Paul Sacher ( German: Paul Sacher ; April 28, 1906 , Basel - May 26, 1999 , Basel ) is a Swiss conductor, music teacher and philanthropist, one of the central figures in the musical life of Switzerland in the 20th century.
| Paul Sacher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| basic information | |
| Full name | him. Paul sacher |
| Date of Birth | April 28, 1906 |
| Place of Birth | Basel |
| Date of death | May 26, 1999 (93 years old) |
| A place of death | Basel |
| A country |  Switzerland |
| Professions | conductor , music teacher |
| Collectives | Basel Chamber Orchestra , Basel Chamber Choir |
| Awards | [d] ( 1997 ) |
He came from a very wealthy family, and after marrying Maya Hoffmann-Stelin, widow of the owner of the pharmaceutical concern “ Hoffmann – La Roche ”, became one of the richest people in Switzerland (by 1995, Sacher was one of the ten richest people in the world [1] ) Thanks to this, Sacher had ample opportunity to implement his musical ideas.
Biography
He studied at the Basel Conservatory under Jacques Handshin (musicology) and Felix Weingartner (conducting).
In 1926, he founded and led the Basel Chamber Orchestra , the concept of which was to contrast in each concert program early classical works ( Bach , Handel , Mozart , etc.) with cutting-edge music; the following year he founded the Basel Chamber Choir (both groups worked under the direction of Sacher until 1987 , when they were dissolved after farewell concerts on May 7-8).
In 1929 he headed the Basel branch of the International Society of Contemporary Music .
In 1933, he founded and headed the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis , an educational and scientific institution dedicated to ancient music (in 1954 it became part of the united Basel Academy of Music , and Sacher took over as director for the next 15 years; on the initiative of Sacher in 1960, the Academy a master class on the composition of Pierre Boulez opened).
In 1941, he founded another orchestra - Collegium Musicum Zurich.
Since 1946 - President of the Swiss Association of Musicians, since 1955 he served as its honorary president.
One of the main instruments with which Sacher influenced the development of not only Swiss, but also world music was the order of new works by famous composers. Among the composers who wrote by order of Sacher were Igor Stravinsky , Richard Strauss , Bela Bartok (including the famous masterpiece “ Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta ”), Arthur Honegger (including the Second and Fourth Symphonies), Paul Hindemith , Hans Werner Henze (Tenth the symphony ordered by Sacher was completed after the death of the customer and therefore dedicated to his memory), Elliot Carter , Harrison Burthwistle and others. On the occasion of the 70th birthday of Sacher, compositions-congratulations were written by Cristobal Alfter , Luciano Berio , Benjamin Britten , Alberto Hinaster , Henri Dutiyo , Vitold Lutoslavsky , Heinz Holliger and others - on May 2, 1976 all these compositions were performed at a concert in Zurich Mstislav Rostropovich [2] . To the 80th birthday of Sacher, Pierre Boulez 's play “Sur Incises” was written, which was later awarded the Gravemeier Prize .
In 1973, Sacher founded the Paul Sacher Foundation, which over time became one of the most important music archives in Europe. In 1983, the Foundation acquired the archive of Igor Stravinsky , then the archives of Anton Webern and Bruno Maderna were added to it. It was Paul Sacher who "bought" Mstislav Rostropovich the cello of Stradivarius Duport. When Rostropovich received an offer to purchase this instrument, naturally, the maestro did not have such an astronomical amount of money. And then Rostropovich called Sacher, who asked only one question: "How much money do you need?"
Notes
- ↑ Emerson M. For the first time, the American was the richest in the world // Kommersant. - 1995 (July 6). - No. 124 (842) .
- ↑ World premieres of Mstislav Rostropovich Archival copy of June 23, 2008 on the Wayback Machine // Official site of Mstislav Rostropovich