He was born in
Salzburg, to
Johann Peter Hilverding, a puppeteer and court comedian in that city. He spent his childhood there until in 1685 he joined a tour to
Vienna. He performed as a puppeteer in Vienna in 1698 and soon afterwards married Margarethe Maria Roset, from a wealthy family of showmen. The couple then toured to
Dresden (1699),
Frankfurt am Main and
Prague, later also touring to
Cologne and
St. Gallen (1702). As a distiller Hilverding acquired citizenship of Vienna. His intensive collaboration with
Joseph Anton Stranitzky led to the 1705-1707 foundation of the first theatrical enterprise in Vienna, which was interrupted by the official mourning after the deaths of
Leopold I and
Joseph I. He was part of the reopened
Kärntnerthortheater from 1714 onwards, sharing its lease with Stranitzky from 1716 to 1718. After the theatre was ceded to rival Italian actors from 1719 onwards Hilverding and P. J. Tilly went to
Augsburg until the distribution of privileges was clarified, where
Gottfried Prehauser joined the troupe. After that they performed in
Ulm and
Breslau, where they spent the winter following a cancellation from Prague. After a long wait, the imperial privilege finally summoned him back to the Kärntnertor Theatre. Hilverding focused primarily on renewing the repertoire by acquiring numerous opera libretti and commissioning F. B. Werner to translate them "in a comic-theatrical style". He died of a stroke in a carriage en route between
Unterwaltersdorf and
Vienna, probably near Velm or Moosbrunn, leaving his widow (who later married Prehauser) and ten children an estate of 5,246 guilders and 6 kreuzers. He was buried in
Velm cemetery on 29 August 1721. == Work ==