Heinrich Stiehl
Heinrich Stiehl was a German organist, conductor, and composer, born in Lübeck on August 5, 1829. A third-generation musician, he was the son of Lübeck organist Johann Joachim Dietrich Stiehl and the brother of Carl Stiehl.
He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Johann Christian Lobe taught him composition and Ignaz Moscheles taught him piano. From 1854 to 1866, he served as organist at the Lutheran Church of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. In 1862, he also became the first professor of organ at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was among his students.
Stiehl later gave concerts in Germany, Italy, and England, and worked briefly as an organist in Lüneburg in 1870. From 1874 to 1878, he conducted the St. Cecilia Society in Belfast, then taught music in Hastings from 1878 to 1880. He subsequently became organist at St. Olaf’s Church in Tallinn and led its Singing Academy. In 1883, he conducted the first performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in St. Petersburg.
Stiehl wrote about 200 works, of which 172 numbered opus works are known. They include the short operas The Treasure Seeker and Jery and Bätely, both based on works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; a Triumphal Overture for orchestra; choral and chamber music; piano and violin pieces; and songs. He also published a Chorale Book for Use by Evangelical Congregations in Russia. He was noted as an improviser, and concerts under his direction introduced audiences in St. Petersburg to major works by Western composers. He died in Tallinn on May 1, 1886.