As the cultural sector is once again unable to comment on the measures currently under discussion, the Taskforce Culture on December 9 with a letter to the Federal Council. The six key points and the list of current gaps in support are quoted below:

"1 We welcome the fact that the federal government is taking the reins again. However, we also expect this with regard to compensation. We have been calling for a uniform policy throughout Switzerland to deal with this crisis since the beginning. In fact, from the Federal Council's point of view, the extraordinary situation is apparently prevailing again. The Federal Council should also formally adopt it and act accordingly.

2) In the diverse Swiss cultural sector, the question of a lockdown is being discussed in the same way as in other affected economic sectors, such as ski resorts or the Federal Council: some would like to continue offering culture even with many conditions and restrictions, while many others are already ruling themselves out because cost-covering events are no longer possible under these circumstances.

3. but one thing is clear: in the event of a further cultural lockdown, suitable support measures must be accessible to all cultural players without restrictions. We already pointed out last week that this is not possible with the current Covid-19 pandemic.
law is not the case. These loopholes must now be closed. Also
The federal government must take the reins here. The limits of federalism are clearly evident in the implementation of support measures.

4 At present, the cantons are apparently invited to propose new support measures that they consider necessary. Once again, we regret that the sectors affected are unable to comment on this, even though they are probably best placed to know what measures would help them.

5. we continue to miss at least a medium-term strategy from the Federal Council for future measures (e.g. according to defined levels of measures) and for the resumption of cultural activities. Even if it is unclear how the figures will develop, the Swiss cultural sector, the Swiss economy and the Swiss population need clearer announcements instead of a weekly adrenaline rush at the Federal Council's press conferences.

6 Part of such a strategy must also be a revitalization fund that ensures full indemnification in the event of the cancellation of cultural events. Otherwise, nothing will be planned and culture will no longer get off the ground. For example, the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz announced in the Daily Mirror a state takeover of the costs for all events that are planned for the second half of 2021 but have to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• Loss compensation also for cultural workersNumerous cultural professionals work on commissions and contracts for the private sector. In these contractual relationships, there is no cultural enterprise that can or wants to demand compensation for loss of earnings and pay compensation for loss of earnings. Legal disputes over the interpretation of contracts are the result! At the same time, the budget for compensation has not been used up by a long way.
   
• Lowering the hurdles for coronavirus income replacement for the self-employed: If the self-employed only receive income compensation from a loss of turnover of 55%, this firstly sets the wrong incentives (namely to maintain the highest possible loss of turnover) and secondly penalizes the low-income earners. Here too, the federal government would have the means to support micro-entrepreneurs and lower the hurdles.
   
• Hardship compensation for cultural enterprises: According to the will of Parliament, an entitlement to loss of earnings compensation excludes the possibility of supplementary (not double) hardship compensation. This is problematic because the compensation often only covers a small part of the loss. Even if all existing aid has been claimed, many cultural enterprises are left with losses.
   
• Increase in Short-time working compensation for low earners (100% instead of only 80%)
   
• Unemployment insurance: Extension of the framework period to four years for the receipt of benefits and for the contribution period for employees in fixed-term employment and with frequently changing employers."
   

The Handel Prize of the City of Halle (Saale) is awarded to individuals or ensembles for special artistic, scientific or cultural-political achievements in connection with the international cultivation of Handel in Halle. It is an unendowed honorary prize.

Andrea Marcon studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In 1997 he founded the Venice Baroque Orchestra (VBO), today one of the world's leading ensembles in the field of baroque music. Andrea Marcon has also been musical director of the La Cetra Barockorchester Basel since 2009 and artistic director of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada since 2013/2014.

La Cetra and Andrea Marcon will perform Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare" at the Handel Festival on May 23. On May 20, the opera will be performed in Basel's St. Martin's Church as part of the "La Cetra in Basel" concert series.

26-year-old Lea Sobbe is currently specializing in an advanced master's degree with Katharina Bopp at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she previously completed her first master's degree with Conrad Steinmann with distinction. In 2019, she received the Migros Culture Percentage Study Prize and, together with her ensemble Amaconsort, the BR Klassik Special Prize at the German Music Competition.

The Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes, which has been awarded since 2001, is an initiative of the Lucerne Festival, the Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) and the Credit Suisse Foundation. It is awarded every two years to a highly talented young musician. The award is endowed with CHF 25,000 and is linked to a performance in the Lucerne Festival's Debut series. Lea Sobbe's concert will take place on August 17, 2021 during the Summer Festival.

