Jean Nyder: pianist, composer and poet

"De la mort l'amour est prélude" is a characterizing quote by Jean Nyder from Neuchâtel, who passed away in February 1982.

For the restless piano performer, composer, poet and teacher, life was a quest for love and suffering. Born in Neuchâtel in 1923, Jean Nyder (originally Ernest Jean Niederhauser) showed astonishing pianistic abilities at an early age. After secondary school, he obtained the Diplôme de capacité in Geneva and the Prix de virtuosité in Paris.

In an interview on French television in 1968, he said of his training: "I had the good fortune to be taught by two teachers who were clearly opposites. Johnny Aubert was strictly classical, constructive, extremely objective; and Alfred Cortot reviewed this very classical work with his extraordinarily transcendent overview - he was an irreplaceable poet." When asked about his opinion on today's interpretation of romantic music, he said: "The human being is in an extraordinary dilemma. By nature, it has unlimited possibilities, but not immediately and at every moment. Such perfect precision, a large repertoire and enormous availability are demanded of a performer that sometimes, fatally, no inner development, no unfolding of the music and the musician can take place; for there are no beings who possess all gifts in the extreme. I am not talking about musicality, but about the thought that lies behind the music, about the silence that precedes the music."

Jean Nyder was able to conjure up a thousand colors from the piano and delight the listener by making them aware of what was behind the scenes. He has given concerts in Switzerland, France, Portugal and Brazil.

Back from these travels, he turned to a large circle of pupils. He gave home tuition in Bern, Biel, Neuchâtel, Lausanne, Yverdon and Geneva and used the railroad to travel, as he did the metro in Paris. With friendly love and empathy, he knew how to help even the most modest talents find artistic expression. A former pupil wrote: "Every person presented Jean Nyder with a riddle that he wanted to get to the bottom of. The mathematically and psychologically gifted artist tried to solve human equations. He radiated great kindness and had a concentrated power that attracted almost everyone. Jean Nyder refused to categorize people according to external social criteria; for him, they all formed an organism to which he simply belonged. He saw people as part of the cosmos, which he interpreted as an artist. He was a magician who exemplified art and delighted us with it."

He composed on the train and after midnight. In 1968, he explained: "For four years now, I have been in the habit of sleeping only three hours. I love composing. I have written 128 piano pieces so far. To underpin and clarify everything and to remain classical, I had the excellent teacher Charles Chaix, who was very strict. That allowed me to sift out what was too spontaneous."

In 1964, Jean Nyder wrote music for an Expo film, and in 1966 for a film about the Knie Circus, where he was fascinated by both the precision of seconds with which the music had to match the film sequences and the circus atmosphere. He said of the latter: "It is an extraordinary lesson in moral and physical balance."
His chamber music works have unconventional instrumentations, such as the 1977 quintet called Sphère cubique is for flute, oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord. The harmonies with which he exposes the basically tonal melodic fabric are colorful and dense.
After long hours of composing and teaching, the poet also stirred in Nimmermüden. In the sixties, he published three volumes of poetry and prose: Silence et carrousel, Clavier de couleur and Kaleidoscope. The latter states: "I searched in vain for a collection of poems after my heart, so I decided to write them. Silence et carrousel fell on me like a multicolored shower of rain." In the interview, he continues: "I said to myself from a very young age that happiness on earth should consist of being strong enough to create something irreplaceable. This possibility would be within everyone's reach if only they were aware of it. I don't believe that musicians or poets are extraordinary people."

Jean Nyder felt a strong affinity with versatile contemporaries such as Picasso, Cocteau, Stravinsky and suffering predecessors such as van Gogh, Rimbaud and Baudelaire and knew their works very well. His poetry speaks in strong colors of suffering, of circuses and clowns, of the tragic merry-go-round of life; of the dance of put-on masks and of the brave smile that, despite everything, appears here and there behind them.
The Journal de Bord for piano and violin, written in 1977-79, contains autobiographical features. In his dedication to Walter Amadeus Ammann, he writes: "I offer you this 'Stormy Diary'. No need to throw it into the fire! It would come out again and again. It was only two years ago that I decided to dig it out hot, to light my pipe on it, to revive my friendships, black fears and white joys. By the way - you know it well - my work is an indirect confession, a 'masked cry' that can nevertheless be uttered at close range. The five cards or standards that you have under your eyes, I have chiseled, engraved thinking of your subtle ear and your diabolical-magical bow stroke ... may our blindnesses from birth allow us to walk a little bit of eternity along the warm sun of free serenities and all possible secrets.

written on June 6, 1982 by Amadé and Iniga Ammann

Notice biographique

Ernest Jean NIEDERHAUSER, fils de Alfred Ernest Niederhauser et de Marie Suzanne, née Richter, est né le 18 octobre 1923.

Originaire de Neuchâtel, il a vécu toute sa vie dans cette ville, dans le même immeuble, chez ses parents, à la rue de la Côte 107. Originaire de Neuchâtel et Wyssachen BE.

Etudes primaires à Neuchâtel (Collège des Parcs) et secondaires (Collège latin).

A commencé ses études de piano à l'âge de 4 ans. His first teacher was Mr. Pierre Jacot in Neuchâtel. Poursuivit sa formation au Conservatoire de Genève avec le pianist Johny Aubert et Charles Chaix pour la composition.

Il se rendite ensuite à l'Ecole normale de musique à Paris, où il fut inter autres, l'élève du grand pianiste Alfred Cortot.

Revenant en Suisse, Jean NYDER (his name "de guerre") began a career as a professor and later as a composer. He liked chamber music and gave more than 300 concerts in duo with the violonist Paul Druey from Geneva.

Il publia également des recueils de poèmes.

Pour le surplus, consulter sa liste des œuvres.

He died in Neuchâtel on 12 February 1982.

Yann Richter