Although musicologists have long since consolidated his outstanding position, the early Swiss Romantic composer Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (1803-1836), who voluntarily left the world of music, still has a difficult time in musical life. A complete edition of his extensive, predominantly vocal oeuvre is still lacking. With the first recording of the Piano Quartet in D minor (1835) and the Piano Sonata in A major (1831), a major addition to the repertoire has finally been made to the few CDs available.

The quartet, written in his birthplace of Brugg a year before his early death, was only discovered in 1942 in private ownership in Zurich and was published in 2017 by Amadeus-Verlag in Winterthur based on the manuscript in the Basel University Library.

While the stormy opening movement and the musical finale are characterized by romantic pathos, the Mozartian theme of the variations (2nd movement) and the dance-like scherzo are reminiscent of Viennese Classicism. The sonata, also in four movements, is also based on this style. Her work, published in 1937 by Walter Frey and Willi Schuh in the collection Swiss piano music from the classical and romantic periods (Hug, Leipzig/Zurich) features a special recitative-like adagio insertion that testifies to Fröhlich's individuality.

If these two first recordings are not cheerful, it is due to the predominance of keyboard instruments in the quartet and the historicizing interpretative approach of Alena Hönigová (fortepiano), Miki Takahashi (violin), Daila Dambrauska (viola) and Ilze Grudule (violoncello), who are audibly committed but do not differentiate much dynamically. Instead of awakening Fröhlich's music from its long slumber and dusting it off, the dry-sounding fortepiano by John Broadwood & Sons and the string instruments in the old scale with their colorless, pale sound take us back to the nebulous beginnings of Swiss Romanticism, without being able to convincingly demonstrate the stylistically close relationship to Schubert.

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Christina Landshamer

In the late 17th century, English musicians celebrated St. Cecilia as the patron saint of music with special concerts and church services every year on November 22. With his Ode for St. Cecilia's Day Handel revived the tradition of these festivities in 1732. His work is a joyful praise of music: festive choruses frame five charming arias, in each of which an instrument is introduced as a soloist and assigned to different emotions in the Baroque style.

During the performance with the Zurich Singing Academy and Orchestra La Scintilla The solo parts are sung by the internationally acclaimed voices of Christina Landshamer and Werner Güra.

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Werner Güra

Benjamin Britten - himself born on November 22 - wrote his work A Hymn for St. Cecilia for choir a cappella under adverse circumstances during the Second World War. The work therefore not only became a homage to the well-known baroque cecilia odes, but also to his much-missed homeland of England.

The concert program is framed by Henry Purcell's festive overture from the work Hail! Bright Cecilia as well as a contemporary piece by Anders Hillborg for choir a cappella with the fantastic title Muoaeyiywoum. Sounds and rhythms emerge in space as if from nowhere, deforming, merging and dissolving again. As it says in the very first movement of Handel's Ode: "From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began ..."

The joint concert series of these two top-class ensembles has set itself the task of creating exciting concert programs. Both great masterpieces and unknown gems of music history are performed, with interesting bridges to the present day.

Conductor, pianist, teacher, lecturer and curator Graziella Contratto, who was born in 1966, is planning a "composed interpretation" of works by Othmar Schoeck, according to the canton's press release. To this end, she is seeking exchanges with composers, conductors, arrangers and other musicians. Analyses of orchestral works and original recordings with the composer Othmar Schoeck as accompanist are intended to provide information on Schoeck-specific musical style characteristics.

Pirmin Huber, born in 1987, is planning literature for double bass lessons. The compositions, some of which are new and arranged for several double basses, will be available as sheet music and recordings. The aim is to create "groovy, intuitive melodies" that contain elements of new folk music and support the learning of double bass playing.

The discussion focused on the current situation in the cultural sector, the referendum on the Covid law on November 28 and the extension of the current support measures.

