(b Wendlich-Ossig, 25 Dec 1728; d Leipzig, 16 June 1804). German composer. Active in Leipzig's musical life from 1751, he served Count Brühl in Dresden, 1754-8, then returned to Leipzig, becoming the most prominent and respected musical figure there. He was influential as director of the Grosses Concert, 1763-71. From 1766 he wrote music for middle-class comedies by C. F. Weisse and others, thus creating the north German Singspiel. He also founded a singing school and a musical society in Leipzig and became musical director of two churches and conductor (1781) of the Gewandhaus concerts. He left in 1785 to become Kapellmeister to the Duke of Courland but returned in 1786. He was director of music in Breslau, 1787-9, and afterwards Kantor of St Thomas's, Leipzig.

Hiller's 14 Singspiels, his most important works, promoted the revival of German song, which he combined with styles from Italian and French opera to give a wide range of characterization and expression. He also composed single songs, italianate secular cantatas, sacred music (including choral settings) and instrumental works. He wrote on many aspects of music, notably in his Wöchentliche Nachrichten (1766-70), the first specialized musical periodical in the modern sense. His didactic works include several treatises on singing.

Hiller's son Friedrich Adam (c1767-1812) was a theatre musical director at Altona and later Königsberg; he composed stage works, songs and string quartets.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.