Barbara Heller
Barbara Heller (born 6 November 1936) is a German composer and pianist. She lives in Darmstadt, in the Odenwald and at times on the Canary Island of La Gomera.
Barbara Heller
- Born
- 1936 · Ludwigshafen.
- Nationality
- Germany
- Occupation
- composer · university teacher · pianist
- Fields
- music · music composing · piano performance · composed musical work
- Languages
- German
In this article
Biography
Barbara Heller was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. Her father Eugene Heller was a restorer of church art. After the parental home was bombed in 1943, the family moved to Hammelbach/Odenwald. In 1948 they returned to Ludwigshafen, in 1949 moved to Mannheim, then to Cologne and Darmstadt. Barbara Heller studied music in Mannheim and Munich and graduated in 1957. Her first attempts at composition were in 1949, though self-taught. She studied composition with Hans Vogt and Harald Genzmer and film music for a short time in Siena. She received several scholarships to the Darmstädter Ferienkurse where she studied under Hermann Heiss and David Tudor, among others. From 1958 to 1962 she was a lecturer and piano teacher at the School of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim. In 1970 she established the "Hermann Heiss Archive, Darmstadt" from the estate of the composer, and continued to collect documents for the archive. In 1978 she participated in the construction of the Internationaler Arbeitskreis Frau und Musik (International Working Group on Women and Music) and served on the executive board until 1981. In 1980 she helped organize the first big festival on women and music in Bonn/Cologne. From 1986 to 1993, she served on the board of the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt (Institute for New Music and Music Education Darmstadt). Until 1990 Heller continued to actively perform as a pianist. In 1991 she participated in the foundation of the group "Bluna Bluna" with Nicholas Heyduck and Michael Harenberg, which produces tape compositions, sound installations, audio-visual exhibition projects, and improvisations.
Works
Barbara Heller has composed a large body of works, including works for piano, harpsichord, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and film scores.
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Barbara Heller, revision 1372635308 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Discography
• Feminae in Musica (Feminae Records, 2007) • Lalai, Schlaflied zum Wachwerden? • Performed by: Aleksandra Maslovaric (violin) and Tania Fleischer (piano) • Available:
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Stegat, Anne. Biografie. Barbara Heller Komponistin. 2011.
- 2.Levens, Ulla. Encounters with Barbara Heller. Wolke Verlag Hofheim. 2006.
- 3.Sadie, Julie Anne. The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. 1994. 9780393034875.
- 4.Barbara Heller (geb. 1936), Werke sortiert nach Musikgattung.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
41,877 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Barbara GaskinPerson
- Barbara GeorgePerson
- Barbara GiurannaPerson
- Barbara HarbachPerson
- Barbara Hesse-BukowskaPerson
- Barbara KluntzPerson
- Barbara KolbPerson
- Barbara KooymanPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
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