Ferdinand Hiller, a German composer, born in Frankfort, Oct. 24, 1811. His father, a wealthy Jew, fostered his disposition for music, and he received lessons in succession from Hoffmann, Schmidt, Vollweiler, and Hummel. At the age of 10 he was first heard as a pianist, and at 17 published his first composition, a quartet for piano and strings. He next spent seven years in Paris, devoting himself to the study of classical music, where he was heard with Liszt, Kalkbrenner, and later with Baillot the violinist, acquiring much reputation as a virtuoso. In 1836, returning to Frankfort, he was made director of the Cacilienverein. During the succeeding 15 years he lived successively in Milan, Leipsic, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Paris, and London. Finally in 1852 he settled at Cologne, where he has since remained. At Milan he brought out his opera Romilde; at Leipsic, in 18:39, his oratorio Die Zerstorung Jerusalems; at Dresden his two operas Der Traum in der Ghristnacht (1844), and Kon-radin, der letzte Hohenstaufe (1847). In the winter of 1843-'4 he directed the Leipsic Ge-wandhaus concerts.

In 1847 he was made music director at Dusseldorf, in 1850 chapel-master at Cologne, and in 1851 director of the Italian opera at Paris. His compositions comprise operas, symphonies, oratorios, trios and quartets for stringed instruments, and a large number of songs and pianoforte pieces. Among his later works is "Nala and Damayanti," a cantata brought out at the Birmingham festival in 1870. He holds honorable rank among modern German composers, and his critical writings are also esteemed.