News: June 2000

Bernhard Heiden

Bernhard Heiden, Composer and Professor, Dies at 89

Bernhard Heiden, a composer who was for many years chairman of the composition department at Indiana University, died April 30 at his home in Bloomington IN. He was 89.

Mr. Heiden was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, August 24, 1910. He became interested in music at the age of five, and a year later composed his first pieces. When he began formal music instruction, he studied the piano, clarinet, and violin in addition to his lessons in theory and harmony.

Heiden was admitted to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin in 1929 and studied under Paul Hindemith, whom he considers his principal teacher. Professor Heiden was married in 1934 to Cola de Joncheere, pianist and fellow student at the Academy. Arriving in the United States in 1935, Professor Heiden settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he taught on the faculty of the Art Center Music School, worked as staff arranger for radio station WWJ, and founded and conducted the Detroit Chamber Orchestra.

Inducted into the U.S. Army in 1943, Professor Heiden became Assistant Bandmaster of the 445th Army Service Forces Band, for which he wrote over 100 arrangements. Following his discharge in 1945, he studied musicology and received his AM degree from Cornell University. In 1946 he joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music, where he was chairman of the composition department. He became a professor emeritus in 1981. In addition to directing the composition department, he helped start the Indiana University Early Music Institute.

Heiden's works include an opera, "The Darkened City"; a ballet, "Dreamers on a Slack Wire"; two symphonies; a triple concerto for piano, violin and cello; a concerto for trumpet and winds; a violin concerto; and a tuba concerto.

His chamber music included sonatas and two string quartets, as well as works for unusual combinations. These included a set of variations for tuba and nine horns and a quintet for flute, violin, viola, bassoon and bass.

He also composed several vocal and choral works, including settings of John Donne's "Divine Poems" and Louise Labé's "Sonnets," as well as a film score, Conspiracy in Kyoto, and incidental music for several Shakespeare plays.

Mr. Heiden was a member of the American Music Center.