Death of the Bernese music journalist Urs Frauchiger
The Bernese musicologist, cultural activist and former Pro Helvetia director Urs Frauchiger has died at the age of 87.
Born in Emmental in 1936, Urs Frauchiger initially studied cello at the Hochschule für Musik. From 1970 he headed the music department of the Bern Radio Studio and from 1977 the Bern Conservatory. From 1992 to 1997, he also headed the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Frauchiger was also Secretary General of the European Conservatoires and Honorary Professor at the University of Bern.
Frauchiger became widely known for books such as "Was zum Teufel ist mit der Musik los? Eine Art Musiksoziologie für Kenner und Liebhaber" (1981/1982) and "Mit Mozart reden" (1990).
In 2017, Urs Frauchiger gave an interview to the Schweizer Musikzeitung on the subject of "sensitizing": Awaken openness to the phenomena. In it, he reported that he had been sensitized to listening by his singing mother and in the forest. He saw being attentive to everything that happens and being able to differentiate as the basis, but also the goal of learning and making music.
An excerpt: When I came to the Konsi for the first time as a third grader, not for lessons, I was only supposed to hand in drawings (...), it was also a primal experience for me: this house full of music; that there were so many people playing an instrument! I was the only one in the Emmental far and wide with my cello. I had to walk two kilometers to my teacher, and when I passed farmers, they always said: "Where are you going with your bass violin?" - "It's not a bass violin, it's a cello." - "How long do you have to practise before you can play it?" - "Casals practises eight hours a day and he's already 75!" They must have thought: The boy is a bit crazy.