According to the State Opera, the report provides extensive findings on the increase in the number of spectators from 200 to 500 in the National Theater from September 1, 2020 to October 25, 2020. Under the given conditions of the pilot project (7-day incidence predominantly between 35 and 100 per 100,000 inhabitants), no increased probability of infection for the audience could be determined.

The report was submitted by the Opera to the Bavarian Minister President and the responsible state ministries for science and art as well as health and care.

Link to the report:
https://www.staatsoper.de/media/content/PDFs/Presse/Bayerische_Staatsoper_Abschlussbericht_Pilotprojekt_VF__3._Dezember_2020_.pdf
 

For the publication of La relazione generosa writes the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana:

"Why does the generosity of patrons and philanthropists play such an important role in addressing the challenges of increasingly complex societies? What are the most common attitudes and behaviors of patrons and people seeking philanthropic donations? How can collaboration with patrons be successfully organized?

Answers to these and many other questions the new book La relazione generosa - Guida alla collaborazione con filantropi e mecenati [...] in which insights from various disciplines are gathered and philanthropy is made a privileged object of study. Approaches from psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics are addressed in order to bring the philanthropic project to life.

The first complete handbook on philanthropic relations in Italian comprises nine chapters and an appendix dedicated to the new development paths of the sector. Within each chapter, checklists complement the coverage of the contents, so that the reader can immediately apply the various methodological criteria when working with patrons. The handbook provides a large amount of empirical information that effectively delivers the essential information without making it difficult to read. The text can also be consulted chapter by chapter, depending on the reader's needs, to shed light on specific aspects. The book has been written with all those who work with patrons in mind: Philanthropy specialists, communications and marketing professionals, as well as students and other interested parties.

In order to support creative artists who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, the authors are donating the proceeds from the sale of the first edition of the book to the Orchestra Senzaspine [from Bologna] and the Solidarity fund for students at the Music Academy of Italian-speaking Switzerland, Lugano."
 

It is probably common knowledge that Beethoven was not only a composer, but also an outstanding pianist and as such successfully introduced himself to the music salons of the nobility upon his arrival in Vienna. The fact that he also took violin lessons from Wenzel Krumpholz (1750-1817), who was born in Bohemia and grew up in Paris, would have been lost in the maelstrom of history had it not been for Ferdinand Ries in his Biographical Notes (1838): "Beethoven was still taking violin lessons from Krumpholz in Vienna, and at the beginning when I was still we still sometimes played his sonatas together with the violin. But that was really terrible music, because in his enthusiastic zeal he didn't hear when he put a passage into the appliatura incorrectly."

I wonder if Beethoven was at home with the same fire on the viola, which he played in the Bonn court orchestra at the age of 18? In any case, his "Dienstbratsche" has survived to this day. Apart from the instrument's natural role in the orchestra or in chamber ensembles such as the string quartet and string trio, however, Beethoven (like almost all of his contemporaries) did not compose a complete work in which the viola is obbligato. The singular Notturno op. 42 (for piano and viola) is also only a foreign arrangement of the Serenade op. 8 for flute, violin and viola. It was probably made by Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (1765-1832), who worked as a piano teacher in Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century. According to the conventions of the time, however, he remains unnamed on the title page. In the small print, however, there is the addition "revûe par l'Auteur"which Beethoven also insisted on in a letter to the publishers Hoffmeister & Kühnel dated September 20, 1803: "the translations are not from me, but they are from me durchand have been completely improved in places, so don't tell me that you're writing that I've overlooked it, because otherwise you're lying and I wouldn't have the time or patience to do so."

The arrangement, which appeared at the beginning of 1804 as an independent opus 42, is certainly interesting. The original texture was transferred to the piano; although the viola is given an independent part, it does not function as the leading melody instrument (also in consideration of its middle register). Thus the nocturne remains a hybrid in terms of the movement, but produces an idiosyncratic, highly attractive sound effect (especially on period instruments).

Link to Beethoven's "Dienstbratsche"

As an assistant, Chavaz has worked with renowned directors on productions in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the USA and has staged his own productions beyond Switzerland in recent years. In 2018, he staged Shostakovich's "Moscow, Cheryomushki" in Paris, nominated by Le Monde as the best production of the year.