In its latest press release, the Culture Taskforce summarizes the most important concerns as follows:

"1. the top priority is to extend the proven culture-specific compensation and support measures in accordance with Art. 11 of the Covid-19 Act until the end of 2022 (A-Fonds perdu compensation, contributions to transformation projects, emergency aid for cultural workers, financial aid for non-professional cultural associations).

2. short-time working compensation is still needed for temporary employment relationships or employees on call (with 100% compensation for low incomes). These forms of work are typical in the cultural sector.

3) The idea that, from next year, the corona loss of earnings allowance should only be available to those who have to interrupt their gainful employment completely due to official measures must be rejected at all costs. Entitlement to daily allowances must continue to exist even if gainful employment is significantly restricted.

4) The protective shield for public events should be extended until the end of 2022. With a planning lead time of 6 to 9 months for major events, this instrument of risk protection is crucial - especially with a view to the major summer festivals in 2022.

5. associations in the field of amateur culture should also be given access to contributions to transformation projects."
 

At the helm of the Geneva theater since the 2019/2020 season, Aviel Cahn's first contract runs until 2024. The five-year follow-up contract confirms him in office until 2029. At the helm of the Grand Théâtre de Genève since 2019, Aviel Cahn represents "a vision of opening up his institution to the city and other art forms", according to the official press release.

Born in Zurich in 1974, Cahn completed both a musical education and a law degree. He left Switzerland at the age of 26 to manage the international relations of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. He was then responsible for casting at the Finnish National Opera before heading the Konzerttheater Bern and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. At the age of 34, he became artistic director of the Flemish Opera Antwerp/Ghent.

The research project, which is endowed with around 550′,000 euros, will focus in particular on the Dresden court in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition to two doctoral positions, there will also be a postdoctoral position, which will be filled by Basel music theater scholar Helena Langewitz. The project "Garden and music theater at the Dresden court of the 17th and 18th centuries: Medial and functional interrelationships in the service of stately metaphor and princely representation" will start in January 2022.

Lavishly designed gardens and opulently decorated operas were central elements of princely representation in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were also closely interlinked: On the one hand, garden decorations formed an integral part of the furnishings of opera seria and opera buffa, while on the other, the gardens themselves served as performance venues for musical theater performances.

Original article:
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/14393_DEU_HTML.php

Johannes Otter studied horn at the Basel Academy of Music, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. After a master's degree in contemporary music in Stuttgart, he completed his master's degree in music education in Basel.

He teaches at the music course weeks in Arosa and with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. From 2009 to 2011, he was assistant to Norbert Sterz at the Detmold University of Music. He has been a professor at the Bern University of the Arts since 2012.

Edita Gruberova was possibly the most important coloratura singer of the 20th century. She began her international career in 1974 as the Queen of the Night in the Magic flute at the Glyndebourne Festival and under Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg.

In addition to her phenomenal voice, Zurich opera audiences also remember her legendary dispute with the then artistic director Alexander Pereira, which led to her not performing at the Limmat for eight years. The trigger: her daughter injured herself as a dancer during a performance at the Zurich Opera House. However, the latter rejected claims due to liability. 

At the beginning of September 2021, the Boys Choir Lucerne (boys' and men's formation) was one of the first choirs to embark on a major project to mark its 10th anniversary after the long singing ban. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana was brought to the stage in a completely different way for once. The concept came from conductor Alessandro Cadario (I), whom the singers had met at a workshop of the European Choral Association (ECA) in Bonn. This was followed by further encounters with "peer to peer training" in Lucerne.

Cadario referred to the "imaginis magicis" mentioned by Orff in the subtitle. The work was not only sung, but the choir, which was expanded to include female singers, also performed the respective images under the guidance of choreographer Yvonne Sieber - a great challenge!

