Eleonore Maria Sophia Westenholz - as her full name was - was an extremely talented musician. Born three years after Mozart, she worked as a singer, pianist, glass harmonica player and composer at the court of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Ludwigslust. She also gave concerts in cities such as Berlin, Leipzig and Copenhagen and found time to raise eight children virtually on her own. It was also in Ludwigslust that she composed her piano works, which she never published, with two insignificant exceptions.

These two volumes of "Works for piano solo" are first editions and have recently been published by Edition Massonneau, which is particularly committed to the cultural heritage of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The editor Reinhard Wulfhorst prefaces the compositions with a very informative foreword, which provides a fascinating insight into the unusual life of Sophie Westenholz. Volume I contains the sonata in C major, two sonatinas, waltzes and a capriccio, the "lighter" pieces, so to speak, while volume II contains the sonata in F minor and the sonata in C minor, two larger-scale, more ambitious works. These two sonatas in particular are worth a closer look.

Westenholz often begins her movements with relatively neutral, not exactly original themes, but uses them to develop a highly imaginative progression through a wide variety of keys and moods. She does not shy away from dramatic escalations and virtuoso outbursts either. Although her music mostly follows classical forms, it occasionally refers to early Romanticism. This is all the more astonishing given that the composer evidently came into contact neither with Beethoven's music nor with that of his successors.

As a pianist, Sophie Westenholz preferred to play works by Mozart at her court. Her last performance took place in 1813. After that, she retired from the podium, not entirely voluntarily. Her granddaughter reported the following: "She was persuaded to resign by the envy and cabal of the local members of the orchestra, who did not want to be conducted by a woman ..." Sophie Westenholz died at the age of 79 in Ludwigslust in 1838.

Eleonore Maria Sophia Westenholz (1759-1838): Works for piano solo, edited by Reinhard Wulfhorst; Volume 1: em 0119, € 20.00; Volume 2: em 0219; € 24.75; Edition Massonneau, Schwerin 2019

If I had a small, cramped neighborhood store to set up, I would ask Thomas Grossmann. After his successful double bass school, the double bass and electric bass player Double Bass ABC, has now written a book for electric bass. And this book has the same quality as a good neighborhood store. You can find everything there - except perhaps bass strings. And Grossmann's book also has everything - even bass strings!

E-Bass ABC to Z offers seven advanced lessons on around 100 pages. This is followed by a further 50 pages of in-depth electric bass know-how. The twelve chapters are a kind of reference to the lessons, with basic topics such as tuning, tablature and note lengths. In addition, there are many basic considerations and suggestions on topics such as picking hands and techniques, muffling and fingerings. Techniques such as slap, harmonics and chord playing are also covered.

Thanks to the focus on the fingerboard markings, you can get started immediately with music. With the solidly produced play-alongs for each music example, even the simplest exercises are fun. This makes playing fun even before you turn to the "classic" lesson structure with empty strings and positions from low to high. There are further practice suggestions for each lesson.

Overall, there is a high level of practical relevance. This is also reflected in the large amount of additional information and explanations. At first glance, they make the booklet seem somewhat overloaded. However, they are particularly valuable in music lessons, as additions and suggestions for your own considerations. I would therefore recommend the book primarily in this setting. Beginners who tackle the book without a teacher will need quite a bit of bite. Either way, at the end you will be rewarded with a solid basic knowledge of the instrument and common playing techniques.

Advanced players can use the E-Bass ABC to Z Thanks to the practical tips and the wide-ranging topics, this book can also help you to catch up on missing knowledge. But the great strength of this book is its breadth, not its depth.

Thomas Grossmann: E-Bass ABC to Z. For beginners, intermediates and advanced players EH 11788, audio files for download, Fr. 34.50, Hug-Musikverlage, Zurich 2019

The Bavarian organist and composer Martin Vogt (1781-1854) is almost forgotten today. In the 1970s, however, the informative and amusing description of the first half of his life was popular with music lovers. The autobiography Memories of a wandering musicianpublished in Basel in 1971 by Heinrich Reinhardt, reveals that Vogt received extensive musical training as a choirboy at various German monasteries and came to Regensburg for further education at the age of thirteen. During the vacancies and after his studies, he made his way from monastery to monastery as a singer, organist and cellist and was a student of Michael Haydn in Salzburg for some time. The wandering church musician finally came to Vienna, from where he had to flee from Napoleon's recruiters.

