Hans Gillesberger
Hans Gilles Berger ( born November 29, 1909 in Ebensee, Upper Austria, † March 4, 1986 in Vienna ) was an Austrian choirmaster. He is considered one of the greatest choir directors of the postwar era, the several generations of Austrian musician and music educator trained in its educational activities and coined.
Life and work
Between 1918 and 1925, Hans Gilles Berger choir boy at the Salzburg Cathedral. From 1920 to 1928 he attended the Humanist school Borromäum Salzburg on which he took music lessons with J. Messner. Between 1926 and 1928 he headed the Institute Choir at Borromäum. There followed an education at the Music Academy in Vienna with Josef Lech Thaler, Ferdinand Grossmann and Karl Josef Walter, at which he took off in 1940 teaching certificate for music. He then studied law in Innsbruck and Vienna with a doctorate in 1946.
In 1935, Gilles Berger worked as rain Chori at the Piaristenkirche in Vienna. Between 1939 and 1942 he was the head of the Vienna Bach community. From 1942 to 1945 he was conductor of the Vienna Boys' Choir. In 1945, Hans Gilles Berger founded the Vienna choir. Between 1945 and 1953 he was deputy director of the choir of the Vienna State Opera. From 1947 to 1980 he was professor at the Academy of Music in Vienna ( Church and School Music ), where he was a full professor since 1968. He taught there many important now choirmaster and conductor ( among others Erwin Ortner ).
The time during the Nazi period was a very eventful period for Hans Gilles Berger and the Vienna Boys Choir. Quote from the book " The song I used ' my city called Vienna ". Vienna Boys 'Choir 1938-1945: " On March 13, in which each year the glorious " Homecoming " was committed to the Reich with solemn harmony, Gilles Berger also conducted at the Musikverein building the " Concert of the Vienna Boys' Choir. " Even on this day of remembrance was heard not a single "Nazi song" by the choir. " ( Grobauer, p 231)
From 1953 to 1968, Gilles Berger choir director of the Vienna Konzerthaus and as such director of the Vienna Academy of Music and the Vienna Chamber Choir. Under his leadership, both choirs achieved international level. He initiated numerous concerts and premieres (among works by Johann Nepomuk David, Anton Heiller, Paul Hindemith ), took trips abroad and obtained many recordings. From 1964 he was artistic director of the Vienna Boys' Choir and from 1971 artistic director of the Imperial Chapel.
Hans Gilles Berger was buried in the Viennese central cemetery ( 47F -14 -6) in an honorary grave dedicated.