Biography
Composer Maria Herz, née Bing, endured extended periods of displacement prompted by anti-Semitism yet sustained her creative output throughout her lifetime. Additional hardships arose when her husband succumbed to the influenza epidemic that followed World War I. Although few of her compositions appeared in print during her lifetime, performances and recordings have multiplied since the works resurfaced in the twenty-first century. In 2024 the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin issued a Capriccio album containing her concertos and orchestral pieces.
Born in Cologne on 19 August 1878, Herz grew up in a family enriched by the textile trade and devoted to music. Early instruction came from pianist Max von Pauer and from violinist and composer Josef Schwarz. In 1901 she married chemist Albert Herz; the couple soon relocated to England to escape mounting anti-Semitism, where she studied with Arthur Edmund Grimshaw. Impressed by her gifts, Grimshaw composed a set of variations for string quartet based on one of her themes. The family, now with four children, returned to Cologne in 1914 to attend a relative’s wedding, only to be prevented from departing after the outbreak of World War I, during which Albert Herz was conscripted.
Albert’s death from influenza in 1920 left Maria Herz to raise the children alone, yet she persisted in composition. Further study with Philipp Jarnach and others brought her music to the attention of Cologne’s concert life. In 1928 conductor Hermann Abendroth led her Four Short Pieces for large orchestra, Op. 8, at the Gürzenich Concert Hall. During the 1920s and early 1930s she produced roughly thirty works, occasionally publishing under the name Albert Maria Herz to conceal her gender. Her catalogue encompassed songs, chamber music, concertos, choral pieces, and orchestral scores; among her circle were conductor Otto Klemperer, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and members of the Budapest String Quartet.
The ascent of Nazism again destabilized her position. Herz left Cologne for Berlin, then Trier near the Luxembourg border, before reaching England in 1935 with an unfinished Concerto for piano, flute, and orchestra—the final work she would complete. While in Birmingham she delivered lectures on music. After the war she settled in New York to be near her children and died there on 22 October 1950; she is buried in Springfield, New Jersey. In 1995 her grandson Albert Herz deposited many manuscripts at the Zurich Central Library. Performing editions have since been prepared, and in 2024 the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin released recordings of the Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto, Four Short Pieces for large orchestra, and Orchestral Suite, Op. 13.
Born in Cologne on 19 August 1878, Herz grew up in a family enriched by the textile trade and devoted to music. Early instruction came from pianist Max von Pauer and from violinist and composer Josef Schwarz. In 1901 she married chemist Albert Herz; the couple soon relocated to England to escape mounting anti-Semitism, where she studied with Arthur Edmund Grimshaw. Impressed by her gifts, Grimshaw composed a set of variations for string quartet based on one of her themes. The family, now with four children, returned to Cologne in 1914 to attend a relative’s wedding, only to be prevented from departing after the outbreak of World War I, during which Albert Herz was conscripted.
Albert’s death from influenza in 1920 left Maria Herz to raise the children alone, yet she persisted in composition. Further study with Philipp Jarnach and others brought her music to the attention of Cologne’s concert life. In 1928 conductor Hermann Abendroth led her Four Short Pieces for large orchestra, Op. 8, at the Gürzenich Concert Hall. During the 1920s and early 1930s she produced roughly thirty works, occasionally publishing under the name Albert Maria Herz to conceal her gender. Her catalogue encompassed songs, chamber music, concertos, choral pieces, and orchestral scores; among her circle were conductor Otto Klemperer, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and members of the Budapest String Quartet.
The ascent of Nazism again destabilized her position. Herz left Cologne for Berlin, then Trier near the Luxembourg border, before reaching England in 1935 with an unfinished Concerto for piano, flute, and orchestra—the final work she would complete. While in Birmingham she delivered lectures on music. After the war she settled in New York to be near her children and died there on 22 October 1950; she is buried in Springfield, New Jersey. In 1995 her grandson Albert Herz deposited many manuscripts at the Zurich Central Library. Performing editions have since been prepared, and in 2024 the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin released recordings of the Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto, Four Short Pieces for large orchestra, and Orchestral Suite, Op. 13.
Albums