We find Martin Vogt in Switzerland from 1806 to 1837. He worked as an organist at the monasteries of Einsiedeln, Muri, Mariastein and St. Urban, where he taught Langenthal's middle-class daughters to play the piano, then as an organist and teacher in Arlesheim and from there as a cellist in the Basel orchestra. Finally, he worked as music director and teacher in St. Gallen for 14 years before moving to his last station, Colmar, in 1837.

Martin Vogt's sacred compositions, organ pieces and masses, have appeared in print but are widely scattered. His only secular work, 24 songs with piano or guitar accompaniment based on poems by Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826), can be traced back to a personal encounter between the musician Vogt and the successful dialect poet in 1806. At that time, Hebel's Alemannic poems in its third edition, but also the folk song collection The boy's magic horn were published. Vogt's melodious songs with simple instrumental accompaniments allow a comparison with the dialectal art songs in the folk idiom, as they were published, also with piano or guitar accompaniment, as Collection of Swiss carols and folk songs were to appear in Bern in 1826.

In 2011, a concert of Vogt's Hebel songs from the first edition, which is kept in the Solothurn Central Library, awakened Hans-Rudolf Binz's desire to make this pleasing composition accessible for practical use. It is to the great credit of former library director Verena Bider and research assistant Christoph Greuter that Martin Vogt's songs have been published in a new edition. A booklet with both the piano and guitar versions is available.

Martin Vogt: Johann Peter Hebel's Alemannic Poems. Songs with piano and guitar accompaniment, edited by Christoph Greuter, (Music from the Collection of the Solothurn Central Library, booklet 10); piano booklet, M&S 2523; guitar booklet, M&S 2524; Fr. 38.00 each, Müller und Schade, Bern 2019

Further reading:
Martin Vogt, Erinnerungen eines wandernden Musikers, edited by Heinrich Reinhardt, Gute Schriften, Basel 1971

Christoph H. Hänggi: Martin Vogt (1781-1854), an organist and composer of the first half of the 19th century. 2 volumes, Liz. Basel 1988 (with list of works)

Rudolf Kelterborn (*1931) is one of the most influential musical personalities in Switzerland. Whether as a composer, lecturer, university director, radio personality or editor of the Schweizerische Musikzeitung, he was always at the forefront of events and is still active today: in 2017, Heinz Holliger conducted the world premiere of Kelterborn's Musica profanaa work commissioned for the 150th anniversary of the Basel Music Academy, which Kelterborn had headed for over ten years. The NZZ described it as a "compositional masterpiece".

The Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Ensemble Phoenix Basel have also recently given tribute concerts for him; Jürg Henneberger, for example, conceived an original program with music by Kelterborn and his students. And the Musikkollegium Winterthur performed the world premiere of his Music with 5 trios (2016/17), which it is now also presenting as its first recording on CD. This trio concept was new to him, Kelterborn said in an interview. The 88-year-old still enjoys such dramaturgical "puzzles". Five groups of instruments are distributed around the stage: three high and three low strings, woodwinds and brass, as well as a trio of harp, piano and percussion. The way Kelterborn deals with this unusual constellation is astonishing: he does not aim for spatial sound effects, but plays with pairings and contrasts, subtly and highly expressively.

Under the direction of the accomplished conductor Pierre-Alain Monot, to whom the work is dedicated, a multi-layered coexistence and interaction unfolds. The third part is gripping, Remember, in which Kelterborn quotes himself and glides into the mysterious with noisy whispers. One listens spellbound, above all because the Musikkollegium plays very attentively and with poetic intensity.