HSLU-M Director Valentin Gloor welcomed the members of the Federal Council. He led the committee to three short concerts by students and lecturers. Despite the special security precautions and the media hype, university operations were not affected. According to Valentin Gloor, this smooth process was only possible thanks to the great commitment of the staff and students involved, and the Federal Councillor hosted a public aperitif at the Museum of Transport in Lucerne after the visit to the Department of Music.

According to the official HSLU press release, the idea for the "extra muros" session in Lucerne came from Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga. She graduated as a concert pianist in 1983 from one of the Department of Music's predecessor institutions, the former conservatory.

Maria Ioudenitch won the competition's main prize of 30,000 euros. All four finalists, Maria Ioudenitch, Chiara Sannicandro, Javier Comesaña and Minami Yoshida, were also awarded prize money of 10,000 euros as laureates of the competition. Chiara Sannicandro received the audience prize of 2000 euros.

Chiara Sannicandro was born in Salzburg and began violin lessons at the age of four. At the age of nine, she was accepted into the Pre-College at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she studied with Klara Flieder. From 2016 to 2020, she studied with Mauricio Fuks at the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, USA, where she completed her bachelor's degree with high honors.

The Lower Saxony Foundation has been organizing the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Hanover since 1991. Antje Weithaas and Oliver Wille, who took over the artistic direction from founder Krzysztof Wegrzyn in 2019, are looking for curious personalities. The Camerata Bern was also involved in the competition.

The Seewen Museum of Music Automatons is home to a historic mechanical organ. It should have been installed in the Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, which sank in 1912. This did not happen; the Britannic also sank during the First World War. The Britannic organ has become the starting point for special research in recent years. This has led to music students today being able to listen to long-dead composers or concert pianists - such as Rachmaninov or Eugène d'Albert - when their playing is reproduced on ultra-modern grand pianos. This opens up completely new and highly interesting perspectives for piano pedagogy. A master class in the Boswil House of Artists has shown this in an impressive way.

The Britannic organ was a product of the Freiburg-based manufacturer Welte, which caused a sensation at the beginning of the 20th century, particularly with mechanical pianos. Personalities such as Carl Reinecke, Ferruccio Busoni, Teresa Carreño, Artur Schnabel and Edwin Fischer and composers such as Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, Reger, Grieg, Granados, Mahler and Gershwin immortalized their playing on these pianos. It was recorded on paper rolls using a complicated compressed air mechanism. The dynamics were also recorded, using a process that can hardly be reconstructed today.

Teams from the Bern University of the Arts (HKB), in collaboration with the Swiss National Sound Archives in Lugano, first digitally recorded and made accessible the large holdings of music rolls for the Britannic organ. The experience gained in the process also allowed the music rolls of the Welte-Mignon mechanical piano to be digitally recorded. The data was processed in such a way that it could be transferred to a Yamaha Disklavier, a kind of modern but far more precise version of the Welte-Mignon.

Studying the recordings of Busoni, Debussy or Grieg has not only added to the knowledge of historical interpretation practice that had already been gained thanks to early acoustic recordings. The paper rolls provide more precise evidence of dynamics, touch and pedal techniques - albeit not one hundred percent reliable - than the noisy gramophone recordings. Above all, the educational value is inestimable: students can follow the historical playing on the keyboard of the Disklavier, trace it with their own fingers or play and correct their own reproduction of the model until they can copy it exactly.

Of course, the aim is not to reproduce interpretations of the golden age of piano virtuosity one-to-one. However, the process helps to better understand the tactile and visual intentions of the time. The pianists and interpretation researchers Manuel Bärtsch and Sebastian Bausch, who developed the Welte-Mignon project "Magic Piano" developed at the HKB, worked with the students at the Boswil master class on works by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Scriabin as well as on the means of expression typical of the time. The Welte-Mignon transcriptions, for example, showed how freely and spontaneously even the composers themselves dealt with their works. They played carefree rubati, by no means always synchronized left and right hands or arpeggiated entire chordal passages and even omitted whole bars seemingly at random.

