Bernard Heinze - Biography

Biography

Bernard Heinze was born in Shepparton, Victoria on 1 July 1894, the son of Benjamin Heinze, a German born watch-maker and jeweller, and his Yorkshire-born wife, Minnie née Greenwell. Educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat, Heinze received violin lessons at an early age, under the guidance of Walter Gude (1904–12) in Ballarat and at the University of Melbourne under Franklin Peterson before being awarded the (Sir William) Clarke Scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London (1913).

World War I interrupted his studies and his career was put on hold; he received a commission in May 1916 with the British Royal Garrison Artillery Special Reserve Regiment and fought at Arras, Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele.

With the advent of peace, Heinze studied in Paris at the Schola Cantorum, under Vincent d'Indy. He returned home in 1923. At the youthful age of 32, he succeeded William Laver as Ormond Professor of Music at the University of Melbourne. He held this professorship till 1957, and played a crucial role in the creation of the Faculty of Music. Thus he influenced governmental education policy for the successful introduction of music to the state curriculum.

One of Heinze’s great achievements came with the advent of wireless radio. As director-general of music with the new National Broadcasting Service at 3LO-3AR (forerunner to the ABC), he was able to inspire a generation of Australians to the love of orchestral music that was until then largely a luxury confined to the upper classes.

Heinze envisaged a central professional full-time orchestra in Melbourne. After Alberto Zelman's death in 1927, he was offered the conductorship of the Melbourne Philharmonic Society (later the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic); many of the players of the RMP's orchestra also played in Fritz Hart's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. This led to the loss of the RMP Orchestra's separate identity. From 1932 to 1937, Heinze was co-chief conductor of the MSO with Hart, and sole chief conductor until 1950. The MSO was renamed the Victorian Symphony Orchestra in 1949, reverting to its original name in 1964.

In 1929 Heinze was appointed music adviser to the Australian Broadcasting Commission. There he oversaw the inception of its State orchestras, celebrity concerts, youth concerts and fine music broadcasting.

His last appointment of significance was as director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music (1956–66) succeeding Sir Eugene Goossens, who had resigned in scandal. After leaving the directorship in 1966, Heinze continued to conduct the main Australian orchestras on a regular basis until the late 1970s. He also conducted overseas orchestras: on 14 January 1947, he was the conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the professional concerto debut of the 14-year-old Glenn Gould, who played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4.

He died on 10 June 1982, aged 87, in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, survived by his wife Valerie née Hennessy.