This new piece is accompanied by two older masterpieces: the Ensemble Book I (1990) for baritone and instruments and the Songs for the night (1978) for soprano and chamber orchestra. Kelterborn's music demands a high level of musicality from the performers, who intuitively sense the shimmering atmosphere of light and dark. Sarah Wegener's soprano is made for this, she sings the Songs for the night with a charmingly changing timbre, while the baritone Robert Koller makes particularly effective use of the changes in the top voice.

Rudolf Kelterborn: Ensemble-Buch I; Music with 5 trios; Gesänge zur Nacht. Musikkollegium Winterthur, conductor Pierre-Alain Monot. Neos 11903
 

In his early days, Zurich violinist Tobias Preisig was still moving in quite conventional, romantic jazz realms. However, with the spectacular and internationally acclaimed violin/drums duo Egopusher and in duets with Stefan Rusconi on the church organ, he has thrown off all stylistic shackles. And with Diver, his first solo album, he once again shows a new side to himself. "The violin has a long tradition and is perceived as a prestigious instrument associated with technical virtuosity," explains the 38-year-old artist, who now lives in Berlin, in the accompanying text. "That's why there is a tendency for the music to be difficult in order to showcase the player's technical ability. I was always less interested in that."

Diver was developed and recorded over three intensive weeks in Preisig's studio with a view of the football stadium. Jan Wagner, whose artistic connections extend to the Faust Studio in Scheer, but also to the scene around the Berghain Club in Berlin, helped with the production. Turning away from demonstrative virtuosity has led Preisig into the realm of minimalist melodic fragments, which are used in the concluding piece Collective even be reduced to long single notes. The rhythms give themselves air and take their time. Now and again they are hinted at by means of breathy bass and crackling sounds, often they are simply carried by the integral movement of the violin motifs. The whole thing is accompanied by ascetic sustained notes from the synthesizer and lots of echo.

The discipline and boldness to concentrate on essences suits Preisig well. Diver consists of eight pieces that are very different in terms of structure and melody, but all of which radiate a meditative calm. Similar to Brian Eno's ambient music, they create an almost physical space in which the listener can both lose and find themselves. A wonderful album full of space, peace and light.
 

Matthias von Orelli - The event was aimed at all heads of degree programs and selected representatives of the mid-level faculty at Swiss music universities. Significant topics from the previous year's event in Zurich were taken up again and current developments were discussed. The first part of the day was dominated by a keynote speech by Prof. Andrea Belliger entitled "Digital transformation - the phenomenon beyond learning apps and smart algorithms" and a panel discussion with singer, composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist Marena Whitcher (see article below). The second part of the program presented various sessions in which the current and pressing demands on Swiss music academies were lively discussed.

Questions about the future played a central role in all discussions, including the future role of lecturers at Swiss music universities. Claudia Wagner from the HKB moderated the appropriate discussion topic "Between expertise and care-taking: the future role of lecturers". The participants agreed that professional expertise at Swiss conservatoires is non-negotiable. However, as career options are more diverse and open today, it can become a challenge for lecturers to prepare students for a multifaceted professional life. This issue can be addressed with further education courses and the advice centers that already exist in some cases (for scholarships, career advice, concert placement, etc.).

Peter Knodt (lecturer in trumpet didactics, responsible for quality management at the FHNW School of Music) presented the topic of "Quality control: instruments for university-specific quality management". It is undisputed that quality management should be seen as teaching development. In practice, this can be implemented, for example, by students actively helping to shape teaching and lecturers helping to develop quality management themselves. The appointment of a so-called Chief Listening Officer, who takes on relevant concerns, was also discussed, as were the possibilities of peer observation (this takes place when a colleague attends a course as a guest and then provides feedback). Rather bad experiences are made with quality management when it is used without consultation with the lecturers as a top down-measure is used. And: the digitalization processes that are currently developing will also have a significant influence on the form and content of quality management in the future.

