Swissmint honors brass band music
Today, the Federal Mint Swissmint is launching two new
Commemorative coins. The silver coin entitled "Brass music" honors the cultural work of the Swiss brass music scene. The "Gottardo 2016" gold coin is dedicated to the inauguration of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel.
The Federal Department of Finance writes that there is hardly a major festival up and down the country where a brass band does not provide a good atmosphere. With their performances, the associations enrich village and town life and thus make an important contribution to the cohesion of the population. Switzerland rightly enjoys the reputation of being a country of brass bands.
There is at least one brass band in almost every village and town. In contrast to other countries, whose civilian brass bands imitate the instrumentation of military music, in Switzerland you will mainly find harmony bands (with woodwind and brass instruments), pure brass ensembles, metal harmonies (with brass and saxophone instruments) and brass bands based on the English model.
The first civilian brass bands were founded in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in imitation of the military corps. In 1862, some of them held a music festival in Zofingen, which led to the founding of the "Federal Brass Band Association". Today, 2,000 clubs of various sizes belong to the Swiss Brass Band Association (SBV).
The launch of the new 20-franc silver "Wind music" coin, designed by Remo Mascherini from Belp, is a special tribute to wind music clubs and the Swiss Wind Music Association.
Further information is available at: www.lebendige-traditionen.ch and www.windband.ch.
