Hirschler composed orchestral, piano, vocal and dramatic works, and showed a tendency towards popular music. He was one of the most famous music critics in Zagreb between the two world wars. Hirschler was editor of Musician magazine. With his writing in the Večernji vjesnik and Jutarnji list he closely followed Croatian composers.
As a Jew Hirschler faced persecution by Ustaše and Nazis. During the last days of his life, Hirschler didn't leave his apartment. He just had an intense correspondence with Paula Rendi, waiting for her to give him a pass so that he could cross over to a "free zone". That unfortunately never happened. Hirschler wrote his last letters on 12 September 1941. In one such letter, he dedicated a song to Rendi for her birthday. In late 1941 Hirschler was killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp.[7][9][10]
Works
Operas
Dvije renesansne noći
Fiorentinska noć, 1926
Svadbena noć, 1931
Mara
Operettas
Pobjednica oceana, 1928
Kaj nam pak moreju, 1935
Napred naš, 1936
Iz Zagreba u Zagreb, 1937
His Burlesk has been played on radio by Dan Franklin Smith but not recorded.
^The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Albert Ernest Wier – 1938 "Hirschler, Sigismund, Croatian composer, teacher and music critic, born Trnovica. near Bjelovar, Mar. 21, 1894; studied at the Agram Conservatory."
^(in Croatian) Ha-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Djela hrvatskih skladatelja Židovskog podrijetla u Beču; stranica 38; broj 107, studeni / prosinac 2008.
^"Svjetski dan pjesništva". www. knjiznica-vz.hr (in Croatian). Gradska knižnica i čitaonica Metel Ožegović.
Bibliography
Kraus, Ognjen (1998). Dva stoljeća povijesti i kulture Židova u Zagrebu i Hrvatskoj. Zagreb: Židovska općina Zagreb. ISBN953-96836-2-9.
Knežević, Snješka; Laslo, Aleksander (2011). Židovski Zagreb. Zagreb: AGM, Židovska općina Zagreb. ISBN978-953-174-393-8.
Goldstein, Ivo (2005). Židovi u Zagrebu 1918 – 1941. Zagreb: Novi Liber. ISBN953-6045-23-0.
Goldstein, Ivo (2001). Holokaust u Zagrebu. Zagreb: Novi Liber. ISBN953-6045-19-2.
Pintar, Marijana, Hirschler, Žiga (Hiršler), u: Macan, Trpimir (ur.), Hrvatski biografski leksikon, Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 1983., str. 580–581. (Croatian)
Polić, Branko, Prekinuti roman Žige Hirschlera, Cantus, 1994, 80/81, str. 25. (Croatian)
"Torta – Popijevke hrvatskih skladatelja uz klavirsku pratnju" (priredili Kristina Beck – Kukavčić i Felix Spiller; Edicije Spiller – hrvatski skladatelji, Zagreb 2005). (Croatian)
Vujnović-Tonković, Ankica, Pisana riječ Žige Hirschlera, Novi Omanut – Prilog židovskoj povijesti i kulturi, 1995, 12, str. 5–7. (Croatian)