Beatrice Zawodnik from the Haute école de musique Genève - Neuchâtel (HEM) addressed the topic of "Zig-zag careers: The promotion and cultivation of new student profiles". According to the discussion, such "zigzag careers" will become increasingly important in the future, and it is important to pay particular attention to and address such career profiles. In the context of such student profiles, however, universities of music must pay particular attention to the preparation or support of students in their learning, because there is a tension between canon and individualization, but also between opening up and focusing on content. These trade-offs must be carefully negotiated.

Christoph Brenner, Director of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana CSI, presented his topic under the title "Music education: between talent development, social assistance and having fun". It was emphasized that motivation is a central factor in music education. The professional environment has also become much more demanding in this field today, which is why time and maturity are elementary components of a pedagogical education. Another aspect that was discussed was the optimal design of transitions and hinges between courses of study or school levels.

With the topic "Superdiversity: Which society for which students and vice versa?", Graziella Contratto from the HKB tackled another topical issue. Although today's social stakeholders have become more complex and mixed, universities of music in particular already have many years of experience with a diverse student body. But how do you continue to achieve social acceptance? And how should conservatoires deal with a situation where cultural achievements or traditions suddenly threaten to break away? During the discussion, it was noted that it is all the more important to develop and use new formats. The integration of non-European music traditions and cultures, the promotion of students' language skills and the development of innovative teaching formats are just three ways in which we can try to anticipate trends rather than imitate them.

Overall, the second "Teaching Day" at the KMHS not only provided an opportunity to discuss pressing issues in music education, but also to engage in informal discussions. The lively discussions showed that this meets a great need.

Peter Kraut - The input presentation on the Swiss Music Universities' Teaching Day, given by Dr. Andrea Belliger, member of the university management and lecturer at the Lucerne University of Teacher Education, provided plenty to talk about. The theology graduate described aspects of a new educational culture and emphasized the upheavals, system changes and shifts in values that are fueled by the digital transformation. One of the defining changes is the transition from thinking and organizing, from working and learning in networks instead of in (old) systems. Networks are permeable, have no fixed hierarchies, are complex and heterogeneous, are self-constituting, are constantly changing and have their own values and norms. Systems in the traditional sense, however, and this includes conservatoires, are oriented towards hierarchies, a more or less binding canon of values and predefined processes. The "new learning", flanked by countless new technological companions such as apps, digital platforms, software, digital exchanges, etc., is described as fluid, responsive and collaborative. Learning today takes place socially, on the move, in groups and in agile settings. According to the speaker, today it is increasingly about context-related processes and playfulness.

"Connectivity" is a central concept in this development. Andrea Belliger referred to the fact that global companies such as Uber, Air B'n'B, Facebook etc. are now dominating the market and the discourse, primarily creating connections between network users without producing a hardware product in the true sense of the word. The accompanying technology not only of modern life, but also of learning, is increasingly cloud-based, social and mobile, YouTube is the biggest learning resource of all, new forms and narrative styles are establishing themselves here and new perspectives on old topics are opening up. For example, the freely accessible "Khan Academy", founded by former hedge fund manager Salman Khan in 2008, now has around 4,000 educational videos online, mainly in the field of science. But the question is: what does this mean in concrete terms for music lessons? As was shown in the later workshops on Teaching Day (see article above), Swiss music universities have different resources and tools at their disposal when it comes to e-learning. Where once a simple blog accompanied a lecture, today more advanced programs are used that enable participative and open forms of learning. While Andrea Belliger mainly addressed the opportunities and challenges of this development, the discussion then increasingly focused on the dangers and collateral damage that can also be associated with it: overly passive, consumerist learning expectations, the uncontrollable and opaque influence of commercial providers of new technologies, non-transparent filters and much more. Especially in a cultural field that is characterized by high emotional expression, body awareness, instrument mastery, group communication and feedback, the will to create sounds and contexts, spaces and times, new learning settings must be critically questioned. Hardly anyone will want to deny that new technologies and learning environments are a rapidly growing reality. How conservatoires will be shaped by this in the future also depends on the practical and ethical approach chosen by those responsible in the face of this challenge.

