Wilhelm Kienzl
Wilhelm Kienzl was born in Waizenkirchen, Upper Austria, where his father worked as a lawyer. His mother was an actress and also engaged in literary pursuits. In 1860, the family moved to Gmunden and a year later to Graz, where his father would later serve as mayor from 1873 to 1885. After early piano and violin lessons, Kienzl began studying piano in 1872 with Mortier de la Fontaine, a student of Chopin. In 1874, he enrolled at the University of Graz, where he studied philosophy, physics, literature, and music history. Alongside his studies, he was active as a music critic, choir singer, and pianist.
In 1876, Kienzl continued his studies in Prague, then moved on to Leipzig, and eventually settled in Vienna. There, in 1879, he earned a doctorate in philosophy under Eduard Hanslick with a dissertation titled Die musikalische Declamation. A declared admirer of Wagner, he had traveled to Bayreuth in 1876 for the world premiere of Der Ring des Nibelungen and soon became part of Wagner’s inner circle. During his concert tours as a pianist, Kienzl met many of the most prominent artists of his time. Among his close friends were the Styrian poet Peter Rosegger and the operetta composer Richard Heuberger.
Kienzl’s first permanent position came in 1883, when he was appointed principal conductor of the German Opera in Amsterdam. In 1886, he became the artistic director of the Styrian Music Society and married the Upper Austrian singer Lili Hoke, who had previously performed in Bayreuth. From 1891 onward, he primarily worked as a conductor in various German cities, including Hamburg and Munich.
As a composer, Kienzl achieved his breakthrough with the 1895 premiere of his opera Der Evangelimann in Berlin. The work became an international success and is considered one of Austria’s most significant operatic achievements of the fin de siècle period. He personally accompanied performances of the opera throughout Europe. In 1917, he settled permanently in Vienna, where his wife died two years later. In 1921, he married the writer Helene Lehner, who went on to write the libretti for his later stage works.
In 1920, Kienzl was commissioned by Chancellor Karl Renner to compose a national anthem for the First Austrian Republic. He completed his autobiography in 1925, fell ill in 1940, and died in Vienna on October 3, 1941, at the age of 84. His grave in the Vienna Central Cemetery features a monument by Andre Roder. On January 17, 1957, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at his former residence on Schreygasse.
Notable works:
Der Evangelimann (Opera, 1895)
Der Kuhreigen (Opera, 1911)
Das Testament (Dialect opera, 1916)
Deutsch-Österreich, du herrliches Land, wir lieben dich (Anthem of the First Republic, 1920)
Meine Lebenswanderung (Autobiography, 1926)
Wilhelm Kienzl’s literary estate — including the partial legacy of the Polish piano virtuoso Henri Louis Stanislaus Mortier de Fontaine — is housed in the Vienna City Library at City Hall.
