Alfred Stocker was born in Savoy in 1928. He is the nephew of the legendary folk musician Stocker Sepp (1898-1949). According to the Haus für Volksmusik, Stocker worked as a teacher, choirmaster and organist in Lachen from 1963. For many years, he actively shaped and musically enriched village life. He was awarded the Canton of Schwyz Recognition Prize in 1989 and the Papal Benemerenti Medal in 2017 for his multifaceted work.

On the website of the House of Folk Music in Altdorf, you can now gain an insight into his oeuvre in the "Complete Works" section. A biography complements the 143 works of his that have already been digitally recorded and are currently available to the public in PDF format Adoro te about the Lachner song up to To God alone my soul is still. The collection is to be expanded further. Additional information on Fred Stocker or individual works is welcome. Anyone performing Fred Stocker's works in public must indicate this in the Suisa lists.
 

The measures imposed by the federal government and the extraordinary situation are having an impact on the construction process, writes the City of Zurich: the construction process and material deliveries are being affected. Sticking to the original opening date of March 2021 is too great a risk for the operators under the current circumstances.

The Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich will perform the 2020/2021 season in the Tonhalle Maag instead of the Tonhalle am See and is planning accordingly.

It is currently difficult to estimate when the supply chains will stabilize and what long-term consequences the measures will have on the schedule. Not least because the federal government's easing of restrictions is being implemented gradually and with reservations. The client is still aiming for completion as quickly as possible.
 

The 12th edition of the European Youth Choir Festival Basel (EJCF) should have taken place over the Ascension weekend this year. Covid-19 threw a spanner in the works and the EJCF board canceled the festival in mid-March. Initially, it was not expected that the 12th edition could be postponed. This was now possible after all because, as the festival writes, several festivals showed solidarity and rescheduled their events or entered into new collaborations. The Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival will be postponed from May 2021 to May 2022 and will take place at the same time as the Swiss Singing Festival (Festival of Choirs 20 to 28 May 2022 in Gossau). The meeting of Swiss choir conductors will take place in 2021 as part of the EJCF; it was planned to take place during the Cantars church music festival (March to June 2021). Some concert organizers had postponed dates, and collaborating organizations and volunteers had pledged their support for 2021. All but four of the choirs invited for 2020 could also take part next year.

In addition, the EJCF has not been completely canceled: Swiss radio will broadcast recordings of past festivals that Recycling campaign for unused advertising materials underway and from May 10, the Website of the festival activities, "which can now be seen as the amuse bouche of an EJCF 2021."

When Ignaz Schuppanzigh returned to Vienna in April 1823, he remarked during his first visit to Beethoven: "I'm going to visit him in the country, where we want to compose a new quartet together." However, the decisive impetus for the composition of a whole series of string quartets may have been a letter from Prince Nikolai Galitzin, in which he immediately asked for "un, deux ou trois nouveaux Quatuors" asked. However, the premiere of the first of this series on March 6, 1825 (E flat major op. 127) was already disappointing - and made it clear that Beethoven was looking far into the future with his late string quartets. A comment on the demands of the work, which Schuppanzigh entered in a conversation notebook of the deaf composer in the course of a debate, is noteworthy in this regard: "There are no mechanical difficulties in it, only the originality makes it difficult, which one cannot grasp at first sight."

Beethoven himself was well aware of the interpretative and intellectual demands. The plan for the first movement of the String Quartet in B flat major op. 130 can be found in a sketchbook: "last quartet for Galitzin with a serious and sluggish introduction". In the end, the Adagio was not as weighty, but it appears to be interlocked with the following Allegro in a contrasting manner. The Andante in third place and the famous Cavatina (5th movement) are both preceded by a concise Scherzo. The "Grosse Fuge", which was later replaced by a rondo finale and printed separately, originally formed the conclusion. In his biography of Beethoven (3rd edition, 1860), Anton Schindler described the conceptually self-contained original version of the composition as "Monstrosity of all quartet music".

The fact that composers and audiences sometimes perceive new works differently is not just a phenomenon of the 20th century. Karl Holz, Secundarius in the Schuppanzigh Quartet, recalled the premiere of Opus 130 on March 21, 1826: "The production Performance was never in Beethoven's presence. The audience was enthusiastic, astonished or questioning, depending on the circumstances, but never denied it out of reverence. They understood - or did not understand. At the 1st production of the B Major In the second quartet, when the fugue still formed the finale, the small intermediate movements in B minor and G major had to be repeated at the stormy request of the audience .... The fugue passed without being understood. After the premiere Beethoven was waiting for me in the nearest inn. I told him that the two pieces would have to be repeated recte: had to. Yes! he said angrily, this Tidbits! Why not the Joint?" Emphasis in the original

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"

Using infrared radiation, the thermal imaging camera recorded the surface temperature of instruments before, during and after a concert. The resulting thermograms show impressively and sometimes surprisingly which temperatures are generated at which points on the instruments. These are caused by touch, pressure or breathing air. For example, by placing a violin on the shoulder, playing a timpani or holding the baton.

The scientists at Fraunhofer IFAM Dresden discovered that the instruments heat up by up to 10 degrees when they are played. Of course, this also depends on the material. Brass instruments absorb heat faster, but also release it more quickly. Woodwind instruments, on the other hand, absorb heat more slowly, but retain it for longer. For example, the mouthpiece of a trumpet heats up to 30 °C, while the fingerboard of a violin only heats up to 25 °C in relation to the room temperature of 20 °C.

More info:

April 20 marked the start of the online survey for the international research project "Music Use in the Time of Corona". Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Lauren Fink (both Frankfurt a.M.), Niels Chr. Hansen (Aarhus), Lindsay Warrenburg (Boston), Claire Howlin (Dublin) and Will Randall (Jyväskylä) want to document and evaluate the global developments.

Inspired by videos with hashtags such as #coronasongs, #quarantunes or #covidance, which are currently going viral, the researchers designed an online study that asks about personal music-making and listening to music before and during the crisis. In detail, the study looks at the technical formats used to listen to music, forms of making music alone and with others, situations in which people listen to music, as well as the reasons and motivations for listening to and making music.

More info:
http://ww2.unipark.de/uc/musicandcorona

The Lucerne Festival Academy was founded in 2004 by Pierre Boulez and Festival Director Michael Haefliger. Every summer, young orchestral musicians, conductors and composers from all over the world work with renowned composers and conductors from the new music scene on contemporary scores and modern classics.

Composer Wolfgang Rihm has been Artistic Director of the Academy since 2016. The Lucerne Festival Alumni are a constantly growing network of over 1ʼ200 former Lucerne Festival Academy participants. They are not only present in Lucerne during the summer, but also act as international ambassadors for the Lucerne Festival and perform in various countries.

Felix Heri was born in Deitingen/Solothurn in 1986 and initially studied clarinet at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, before completing a degree in cultural management at the University of Basel.

The Covid-19 pandemic is an extraordinary and existential situation for many people and calls for new, creative solutions, writes Pro Helvetia. Artists and cultural practitioners should be able to continue working together despite mobility restrictions and find an audience willing to pay for their work despite assembly bans. "Cultural distancing" is not an option and culture is therefore called upon to deal with distance in an innovative way.

With the "Close Distance" call, Pro Helvetia wants to "encourage artists and cultural institutions to initiate forms of collaboration that are independent of mobility as well as new forms of publicity or to intensify existing formats - both within Switzerland and together with international partners. Of particular interest are experimental artistic collaborations, new formats for reflection, international networks and partnerships as well as platforms." We are looking for new formats "that will endure beyond the coronavirus crisis and no longer make physical mobility a mandatory prerequisite for cultural production and reception," says Seraina Rohrer, Head of Innovation & Society at Pro Helvetia. Both digital and analog projects are supported in all artistic fields/disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia.
 

The project must have a connection to Switzerland, be of interest to the whole of Switzerland and pursue and implement a clear impact. It must convince through high cultural and technical originality and quality, be implemented according to professional standards and have the capacity to transcend artistic and social distances.

A maximum of CHF 50,000 can be allocated to a project. Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis and a decision is made within three weeks. Further details on how to apply can be found at:

The Solothurn cantonal government has decided on the concrete implementation of the measures and approved support aid with a maximum cost ceiling of CHF 3.48 million. Specifically, non-profit cultural enterprises based in the canton of Solothurn can apply to the canton for repayable interest-free loans to secure their liquidity. Self-employed cultural professionals resident in the canton of Solothurn and cultural enterprises based in the canton of Solothurn can apply for loss compensation.

The support measures are subsidiary to all other state benefits in connection with cushioning the economic consequences of the coronavirus (short-time work compensation; unemployment compensation; compensation for loss of earnings; emergency aid to cultural workers, bridging fund canton of Solothurn). They cover the damage for which no other state compensation is paid and which is not covered by private insurance. At present, it is therefore difficult to predict the extent to which this form of support and the corresponding financial resources will be used in the canton of Solothurn.

Applications for additional support contributions can now be submitted, if possible, by Thursday, April 30, 2020, but no later than Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The corresponding application forms and information sheets are available at https://corona.so.ch/bildung-kultur/kultur-und-sport is now available.
 

This sonata is still a challenge for every horn player today, regardless of which instrument is used. For example, the French horn's range of notes is limited to the natural harmonic series in terms of construction, which musically did not allow for a continuous diatonic or chromatic line. Before the later introduction of mechanical valves (of which Johannes Brahms was not a great friend, by the way), this limitation could only be largely overcome by the so-called plugging technique - a technique in which the hand in the funnel influences the pitch depending on its position and shape. Only a few outstanding musicians were able to adequately compensate for the characteristic change in sound (namely from radiantly open to tightly stopped). One of these was the Bohemian-born Wenzel Stich (1746-1803), who also called himself Giovanni Punto, italianizing his name. He had managed to persuade Beethoven to take part in an academy at the Hofburgtheater on April 18, 1800, but the agreed composition was only completed at the very last moment. In his probably anecdotally heightened recollection, Ferdinand Ries put it like this: "Beethoven almost always postponed the composition of most of the works he was supposed to have finished by a certain time until the last moment. ... Beethoven began the work the day before the performance and it was finished at the concert."

Whether for this reason the middle slow movement (Poco adagio, quasi andante) has only a comparatively small range and functions more as an introduction to the concluding rondo? The very beginning of the first movement shows that Beethoven deliberately played with the tonal possibilities of the horn and probably wrote the composition Stich/Punto to suit it. Here the horn opens with a signal from the natural tone row. However, it is inconceivable to take over the narrow-step vocal main theme on a valveless instrument without using a sophisticated stopping technique. For today's musicians, who usually play on the technically sophisticated and tonally balanced valve horn, this poses the challenge of keeping some of this expressive, differentiated tonality alive.

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"

The Federal Council is providing funding of CHF 280 million for measures in the cultural sector. According to the federal distribution formula, the canton of Basel-Landschaft will be allocated CHF 4.051 million. This is on condition that the canton provides the same amount of funding. A total of CHF 8.102 million is therefore available in the Basel region.

Non-profit cultural enterprises and profit-oriented cultural enterprises without a business identification number (UID) as well as cultural professionals can apply for compensation for loss of up to 80% of the financial loss associated with the cancellation or postponement of events and projects or with the closure of businesses caused by government measures to combat the coronavirus. The measures are implemented and applications processed in close coordination with the Canton of Basel-Stadt. This applies in particular to applications that are related to the BS/BL bicantonal expert committees.

For non-profit cultural enterprises, the Federal Council also provides for repayable interest-free loans to ensure liquidity if this is at risk as a result of government measures to combat the coronavirus. The loans amount to a maximum of 30% of the cultural enterprise's income, less subsidies from the public sector. They can be applied for by submitting an application to kulturelles.bl after a prior consultation.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Canton of Basel-Landschaft Cultural Awards ceremony has been postponed. The cultural award ceremony will be held in a different form at a later date. Kulturelles.bl will provide information in due course. The 2021 cultural awards ceremony will take place in Oltingen, as planned for this year.

More info: www.kulturelles.bl.ch/corona
 

It is well known that the coronavirus has brought public cultural life in Switzerland to a virtual standstill. The Migros Culture Percentage music festival m4music has even been thwarted twice by the pandemic. Two weeks before the start, it was announced that the 23rd edition, originally planned for March 19 to 21, would have to be canceled due to official requirements. "It is not justifiable to hold the event," the media release stated.

However, the makers did not want to admit complete defeat at this point. Consequently, they announced: "m4music 2020 will become m4music 2.0." Instead of a three-day festival for 6,000 visitors, a livestream was now planned for those at home. A mix of music, panel discussions and the so-called Demotape Clinic - the competition for up-and-coming Swiss pop music talent - was planned. Just eleven days later, this plan was already history. "In view of the current situation and the latest guidelines from the Federal Council, holding an event like the m4music 2.0 streaming festival, for which over 50 employees and guests from various parts of Switzerland would be traveling, is not justifiable," the festival management announced.

For m4music, however, there was no question of backing down. Festival director Philipp Schnyder von Wartensee promised: "Despite all the circumstances, we want to offer Swiss pop music a platform and provide specially produced content for music fans and professionals on our digital channels in the coming weeks." In fact, on March 21 - the original Saturday of the festival - the first online panel was held under the title Total breakdown - The music scene in times of the coronavirus. Around 350 participants followed the discussion live on Facebook or Zoom and the number of clicks on the recording on YouTube is constantly increasing, explained Philipp Schnyder on request. "We can be satisfied with that."

When asked about the impact of the festival's cancellation, he explains: "m4music is the most important meeting place for the Swiss indie music scene. So the move was correspondingly painful." At the same time, however, it is important to be aware that the representatives of the local music scene are currently focusing on other issues. Consequently, the above-mentioned online panel, which is still available on YouTube, was deliberately dedicated to these problems. For example, the existential hardship faced by musicians in the absence of payment and the increasing number of clubs and festivals in the face of the ban on events were discussed.

But back to m4music: according to Schnyder, they are currently still analyzing the financial impact of the festival cancellation. It is a complex process that also requires legal clarifications. "It is not the intention of m4music and the Migros Culture Percentage to get off as lightly as possible financially." This is an attitude that the festival can adopt because it is not being called into question despite the cancellation. "We are very well positioned and assume that m4music will take place again next year," explains Schnyder. Postponing this year's festival - to the fall, for example - was not considered. "That would have been too costly," says the festival director.

It is clear that they want to help the Swiss music scene even without m4music 2020. "We are currently still thinking about how we want to position ourselves in order to support the local scene in the best possible way," reports Schnyder. Because Swiss radio and television are already active with all kinds of streams, m4music is planning to get involved in other ways. For example, the next online panel on April 16, 2020 will focus on the topic of Multiculturalism true(ly)? - About migration, culture and diversity accept. The focus of the discussion is the realization that our society is shaped by migration. But although more than 50 per cent of 15 to 35-year-olds in Switzerland have a migration background, this is hardly reflected in the arts pages, for example. Which leads to the question of why the multicultural music scene in this country is not more in the spotlight.

The Demotape Clinic will also be held digitally for the first time in April. The four category winners and the winner of the Demo of the Year will be announced online on April 28. And in the background, preparations for m4music 2021 will soon begin again, as Philipp Schnyder knows: "We're already starting the booking process again!"

At the end of March, the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana Foundation created a solidarity fund to quickly and efficiently support students at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana who are facing severe financial hardship due to the economic consequences of the current pandemic. According to the foundation, affected students can apply for an emergency grant immediately. After a review of the conditions and financial need, a support contribution will be transferred directly to the student's account.

The anation of all concerts and events deprived students of an important, if not their only, source of income. In addition, the extensive shutdown of the economy not only deprived them of their sideline opportunities, but often also of family support.

The President of the Foundation Board, Ina Piattini Pelloni, appeals for solidarity with the young students. Christoph Brenner, Director General of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, is convinced that the protection and support of musical talent will allow us to "quickly return to normality - when we will need art and culture, especially music."

The initiative has already mobilized 61,710 francs within a few days.

Update 30.4.2020:
The foundation announced on 29 April 2020 that over 100,000 Swiss francs had already been mobilized within three weeks and that 60 emergency scholarships had already been made available.

This year, the German Music Publishers Association (DMV) honored nine publications with the "Best Edition" seal of approval. The four-member jury (Jan Sören Fölster, church musician, Berlin, Susanne Funk, Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann, Berlin, Mario Müller, Bundesverband Freier Musikschulen, Bonn and Bert Odenthal, graphic designer, Berlin) had to evaluate a total of 81 entries from the entire range of publications from German music publishers. All submitted works were judged according to the following criteria:

1. Overall editorial impression
2. Special publishing or scientific achievement or idea
3. Correctness and quality of the music (engraving, typography, electronic notation, calligraphy)
4. Graphic design
5. For digital submissions: User-friendliness, innovation, accessibility
6. Printing, paper, binding

The awards ceremony was planned as part of the International Music Fair in Frankfurt, which had to be canceled. "Especially at this time, when many music publishers are struggling to survive due to the corona crisis, it is important to show how high-quality their sheet music and music editions are in terms of content and form," explained Clemens Scheuch, Vice President and Chairman of the DMV's E-Music Committee.
 

Award winner 2020:

Large-scale vocal music by Beethoven is often reduced to just a few works. The finale of the Ninth is on everyone's lips and ears. The Missa solemnis can confidently be called Opus magnum and the Mass in C major stands in its shadow. But an oratorio, especially for Holy Week? In fact Christ on the Mount of Olives op. 85, Beethoven's only contribution to this genre, has almost completely disappeared from the repertoire. Perhaps it was chance that led Beethoven to compose this work. In early 1803, he had been commissioned by Emanuel Schikaneder to write an opera for the Theater an der Wien. And he was assured that he would also be able to perform concerts with the musicians for his own benefit, the first on April 5, 1803, the Tuesday of Holy Week.

Beethoven had included his first two symphonies and the third piano concerto on the program. The oratorio was also composed more or less at short notice in accordance with the church year. His later assertion that it was written in "14 days" has been written down, is cum grano salis to take. The first sketches date from February of that year. Above all, however, Beethoven evidently saw the oratorio as a step on the way to opera, both dramaturgically and musically.

Christ on the Mount of Olives was successfully performed. However, the libretto by Franz Xaver Huber (1755-1814) proved to be problematic outside Vienna, so that the publisher made unauthorized changes when it went to press (Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1811). Beethoven only found out about this in the galley proofs - too late to be able to clarify fundamental points in his favor, even though he had to admit: "the text is extremely bad in the old meaning of 'simple', but once you've gotten yourself out of a bad arbitrate text as a whole, it is difficult to prevent it from being disturbed by individual changes."

In particular, he referred to the warriors' chorus, which seems a little strange: "We have seen him, / Going to that mountain, / Just take the path to the left, / He must be very close!" Such verses only make sense against the background of the Viennese performance tradition, which apparently also included a scenic concept. In any case, several textbooks of the time contain corresponding references such as "Christ. He kneels at some distance from the sleeping disciples", "Christ rises", "Paul draws the sword", "Choir of the soldiers leading Christ". Here it is particularly worthwhile to refer to the music text of the current complete edition (also available as a study score from Henle). And once you have been captivated by the symphonic introduction (beginning in E flat minor!), you will probably want to continue listening with curiosity ...

Information on the study score:
Ludwig van Beethoven. Christus am Ölberge op. 85, edited by Anja Mühlenweg (Studien-Edition), Henle-Verlag Munich, 255 pages (HN 9311)

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"