A discussion with Marena Whitcher (Eclecta, Shady Midnight Orchestra, etc.) then offered an insight into the social, economic and digital reality of the musical life of a freelance singer/performer. The young musician is active on numerous platforms, performs in a wide variety of contexts and therefore has to invest a large part of her working time in social media management, back office and booking - also because she has no external marketing. This often leaves little time for actual creative work. Although Marena Whitcher is highly networked digitally, this requires a great deal of effort. But here too, these are market realities that have an impact on training at music academies. In addition to the artistic subject, general media skills are an important prerequisite for being a successful musician today. However, students will only learn this if lecturers are able to assess and anticipate this development. In the future, conservatoires will therefore not only have to deal with the technological developments of digitality, but also with the delicate handling of art between creation, communication and connectivity in order to develop intelligent offerings for future graduates.

James Gaffigan is Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and his contract in Central Switzerland has been extended early until 2021. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, a position that was recently extended for the third time.

Born in New York, Gaffigan won the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in 2004. Until 2009, he was Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for three years in a position specially created for him by Michael Tilson Thomas. Prior to that, he was Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

The Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra (VFJO) developed in 2013 from the Verbier Festival Music Camp of the Western Switzerland Classical Music Festival. It offers orchestral training for 15 to 18-year-old musicians. The young musicians work for three weeks with talented young tutors from all over the world.

"On the second of January 1620, a wild snowstorm raged in the high valley of the city of St. Gallen." So begins the report on the founding of the choir in an anniversary publication celebrating its 300th anniversary. The romantic and dramatic observation of nature by the chronicler of the time, J. Heim, leads us into the heated parlor of Zacharias Büngier, who receives his seven friends. They tune their instruments and begin with a chorale, "which brings great joy to the maids and householders listening in the hallway, makes their hearts beat faster and chases away the gloomy thoughts of winter ...". The eight young men decide to meet daily to make music and give themselves "leges", which roughly corresponds to today's statutes. Since then, the choir has been in existence for more than 15 generations of male and later female singers.

The anniversary year will be celebrated with various events:

On January 20, the 204-page book exceptional - alive - anchored. 400 years of the St. Gallen Oratorio Choir which places the history of the choir in the context of the development of music and changes in the city. The book launch took place in St. Laurenzenkirche, where the traditional Palm Sunday concerts have been held for more than 160 years.

The concerts on April 4 and 5 will feature the German Requiem The St. Gallen composer Alfons Karl Zwicker was commissioned by the oratorio choir to set two poems by Nelly Sachs, the 50th anniversary of whose death was celebrated in 2020, to music. The work is entitled: Ear of mankind, would you listen?

From September 7 to October 2, an exhibition in the Vadiana building will showcase a rich collection of archival documents and objects accumulated over four centuries. As part of the exhibition, musicologist Emanuel Signer will speak on September 18 about the significance of the St. Gallen Oratorio Choir in the history of music.

Here are the fruits of ten years of work. Since 2008, composer and oboist Catherine Milliken has been organizing the annual "Klangspuren lautstark", a special workshop as part of the Klangspuren festival in Tyrol, which is aimed at children and young people aged 8 to 18. They compose, improvise and perform in groups. The "best of" arrangements are now available in the form of practical instructions and concepts and invite you to play. The starting point for the composition process is often a picture ("Strange Worlds") or a text ("What I like to do with friends"). Noise, represented by graphic notations, is mixed with melodies, rhythm sequences and chords. There are also composed songs. The range of themes and forms of presentation extends from opera to colors to radio plays. The basic idea is always to work together on a piece suitable for performance. And it is always about finding new sounds and expanding the musical imagination.

The book is aimed at music teachers who are looking for materials and concepts for improvising and composing with children and young people.

Catherine Milliken: Klangspuren lautstark - Aktives Musizieren und Komponieren mit Kindern und Jugendlichen, 120 p., € 19.90, ConBrio, Regensburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-940768-75-9

The Anna Kull International Cello Competition is positioned as a youth competition and is to be held every two years for three age groups (in 2020 the years 2000 to 2006), alternating between the instruments violincello and violin. Its first edition will take place from February 10 to 22, 2020 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

In three rounds, which are open to the public, 95 young talents from 30 nations will face an international jury over the course of these 12 days, which is prominently staffed with Julian Arp, David Geringas, Monika Leskovar, Milos Mlejnik, Gergely Mohl, Ditta Rohmann, Wen-Sinn Yang and Anke Schittenhelm (chair).