Theater Magdeburg is a four-section theater with its own ensembles for musical theater, ballet, concert and drama. It was created in 2004 from the merger of the Theater der Landeshauptstadt and the Freie Kammerspiele. Julien Chavaz will lead Theater Magdeburg as General Director for five seasons from August 1, 2022.

The City Council supports the efforts of Albani Music Club AG and the Albani Music Club Association to secure the long-term existence of the music club by acquiring the property at Steinberggasse 16. Albani Music Club AG has since exercised its right of first refusal and acquired the building in November. It is now planned to set up a real estate company to take over the property.

In addition to private investors, the Albani Music Club Association will also be a shareholder in this real estate company. To financially support this investment, the Albani Music Club Association will be granted an interest-free loan of CHF 100,000, which is to be repaid in annual installments of CHF 10,000 from 2026.

The Swiss Music Council informs the media on December 3:

"Singing was practically banned at the end of October as part of stricter measures against the coronavirus, with a few exceptions. Now the Federal Council apparently wants to restrict singing even further. There is a great deal of anger and incomprehension among the associations affected.

When singing was effectively banned at the end of October, there was great consternation in the Swiss singing scene. Choirs in particular felt that they were being labeled as particularly dangerous sources of infection. The IG CHorama, the association of all choral organizations, had developed effective protection concepts in the summer to enable safe choir rehearsals and performances. Experience up to the end of October clearly showed that these concepts really do work.

Now, according to media reports, the Federal Council apparently wants to go one step further and ban singing outside the family circle altogether. This would mean that children and young people would also no longer be allowed to receive single lessons at elementary school, that even the priest would no longer be allowed to sing in church services or that singing lessons at music schools would also no longer be possible.

Until now, the choral scene has mainly been annoyed that the focus in the music sector has only been on singing, but now despair is slowly but surely spreading if further tightening measures actually come into force. This would also fully affect the area that is central to the future of singing: young talent. This includes singing lessons at elementary and music schools, which are an important element in promoting young talent.

The choral scene in Switzerland is doing its part to combat the pandemic with functioning protection concepts and disciplined implementation. It is therefore incomprehensible to them why, for example, playing football is still permitted for children and young people under 16, but singing for the same age group is not. This gives the impression of arbitrariness, as there are simply no substantiated facts to prove that singing is supposed to be more contagious than other activities when applying the protection concepts.

The choral scene was already hit in the heart at the end of October. Its representatives, whether lay, professional or educational, are therefore urging the Federal Council to refrain from any further-reaching measures and instead to finally involve the choral associations in the development of an exit strategy."
 

The research project follows on from another large-scale study by the same research group entitled Experimental Concert Research in cooperation with Radialsystem V and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. This involves measuring the concert experience by investigating the aesthetic experience of the music by means of detailed pre- and post-interviews, measurements of heart rate and skin conductance, movements and emotional states, among other things.

The plan is to later contrast the effect of analog concert formats with the effect of digital concert formats. The preliminary study for the current project is now underway and the main study will begin in January 2021. The research partners are Zeppelin University, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, the University of Bern and the University of York.

Further information and the opportunity to take part in the experiment:
www.digital-concert-experience.org.

The activities of the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen, the Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn were examined.

Based on the results, it can be seen across all three orchestras that more than two thirds of those surveyed had already used the educational services offered by the participating orchestras and that the majority were satisfied or very satisfied with the educational services they had already used. With regard to the design of future offers, the participants would like, among other things, more insight into the organization of the orchestra and more digital offers such as the programme booklet as an app.

Through their use, outreach programs should appeal to as heterogeneous an audience as possible, introduce them to orchestras and inspire them to use classical music programs throughout their lives. For this reason, demographic data was surveyed in addition to the use of outreach programs.

Link to the study:
https://orchesterstiftung.de/aktuelles/details/article/5/studie-belegt-erstmals-wirkung-von-vermittlungsarbeit-bei-professionellen-orchestern-in-baden-wuerttemberg/

It was not yet known that the National Council had scuppered the broad-based business rent compromise on the first day of the 2020 winter session, meaning that the coronavirus rent discount was on the brink of failure, when the Culture Taskforce drafted the following media release. The letter, dated November 30, 2020, is quoted here in full.

The Swiss cultural sector is disappointed by the Federal Council's proposal to set the turnover threshold for hardship applications at CHF 100,000. In the cultural sector, as in the entire Swiss economy, there are numerous micro-enterprises and sole proprietorships that do not generate a turnover of CHF 100,000, but have nevertheless been operating solidly for many years. The Federal Council's explanation is therefore surprising: "The increase is intended to prevent the cantons' scarce administrative resources from being used to process applications from micro-enterprises" (https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-81342.html). The administrative burden on the cantons must not be allowed to take precedence over the existence of small businesses. If so, the implementation of the measures should be designed in such a way that the administrative burden is acceptable.

