Obituary Martha Gmünder (1937 - 2025)
Harpsichordist Martha Gmünder passed away in Bern on August 7, 2025. She was an active member of the SMPV for many years and played a key role in shaping it.
Martha Gmünder was born on July 4, 1937 in Teufen AR. After a happy childhood in Teufen and Sankt Gallen, she completed her training as a primary school teacher in Rorschach in 1957.
Her desire to study music then led her to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she graduated as a harpsichordist in 1966. It was natural for her to join the corresponding professional association, the SMPV, in the same year and remain an active member until 2016, i.e. for 50 years.
She taught harpsichord and basso continuo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and at the Zurich Conservatory. She was also a passionate and sought-after chamber musician.
Martha always saw herself as a political woman. The fight for social justice and equal rights shaped her thoughts and actions. As a representative of the teaching staff, she regularly campaigned for improvements to working conditions at the Zurich Conservatory. In Pfäffikon ZH, she was the only SP member of the school council to campaign for high-quality, professional music teaching. For many years, she worked for the SMPV on offering attractive further education courses. She was also a delegate of the Zurich section at the SMPV delegates' meetings.
After her retirement, Martha took over the presidency of the Zurich section of this association from 1999 to 2004.
It was a time of great upheaval in the university landscape, especially for conservatories, which were forming new universities together with other art disciplines. When a suggestion from the MUV/VPOD led to the opportunity to conclude the first collective labor agreement (CLA) at a Swiss music school at the Zurich Conservatory, she did not hesitate for a moment. Together with Sybille Schuppli from MuV/VPOD, she concluded this groundbreaking agreement in 2002. A model employment contract and the accompanying salary regulations for music schools also caused quite a stir in the canton of Zurich. Since then, workload guarantees for music teachers have been introduced at many music schools.
Anyone who witnessed Martha's detailed thinking can perhaps imagine how helpless it made her to lose her memory more and more in recent years. She died on August 7, 2025 after suffering a stroke. May her warmth, her commitment, her sense of justice, but also her pioneering work for better working conditions in the field of music education remain in our memories.
Bethli Maurer