Anna Kull was born on October 21, 1841 in Klausenburg (then Transylvania, now Cluj-Napoca in Romania) and grew up in an aristocratic and musical family in Switzerland. It is assumed that she received her first lessons, alongside her father, from the Swiss cellist Adam Schleich in Zurich and from 1855 from the solo cellist of the Munich court orchestra, Hippolyt Müller. Due to her musical talent, she played numerous concerts throughout Europe at a young age, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She died in Trento (Italy) in 1923 at the age of 82. She bequeathed her instrument to the city of Graz.
 

The nickname "Hammerklavier" seems somewhat superfluous for this sonata today. For what other instrument could it have been written in 1817/18? In fact, it goes back to the title page of the first Viennese edition of 1819, for which Beethoven himself no longer wanted to tolerate the traditional Italian scoring: ".... that instead of piano-forte, Hammerklawier will be used on all our works for which the title is German." Posterity did not realize or want to realize that the Sonata in A major op. 101 had already appeared in print two years earlier with this indication. It is also possible that the use of the epithet reflects respect for a work that was considered unplayable for a long time due to its technical demands and expansive formal dimension - or in the words of Daniel Barenboim: "The Hammerklavier Sonata doesn't get any easier if you don't play it."

The misunderstood metronome marking of the first movement (half note = 138), which would double the prescribed tempo in the usual reading, undoubtedly contributed to this respect (a recording by Artur Schnabel from 1935 demonstrates the musical absurdity of such a realization, but an essay by Johann Sonnleitner in the new edition of the Wiener Urtext Edition, which is well worth reading, provides more clarity on the matter). In any case, Franz Liszt still assumed that the performance of the entire sonata "take almost an hour" - Glenn Gould's rather thoughtful interpretation took almost 50 minutes. The hitherto unheard-of monumentality associated with this playing time was, of course, something Beethoven had in mind from the very beginning: "Now I am writing a sonata which is to be my greatest" (as reported by his pupil Carl Czerny). Incidentally, the sound of the work, which goes far beyond the possibilities of the instrument, prompted Felix Weingartner to write a version for large orchestra in 1925/26.

SMZ - This new edition of the sonata has been published by Wiener Urtext Edition under the number UT 50432. Karl-Andreas Kolly reviewed it for the Schweizer Musikzeitung: to the review

Article by Johann Sonnleitner for download (PDF)

"O friends, not these tempos!"

In memory of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the
"Ninth" was performed. If one had to follow the trail of the deceased
Beethoven's metronome markings in a different way than we read them.
are used to?

Swiss Music Newspaper 6/2016, S. 20/21

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Tobias Willi studied piano and organ at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, as well as organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Since 2010 he has been an organ teacher at the ZHdK in the Department of Music and in continuing education.

Tobias Willi has been working as a church musician for a long time and has been the principal organist at St. John's Church in Zurich since 2015. Thanks to his concert activities, numerous courses and projects in the field of church music and organ, he is very well connected both locally and internationally, according to the ZHdK press release.

According to the official press release, the cantonal government is paying tribute to Regula Mühlemann because "she has made Lucerne better known in the world than almost any other personality".

Regula Mühlemann was born in Adligenswil in 1986, grew up there and studied at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts under Barbara Locher. Her engagements then took her to the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Zurich Opera House and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. In summer 2012, she made her debut as the young Papagena in the opera "Das Labyrinth" by Peter von Winter at the Salzburg Festival.

Since then, Regula Mühlemann has been heard at many important opera houses and concert halls. She was literally the voice of Lucerne in the world before returning to the Lucerne Theater in November 2018 as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, bringing a major romantic role to the stage for the first time. In 2018, she was awarded the Opus Klassik as "Young Artist of the Year".