Questions remain unanswered: Many virtuosos recorded works for Welte while passing through, without putting much effort into it - some probably without realizing that these testimonies would last for decades. It may therefore be that one or the other took the recording rather lightly. It is also unclear how reliable the technique for recording the dynamics actually was. It cannot even be completely ruled out that something was added in post-production. The rather mysterious method of capturing the dynamics could possibly have simply consisted of Welte employees making notes during the recordings, after which the dynamic differences were then added in a further step.

The examination of the Welte rolls opens up surprising perspectives: One could apply the procedure to master classes with today's virtuosos by having them record their interpretations on the Disklavier, which would then be analyzed like the historical Welte recordings. In fact, the Boswil master class can be seen in a wider context: as a sign of the upheavals in music education triggered by social media. There is now an unmanageable range of online courses and coaching, each of which has its own strengths. Above all, they can record data accompanying a teacher's playing in real time (velocity, pedal use, time a key is released and so on). It is up to the HKB's Institute of Interpretation to take the step from historical data collection and processing to the pedagogical use of the findings.

The Swiss Music Council and the Culture Taskforce announced today that the planning and implementation of cultural projects continues to be a major challenge and is often associated with financial losses. In view of the parliamentary discussions on the extension of the existing measures, concrete information on the current situation in the cultural sector is required, especially figures-based material. The core group of the Culture Taskforce therefore commissioned the consulting and research firm Ecoplan (www.ecoplan.ch) with a survey of the needs of creative artists, cultural enterprises and associations in the amateur sector.

The survey is online in three languages until October 25:

Cultural workers - actrices et acteurs culturels - operatori culturali
German: www.kulturschaffende-de.ecoplansurvey.ch
Français: www.kulturschaffende-fr.ecoplansurvey.ch
Italiano: www.kulturschaffende-it.ecoplansurvey.ch

Cultural enterprises - entreprises culturelles - imprese culturali
German: www.kulturunternehmen-de.ecoplansurvey.ch
Français: www.kulturunternehmen-fr.ecoplansurvey.ch
Italiano: www.kulturunternehmen-it.ecoplansurvey.ch

Cultural associations in the amateur sector - associations culturelles amateurs - associazioni culturali amatoriali
German: www.kulturvereine-de.ecoplansurvey.ch
Français: www.kulturvereine-fr.ecoplansurvey.ch
Italiano: www.kulturvereine-it.ecoplansurvey.ch
 

Born in Ottobeuren in 1947, the music researcher has been a full professor of musicology at the University of Tübingen since 1986 after several interim positions. Among other things, he completed the critical reports on Mozart's string quintets and the quintets with wind instruments, which his father had published as part of the New Mozart Edition. He made the necessary revisions to these editions for practical individual editions.

Manfred Hermann Schmid's last book was dedicated to Beethoven's string quartets. It was published by Bärenreiter/Metzler a few days after his death.

Benedikt Böhlen studied violoncello at the Basel Music Academy, graduating with a Master's degree in Performance. In 2021, he obtained a Master's degree in Pedagogy from the Zurich University of the Arts. He plays regularly in the Ensemble Phönix Basel and is a member of the Swiss chamber orchestra Arte Frizzante. He is also a cello teacher at the music school in Dornach.

Born in 1990, Marena Whitcher is half Swiss and half American. She is currently establishing herself at home and abroad as a complete artist on various stages - from avant-garde pop and jazz to contemporary classical music and cabaret. She has set and orchestrated several radio plays for SRF2 radio.

Milena Umiglia was born into a family of musicians in 1998 and received her
first cello lessons with her mother at the age of four. In 2008 she became a
Private student of Rafael Rosenfeld at the Basel Music Academy. Since September 2019
she studies with Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich University of the Arts.

The Werner and Berti Alter Foundation, founded in Zurich in 1980, awards prizes to the best graduation projects in the Master of Music Pedagogy program at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).