Bell fitter and folk musician
The estate of the original folk musician Albert Hagen was donated to the House of Folk Music in Altdorf in 2011, processed in 2018, partially digitized and handed over to the Uri State Archives for definitive archiving. Handwritten sheet music is now freely available online.
Born in 1902 in Zurich-Altstetten, Albert Hagen grew up in poor circumstances. His father was a musician and piano tuner, and Albert had inherited his talent from him. At the age of sixteen, he was already working on the electrification of bells. His patented counter-current brake system, which interrupts the swinging of the bell, proves that he was particularly inventive in this field.
As a musician, he initially played in amateur orchestras. In 1928, he was one of the founders of the Orchesterverein Dübendorf. In 1930, he had a groundbreaking encounter with accordionist Walter Wild. Over the next five years, the duo, who quickly became well-known, traveled to Berlin every June to make recordings. From 1936 to 1942, Albert Hagen then played with the already well-known Jost Ribary senior in his band in Zurich's Niederdorf pub Konkordia. In 1962, Hagen died in an accident while installing a bell in the church tower in Heimenschwand above Thun.
His estate includes many handwritten sketches of compositions, as well as construction drawings from his work as a bell fitter. The Hagen collection was donated to the House of Folk Music in Altdorf in 2011, processed in 2018, partially digitized and handed over to the Uri State Archives for definitive archiving. A large amount of handwritten sheet music, including many previously unidentified compositions without titles, is freely available on the digital platform www.volksmusik.ch.
