
Barbara Heller
Country of origin:
Germany
Birthday:
November 6, 1936
About Barbara Heller
"Music is a sensory experience to which I bring structure.""For me, composing means applying my own filter to the constant flow of internal and external sounds. Listening to, imagining and inventing music is like building bridges between the physical and the metaphysical world."
Barbara Heller was born in 1936 in Ludwigshafen, where her father was an art restorer and conservator. She studied music in Mannheim and Munich and taught piano at the Mannheim Academy of Music from 1958 to 1962. Heller studied composition under Hans Vogt (Mannheim) and Harald Genzmer (Munich), won a scholarship to study film music in Sienna in 1963 and was awarded several scholarships at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (International summer courses for new music) in Darmstadt, where she has lived as a freelance composer and pianist since 1963. From 1970 to 1975 she documented and archived the estate of the composer Hermann Heiß from Darmstadt; she was an active member of the board of the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt (Institute for New Music and Musical Education) from 1986 to 1993. In 1978 Barbara Heller became a founder member of the international working group "Women in Music", serving on its board of directors until 1981, when she took over archive management there. Since 1976 she has dedicated considerable energy to previously neglected works by female composers. Research, teaching and editorial work have taken up a great deal of her time and she has frequently been invited to share the results of her work with the public in lectures and radio broadcasts. She has edited works by Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn and other contemporary female composers, performing these pieces herself and appearing as a soloist with a number of chamber ensembles.
In 1989 Barbara Heller decided to stop performing as a pianist and concentrate entirely on her work as a composer. Since then she has written more piano music, chamber music and songs. She also enjoys collaborating with other composers and performers from time to time, engaging in experiments and investigating other art forms: this has involved working with painters and actors, composing film music, composing with tape recordings and sound installations produced with other artists. Recent compositions include two string quartets and her bassoon quartet, as well as arrangements and adaptations of her earlier works for various combinations of instruments (most of them commissioned by performing musicians). Barbara Heller"s music is increasingly characterised by openness and a love of experimentation, often moving away from conventional musical notation to challenge performers to explore improvisation in creative and imaginative ways. She continues to receive invitations to present her music in concerts in Germany and abroad.
In 2005 Barbara Heller was awarded the Aloysia Assenbaum Memorial Prize by the GEDOK association of female artists in Heidelberg. The German edition of "Encounters with Barbara Heller" (ed. Ulla Levens) was published by Wolke in Hofheim in 2006. Barbara Heller often seeks refuge in Nature, in the Odenwald forest or on the island of La Gomera, as an escape from the sometimes hectic pace of her travels and busy city life. Being close to Nature is a source of inner strength, bringing fresh awareness of her personal sound cosmos. Reflection and quiet self-assurance, inner and outer peace, have become increasingly important. This feeling infuses her most recent works. Her approach has changed over the last fifteen years, relying on sparser sounds and breaking melodies up into minute components – sometimes reduced to just a few notes or even a single interval. She puts her trust in space and time, purging her writing of all extraneous effects to refine it into "a quest for the essence of music". The results can even sound archaic as the music becomes increasingly meditative in its focus on stillness – possibly positing an alternative to the hectic pace of everyday life. Barbara Heller has so far produced works of great stylistic range and continues to develop as a musician, with plenty of plans for the future…
Her style has evolved constantly, yet her music remains alive as it evokes the eternal flux of existence.