Fortunately, the WAK-N opposes this and proposes a turnover threshold for hardship applications of CHF 50,000 (https://www.parlament.ch/press-releases/Pages/mm-wak- n-2020-11-27.aspx).

In addition to the turnover threshold, the 40% drop in turnover also represents a major hurdle. After all, a drop in turnover of 10-20% can already lead to serious problems, especially for smaller companies that have hardly any financial reserves and have already suffered considerable losses in the nine months of the pandemic. We therefore welcome the minority motion to set the loss of turnover at 30%.

The WAK-N's proposal to include a share of uncovered fixed costs when calculating the loss of revenue is also very important.
 

According to the proposal, cultural enterprises that are entitled to compensation for loss are to be excluded from hardship compensation. This would be a catastrophe for the cultural sector, as the compensation can often only cover a (small) part of the damage due to a "cap" or other special cantonal rules. Access to hardship compensation is existential for cultural enterprises. Support already received should be taken into account so that no damage is compensated twice, but must not be automatically excluded.

Temporary employment relationships are typical in the cultural sector: from directing to lighting technology and acting to composition. We therefore welcome the Federal Council's proposal that short-time work compensation must also be possible again for employees in fixed-term contracts. However, it is incomprehensible why this should not be granted retroactively as of September 1, 2020. After all, the KAE for fixed-term employment contracts ended at the end of August not because it was no longer needed, but because the weakest employees were left out in the cold. The Covid credit line has by no means been exhausted to date, and expenditure on the KAE to date is apparently also significantly lower than planned. It is therefore incomprehensible to reject the retroactive introduction of KAE for fixed-term employment contracts.

From the point of view of the cultural sector, it is also necessary to compensate net salaries of less than CHF 4000 at 100% instead of just 80%.
 

Since September 17, 2020, self-employed persons have only been able to receive coronavirus income compensation if they can prove a loss of turnover of 55%. This is a disaster for many self-employed cultural workers. With a median salary of CHF 40,000 a year, no one can survive on 45% of income. As a result, many self-employed cultural professionals receive neither income replacement nor compensation for loss of earnings (indirectly via the cultural companies). They fall through the cracks and have to use up their savings until they can apply for emergency aid. The fixed limit of 55% loss of revenue should be abolished; more flexible solutions are needed at ordinance level. The budget for corona income compensation has not yet been exhausted; arguing with financial fear scenarios at this stage is not fair in view of the existential need in the cultural sector.

It is already foreseeable that the current restriction of the Corona acquisition substitute to the end of June 2021 is not sensible. No events are currently being planned and no artists are being booked. The Covid pandemic will affect the return to normal operations in the cultural sector for far longer than in the hospitality industry or other sectors, for example.
 

Freelancers are often unable to work for the required length of time to qualify for unemployment insurance within the two-year time limit, as they only receive very short employment contracts (e.g. for a gig or a speaking engagement). This applies even more since Covid-19. The framework period for employees in fixed-term employment and with frequently changing employers therefore urgently needs to be extended from two to four years.

The SNB has promised the Confederation and cantons a profit of CHF 4 billion. Even high losses in the last quarter of this year would not jeopardize this distribution (distribution reserve is currently around 100 billion, 40 billion is required). The Confederation and cantons can therefore count on this money. Against this backdrop and in view of the major impact on numerous small businesses and employees, we must not cut back on support for those with the lowest incomes."

If you love sweets, nostalgic pictures or other little surprises, you have to be quite disciplined not to open all the little doors, drawers or bags on the first day. This temptation is largely spared with musical Advent calendars, as the doors are usually only opened on the corresponding day. You can browse through at least part of one Advent calendar in advance: It is already known in which hotels Maja Weber will be performing live with the Stradivari Quartet and musician friends from December 1 to 24. During these performances, the hotels and their management as well as the musicians will be introduced. This will be followed by a 20 to 30-minute concert. The events can be viewed live or virtually via http://majaweber.com be visited.

