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Biography
Prof. Hans
Pizka was born in 1942 in Metz, Lorraine, France,
the eldest son of the late horn professor Erich
Pizka. His family roots go deep into Bavaria’s
Suebia province near Fuessen and Memmingen which
was part of Austria then, and his mother’s side
goes back to the early 12th century in St. Hubert
near Kempen, not far from Cologne and Duesseldorf,
next to Cleve and Xanten. It is interesting to
note that Xanten is the site of Wagner’s
Siegfried, and also there is a Maria Stich on his
father’s side of the family in Upper Austria,
from central Bohemia in the early 18th century,
the same century in which Johann Wenzel Stich
(Giovanni Punto) was born.
Hans was educated at the Academic Gymnasium in
Linz, Upper Austria, (a 450-year-old school)
mainly by professors of the Jesuit tradition. A
citizen of Austria, he speaks fluent German,
English, and Italian, understands and speaks other
languages well enough to communicate (Spanish,
some Japanese), and can read Greek and Thai
(slowly). A scholar of history, he also can read
the old-style Suetterlin German writings and the
ancient French court writings of the 16th and 17th
century. He began his musical education at age 4
on violin, and continued with viola and horn at
age 9. His first horn teacher was his father and
later he continued his horn studies with the late
Gottfried von Freiberg and Josef Veleba of the
Vienna Philharmonic. His first (reviewed) public
performance was at age 11, and he played his first
horn concerto in front of a professional orchestra
at 15.
His orchestral career led him from Linz (Bruckner
Orchestra), to Duesseldorf as successor to Gerd
Seifert, and to Munich as successor to Norbert
Hauptmann. He has held the “Franz Strauss
Chair” as the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra´s
principal horn in Munich since 1967, and is often
called as an extra player or to fill in as first
horn with the Vienna Philharmonic. He has played
under the batons of the most famous conductors
(Karajan, Boehm, Kleiber, Sawallisch, Mehta,
Ozawa, Muti, Abbado, Kubelik, Bernstein, and
many others), and he has been a frequent soloist
in many countries all over the world. Hans still
continues as a concert soloist, author of several
important horn-related books (Mozart and the
Horn, Hornist Dictionary 1986, and Wagner
and the Horn—soon to come out on CD-ROM),
lecturer, horn designer, horn collector, publisher
of horn-related music, producer of compact discs,
and an expert regarding nearly everything
connected with the horn. He published about 500
titles of music, most for or with horn(s). He
started a horn-making business under his own brand
name a few years ago, producing double horns and
Viennese Pumpenhorns. He has been married to
Boorlian Pizka (née Nuangmathcha) since 1971.
In 2002, Hans Pizka finished his sixth term on
the Advisory Council, stepping down after 18 years
of service to the IHS. He has served the society
in many capacities, including Vice President. He
translated and published The Horn Call in
German (Hornruf) from 1983- 1994. His
lifelong devotion to his art and his activities as
ambassador through music has been honored by the
President of the Federal Republic of Austria with
the honorary title of Professor, a title so
deserved, it is hard to imagine calling him by any
other. The IHS is pleased to recognize his impact
in all areas of the horn world, bestowing upon
Prof. Hans Pizka its highest honor. (compiled from
information provided by Prof. Pizka)
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