Henri Herz

Henri Herz (6 January 1803 – 5 January 1888) was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.

Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna. He was Jewish by birth, although he asked the musical journalist Fétis not to mention this in the latter's musical encyclopaedia, perhaps a reflection of endemic anti-semitism in nineteenth-century French cultural circles.

As a child Herz studied with his father and in Coblenz with the organist Daniel Hünten. In 1816 he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Victor Dourlen and Anton Reicha. His brother Jacques Herz (1794-1880) was a fellow-pupil at the Conservatoire, and also became a noted pianist and teacher.