Tischler, Hans, 1915-2010

Hans Tischler, musicologist, was born in Vienna, Austria, on January 18, 1915 to Joachim and Grete Spitz. He married musicologist Louise Hochdorf in 1938 and later married Alice Bock, pianist, in 1958. In 1933, he earned a Piano Pedagogy Diploma at the Vienna Conservatory under Paul Wittigstein, Eduard Steurmann and Bertha Jahn-Beer. Tischler earned two master's degrees from the Vienna State Academy and two Ph.D's in Musicology, the first from Vienna University in 1937 and the second from Yale University in 1942. Hans Tischler began his professional career conducting research at the British Museum in 1938, and then worked as a private piano teacher in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1939-1943. Dr. Tischler then served in the U.S. Army from 1943-1945 and, upon returning after the war, became the Professor and Head of the Music Department at Wesleyan College in West Virginia until 1947, when he accepted the position of Associate Professor of Music History at Roosevelt University, Chicago. During his time in Chicago, Tischler also taught at the University of Chicago in 1956 and 1957. In 1965, he moved to Indiana where he accepted the position he is most noted for: Professor of Musicology at Indiana University, Bloomington. In 1972, he also briefly taught at Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem. Hans Tischler is known for his pioneering work in the field of Early Music, specifically in the area of medieval motets. Tischler's other musicological interests include Mozart, Gustav Mahler, Paul Hindemith, Music Theory and Education, and modern and Jewish music. He also wrote several compositions of his own during his years as a student at the Vienna State Academy (1933-1936). Tischler's compositions include songs for voice and orchestra, songs for voice and piano, symphonies, piano solos and duets, string quartets, and brass quintets.