www.barbaraheller.de
Dr. Anne Stegat, 2011
Translation: Julia Rushworth
© 2011 SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz
Worklist
Products
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Arriba! - Sturmwind - Seifenblasen - LalaiComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Katharina DesernoEdition: Score and partsSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: violin, cello and pianoProduct number: ED 23322Product TypeIn stockAs low as €16.99Incl. Tax -
Print editionPrint editionIn stock€16.50Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
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Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: clarinet and pianoLanguage: German, EnglishProduct number: ED 23147 Q53189E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€3.99Incl. Tax
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Duet for Viola and PianoComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Peter GeifmannSeries: Viola Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: viola and pianoProduct number: VAB 88Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
Duet for Violoncello and PianoComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Katharina DesernoSeries: Cello Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: cello and pianoProduct number: CB 265Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Barbara HellerEditor: Eva Rieger | Eva Rieger | Kaete WalterMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 7197 Q53414E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€2.99Incl. Tax
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for Solo RecorderCDCDIn stock€15.50Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
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for Elke Mascha BlankenburgComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Irith GabrielySeries: Clarinet Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: clarinet in Bb and organProduct number: KLB 99Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
for Elke Mascha BlankenburgProduct TypeIn stockAs low as €8.99Incl. Tax
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Product TypeIn stockAs low as €5.99Incl. Tax
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18 Pieces for Clarinet and PianoEditor: Barbara Heller | Sabine PfeiferMedia Type: Sheet musicSeries: Female Composers
Instrumentation: clarinet and pianoLanguage: German, EnglishProduct number: ED 23147Print editionPrint editionIn stock€32.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping -
Wie eine Taube. LiederzyklusComposer: Barbara HellerSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: soprano and pianoProduct number: ED 9246Product TypeIn stockAs low as €15.99Incl. Tax -
A collection of new pieces for pianoMedia Type: Sheet musicInstrumentation: pianoLanguage: EnglishProduct number: ED 21470Print editionPrint editionIn stock€10.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
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9 DuetsComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Elisabeth WeinzierlEdition: Performing scoreSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: flute and clarinet in BbProduct number: ED 22017Product TypeIn stockAs low as €12.99Incl. Tax -
9 DuetsComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Irith GabrielyEdition: Performing scoreSeries: Clarinet Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: 2 clarinets in BbProduct number: KLB 92Product TypeIn stockAs low as €13.99Incl. Tax -
10 Duets for Violin and VioloncelloComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Katharina DesernoEdition: Performing scoreSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: violin and celloProduct number: ED 21839Product TypeIn stockAs low as €12.99Incl. Tax -
9 DuetsComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Ulla LevensEdition: Performing scoreSeries: Edition Schott
Violin Library
Instrumentation: 2 violinsProduct number: VLB 187Product TypeIn stockAs low as €15.99Incl. Tax -
9 DuetsComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Ulla LevensEdition: Performing scoreSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: violin and violaProduct number: ED 21825Product TypeIn stockAs low as €12.99Incl. Tax -
QuartetComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Christian Muench-CordellierEdition: Score and partsSeries: Bassoon Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: 4 bassoonsProduct number: FAG 33Product TypeIn stockAs low as €22.99Incl. Tax -
from: Musical FlowersComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Monika TwelsiekMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 9048 Q12341E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€1.99Incl. Tax
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14 PiecesEditor: Barbara Heller | Eva RiegerMedia Type: Sheet musicSeries: Female Composers
Instrumentation: cello and pianoProduct number: ED 8628Print editionPrint editionIn stock€39.50Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping -
Piano pieces on Black KeysComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Peter GeisselbrechtInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 22605Product TypeIn stockAs low as €17.99Incl. Tax
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13 Pieces for Flute and PianoEditor: Barbara Heller | Elisabeth WeinzierlSeries: Female Composers
Instrumentation: flute and pianoProduct number: ED 9947 Q41271In stockStarting at €3.99 -
13 Pieces for Flute and PianoEditor: Barbara Heller | Barbara Heller | Elisabeth Weinzierl | Elisabeth WeinzierlMedia Type: Sheet musicSeries: Female Composers
Instrumentation: flute and pianoLanguage: German, EnglishProduct number: ED 9947Print editionPrint editionIn stock€34.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping -
Easy Recital Pieces for PianoProduct TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax
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Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax
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Composer: Barbara HellerSeries: Original Music for Recorder
Instrumentation: Alto recorderProduct number: OFB 195Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
50 StudiesComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Irina SchwertfegerSeries: Essential Exercises
Instrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 22874Product TypeIn stockAs low as €17.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Barbara HellerInterpreter: Katharina Deserno | Gesa Luecker | Susanne StoodtOrchestra/ensemble: Verdi QuartettMedia Type: CDProduct number: WER 51232CDCDIn stock€18.50Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
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Composer: Barbara HellerEditor: Julien SingerInstrumentation: recorder solo or other Melodieinstruments (flute, oboe, clarinet)Product number: ED 9484Product TypeIn stockAs low as €17.99Incl. Tax
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Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFEdition: Separate editionInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 21439 Q10605E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€2.99Incl. Tax
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Print editionPrint editionIn stock€13.50Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
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from: Flying Bird – Fliegender Vogel (No. 5)Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: pianoProduct number: ED 23422 Q575150E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€1.99Incl. Tax
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Product TypeIn stockAs low as €10.99Incl. Tax
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18 Pieces for Clarinet and PianoEditor: Barbara Heller | Sabine PfeiferSeries: Female Composers
Instrumentation: clarinet and pianoProduct number: ED 23147 Q53366In stockStarting at €2.99 -
String Quartet No. 2Composer: Barbara HellerEdition: Score and partsSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: string quartetProduct number: ED 20774Product TypeIn stockAs low as €29.99Incl. Tax -
Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: clarinet and pianoLanguage: German, EnglishProduct number: ED 23147 Q53190E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€2.99Incl. Tax
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A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerSeries: Edition Schott
Violin Library
Instrumentation: violin and pianoProduct number: VLB 149Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax -
Lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerEditor: Christian Muench-CordellierEdition: Score and partsSeries: Bassoon Library
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: 4 bassoonsProduct number: FAG 34Product TypeIn stockAs low as €14.99Incl. Tax -
A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerArranger: Tina TernesEdition: ScoreSeries: Concertino
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: orchestraProduct number: CON 262Product TypeIn stockAs low as €13.99Incl. Tax -
A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerEditor: Marianne BoettcherSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: violin and harpProduct number: ED 20806Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax -
Schlaflied zum Wachwerden?Composer: Barbara HellerArranger: Siegfried SchwabEdition: Score and partsSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: speaker, flute, viola, guitar and percussionProduct number: ED 8619Product TypeIn stockAs low as €18.99Incl. Tax -
A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerSeries: Cello Library
Instrumentation: cello and pianoProduct number: CB 155Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax -
Lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: cello and pianoProduct number: ED 22354 Q45620E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€3.99Incl. Tax
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Schlaflied zum Wachwerden?Composer: Barbara HellerMedia Type: E-score PDFInstrumentation: violin and pianoProduct number: ED 8132 Q41370E-score PDFE-score PDFIn stock€3.99Incl. Tax
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A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerArranger: Tina TernesMedia Type: Sheet musicEdition: Set of string parts (supplementary), 2 violin 1, 2 violin 2, 1 viola, 1 violoncello, 1 double bassSeries: Concertino
Instrumentation: orchestraProduct number: CON 262-60Print editionPrint editionIn stock€22.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping -
A lullaby to awaken you?Composer: Barbara HellerArranger: Tina TernesMedia Type: Sheet musicEdition: Set of parts, each flute I, flute II, oboe I, oboe II, clarinet I, clarinet II, bassoon I, bassoon II, horn I, horn II, trumpet I, trumpet II, trombone I, trombone II, 4 violin I, 4 violin II, 2 viola, 2 cello, 2 double bass, timpani, percussionSeries: Concertino
Instrumentation: orchestraProduct number: CON 262-50Print editionPrint editionIn stock€84.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping -
Duo für Trompete und KlavierComposer: Barbara HellerSeries: La Tromba
Edition Schott
Instrumentation: trumpet in Bb and pianoProduct number: TR 34Product TypeIn stockAs low as €12.99Incl. Tax -
5 MiniaturesComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Julien SingerSeries: Edition Schott
Instrumentation: oboe (flute, treble recorder) or other wind instruments soloProduct number: ED 21054Product TypeIn stockAs low as €9.99Incl. Tax -
8 MiniaturesComposer: Barbara HellerEditor: Marianne Boettcher | Ulla LevensSeries: Edition Schott
Violin Library
Instrumentation: violin (viola) soloProduct number: VLB 151Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax