Hans W. Heinsheimer (1900–1993) was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and came to the United States in 1938, where he consolidated his reputation as one of the most influential music publishers of the twentieth century. He studied law but gave it up in 1923 to work in music publishing for Universal Edition in Vienna. There he introduced Alban Berg to Louis Krasner, thus paving the way for Berg's Violin Concerto. When Heinsheimer was working for Boosey and Hawkes in New York, he generously found an ingenious way of supporting the destitute Béla Bartók in his final years in the city. Heinsheimer wrote three books of memoirs— Menagerie in F Sharp (1947), Fanfare for Two Pigeons (1952), and Best Regards to Aida (1968)—and also wrote reviews for Austrian newspapers and radio stations and American journals.

Interview

By Permission of the Estate of Hans W. Heinsheimer

HH I came to Schirmer's in 1947 from Boosey and Hawkes, where I spent ten years as the publisher of Aaron Copland and Béla Bartók. Then I came to Schirmer's and started my association with Samuel Barber as the most important composer in the Schirmer catalog at that time—Bernstein wasn't there yet—and I was in charge of promoting Barber's music. I was connected with the premiere of Vanessa and later on with Antony and Cleopatra. Now, the interesting thing from my point of view is that Antony and Cleopatra was an absolute turning point in the life of Barber. It was a terrible catastrophe from which he never recovered. I wrote an article about Barber in a magazine here after his death. A friend who was a psychologist always established a link between cancer and psychic life. I cannot prove it—I am not a doctor—but I think his sickness started at this time. The interesting thing is that Barber's life took a complete turn from that moment: he never wrote anything of importance after that. This was in 1966, fifteen years before his death.

Later he wrote a song cycle called Despite and Still [1968]—a defiant title meaning that, despite this disaster, he would still compose.3 It meant also “despite” all the criticism leveled at his style of music.