Literary qualities

Although he complained towards the end of his life about the increasing neglect of his compositional and painterly work, Peter Mieg (1906-1990) did not miss out on attention in his prime.

The musician, who was advised on composition by Frank Martin, achieved his late breakthrough in 1952 with the globally performed Concerto da Camera per archi, pianoforte e timpani. Mieg developed influences from Bartók, Stravinsky and especially Martinů into his own unmistakable musical language. Fundamentally indebted to neoclassicism, it is characterized by delicately expressive cantabile and lively, dance-like rhythms.

The first monograph was dedicated to the multi-talented composer, who was born in Lenzburg and died in Aarau, in 1976. A few years after his death, the first academic work on his compositional output appeared, written by Michael Schneider and published by Amadeus-Verlag (Winterthur) in 1995. Thanks to its profound analysis of his works and extensive bibliography, the book became a standard work.

The third, richly illustrated publication is a completely different story. Anna Kardos and Tom Hellat have achieved the feat of tracing the life of the Francophile artist, who studied in Paris and was inspired by the avant-garde there as a composer, with the clarity that is typical of all his creative branches. In the foreground is the highly sensitive man who retained the vulnerability of his childhood into old age and tried to conceal it through self-irony.

The linguistic qualities of the book are impressive, often even taking on literary traits. The way the authors describe the atmosphere in a Parisian park or in the Lenzburg residence of the extraordinarily well-read and well-educated loner, as well as his everyday life, is not an everyday pleasure to read.

Anna Kardos, Tom Hellat: In search of his own sound. The composer, publicist and painter Peter Mieg,
256 p., Fr. 34.00, Verlag Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2016, ISBN 978-3-03919-378-3