A quick internet search has shown that many other institutions also offer musical advent calendars, for example:

- Johanneskirche Zurich with 20-minute concerts over lunchtime: https://www.kirche-industrie.ch/www.zh.ref.ch/gemeinden/industrie/content/e1665/e2454/2021_12_advent_online_neu.pdf

- the Stadtkirche Aarau with half-hour concerts, which are also streamed and broadcast on the radio: https://weloveaarau.ch/agenda/klingender-adventskalender

- the Zurich Opera House with small concerts at 17.30: https://www.opernhaus.ch/home/extra/musikalischer-adventskalender

- Andrew Bond with short participatory singing films: https://andrewbond.ch/adventskalender

- the Bern University of the Arts, which is L'heure bleu will be showing artistic contributions from December 1 to 31 to give the "cultural ban a face": https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/de/aktuell/heureblue

- the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, which is giving away 24 musical surprises: https://www.tonhalle.ch/news/adventskalender

- The Basel Symphony Orchestra is hiding a question that needs to be answered behind every door of its digital Advent calendar from December 1: https://www.sinfonieorchesterbasel.ch

- or the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana and the Barocchisti, in co-production with RSI Rete due: https://www.osi.swiss/avvento

Most music schools will not be able to hold their events as usual during the Christmas period this year. Many are compensating with digital Advent calendars. Some web links are listed here (no claim to completeness - please send late registrations to: contact@musikzeitung.ch):
 

https://www.musikschule-andelfingen.ch
https://www.musikschule-arbon.ch/adventskalender
https://www.schulen-birsfelden.ch/musikschule/adventskalender
https://tuerchen.com/musikschule_brunnen_schwyz
https://www.musikschule-dietikon.ch/adventskalender
https://www.musikschuleduebendorf.ch/adventskalender.htm
http://www.schuleherisau.ch/de/musikschule
https://www.musikschulekuesnacht.ch/news?conn=news-public&new_id=72&event=view
https://www.musikschuleluzern.ch/videos
https://www.musikschule-steinen-lauerz.ch/adventskalender
https://www.musikschule-wildberg.de/advents-kalender/adventskalender

And finally, an example from school music:
https://www.sekbinningen.ch/musikalischer-adventskalender-bald-gehts-los
 

This is a newly created position in this form. The collaboration covers the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. Daniel Harding will be present for at least two concert series in each season.

The OSR is currently recording two CDs with Daniel Harding, including the violin concertos by Sibelius and Barber with the violinist Renaud Capuçon. As part of the ongoing collaboration, audiovisual productions are to be realized in parallel to the concerts.

They met once, neither in Vienna nor in Weimar, but in the Bohemian town of Teplitz: Beethoven and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Apart from their high artistic esteem, however, each had reservations about the other. Goethe wrote in his diary on July 21, 1812: "In the evening at Beethoven's. He played deliciously"but then explained a few weeks later in a letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter: "His talent has astonished me; but unfortunately he is a completely unrestrained personality, who is not at all wrong in finding the world detestable, but who certainly does not make it more enjoyable for himself or for others. On the other hand, he is very much to be excused and very much to be regretted, as he has lost his hearing, which perhaps does less harm to the musical part of his nature than to the sociable. He, who is already of a laconic nature, is now doubly so through this defect." Even Beethoven, who in 1811 wrote Goethe about his tragedy Egmont enthusiastically, gave vent to his disappointment in a letter to the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel after the encounter: "Göthe likes the court air too much more than it befits a poet, It is not rather to talk about the ridiculousness of the virtuosos here, when poets, who should be regarded as the first teachers of the nation, can forget everything else above this gleam -"

The meeting thus remained without consequences. The young Mendelssohn still reported Goethe's complete reticence in 1830: "He didn't want to get close to Beethoven." Beethoven's request (dated February 8, 1823) that the Weimar court should send a copy of his Missa solemnis to subscribe, remained unsuccessful. Goethe also apparently did not respond to the dedication of Sea silence and happy journey. Beethoven had added in the same letter: "Both Poems seemed to me, because of their contrast, very suitable to be able to communicate this through music, how dear it would be to me to know whether I suitably combined my harmony with yours, also to consider instruction as truth, as it were, would be extremely welcome to me, for I love the latter above all things ...." - He omitted to mention that the score had already been completed eight years earlier and performed in public for the first time on December 25, 1815.

How fortunate that such personal incompatibilities do not necessarily have to be reflected in the arts. Beethoven's concise, two-part setting certainly seemed congenial to his contemporaries: "It is a great pleasure to see two such sublime minds so intimately united ..." (General Musical Gazette, 1830)

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"