Perhaps best remembered today as the dedicatee of Schumann's Piano Concerto and Chopin's Nocturnes, op. 15, Hiller was an extremely important figure in the musical world of nineteenth-century Germany. During his long career, he conducted the orchestras of Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Dresden, founded the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, composed six operas, three piano concertos, four symphonies, and a large body of chamber music, and taught pupils such as Max Bruch (whom he introduced to the melody of the Kol Nidrei, as he was Jewish). He was also an important lecturer and writer. His close musical associates included Mendelssohn, whom he met when they were both boys, Schumann, Schubert, Rossini, and Wagner, with whom he worked closely in Dresden.