Anthony Nelson Herschel Hill (1939 – 22 July 2016) was an English musician, composer, and professor of music. During his lifetime, Herschel Hill composed some 24 symphonies and 14 concertos.

Early life and education

Anthony Nelson Herschel Hill was born in 1939 in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, England, to the eminent psychiatrist Sir Denis Hill.Anthony Herschel Hill
at VIRTUOSO PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS He is a descendant of the astronomer and composer

Sir William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline H ...

. Herschel Hill studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

as a pianist, organist, and composer, for which he won several of the major prizes. While there, he studied with the musician composers

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

, Richard Latham, and

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a prominent British politician who after his death was revealed to have been a prolific serial sex offender against children. A member of the Liberal Party, he was Member of ...

. After further study in Paris with French musician

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

and tutoring with Hungarian musician

Louis Kentner Louis Philip Kentner (19 July 190523 September 1987) was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire. Life and career He was born Lajos Kentner in Karwin in Austrian S ...

, he began his career as a musician and teacher.Rhaglen / Programme: Gŵyl Gerdd Bangor Music Festival 2011
at

Issuu Issuu, Inc. (pronounced "issue") is a Danish-founded American electronic publishing platform based in Palo Alto, California, United States. Founded in 2004 as a Danish startup, the company moved its headquarters to the United States in 2013. ...

Career

Herschel Hill has composed for piano, organ, and choir. He has played concertos with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

and the

Philharmonia The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

. He has also performed a number of solo recitals across the United Kingdom, France, Singapore, and New Zealand. As a composer, several of his pieces have appeared on the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

(ABRSM) exam lists and on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. In 1982, Herschel Hill published two albums with the classical sheet music publisher

Stainer & Bell Stainer & Bell Limited is a British music publisher, specialized in classical sheet music. History Stainer & Bell was founded in 1907. In 1917, Stainer & Bell was appointed publisher of the Carnegie Edition. Stainer & Bell acquired Augener & ...

: ''Four pieces for cello and piano'' and ''Two pieces for viola and piano''. He wrote an additional album for them – ''O ye that love the Lord : trebles and organ'' – in 1986. That same year, he wrote two albums for the publisher Fraser-Enoch: ''Soliloquy for piano'' and ''Contrasts for piano''. He was a teacher of music at

Bishop's Stortford College Bishop's Stortford College is a independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition for more than 1,200 pupils aged 4–18, situated in a campus on the edge of the market town of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Englan ...

in Hertfordshire. By 1986, he was director of music at St Simon Zelotes Church in London, a position he held for more than a quarter of a century. Herschel Hill has written a number of liturgical works. He wrote ''Ave Verum Corpus'' in 1990 for Prebendary John Pearce and the choir of St Simon Zelotes Church.

Personal life

In 1964, Herschel Hill married

Joan Havill Joan R. Havill is a concert pianist and piano tutor, currently serving as Senior Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Having played with many leading orchestras and tutored dozens of award-winning students, Havi ...

, a New Zealand pianist, with whom he had studied at the

, in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London.Hill, Anthony N Herschel
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Death

Herschel Hill died on 22 July 2016 in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. His funeral was held on 10 August at St Marylebone Crematorium in

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It has ...

, London.Anthony Nelson Herschel HILL
at

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

through

Legacy.com Legacy.com is a United States-based website founded in 1998, the world's largest commercial provider of online memorials. The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths.Keagle, Lauri Harvey"Death in the D ...

Following his death, ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' wrote that his "true worth" was "yet to be fully appreciated."

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herschel Hill, Anthony 1939 births 2016 deaths People from Shrewsbury English classical pianists English classical organists 20th-century English composers 21st-century English composers English Christian hymnwriters Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music