Karl Hermann Pillney

Born in Graz, Pillney, son of a harpist and chamber musician, attended the Oberrealschule. After the Abitur in 1915, he went to the Konservatorium in Köln, where he studied with Hermann Abendroth among others.[1] In 1923 he passed his concert exam as a concert pianist.

Pillney undertook concert tours in Europe and overseas. In 1925 he received an appointment at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne. From 1930 he was a concert pianist, head of a master class for piano playing and from 1940, professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.

In November 1931, Pillney was attacked by the NS-press because of his musical time play Von Freitag bis Donnerstag.[2] After the "Machtergreifung" by the Nazis, Pillney was nevertheless accepted as a member of the NSDAP on 1 April 1933 and registered under the number 1.785.769, but was excluded again from 1934 to 1937.[1]

In the post-war period, he remained a university lecturer until 1951, but then worked as a freelance composer.[1]

He considered the arrangement and publication of early music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers, to be his task.

Pillney's most successful work as a composer is the 1968 variation cycle for piano and orchestra Eskapaden eines Gassenhauers,[3] in which he varies the hit Was machst Du mit dem Knie, lieber Hans[4] in different classical styles.

Pillney died in Bergisch Gladbach at the age of 84.

• Arrangement of the Variationen und Fuge über ein Thema by Max Reger for piano and orchestra (premiere in Cologne, 1924)[5]
• Arrangement of J. S. Bach's The Musical Offering
• Christus, Motets 1928
• Von Freitag bis Donnerstag, Operneinakter 1931
• Musik für Klavier und Orchester, 1932
• Completion of the final fugue of J. S. Bach's The Art of Fugue
• Cadence (Fugato) to the last movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor
• Eskapaden eines Gassenhauers, 1968

• Jürg Baur
• Egon Sarabèr, author of Methode und Praxis der Musikgestaltung,[6] 2011
• Eckart Sellheim.[7]

• In dulci jubilo sechs alte Weihnachtslieder ; für eine Singstimme, Flöte (Violine), Gambe (Bratsche), Violoncello und Cembalo (Klavier).[8] (1986)
• Ingrid Marie-Theres Knierbein, Karl Hermann Pillney: Cembalist, Pianist, Komponist aus Bensberg; zum 100. Geburtstag am 8. April 1996, in Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Rheinische Musikgeschichte Mitteilungen 83 (1996) pp. 36–40
• Reinhold Wecker, Karl Hermann Pillney. Künstler, Komponist und Pädagoge.[9] Contributions to the rheinischen Musikgeschichte Vol. 162, Merseburger: Kassel 2002

• Literature by and about Karl Hermann Pillney in the German National Library catalogue
• Karl Hermann Pillney discography at Discogs