maria Müller, Städtisches Orchester Berlin, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1943
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Der Freischütz: Und ob die Wolke sie verhülle
Maria Müller, Städtisches Orchester Berlin, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1943
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J. Strauss II: Wein, Weib und Gesang, Op. 333
Staatskapelle Berlin, Robert Heger
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1928
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony - Suppé: Pique Dame (Overture) / Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna [Overture] (Dreams)
Robert Heger, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Symfonische muziek - Released by ello on 18 feb. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo