Table of contents

Focus

Only what touches me is a legacy
Adriano, Graziella Contratto, Myriam Schleiss and Urs Schnell discuss Switzerland's musical cultural heritage under the direction of Michael Eidenbenz.

Recognizing, preserving and promoting cultural heritage
What is on the «List of Living Traditions» and why?

World Heritage Site - and now?
What process led to the inclusion of Swiss yodeling on Unesco's «Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity» and what are the consequences?

«The idea of Swiss yodeling is a myth»
Zurich ethnomusicologist Dieter Ringli assesses what is currently happening in the country's yodeling scene.

The National Sound Archives between past and future
German translation of the original Italian text

(italics = summary in German of the original French article)

Critiques

New releases Books, Sound carrier, Websites, Notes, Movies

Echo 

There is not enough space in the printed edition for all the texts, so they are listed here and linked to the corresponding online articles. Most of these were published before the printed edition appeared.

The avant-garde and Wotan's advice
The Lucerne Festival presents new musical trends with «Forward».

Symphonic jam session
In the Repertoire Orchestra, amateurs and music students perform popular works of classical concert literature together with professionals for one evening.

Conducting an orchestre à vent en vrai
The Swiss Conducting Days offer six days of masterclasses and concerts for future conductors and chefs d'orchestre à vent.

Open letter with regard to the vote on the «Halving initiative» in March 2026
130 signatories

Total classical music
Carte blanche from Jürg Erni

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) / Conférence des Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse (CHEMS)

Swiss Music Council (SMR) / Conseil Suisse de la Musique (CSM)

Swissmedmusica (SMM) / Association suisse de Médecine de la Musique (SMM)

Swiss Musicological Society (SMG) / Société Suisse de Musicologie (SSM)

Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) / Union Suisse des Artistes Musiciens (USDAM)

Schweizerischer Musikpädagogischer Verband (SMPV) / Société Suisse de Pédagogie Musicale (SSPM)

SONART - Musicians Switzerland

Swiss Youth Music Competition Foundation (SJMW)

Arosa Culture

SUISA - Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music

Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) / Association Suisse des Écoles de Musique (ASEM)

 

Bony heritage
Puzzle by Pia Schwab

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Order issue for CHF 12.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

It's a gesture from childhood and, depending on our romantic disposition, we don't stop doing it later. Don't you sometimes hold one of those shells on the bookshelf to your ear? «Listen to the sea», we were told when we were little, because it's well known: Seashells have the magical ability to soak up the sound of their surroundings and retain it forever. Later we learned (if we wanted to) that they are only small, imperfect resonating bodies for the surrounding sounds, including our blood pulsing through our ears. But the desire to believe in this small sea remains. It probably corresponds to the great desire of our species to appropriate what surrounds it in the most intangible and fleeting form, the world of sound.

Sound waves, which make up everything audible, spread out and eventually disappear. The idea of repeating a sequence of musical notes or words identically proves to be a chimera. Musicians and actresses experience this time and again. To mitigate this loss of control, man invented the technique of writing. Verba volant, scripta manent: an ingenious remedy for the constant loss of energy in the world of sound. Writing is an encryption that is not aimed at preservation, but at the repeatability of what is meant, relying on the imagination of the human brain.

But what about the true sound, the true object? The castrati of baroque Rome practiced in front of reverberating walls to catch a fleeting echo of their voice, and it was not until 1857 that Éduard Léon Scott de Martinville patented the phonautograph, a kind of oscillometer with which he could record sound waves on blackened glass. Recording, but not yet reproducing. It was not until 2008 that his phonautograms were made audible: a fragment from Au Clair de la Lune, some verses from Tasso and other small experiments.

In 1878, Edison patented his phonograph, in which the vibrations from a needle were scratched onto a foil-covered cylinder and which now also made the reverse possible: to «read» the groove again, to hear what had been recorded. In 1888, Berliner used records instead of cylinders, which were more suitable for mass production and marketing. The 20th century then saw the transition to electrical recordings on magnetic tapes and finally to purely digital recordings and the final dematerialization of the sound carrier: music moved to the internet. Today, we can use our smartphones to make and play back recordings for hours on end and access almost all of the world's music online.

A library of sounds

Libraries exist to preserve written documents and make them available to the public. And for sounds? If sounds can be recorded, the question arises as to what should happen to the carriers of these sounding memories of a society.

Already at the end of the 19th century, a few years after Edison's invention, there was an eagerness to record. Some European institutions recognized early on that it was just as important to preserve this heritage as written records. Thus the Vienna Phonogram Archive was founded in 1899 and the Berlin Phonogram Archive in 1900. In Switzerland, the National Library has also been collecting some sound documents since the beginning of the last century. In the 1960s, however, there was a call for a specialized institution. In 1984, the municipality of Lugano provided premises and funds, which led to the establishment of the National Sound Archives Foundation in 1987. In 2016, it became a section of the National Library. After starting out in Studio Foce, the Phonotheque moved to the Centro San Carlo in 2000. In 2031, it will move to the Città della Musica, a futuristic project that will bring together various partners from the music sector in the premises of Radio RSI in Besso.

The mission of the Swiss National Sound Archives is derived from the Federal Act on the Swiss National Library: to collect, catalog, preserve, make accessible and publicize the acoustic cultural heritage. The sound carriers, called Helvetica because they are necessarily related to Switzerland, are divided into five sections, four musical - classical, jazz, rock & pop, folk - and one non-musical, which includes voices, audio books, radio plays, interviews, but also natural sounds and soundscapes.

«Our oldest items are wax cylinders with classical and operetta music from the collection of a private individual in Chiasso,» explains Günther Giovannoni, Director of the Phonotheque since 2019. «As far as music recordings are concerned, there is no obligation in Switzerland to submit a specimen copy to us. That's why we've been working for forty years, with the support of Suisa, other collecting societies and in collaboration with radio and other partners, to catch up on the collection backlog. For streamed content, Parliament has passed a law on the submission of mandatory digital receipts from 2027: a gigantic amount of material from which we have to choose. We are only obliged to conserve what is considered important, a challenging selection that involves people from different sectors.»

The sounding cultural heritage of a country

A cursory scroll through social media might make you wonder what is so important to preserve in all the often very commercial noise. «It's not for us to judge,» Giovannoni interrupts, «commercial or artistic value are not our only selection criteria. For example, we have a department that takes care of advertising. This could be considered less substantial or educational from certain points of view, but it is extremely important historically and sociologically, especially for specialists. The crucial question is one of sustainability: does it make sense to store so much material? What are the ecological and financial costs? Our guidelines allow us not to take everything so as not to be overburdened. For example, we also select new artistic productions: We let them rest for a while before we add them to our inventory.»

This requires a clear vision of what our country's sounding cultural heritage should be. «Our self-image is partly determined by remembered sounds,» explains Giovannoni. «Switzerland is small, but extremely diverse in terms of languages, cultures and special features. The archivist has the task of preserving this sound memory for future generations. We protect the past for the future.»

Of particular interest in this context is the speech and noise section, probably the richest in the Phonotheque. While it was the express intention to document a large number of bell ringings up and down the country, the soundscapes captured are sometimes a by-product of other recordings. They offer us sonic chronicles of certain spaces over decades: a rural market, an urban square. «The sounds change like our everyday lives,» says Giovannoni, «take the crunching of a glacier, which changes over time and will soon cease to exist. Or more prosaically: the municipality of Lugano has given us the recordings of municipal council meetings over the last 60 years. So you can follow the development of political discourse, linguistically, sociologically ... »

Among the musical documents, some take us through the history of the country, such as the estate of Hanny Christen: «Fifty tapes that were discovered by chance in the early 1990s. They preserve part of the »old and pure« traditional Swiss music and have revolutionized the way we look at it,» explains Andrea Sassen, Head of the Folk Music Department. "Or think of the K-Sound collection of Kiko Berta, who recorded some of the most important albums of the 90s, including gems that never made it to the market," adds Yari Copt, head of the Rock department.

«But it's also interesting to look at the present,» he continues. «Today, a generation of Swiss artists with a clear vision and high production quality is at work. And for everyone involved in musical heritage, this is a strong signal: the Phonotheque is not just an archive for the past, but a living place that documents the present and builds the sonic heritage of tomorrow. Preserving these productions today will make it possible in the future to say exactly what was going on in Swiss music at that moment.»

Looking to the future

So here we are preserving, but surprisingly also creating, as if to draw attention to what needs to be immortalized for the future: Bruno Spoerri is celebrating his 90th birthday on the Phonotheque's YouTube channel by delighting the audience with a wonderful livestream, masterfully recorded by Lara Persia at Studio Lemura. «This is the first in a series of concerts that we have been able to organize thanks to an extraordinary donation,» explains Giovannoni. «A kind of showcase: we are highlighting the value of our archives by offering a stage to those who have contributed to Switzerland's sound heritage. A tribute to these people who have given so much.»

Here, too, the concept of legacy is expressed, the focus on the future. This brings us back to the technical challenges posed by storage media: a central theme for the preservation task of the Phonotheque. «We are closely tied to the technology. First and foremost with regard to the longevity of the carrier media. Shellac or vinyl records, for example, are robust. If they are stored professionally, we will still be able to hear their content in a hundred years' time. Tapes, on the other hand, slowly lose their information; 'home-burned' CDs have an average lifespan of five years. Playback devices also age and are subject to historical development.

One example is Sony's DAT cassettes, which were produced for 20 years. The company stopped production in 2007, but kept the licenses. At the moment, we still have a supply of tape heads, but when they are used up, we will face a serious problem. This determines our priorities in terms of digitization and preservation. It is a constant technical challenge to make the material tangible: We want to be a place where users are offered inspiration as well as opportunities to discover new things.»

This will is reflected in future-oriented technological projects such as research into the continued ability to read DAT sound carriers or lighthouse programs such as Visual Audio, a digitization process that makes it possible to save the sound content of a damaged record by photographing it in analog form and scanning the image.

An educational program with guided tours, workshops, lectures and school visits is aimed at a wide audience. It is also extremely important for the Phonotheque to raise awareness of listening and sound among the youngest members of the public. «Young people listen to music, but often in dramatically poor quality via their cell phones,» complains Giovannoni. «We need to teach them to listen consciously, also with regard to possible damage caused by overuse. They should become aware that sound quality is an important factor when listening to music and that timing, medium and format can influence perception. Many young people don't even know that there are other ways to listen to music than on their cell phones, and they have no idea of the differences in quality. You have to teach them, and you can do that by showing them the technical progress and the different sound qualities throughout the history of sound carriers.»

This vote is of central importance for music. SRG is not just another media provider, but the most important media platform for Swiss music - for professionals as well as for the broad amateur and up-and-coming scene.

Music reaches Switzerland - via SRG

Music is part of everyday life in Switzerland. Around 20 percent of the population sing, a further 20 percent play an instrument and almost 15 percent dance regularly. And almost everyone listens to music. The decisive factor is the channel: Over 80 percent of the population consume music via radio and television.

This is exactly where SRG comes into play. It broadcasts over 42,000 hours of Swiss music every year, produces around 1,000 hours of live music and, with an average Swiss music share of around 40 percent, reaches an audience that no private provider or streaming platform reaches to the same extent.

This presence is no coincidence, but a cultural policy mandate - and it is the basis for visibility, income and the promotion of young talent.

Visibility determines the next generation

Yvonne Glur, Co-Head of the Amateur Music Department at the Swiss Music Council and President of accordeon.ch, puts it in a nutshell: «Visibility is crucial for the next generation of amateur musicians. Young people get involved when they experience that their skills and passion are noticed, valued and shown.»

Whether brass music, choirs, folk music, jazz or contemporary formats: Many ensembles and clubs exist outside of commercial logic. Without a national stage, they quickly disappear from the public eye - and thus from everyday cultural life.

Diversity needs infrastructure

The halving initiative would deprive SRG of a large part of its financial resources. The consequences would be foreseeable: fewer in-house productions, fewer broadcasts, less reporting. Inexpensive international content would increase, while Swiss music and regional formats would be squeezed out.

Marc Trauffer, dialect pop singer and producer, warns: «We urgently need a strong SRG. Great TV entertainment cannot be financed in the private media sector in four languages - and that is precisely what contributes to the diversity of our country.»

What applies to shows and series also applies to music formats: Swiss content is complex, regionally anchored and rarely suitable for the masses in a purely commercial sense. This is precisely why a strong public infrastructure is needed.

More than music: culture as a unifying force

The media conference in Solothurn made it clear that SRG is not only central to music, but to culture as a whole. Films, series, concert recordings, archives, cultural journalism and digital platforms such as Play Suisse create a shared public sphere - across language barriers.

If this infrastructure is weakened, Switzerland will lose part of its cultural anchor. Regions, smaller language communities and niche formats would be particularly affected.

A joint "no" from the cultural sector

The cultural scene agrees: reforms, criticism and further development are all part of the process. But halving is not optimization. It is a clear cut - with consequences for jobs, young talent, diversity and cultural cohesion.

That is why musicians are joining with filmmakers, authors, actors and cultural associations to say: No to the SRG halving initiative. No to the dismantling of the media stage.

Video with Patti Basler

 

What happens when you listen to Mani Matter anew - politically exaggerated and highly topical? Satirist and cabaret artist Patti Basler has written his own lyrics against the SRG halving initiative to the tune of «I han es Zündhölzli azündt».

With wit and sharpness, she gets to the heart of the matter: culture, attitude - and not doing things by halves.

After successful participations in 2022 and 2024, the Brienz  Swiss violin making school also at this year's third Concours international de lutherie from January 14 to 18 in Paris. Laura Gartmann and Thibault Jaberg, fourth-year apprentices, built the viola that won an award in the «Talents de demain» category. It was awarded a bronze medal and the jury's special «Coup de Cœur» prize for outstanding craftsmanship. First and second place in the competition went to the French École nationale de Lutherie in Mirecourt.

The Concours international de lutherie is one of the most prestigious competitions in international violin making. In the «Talents de demain» category, violin makers in training are judged according to the strictest criteria of craftsmanship, design and sound. According to the Swiss violin making school, receiving the special jury prize underlines the high quality and independence of the training in an international comparison, confirms the school's sustainable training approach and strengthens its international visibility.

Nine schools with 15 instruments took part in this year's edition. An international jury of experts judged a total of 75 violas from 22 countries in the two categories «Talents d'aujourd'hui» and «Talents de demain».

The Shakuhachi Society Switzerland is open to all shakuhachi players in Switzerland, regardless of the tradition to which they belong. It is a section of Zenkoku Chikuyusha, the largest shakuhachi society in Japan, with which the association has close ties.

Andreas Fuyû Gutzwiller is the founder of the Shakuhachi Society Switzerland. After studying shakuhachi with Araki Kodô V and Kawase Junsuke III at Wesleyan University and in Japan, he received his teaching license in 1976 to pass on the tradition of Kawase Junsuke III. In 1980, he began teaching shakuhachi music at the Basel Music Academy. Five of his students have received the license from Zenkoku Chikuyusha in Tokyo. They are: Ueli Fuyûru Derendinger, Jürg Fuyûzui Zurmühle, Wolfgang Fuyûgen Hessler, Andrea Fuyûan Hofer, and Ursula Fuyûzi Schmidiger. This marked the beginning of shakuhachi lessons in Zurich, Lucerne, and Bern, in addition to Basel.

There are now two third-generation players who have obtained the license from Zenkoku Chikuyusha in Tokyo: Maria Rosaria Marigen Visco, a student of Wolfgang Fuyûgen Hessler, and Isabel Unjakuryûgen Lerchmüller, a student of Ueli Fuyûru Derendinger. This means that the tradition will continue into the next generation.

The club life of Chikuyusha encompasses various Events and activities such as Fukizome, the first joint performance of the new year, the annual teachers' concert, regular joint performances, and Robuki.

The practice of playing the shakuhachi continues, and the Swiss Shakuhachi Society looks forward to the next 20 years.

 

The early Romantic composer Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (1803–1836) is also known as the «Swiss Schubert.» Like Schubert, he favored piano songs, including extensive song cycles, virtuoso piano pieces, and chamber music. The musical talent of this son of a teacher, born in Brugg, was recognized and encouraged at an early age. Thanks to a scholarship from the canton of Aargau, he was able to study music in Berlin.

The lively music scene there inspired the Swiss composer. He witnessed the 20-year-old Mendelssohn Bartholdy perform Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Berlin Singakademie in 1829. However, he himself was unable to really gain a foothold as a composer in the big city and returned home somewhat frustrated.

Fröhlich had to interrupt his first stay in Berlin (1823/24), at that time still as a law student, due to illness. He was living in Brugg again when, in 1825, he Christmas Cantata, as he called them, composed and probably also performed them there. The performance on November 29, 2025, with Luis Alves da Silva and his vocal ensemble Ton an Ton is therefore the second—exactly 200 years later. Da Silva discovered the cantata in Fröhlich's estate, which is kept in the University Library of Basel.

Simpler, less exalted, yet still sophisticated

The original of this Christmas cantata is too short for a full-length performance. So da Silva not only transferred the score to computer, he also supplemented it with six additional numbers penned by Fröhlich. These are two Christmas piano songs, the trio The Three Wise Men and two choral movements from Fröhlich's later Christmas cantata from 1830.

This second cantata was performed in 2023 in the church in Brugg. Michael Kreis interpreted it with the vocal ensemble Cantemus. Compared to the rediscovered earlier one, it is not only significantly more expansive, but also a formal curiosity. (Editor's note: see Review SMZ 12/2021, p. 22). Furthermore, it is unusually dramatic for a Christmas cantata.

The earlier cantata is simpler and less exalted in its instrumentation. One can already recognize the effervescent imagination of the 23-year-old, his heartfelt musicality, and his preference for fugal composition. The demands on the choir are high. The vocal ensemble Ton an Ton mastered the extremely wide ranges with confident intonation in Windisch. And it knew how to convey the joyful spirit of this music in an appealing way.

Old-fashioned language, cheerful music

The piano accompaniment is particularly striking in Fröhlich's choral works. This part is always technically demanding and highly virtuosic – Fröhlich was also a brilliant pianist. At the concert in Windisch, pianist Daniel Schnurrenberger accompanied with passionate dedication, technical mastery, and expressiveness.

Da Silva cast the three solo parts with loud male voices, with the highest part sung by countertenor Jonathan Kionke. This was particularly evident in the inserted trio. The Three Wise Men (No. 4) based on a humorous text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The three singers—Kionke, tenor Rafael Oliveira, and bass-baritone Guilherme Roberto—portrayed these «hypocritical» kings with charming wit.

Goethe's text also stood out because the actual cantata text was written by Fröhlich's brother Abraham Emanuel (1796–1865). He was a theologian and classical philologist. When he, a rebellious free spirit, was denied the pastorate in Brugg, he took up a teaching position at the cantonal school in Aarau. He wrote many poems, mainly patriotic ones, but also bitterly angry fables. His style also seems rather old-fashioned in this cantata. However, this did not detract from Theodor Fröhlich's joyful Christmas music, and the audience was enthusiastic.

The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts writes about the new lecturers:

Iwan Jenny, born in 1979, from Escholzmatt-Marbach LU, is a drummer with wide-ranging interests. In addition to his position with the orchestra, he maintains an active freelance concert career in various formations. He studied at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Music with Erwin Bucher. He completed both master's degrees in music education and orchestra with the highest distinction. This was followed by further percussion studies with Franz Lang at the State University of Music in Trossingen, Germany. His overall victory in the 2002 Swiss Percussion Competition earned him a scholarship to study at the Drummers Collective in New York. From 2008 to 2012, Iwan Jenny was a percussionist with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and since 2012 he has been principal timpanist with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. He is also a permanent member of the Swiss National Orchestra, the 21st Century Orchestra, and the Swiss Brass Consort, and plays as a guest in various Swiss baroque orchestras. Iwan Jenny has won several competition prizes (including the Friedl Wald Foundation Basel and the Axelle and Max Koch Cultural Foundation Lucerne).

Daniel Higler, born in 1992 in Villingen-Schwenningen, is a percussionist and timpanist who is equally at home in classical concert halls and on the concert stage. After completing his bachelor's degree at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and his master's degree at the State University of Music in Trossingen, he specialized in orchestral playing. He gained his first important experience in academies and internships with ensembles such as the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the Stuttgart Philharmonic. This was followed by engagements with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, among others. Since 2023, Daniel Higler has been principal timpanist and percussionist with the Theater Orchestra Biel Solothurn. In addition to his work in the orchestra, he cultivates a wide stylistic range: he has performed as a soloist with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and premiered contemporary works with the SWR Vocal Ensemble. Daniel Higler has also been active outside the classical repertoire, for example as a drum set player on tours with singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker.

Zurich, December 2025

Dear musicians, cultural professionals, and users of SRG services
Dear Ms. Susanne Wille

In March 2026, we will vote on the halving initiative. We cannot take a stand early enough to defend ourselves against this attack on our public broadcaster. Among other things, the SRG is committed to providing independent information, representing the diversity of cultures in our country, building bridges between science and the public, and publicizing the concerns of minorities. It fulfills its mission in all parts of the country and in all national languages. In fulfilling its mandate, it is indispensable to our country in terms of maintaining democratic conditions and strengthening the sense of community. No commercially oriented private broadcaster driven by particular interests can even begin to fulfill the aforementioned tasks. We are called upon to express our solidarity with the SRG in discussions and at any public appearances in the coming period and to ensure that the aforementioned initiative is rejected.

This obligation is binding, regardless of the fact that the measures decided upon by SRG management in recent months must be protested in the strongest possible terms. The strategy of right-wing populists, which aims to undermine democratic conditions, includes attacks on independent media and the freedom of science and the arts. The cancellation of programs in the fields of literature and science, for example, and most recently in the field of music – «Musik unserer Zeit» (Music of Our Time) – represents a premature concession to the aforementioned right-wing extremist tendencies and a departure from key points set out in the public service remit.

The major cultural associations in Switzerland have so far refrained from making any public statements on these cuts – presumably with the intention of not weakening the campaign against the halving initiative by criticizing the SRG. However, given the current situation and future developments, a firm commitment to continued adequate funding for the SRG and criticism of decisions made at the top are two sides of the same coin. The SRG deserves our support because of its unique selling points. Its current strategy of adapting to market forces means disregarding the mandate that justifies adequate public funding in the first place. Instead of canceling programs such as «Wissenschaftsmagazin» and «Musik unserer Zeit,» the management's strategy in the referendum campaign should be to resolutely continue the dialogue between science and society and to carefully cultivate profound journalistic work in the cultural sector.

Market research may consider the listeners of Espace deux's musical and literary features to be a negligible quantity, as it does the die-hard fans of «Klassik-telefon» or the loyal audience of «Echo der Zeit» – to stick with the example of radio programs. With regard to the upcoming vote, it should not be forgotten that this regular audience is prepared to mobilize in support of the SRG.

The SRG must focus on resistance rather than adaptation, on its uniqueness—if it does not want to dig its own grave. It must urgently remember which core areas of its mandate it needs to protect and who in civil society are its comrades-in-arms, its allies in the fight against the halving initiative.

The signatories in alphabetical order

Heinrich Aerni, Ingrid Alexandre, Dieter Ammann

Ulrike Andersen, Monika Baer, Nik Bärtsch

Werner Bärtschi, André Baltensperger, Philip Bartels

Felix Baumann, Peter Baur, André Bellmont

Elisabeth Berger, Marino Bernasconi, Ramon Bischoff

William Blank, Dominik Blum, Bettina Boller

Hugo Bollschweiler, Thüring Bräm, Esther de Bros

Albin Brun, Catriona Bühler, Christiane Bult

Peggy Chew, Jessie Cox, Flurin Cuonz

Reto Cuonz, Therese Cuonz-Räz, Jürg Dähler

Claudio Danuser, Daniela Dolci, Mariana Doughty

Alfred Felder, Adrian Frey, Daniel Fueter

Thomas Gartmann, Bettina Ginsberg, Roger Girod

Katharina Gohl, Anna-Katharina Graf, Kathrin Graf

Ivo Haag, Jonas C. Haefeli, Viviane Hasler

Edu Haubensak, Doris Hauser, Fritz Hauser

Ruedi Häusermann, Hanna Helfenstein, Horst Hildebrandt

Christian Hilz, Jeannine Hirzel, Beat Hofstetter

Christoph Homberger, Raphael Immoos, Markus Jans

Mischa Kaeser, Eriko Kagawa, Vera Kappeler

Christoph Keller, Max E. Keller, Simone Keller

Burkhard Kinzler, Michael Kleiser, Christian Kobi

Canan Kocaay, Tamriko Kordzaia, Niklaus Kost

Herbert Kramis, Hanspeter Kriesi, Anne-May Krüger

Jojo Kunz, Annette Labusch, Matías Lanz

Leslie Leon, Heinrich Mätzener, Delia Mayer

Thomas Meyer, Roland Moser, Moritz Müllenbach

Marie-Louise Müller Choquard, Martin Neukom, Lucas Niggli

Anne-Catherine de Perrot, Stefka Perifanova, Peter Reidemeister

Felix Renggli, Nicola Romanò, Petra Ronner

Michel Roth, Johannes Rühl, Bettina Ruf

Edward Rushton, Nina Sahdeva, Claudine Saner

Urs Saner, Evangelos Sarafianos, Tobias Schabenberger

Sir András Schiff, Isabelle Schnöller, Oliver Schnyder

Muriel Schwarz, Meinrad Schweizer, Yuuko Shiokawa

Peter Siegwart, Rahel Sohn, Peter R. Solomon

Bruno Spoerri, Eleonor Stähli, Jacques Stähli

Urs Stäuble, Egidius Streiff, Monica Thommy

Germán Toro Pérez, Balz Trümpy, Saadet Türköz

Nina Ulli, Christoph Ullmann, Petra Vahle

Katharina Weber, Urs Weibel, Andreas Werner

Peter Wettstein, Maki Wiederkehr, Helena Winkelman

René Wohlhauser, Maria Wolff, Alfred Zimmerlin, Samuel Zünd

 

PDF download of the original letter

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PS

«If 100,000 people want to listen to James Last and one person wants to listen to Anton Webern, you don't have to broadcast James Last for 100,000 hours and Webern for one hour; instead, you broadcast James Last for one hour and Anton Webern for one hour. Since all 100,000 can listen at the same time, all 100,000 Last fans get their money's worth, and so does the Webern fan. That's democracy.»

Urs Frauchiger (1936–2023)
Cellist and author, he was in charge of the music department at the Bern studio of Swiss German Radio from 1970 to 1977; from 1992 to 1997, he headed the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

 

The Federal Office of Culture writes:

«At its 20th session in New Delhi, India, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed yodeling on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In its decision, UNESCO highlighted the quality of the dossier submitted and the solid participatory process that led to the nomination.

As a characteristic singing technique, yodeling alternates between chest voice and head voice and uses meaningless syllables that are often associated with local dialects. A distinction is made between natural yodeling, which consists of melodies without lyrics, and yodeling songs, which combine verses and yodeled refrains and often deal with nature and everyday experiences. Whether performed solo, in small groups, or in choirs—sometimes accompanied by instruments such as the accordion—yodeling is characterized by its rich sound and its presence at concerts, festivals, and competitions, which are often associated with the wearing of regional costumes.

Yodeling is extremely popular and is passed on within families, clubs, music schools, or simply among singers. Over 12,000 yodellers are members of one of the 711 groups belonging to the Swiss Yodelling Association, but the practice is also cultivated outside clubs and choirs. Contemporary artists also draw inspiration from it, confirming the vitality of a tradition that is constantly evolving.

The application, submitted in March 2024, was coordinated by the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) with the involvement of yodeling experts and relevant organizations (see list below). This collaborative process made it possible to identify the challenges that are crucial for passing on yodeling to future generations: promoting young talent, national coordination, training, documentation, and research. To this end, measures were jointly defined, including strengthening cooperation, developing new training and further education opportunities, raising public awareness, and supporting practitioners.»

partner organizations

• Swiss Yodeling Association
• Roothuus Gonten – Center for Appenzell and Toggenburg folk music
• HSLU Music
• Interest Group for Folk Culture in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein

Link to the press release from the Federal Office of Culture

The TriRhenum Symphony Orchestra stands out in the Basel music scene for its often original programs with rarely performed works and commissions to Basel composers. Or through special concert formats such as The Basel Night at the Proms. The ambitious amateur orchestra with members from north-western Switzerland and southern Baden was founded in 1999 by the English-born conductor and horn player Julian Gibbons, who still conducts it today. Two concert programs are developed each year. The most recent, performed in Basel's Martinskirche (with a repeat performance in Reinach BL), was dedicated to the theme of "Peer Gynt". Not only were excerpts from Grieg's incidental music op. 23 and the two orchestral suites op. 46 and op. 55 performed, but also a world premiere by composer Lukas Langlotz, born in 1971: Rounds. Four tableaux for "Peer Gynt". Langlotz is no stranger to Basel, as he teaches composition, music theory, ear training and score playing at the Academy of Music. He studied with Rudolf Kelterborn and Betsy Jolas, among others. His works often have a religious background or refer to historical music.

The concert dramaturgy follows the drama

The decision to perform the works by Grieg and Langlotz interwoven rather than one after the other proved to be a very good one. The narrator Dominique Gisler deepened the understanding with interspersed quotations from the drama. The evening was an excellent motivation to engage with Ibsen's work about his hero's search for and discovery of identity. Peer Gynt, a traveler between dream and reality, the world of mountain spirits and the world of the 19th century, is actually a thoroughly unsympathetic person without empathy, without respect for women, but with megalomaniacal fantasies of world domination. Having become rich as a merchant and slave trader in Africa, he lies to himself about his useless life. Defrauded of all his riches, he returns to Norway as an old man. The "button caster", an angel of death or devil's messenger, predicts his end, but he is saved by Solvejg, who has been waiting for him in a hut all her life and loves him. She is often interpreted as the personification of Peer's soul.

Ibsen's work, sometimes referred to as the "Nordic Faust", is based on fairy tales, but is also a bitter satire of its time. The lyrical and folkloristic music by Grieg, who could not identify with the character of Peer Gynt at all, does not fit the drama particularly well, but is enormously popular with concert audiences. For an amateur orchestra like the TriRhenum Symphony Orchestra, which was obviously well prepared by Julian Gibbons, it is very grateful. We heard some outstanding solo performances (viola, oboe, flute, clarinet) and a very homogeneous string section. Intonation problems in the winds were not too noticeable.

Langlotz' "theater music"

The orchestra also mastered the new work by Lukas Langlotz - in the words of the composer "theater music without a stage" - well. Rounds does without unusual playing techniques, but it is certainly contemporary music, even if not in its most avant-garde form. The first part, which characterizes Peer, could perhaps also have been written by the late Penderecki; the second movement, a scherzo in rondo form, which depicts both the troll world and the atmosphere in the madhouse in Cairo, is in the tradition of Mahler's or Shostakovich's scherzos, but without possessing their bite and grim humour. The "Knopfgiesser" music of the third part - at times very dissonant - is haunting, and the last section, dedicated to Solvejg, contains beautiful soundscapes from which the Whitsun hymn Veni Creator Spiritus appears. It ends with a question mark, so to speak. As in the play, the ending remains open. The audience in the well-attended church was enthusiastic.

Music books received July–December 2025

• Michael Schwalb: Paul Sacher. Progress through reflection, 129 pages, approx. €20.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-923-4
• Erik Hug: The History of Progressive Music. An experiment in 39 steps, 111 pages, $33.00 (plus shipping/handling), self-published, erikh@bluewin.ch
• Roman Brotbeck: Heinz Holliger. Conversations, comments, and texts, 350 pages, €36.99, Schott, Mainz, ISBN 978-3-7957-3399-5
• Home is Where the Heart Strives, Edited by Philipp Rhensius, Janina Neustupny, Thomas Burkhalter, Hannes Liechti, and Vinzent Maria Preuss, 312 pages, €29.00 (print), Norient Books, Bern 2025, ISBN 9783952544464
• History of musical interpretation in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume 4: People – Styles – Concepts, edited by Heinz von Loesch, Rebecca Wolf, and Thomas Ertelt, 712 pages, €79.99, Bärenreiter / J.B. Metzler, Kassel / Stuttgart 2025, ISBN 978-3-7618-2081-1
• Markus Meier: Ostracized, loved, and tolerated. The organ in post-Reformation Toggenburg., 400 pages, CHF 48.00, Chronos, Zurich 2025, ISBN 978-3-0340-1796-1
  >>> Review by Tobias Willi
• Ferruccio Busoni, Arnold Schoenberg: Dialogue on Modern Music. Carteggio – Scritti di Busoni con annotazioni inedite di Schönberg, 520 p., $36.00, Giometti & Antonello, Macerata 2025
• Iso Camartin: «Nessun dorma – Let no one sleep!" Arias, duets, ensembles – 48 oases of melodious sound, 288 pages, CHF 32.00, Rüffer & Rub, Zurich 2025, ISBN 978-3-907351-38-3
• Event and History. The International Summer Courses for New Music, Darmstadt 1962–1994, Edited by Susanne Heiter and Dörte Schmid, 560 pages, €48.00, Edition text+kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-010-1
• Heike Plitt: The guitar in the psychotherapy room, 140 pages, €22.00, Reichert, Wiesbaden 2025, ISBN 9783752008869
• Mateusz Borkowski: Wizard of the Violin. Henryk Wieniawski – Life and Times, Translated from Polish by Peter Oliver Loew, 146 pages, €19.80. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2025, ISBN 978-3-447-12300-6
• Klaus Wloemer: Josef Reinhart and Music. The role of music in his literary work, with a list of settings of his poems from 1897 to the present day, 954 pages, CHF 128.00, Schwabe, Basel 2025, ISBN 978-3-7965-5351-6
• Giuliano Musio: There's a crack, Accompanying text to Beethoven's «Egmont,» 118 pages, CHF 17.00, Edition Taberna Kritika, Bern 2025, ISBN 978-3-905846-79-9
• Kai Marius Schabram: Claudio Arrau, Universalist of the Piano, 214 pages, €26.00, Solo Portrait, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-788-9
• Rebekka Susanne Bräm: Theater with director's theater—opera needs its dignity back! Thoughts from the Hotpot, 175 pages, CHF 39.90, published by BoD Books on Demand, Hamburg 2025, ISBN 978-3-7583-3640-9
• The Techniques of Electric Guitar Playing, edited by Seth F. Josel and Michelle Lou, 303 pages, €69.00, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2025, ISBN 978-3-7618-2424-5
• Norbert Schläbitz: »Form follows content« or: Against mainstream research – for research pluralism in music education, (= Studies in Music Culture, Volume 12), 236 pages, €39.90, Waxmann, Münster 2025, ISBN 978-3-8188-0058-1, Open Access
• Andreas Häberlin: A Music Transcription Method. Notating Recorded Music by Ear, 178 p., approx. €39.00, Routledge, New York 2025, ISBN 9781032842547, Open Access
• Academization of the arts. Situierung, Episteme, Kodifizierung (Situating, Episteme, Codification), edited by David Hagen, Jan Lazardzig, Thekla Neuss, Angela Nikolai, and Dörte Schmidt, approx. 340 pages, approx. €34.00, Edition Text+ Kritik, Munich, ISBN 978-3-68930-000-5
• Reverberations of Empire? Opera in the Contexts of (De)Colonial and Postcolonial Thought, edited by Lena van der Hoven and JBOM, (= Journal of Black Opera and Music Theater, No. 1 Nov. 2025), 208 p., Bern Open Publishing
• Robert Oboussier. Contributions to a silenced opus / Contributions à propos d’un opus réduit au silence, edited by Ramon Bischoff, 208 pages, German/French, CHF 45.00, Edition Clandestin, Biel 2025, ISBN 978-3-907262-72-6
• Res Marty: Lines & Sound. Documents & Stories from the Joachim Raff Archive, 234 pages, CHF 30.00, Joachim Raff Society, Lachen 2025, ISBN 978-3-033-11783-9, available from: res.marty@bluewin.ch

Incoming music books January-June 2025

• Jan Tamaru: Subject recognition. Voice subject diagnosis in singing lessons, with an evaluation of C. G. Jung's theory of types for vocal pedagogy, 192 p., € 39.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2023 ISBN 978-3-7651-0488-6
• I am a theater person. Udo Zimmermann - memories and documents, edited by Saskia Zimmermann and Matthias Herrmann, 408 p., € 49.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2024 ISBN 978-3-7651-0513-5
• Michael Wertmüller, Special volume Musik-Konzepte XI/2024, edited by Ulrich Tadday, 248 p., Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2024, ISBN 978-3-96707-969-2
• Kirstin Thielemann: Fully relaxed. Peace and concentration for your music lessons, 104 p., online material, € 24.50, Schott, Mainz 2025, ISBN 978-3-7957-3315-5
  >>> Review by Torsten Möller
• Philip Herschkowitz: About music. Biographical. The music-theoretical work. The compositional workedited by Heidemarie T. Ambros, Alexei Lubimov, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexei Grots, 444 p., € 48.00, Hollizer, Vienna 2024, ISBN 978-3-99094-139-3
• Michaela Fridrich: Music unmediated. A Utopia, 127 p., € 22.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-738-4
• Jessie Cox: Sounds of Black Switzerland. Blackness, Music and Unthought Voices, 250 p., Duke University Press, Durham and London 2025, ISBN 978-1-4780-3143-7
• Artificial intelligence of sounds. Ethics and aesthetics of digital music cultureedited by Michael Schmidt, 120 p., Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-68930-030-2
  >>> Review by Wolfgang Böhler
• Sigfried Schibli: Musical life in the Basel region, Bild-Geschichten BL Volume 12, 121 p., Fr. 23.00, Verlag Baselland, Liestal 2025, ISBN 978-3-85673-706-1
• Music therapeutic impulses for music education. Expanded Perspectives, edited by Karin Holzwarth, Dorothee von Moreau, Jonas Dietrich, Hans Bäßler, 186 pages, br., € 29.90, Waxmann, Münster 2024, ISBN 978-3-8309-4946-6
• Leonard Bernstein's poetics, edited by Andreas Eichhorn and Paul R. Laird, 300 p., € 34.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-683-7
• Melanie Unseld: Music and memory. A study book, ca. 250 p., Rombach, ISBN 978-3-96821-886-8
  >>> Review by Torsten Möller
• Senses / Sense. Zeitgenössische Musik dies- und jenseits von Hermeneutik und Analyse, ed. by Kathrin Kirschand Joe Reinke, 230 p., € 29.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden 2025, ISBN 978-3-487-17063-3
• Swiss choral life since 1800 - Music, practice and contexts; Vie chorale n Suisse depuis 1800 - Musique, pratiques et contextes, ed. by Caiti Hauck and Cristina Urchueguía. Bern Open Publishing, ISBN 978-3-03917-080-7, open access
• Julien Cachemaille and Caiti Hauck: Three Swiss choral singers in the 19th century, based on the research project CLEFNI - Choir life in the cities of Bern and Fribourg in the long 19th century, comic, available in German or French, Editions de la Chaussette, Yvonand 2025, ISBN 978-2-940564-34-7, open access
• Sean Prieske: Music and flight. Musikalische Praktiken geflüchteter Menschen in Berlin, (= Musikethnologie im 21. Jahrhundert, Band 2), 395 p., € 99.00, Rombach, Baden-Baden 2025, ISBN 978-3-98858-096-2
• Alfons Huber: Clavichord building 1400-1800, 845 p., € 115.80, Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2025, ISBN 9783706912518
• Bruno Matti: The polar bears in the land of snow cliffs, Fantasy novel with music that can be played via QR codes, Fr. 35.00, self-published, matelier.ch, ISBN 978-3-033-10915-5
• Sounds for the soul, music in St. Gallen manuscripts, St. Gallen Abbey Library, 104 p., Fr. 25.00, Schwabe, Basel 2025, ISBN 978-3-7965-5344-8
• Handbook of music analysis. Plurality and Method, ed. by Ariane Jessulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick and Christian Thorau, 766 p., € 129.99, Bärenreiter-Verlag / J.B. Metzler Kassel/Stuttgart 2025, ISBN 978-3-7618-2065-0
• Musical Talent and its Promotion in Chinese and Western Worldsed. by Marc-Antoine Camp, Xavier Bouvier, Suse Petersen, Annatina Kull, 174 p., e-book, free of charge, Chronos, Zurich 2025, open access
• Marina Schieke-Gordienko: Ferruccio Busoni, pianist and cosmopolitan, Solo series, 171 p., € 24.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2025, ISBN 978-3-96707-909-8
• Rollen und Funktionen von Musik in der digitalen Ära / Music's Roles and Functions in the Digital Eraed. by Corinna Herr, Wolfgang Fuhrmann, Veronika Keller, 402 p., € 99.00, Rombach, Baden-Baden 2025, ISBN 978-3-98858-007-8
• Christiane Wiesenfeldt: Music and home, 286 p., € 39.99, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2025, ISBN 978-3-7618-2658-4

 

Music books received July-December 2024

• Anton Voigt: Alfred Cortot. Keyboard poet - teacher - cultural actor, Solo Portraits and Profiles, 285 p., € 28.00, Edition Text+Kritik, Munich 2024, ISBN 978-3-96707-708-7
• Köchel-Verzeichnis, Thematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, New edition 2024, edited by Neal Zaslaw, presented by Ulrich Leisinger with the assistance of Miriam Pfadt and Ioana Geanta, BV 300, CXXV + 1263 p., € 499.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2024
  >>> Review by Dominik Sackmann
• Corinne Holtz: World in the work. Klaus Huber (1924-2017), Biography, 309 p., Fr. 54.00, Schwabe, Basel 2024, ISBN 978-3-7965-5148-2
• Hanspeter Spörri: Steff Signer. The musical biography, A piece of Swiss rock, pop and highmatt history, 400 p., Appenzeller Verlag, Schwellbrunn 2024, ISBN 978-3-85882-888-0
  >>> Review by Hanspeter Künzler
• Ernst Kurth / Guido Adler: Correspondence 1908-1936edited by Luitgard Schader, 205 p., € 22.80, Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2024, ISBN 978-3-8260-7969-6
• Barbara Busch and Barbara Metzger: 44 warm-ups for instrumental lessons(=üben & musizieren Praxis), 80 p., € 24.50, Schott, Mainz 2024, ISBN 978-3-7957-3172-4
• Joachim Kühn and Michael Brüning: The bold factor. Free + independent: no limits in jazz, 320 p., € 24.95, Alfred Music, Cologne 2024, ISBN 978-3-947998-59-3
• Correspondence Arnold Schönberg - Heinrich Jalowetzed. by Simon Obert, (=Publications of the Paul Sacher Foundation, Volume 13; Briefwechsel der Wiener Schule, Volume 7), 408 p., Schott, Mainz 2024, ISBN 978-3-7957-3341-4
• Howard Griffiths: Barboza and the sounding tree - a musical journey through Switzerland, music by Fabian Künzli, played by the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg; narrator Fernando Tiberini illustrations by Andrea Peter, 52 p., audio download, Fr. 29.80, GH 11817, Hug Musikverlage, Zurich 2024, ISBN 978-3-03807-145-7
• Building authority in music, ed. by Bernd Brabec, Marc-Antoine Camp, Dorit Klebe, 280 p., Fr. 38.00, Chronos, Zurich 2024, ISBN 978-3-0340-1734-3
• Astrid Knöchlein: Ornamentation - like Telemann! Georg Philipp Telemann's Methodical Sonatas and Trietti methodichi, ed. by Claire Genewein, Dorit Führer-Pawikovsky and Peter Schmid, 2 vol., 57+145 p., Fr. 65.00, Schmid & Genewein, Zurich 2024, ISBN 978-3-033-05348-9
  >>> Review by Lukas Nussbaumer
• Marko Simsa: Waltz step and polkahit. Johann Strauss for children, picture book with music (CD or download), illustrations by Silke Brix, 32 p., € 24.00, Jumbo, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-8337-4800-4
• Peter Benary. Composer, musicologist, publicist and lecturer, edited by Niccolò Raselli and Hans Niklas Kuhn, ca. 229 pages, ca. Fr. 46.00, Schwabe, Basel 2024, ISBN 978-3-7965-5109-3
  >> Review by Torsten Möller
• Bernhard Suter: Guiding creative processes in music lessons. A design-based research study on the reflection-based competence development of primary school teachers entering the profession, 334 p., Potsdamer Schriftenreihe zur Musikpädagogik, vol. 10, Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2024, ISBN 978-3-86956-567-5, open access
• Luigi Nono. On the question of the turning point, Music Concepts No. 206, edited by Ulrich Tadday, 121 pages, € 28.00, Edition Text+Kritik, Munich 2024, ISBN 978-3-96707-966-1
• Friedrich Chrysander. Musicologist of the first hour, edited by Ivana Rentsch, Hamburg Yearbook of Musicology Volume 4, 266 p., € 39.90, Waxmann, Münster 2024, ISBN 978-3-8309-4884-1
• Wolfgang W. Müller: Music of the angels. A cultural history, 264 p., ca. Fr. 28.00, Schwabe, Basel 2024, ISBN 978-3-7965-5128-4
• Joseph Joachim. Identities / Identities(= Studien und Materialien zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 128), ed. by Katharina Uhde and Michael Uhde, 477 p., € 58.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden, ISBN 978-3-487-16425-0
• Michel Roth: At stake. Eine spielheoretische Untersuchung indeterminierter Musik, 524 p., Wolke, Hofheim 2024, ISBN 978-3-95593-152-0, open access
• Julius Otto Grimm - a composer and conductor of the Brahms circleedited by Anna Maria Plischka and Peter Schmitz, 704 p., € 69.90, Waxmann, Münster 2024, ISBN 978-3-8309-4759-2
• Tania Salvador, aka La Rata: Give it to me! Essay illustrated in graphic novel style, counter-history of popular music that puts female artists at the center, translation Petra Sparrer, 256 p., € 36.00, Laurence-King-Verlag, Berlin 2024, ISBN 978-3-96244-435-8
• Daniel Martin Feige: Philosophy of music. Musikästhetik im Ausgang von Adorno, 216 p., € 24.00, Edition Text+Kritik, Munich 2024, ISBN 978-3-689-30028-9
  >>> Review by Lukas Nussbaumer
• Music, Performance, Architecture. Sacred Spaces as Sound Spaces in the Early Modern Perioded. by Tobias C. Weissmann and Klaus Pietschmann, 312 p., € 69.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden 2024, ISBN 978-3-487-16724-4
• Meinolf Brüser: "It's all a breeze", Bach and the secret of the "Art of Fugue", 177 p., € 39.99, Bärenreiter/J.B Metzler, Kassel/Stuttgart 2024, ISBN 978-3-7618-2654-6
• Radio Cologne Sound. The WDR studio for electronic musicedited by Harry Vogt and Martina Seeber, 287 p., German/English, ill., with 5 CDs, € 39.00, Wolke, Hofheim 2024, ISBN 978-3-95593-259-6
  >>> Review by Thomas Meyer
• Luiz Alves da Silva: Between Zurich and Rio de Janeiro, Hausmusik in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Schnurrenberger,(=Schweizer Beiträge zur Musikforschung, Vol. 28), 326 p., € 49.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2024, ISBN 978-3-7618-2616-4
• A new start together. Prospects for music clubs after the pandemic! edited by Verena Bons, Johanna Borchert, Thade Buchborn, Wolfgang Lessing, (Schriften der Hochschule für Musik Freiburg), 160 p., € 44.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden, ISBN 978-3-487-17048-0
• Nicole Johänntgen and Raffaella Ligi: Schmusebär's sonorous journey with the flying chair, 28 S., nicolejohaenntgen.com/
• Michael von Hintzenstern: Sounds of the moment - 44 years of the Ensemble for Intuitive Music Weimar 1980-2024, 256 p., over 300 illustrations, € 44.00, Weimar 2024, ISBN 978-3-00-078834-5, hintzenstern.eu
  >>> Review by Torsten Möller

 

Music books received January-June 2024

• Jannis Mallouchos: Adolf Reichel (1816-1896). Political, cultural-historical, music-theoretical and compositional aspects of a musician's life, (=Wiener Veröffentlichungen zur Musikwissenschaft, Vol. 56), 650 p., Hollitzer, Vienna 2023, ISBN 978-3-99094-084-6
  >>> Review by Max Sommerhalder
• Studies in the Arts II, Arts, Design and Science in Exchange, ed. by Thomas Gartmann, Cristina Urchueguia, Hannah Ambühl-Baur, 313 p., Transcript, Bielefeld 2024, ISBN 978-3-8376-6954-1, Open Access: transcript-verlag.de/media/pdf
• Revue musicale de Suisse romande, Numéro spécial 75 ans, La musique à Genève au XV^e siècle, Décembre 2023, avec CD: La contenance angloise. La chapelle des Ducs de Savoie, dir. Vincent Arlettaz, Revue musicale de Suisse romande RMSR 20232
• Robert Craft et Igor Stravvinsy: Conversations avec Igor Stravinsky, 192 p., € 16.00, Editions Allia, Paris 2024, ISBN 979-10-304-1836-1
• Mathias Gredig: Grand hotels, risotto and bombs, History of Futurist Noise Art, Fröhliche Wissenschaft 232, 173 p., € 15.00, Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2024, ISBN 978-3-7518-3012-6
  >>> Review by Thomas Meyer
• Rien de Reede: The School of Blavet, Flutist in Paris in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, 144 p., Linos Edition, Amsterdam 2022, ISBN 978-90-9036371-4
• Walter Fähndrich: Why do we improvise? 80 p., € 18.00, Wolke, Hofheim 2024, ISBN 978-3-95593-270-1
• Text as Source and Material in Contemporary Music Theatre, ed. by Christa Brüstle, (=Studien zur Wertungsforschung 65), 304 p., € 33.50, Universal Edition, Vienna 2023, ISBN 978-37024-7793-6
• Peter Petersen: Arnold Schönberg's String Quartet op. 7, Three ways to understand the work, 211 p., numerous musical examples, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden 2024 ISBN 978-3-487-16700-8
• Creative misunderstandings or universal musical principles? Hugo Riemann and the international transfer of knowledge, ed. by Stefan Keym in conjunction with Christoph Hust, (Studien und Materialien zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 131), 377 p., hardcover, € 99.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden 2024, ISBN 978-3-487-16680-3
• Salon orchestra in the Alpsed. by Mathias Gredig, Matthias Schmidt, Cordula Seger, 232 p., Fr. 38.00, Chronos, Zurich 2024, ISBN 978-3-0340-1733-6
  >>> Review by Lukas Nussbaumer
• Stefan Braese: Cool. Jazz as a counterculture in post-war western Germany. 442 p., € 42.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2024, ISBN 978-3-96707-915-9
• Lothar Freiburg: Wonders of music. The music of Europe over 2000 years, 354 p., € 44.80, Wissner, Augsburg 2024, ISBN 978-3-95786-3287-7
• Ingo Bredenbach: Johann Sebastian Bach's piano lessons. Bach as learner and teacher, 519 p., € 59.00, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2024, ISBN 978- 3-7618- 2617-1
  >>> Review by Dominik Sackmann
• Handbook of Opera. 16th updated and expanded edition, edited by Rudolf Kloiber, Wulf Konold and Robert Maschka 1021 p., € 49.99, Bärenreiter/J.B. Metzler, Kassel/Heidelberg 2024, ISBN 978-3-7618-2644-7
• Wolfgang Jansen: Musical - the musical theater of the present, (= Gesammelte Schriften zum Populären Musiktheater, Vol. 3), 286 p., € 39.90, Waxmann, Münster 2024, ISBN 978-3-8309-4757-8
• Jutta Toelle: Mission through music, Stimmen zu Musik und Klängen in der europäischen Missionierung Hispanoamerikas, Musik und Migration, Vol. 4, 172 pages, € 34.90, Waxmann, Münster 204, ISBN 978-3-8309-4728-8
• Composers in the Stalinist gulag, edited by Inna Klause, Andreas Waczkat, Stefan Weiss, 468 p., € 89.00, Georg Olms, Baden-Baden 2024, ISBN 978-3-487-16694-0
• Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture, Weltmusik und ihre Kritik: Postkoloniale Zugänge zu globaler Musik, (= Jahrbuch des Zentrums für Populäre Kultur und Musik, 68. Jahrgang - 2023), ed. by Maria Fuchs, Johannes Müske, Knut Holtsträter, 258 p., € 39.90, Waxmann, Münster 2024, ISBN 978-3-8309-4889-6
• Music in the monotheistic religions, Reflections on the aesthetic function of sacred music, ed. by Wolfgang Müller, Franc Wagner (=TeNOR. Text und Normativität 11), 240 p., Fr. 48.00, Schwabe, Basel 2024, ISBN 978-3-7965-5045-4

 

Music books received July-December 2023

• Sigfried Schibli: The Organ Experience. The most beautiful instruments in and around Basel, 160 p., Fr. 44.80, Reinhardt, Basel 2023, ISBN 978-3-7245-2660-5
• Early music today, History and Perspectives of Historical Performance Practice, edited by Richard Lorber, 414 p., € 39.99, Bärenreiter/Metzler, Kassel/Stuttgart 2023, ISBN 978-3-7618-2520-4
• Le plus beau pays du monde ? Othmar Schoeck's environment in Central Switzerland, book accompanying the Othmar Schoeck Festival 202, edited by Alvaro Schoeck and Chris Walton, 180 p., Fr. 20.00, Müsigricht, Steinen 2023, ISBN 978-3-9525658-2-7
  >>> Review by Daniel Willi
• Corina Nastoll: Practicing is a must! Efficient and enjoyable practicing, (= übern & musizieren spezial), 44 p., € 18.50, Schott, Mainz, ISBN 978-3-7957-3094-9
  >>> Review by Torsten Möller
• "You are art to me". The correspondence between Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius from 1910 to 1914edited by Annemarie Jaeggi and Jörg Rothkamm, 784 p., € 49.00, Residenz, Vienna 2023, ISBN 9783701735945
• Ethel Smyth: Drumbeats from paradise. Memories, translated from the English by Heddi Feilhauer, 256 p., € 24.00, ebersbach & simon, Cologne 2023, ISBN 978-3-86915-286-8
• Rainer Schmusch: Sense of hearing and "sound". Ästhetische Anthropologie der Musik, nach Herder und Händel, (= Myosotis Bd. 8), 452 p., € 62.00, Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2023, ISBN 978-3-8253-4867-0
• Music and migration. Ein Theorie- und Methodenhandbuch, ed. by Wolfgang Gratzer, Nils Grosch, Ulrike Präger, Susanne Scheiblhofer, (= Musik und Migration, Vol. 3), 746 p., br., € 69.90, Waxmann, Münster 2023, ISBN 978-3-8309-4630-4, Open Access, doi.org/10.31244/9783830996309
  >>> Review by Torsten Möller
• Silke Kruse-Weber: Reflect! An observation and reflection tool for instrumental and vocal teachers, (= Grazer Schriften zur Instrumental- und Gesangspädagogik, Vol. 4), 88 pages, br., with card game, €34.90, Waxmann, Münster 2023, ISBN 978-3-8309-4658-8
• Silja Reidemeister: Between contemporary design and historical interest - the composer Rudolf Moser. A search for clues in original documents, 227 p., Fr. 38.00, Schwabe, Basel 2023, ISBN 978-3-7965-4849-9
• Markus Cslovjecsek: School music for all? On the legitimization of music as a subject, 313 p., € 48.00, Transcript, Bielefeld 2023, ISBN 978-3-8376-6884-1, Open Access: transcript-verlag.de/shopMedia/openaccess/pdf/oa9783839468845.pdf
• Eike Fess: Arnold Schönberg and the composition with twelve notes, 224 p., € 27.00, Edition Text+Kritik, Munich 2023, ISBN 978-3-96707-862-6
• Milena Amann-Rauter: "Avec mon arme, la musique". Political engagement of exiled musicians in the context of the Front Populaire, 504 p., € 48.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2023, ISBN 978-3-96707-887-9
• Julia Wilke: Music and movement in individual pedagogical work. Video-based analyses of music- and movement-related coordination processes, 2023, (= Internationale Hochschulschriften, Vol. 707), 228 p. € 39.90, Waxmann, Münster 2023, ISBN 978-3-8309-4720-2
• Robert Gervasi: A borderland fate, Life and work of the Alsatian composer Leo Justinus Kauffmann (1901-1944), 588 p., € 119.00, Tectum, Baden-Baden 2023, ISBN 978-3-8288-4916-7
• Nicole Jost-Rösch: Alban Berg - narrating composer, composing narrator, 540 p., € 49.00, Edition Text + Kritik, Munich 2023, ISBN 978-3-96707-834-3
• Werner Reinhart, patron of modernism, Music Concepts, Special Volume XI/2023, edited by Ulrich Tadday, 228 p., € 42.00, Edition Text+Kritik, Munich 2023, ISBN 978-3-96707-843-5
• Dominik Susteck: Bone pipes and noiselatte. Hand-Joachim Hespos und die Orgelmusik ab 1962, Schriften zur Neuen Musik vol. 3, 230 p., Are, Cologne 2023, ISBN 978-3-3924522-90-2
• Tobias Heyl: 75 years of G. Henle Verlag, 208 p.,€ 28.00, Hanser, Munich, ISBN 978-3-446-7847-9
• Ute Elena Hamm: "Music to read", Musical-literary hybrids, works by Erik Satie, John Cage, Dieter Schnebel and Ingeborg Bachmann, 649 p., hardcover, € 129.00, Rombach, Baden-Baden 2023, ISBN 978-3-96821-993-6

 

Music books received January-June 2023

• Klaus Steffes-Holländer: Not just on keys. New playing techniques for piano, 136 p., € 49.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2022, ISBN 978-3-7651-0486-2
• Ulrich Menke: The method navigator. Route planner to successful instrumental and ensemble teaching, üben & musizieren, 192 p., € 22.95 Schott, Mainz, ISBN 978-3-7957-3092-5
  >>> Review by Walter Amadeus Ammann
• Tobias Bleek: In the frenzy of the twenties. 1923: Music in a year of extremes, 316 p., € 29.99, Bärenreiter/Metzler, Kassel/Berlin 2023, ISBN 978-3-7618-7245-1
• Gaël Liardon (1973-2018): Anthologie d'un passionné, Organ works, basso continuo, chansons, Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire, Lausanne 2023, ISBN 978-2-88888.152-0
• Goldberg! Variations on Bach, edited by Violeta Dinescu and Michael Heinemann, (= Bach nach Bach, Vol. 4), 384 p., € 69.80, Dohr, Cologne 2022, ISBN 978-3-86846-171-8
• Roberto Reale: Elements of lamentation in George Enescu's opera Œdipe, Archive for Eastern European Music, 7, BIS-Verlag, Oldenburg 2022, ISBN 978-3-8142-2404-6
• Myriam Marbe, edited by Violeta Dinescu, Michael Heinemann, Roberto Reale, Archiv für osteuropäische Musik, 6, BIS-Verlag, Oldenburg 2022, ISBN 978-3-8142-2393-3
• Reto Weber: Drummin'. In the beginning was the drum - memories, 280 p., Fr. 49.00, editione clandestin, Biel/Bienne 2023, ISBN 978-3-907262-41-2
• Politics of Curatorship - Collective and Affective Interventions, edited by Monia Acciari & Philipp Rhensius, 288 p., € 34.00, Norient Books, Bern 2023, ISBN 978-3-9525444-4-0
• Music and movement with older people. Insight into rhythmic pedagogyedited by Monika Mayr, 220 p., € 24.95, Reichert, Wiesbaden, ISBN 9783752007145

 

 

I start my laptop to write this article. Soon the two red camera eyes are flashing and checking my identity. They compare a stored image of me with what they are currently recording. No matter what glasses I'm wearing, whether I've had my hair cut or have a scar on my face from shaving, there's nothing to confuse the biometric facial recognition system, nothing to stop it from recognizing my identity.

When depositing the original image, this technology measured the distances between around thirty points of the facial landscape. These include key factors such as the distance between the eyes, the distance between the forehead and the chin, the shape of the cheekbones and the contours of the lips, ears and chin. All this data was then converted into a mathematical formula, a numerical code, and stored. Just like a fingerprint, the resulting "face print" is unique to each person.

What did Mozart look like?

The portraits of this unique genius are countless: real, fake, attributed, lost and rediscovered, dubious and unambiguous, artistically valuable and less valuable. And new ones are constantly being found. These then either lead to a huge flurry of articles in the media, or they are barely noticed.

There are a handful of portraits that are written about in detail in the Mozart family letters and their resemblance to the son or brother is reported. But what did Mozart (1756-1791) really look like, which one is the "real" Mozart? Many a fierce dispute has broken out among music scholars about this. Now, however, biometric facial recognition is available as an aid that seems likely to make the disputes more objective.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the method, which was invented in Japan in 1980, has rapidly gained momentum and, as one of the many AI functions, it is hard to imagine life today without it. It is hardly surprising that it has also begun to occupy modern musicology, albeit cautiously and with a great deal of skepticism. Here are two concrete examples of how it can be used to verify the authenticity of Mozart portraits.

A new "last" portrait

 

Until 2002, the depot holdings of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie contained a collection entitled Gentleman in the green skirt an oil painting by the Munich painter Georg Edlinger (1741-1819). It was painted in 1790, one year before Mozart's death.1

As early as 1995, a certain resemblance to the so-called Bologna portrait of 1777, which Leopold Mozart had painted by his 21-year-old son and sent to the Academy in Bologna for its gallery, was thought to have been discovered (collage top row, 4th from left; bottom row, 2nd from right). He praised it as particularly apt.

In 2006, Rainer Michaelis, the chief curator of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, together with the Swedish neurobiologist Martin Braun, undertook a highly interesting attempt to compare the two paintings using the latest biometric-statistical methods. 2

The astonishing result was that the Edlinger portrait shows the same person as the Bologna portrait with a probability of 1:10,000,000.3 This makes the Edlinger portrait the last Mozart portrait painted during his lifetime. As early as 2006, the Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen Berlin published a carefully edited and excellently illustrated special edition in its "Bilder im Blickpunkt" series.4

A youth portrait?

Not far from Salzburg, a professor emeritus from the University of Constance, who goes by the pseudonym "Bilddetektiv"5 In an art shop, he came across a rather inconspicuous picture of a young man that immediately fascinated him: Somehow this open face of the young man seemed familiar to him. The picture detective had been studying artists' portraits and the physiognomic authenticity of the sitters for a long time. In over thirty works, he had acquired an enormous amount of knowledge about painting techniques, biographical and historical backgrounds and contexts and had honed his powers of observation for the smallest physiognomic and physiological details. After making comparisons with known Mozart paintings, it was clear to him that the portrait found at the time could well depict Mozart at the age of around ten.

 

The picture detective was well aware that "new" Mozart portraits continue to appear to this day, but that they cannot be verified. He therefore proceeded with caution. He initially substantiated his thesis that the portrait he had found depicted the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by comparing it with the portraits of Joseph Lange, Dorothea Stock and Joseph Grassi, which were considered authentic, and with the one by Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni from 1763, which shows the child Mozart at the age of six (collage, bottom row, 3rd from right). He primarily relied on the comparative observation of physiognomic features.

The research results showed that the size "and shape of the head (forehead, temple, face shape) are the same in all images, as are the distance between the eyes and the proportions of the face. The soft tissues may change in the course of life, but the skull remains the same."

The picture detective also points out another important feature for identifying the sitter, which Eva Gesine Baur describes in her book Mozart, genius and Eros has noted.7 In the caption to a portrait of Mozart shown there, she writes: "Here too, inward strabismus, the squinting inwards (of the right eye), is visible, according to ophthalmology often the result of serious illnesses in the first years of life. It is documented in Wolfgang's case for the year 1767 (smallpox epidemic). This would explain why he is not squinting in the Lorenzoni portrait of 1763." He confirms that the squint in the right eye mentioned by Baur can also be seen in the present youth portrait: "The misalignment of the eyes is a key biometric feature with a prevalence of less than 3 percent. This significantly reduces the probability of random parallelism (less than p of 0.03 in the binomial model)."

In order to verify the assumptions based purely on observation, the portrait was finally examined using biometric facial recognition in comparison with the four paintings mentioned above. The aim was to prove that the picture did not depict Mozart.

In summary, the image detective concludes: "The probability of a match is between 82 and < 85 percent, depending on the question. There is a very high match in the invariant facial features: Eye position, eye color, eyebrow shape, lip and chin shape as well as in the clothing and hairstyle-specific typology of the late 1760s. The average linear deviation in the distance between the eyes and the Grassi oil portrait is only 3.7 percent of the bipupillary distance and is therefore below the typical 5 percent threshold, which is considered an 'identical resemblance' in forensic image anthropology. Minor discrepancies (e.g. underdeveloped nasal length of the child or rounder cheeks) can be explained by ontogenetic growth processes and do not contradict the identity. The nose grows postpubertally by approx. 1.3 mm/year (anthropometric longitudinal data). A child portrayed at the age of 7.8 years therefore has a significantly shorter nasal bridge than the 26-year-old adult."

It was therefore not possible to support the hypothesis that the portrait does not depict Mozart (Popper's falsification criterion).

Conclusion

The iconography (image description) of the visual representations of sound artists is an extraordinarily broad field: musicology and art studies, psychology, sociology, medicine, neurobiology, style and costume studies all overlap here.

It may come as a surprise that all of the above-mentioned disciplines were involved in the research on Edlinger's Berlin painting ("Man in a Green Skirt", Mozart) and the newly discovered youth portrait, but musicology was unfortunately absent! Yet it can be assumed that the cooperation of all specialists would be of the greatest common benefit. For example, biometric facial recognition could be used as a starting point or as conclusive evidence for controversial questions of identity. In the case of Mozart, for example, this would be the question of whether Mozart is really depicted in the very popular Verona picture or in the strange portrait of Josef Hickel:

These questions should also be able to be answered objectively and conclusively in close cooperation with all the disciplines involved and with the aid of in-depth biometric investigations.

Notes

1 On Mozart's life situation at the end of October 1790, see Ueli Ganz on  https://mozartweg.ch/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Wie-Mozart-nicht-aussah.pdf

2 To the Michaelis/Braun report on procedure and conclusions http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/ormen/Edlinger%20Mozart.htm

3 https://dieterdavidscholz.de/ausstellungen/j-g-edlingers-letztes-mozart-bildnis.html

4 Michaelis Rainer, The Mozart portrait in the Berlin Picture GalleryPreussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 2006, ISBN-13: 9783886095292

5 The author of this article (UG) knows the full name of the picture detective.

6 Available on: https://bilddetek.hypotheses.org/2096

7 Eva Gesine Baur: Mozart, Genius and Eros - A Biography C.H.Beck, 2014; (to the legend of the endpaper before page 86 VI/1771)

Table of contents

Focus

Statistics will never lead to something like composition
Interview with the composer, music and media scientist Michael Harenberg and an artificial intelligence

AI as a creative partner
With their artistic projects, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst are looking for ways to retain control over their own creative work.

The time is ripe for the AI artist
The enormous advances in technology require a new self-image on the part of music creators

AI recognizes Mozart's facial features

(italics = summary in German of the original French article)

Critiques

New releases Books, Sound carrier, Websites, Notes, Movies

Echo 

There is not enough space in the printed edition for all the texts, so they are listed here and linked to the corresponding online articles. Most of these were published before the printed edition appeared.

A sense of sound, historical awareness and a farewell
Francesco Piemontesi

About money and the world
The podcasts from Aeneas Humm and the Árvore Foundation

Un lien indéfectible avec la Suisse
Nicolas Dorin and Pierre-Michel Menger talk about Pierre Boulez.

First season with Esther Hoppe
The violinist took over as artistic director of the Camerata Zürich a few weeks ago.

Bells on instruments and mouths
Thilo Hirsch and the Ensemble Arcimboldo teamed up for the project rough and tumble 2025-1898 together with a school class.

A mythical creature explores folk music instruments
The Musikkollegium Winterthur presented Barboza and the ringing tree by Howard Griffiths.

In the labyrinth of labyrinths
Donaueschingen Music Days 2025

 

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

Swiss Federal Orchestra Association (EOV) / Société Fédérale des Orchestres (SFO)

Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) / Conférence des Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse (CHEMS)

Kalaidos University of Music / Kalaidos Haute École de Musique

Swiss Music Council (SMR) / Conseil Suisse de la Musique (CSM)

Swissmedmusica (SMM) / Association suisse de Médecine de la Musique (SMM)

Swiss Musicological Society (SMG) / Société Suisse de Musicologie (SSM)

Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) / Union Suisse des Artistes Musiciens (USDAM)

Schweizerischer Musikpädagogischer Verband (SMPV) / Société Suisse de Pédagogie Musicale (SSPM)

SONART - Musicians Switzerland

Swiss Youth Music Competition Foundation (SJMW)

Arosa Culture

SUISA - Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music

Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) / Association Suisse des Écoles de Musique (ASEM)

 

Baroque AI
Puzzle by Michael Kube

________________________________________

Order issue for CHF 10.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

The fifteen string players in the small hall of the Tonhalle Zurich (with the exception of the cellists) confidently play standing up, while the artistic director coordinates the musical action from the first podium. Esther Hoppe gives a brief explanation before each of the four works played. While the homogeneous string sound of the Camerata Zürich can be admired in the introductory Schubert dances and Franz Schreker's Intermezzo op. 8, Hindemith's Four temperaments and Haydn's Piano Concerto in G major Ronald Brautigam as a versatile pianist. However, Hoppe's performance could be a little freer, and the position of the grand piano, where you can only see the pianist's back, is not very audience-friendly.

The selection of works for this second subscription concert is typical of the Camerata's program: contemporary (in the broadest sense) mixed with classical music, rarities combined with repertoire pieces. If you look at the season as a whole, you will notice that Swiss composers also play an important role. Esther Hoppe's debut concert in September featured Othmar Schoeck's Summer night opened. Since the ensemble was founded in 1957 by Räto Tschupp, contemporary and Swiss music have been among the constants of the programming. In terms of the repertoire, Hoppe is therefore following in the Camerata's tradition. When it comes to contemporary music, she takes particular care to ensure that it is well integrated into the rest of the program. In the fifth subscription concert, for example, Alfred Zimmerlin's Tides of time Mendelssohn's "Swiss Symphony".

Closer to the audience

The moderation of the concerts by Hoppe himself and selected members of the ensemble is a remarkable innovation: the orchestra wants to step out of anonymity and have a face. The newly created podcast series on the website, which aims to establish a relationship between the ensemble and the audience, aims in the same direction. The appointment of an artist in residence is not entirely new: this season it is Ronald Brautigam, one of the few pianists who play both the modern grand piano and the fortepiano. Hoppe also forms a piano trio with Brautigam and her husband Christian Poltéra. There are also new developments in music education: Following the Saturday subscription concerts, there will be children's concerts for four to ten-year-olds on Sunday mornings, where Evamaria Felder will playfully introduce the kids to one of the works performed. The "Camerata@School - Vivaldi Recomposed" project runs throughout the season, in which a school class from the city of Zurich performs one of Vivaldi's works. Four seasons develops and performs a concert program.

Making music on your own responsibility

Esther Hoppe was born in Zug, but is not (yet) so well known in this country because a large part of her career to date has taken place abroad. After an initial phase in Switzerland, including with the Tecchler Trio, which she founded, she became first concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra in 2009. Since 2013, she has held a professorship for violin at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She also performs internationally as a soloist. What Hoppe likes about her new role with the Camerata is being able to create programs that suit the orchestra. The ensemble is also a manageable size.

Even under Hoppe's predecessors Thomas Demenga and Igor Karsko, the Camerata practised the model of non-conducting artistic direction: "Without a conductor, everyone in the orchestra has to know exactly what their role is. It is music-making that is oriented towards chamber music." Hoppe accepts that this model requires a little more rehearsal work because it promotes the members' personal responsibility.

Limited resources

And what about the competition with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, which plays a dominant role in Zurich and has an internationally renowned violinist in Daniel Hope as its conductor? Esther Hoppe takes a relaxed view: "I don't see the two orchestras as competitors. The Camerata Zürich has a very clear artistic profile and deliberately moves away from the classical mainstream. In their differences, the two ensembles complement each other and enrich the city's musical life." Financially, however, the stakes are not the same. The Camerata's annual budget is in the mid six-figure range. Nevertheless, self-financing has increased to 40 percent in recent years. Subsidies from the city of Zurich currently amount to 380,000 francs. It is remarkable that, with these limited resources, the Camerata's artistic profile is still quite ambitious.

Three children shout "Hello" and wave to the audience. They are standing in the middle of a music machine in Basel's Tinguely Museum. Their bright voices stand out from the dark, groping, metallic-colored sounds with which the ten-piece Ensemble Arcimboldo plays Mauricio Kagel's composition 1898 for children's voices and instruments. With trumpets, trombones and tubas, three brass instruments are included. The string instruments also have a metal funnel instead of a resonating body. These are so-called straw instruments, which were used for orchestral recordings at the beginning of the 20th century.

Maurizio Kagel had 1898 for the 75th anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon in 1973. He wanted a "vocally untrained school class" to take part in this work. The children were to bring a spontaneous, even slightly anarchistic element into the adult world. For the concerts in Basel, the choice fell on class 5a from Niederholz elementary school in Riehen, who now stand on the stage ramp in full size and react to the music with laughter, cooing and sometimes hissing. A pupil sticks a cheeky drawing on the conductor Thilo Hirsch's back.

Straw instruments

The musical director of the Basel ensemble Arcimboldo came up with the idea for this unusual project entitled rough-sch-end 2025-1898which is sponsored by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation. Hirsch has long been fascinated by the Stroh instruments, named after their inventor Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh. At various online auctions, he was able to acquire several bell instruments, all of which are in use, including a violin, a cello, a stroviol, a fono fiddle and a fonoukulele. The instruments Kagel used for the premiere of 1898 The instruments that were built are now owned by the Paul Sacher Foundation, but are no longer playable.

As the children only get to play short passages, Hirsch commissioned another work from the composer Abril Padilla. Together with Naja Parejas, she also led the workshops that were held with the pupils over a period of two and a half months. Including final rehearsals for the three concerts on October 25 and 26 at the Tinguely Museum in Basel, the work took around 40 hours.

Tinkering and listening

Padilla has already worked on previous projects such as the Resonance box worked together with Hirsch. "In the beginning, our workshop was about concentrated listening. Kagel's music was initially quite foreign to the children." They practiced the differences between sincere and artificial laughter, as Kagel describes it in the score. The children discovered their voices through play. For their newly written composition EN‧MO sound funnels were made. "These amplifiers helped individuals to become more courageous," says Padilla. The children's rights addressed in her work were chosen together.

The concert evening begins EN‧MO directly after Mauricio Kagel's Old/New for solo trumpet. A few children put their bells to their ears so that they can listen even better to Jonathan Romana's torn-off sound figures. Then they imitate the sounds of the trumpet - creating a dialog between the musician and the children. The sounds become words: "Clean water", "Fire", "No more racism". Speaking rhythmically, they chant: "Environmental protection is important, environmental protection is good." Maria Luisa Pizzighella gives the words even more power on the drums. EN‧MO is more designed text than music, but a short vocal interlude by a boy is also part of the work.

Laugh and rustle

The varied, dramaturgically tight program also includes Kagel's virtuoso performance of Lanet Flores' Shadow sounds for bass clarinet solo, a tango for straw violin (Juan María Braceras) and piano (Helena Bugallo) by Igor Stravinsky and two further world premieres for fonofiedel (Thilo Hirsch) and gramophone: Charlotte Torresʼ Jungle Jazz Suite and Abril Padillas 78 RPM. The concert ends with a group improvisation led by the children with signs, in which the audience takes part alongside the musicians distributed around the room. The program brochure is folded into a bell. Then it starts with laughter and noise, glissando up and down - and all mixed up. Even the large Tinguely machine behind the stage is set in motion.

When we talk to them after the concert, the children are bursting with information. They think it's great to have been on stage and to have seen the instruments up close. "There were long waiting times during rehearsals, but in the end it was all worth it," says one girl. "We always had to listen carefully and remember when to go on stage," says a boy. Making the bells and using them on stage was also a lot of fun. The two teachers Manon Siebenhaar and Fabian Leuenberger are also satisfied with the project: "The pupils were able to rely on each other. It also strengthened the class community."