Alban Roetschi

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Alban Roetschi (born April 19, 1922 in Solothurn ; † February 19, 2015 there ) was a Swiss composer and music teacher .

Life

Alban Roetschi grew up in Solothurn as the son of the canton school teacher, private lecturer and poet Robert Roetschi . As a high school student he received violin and harmony lessons from Richard Flury , piano and composition from Dino Ghisalberti and clarinet from Stefan Jäggi . On the occasion of youth services in the cathedral he also played the flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, drum and organ.

The first compositional attempts were made early on; in 1941 his sonatina for flute and piano was performed. After graduating from high school, Roetschi studied piano with Rosmarie Stucki and composition with Luc Balmer at the Bern Conservatory, and musicology and philosophy at the University of Bern . He later continued his studies in Basel : piano with Paul Baumgartner and conducting with Hans Münch .

Even during his studies, Roetschi led male choirs, mixed choirs and orchestral associations. He later worked with the Solothurn Vocalists , a chamber choir made up of professional and trained amateur singers. For many years he conducted the Solothurn Concert Choir . At the Solothurn Cantonal School , Alban Roetschi initially taught wind instruments, piano and school singing as an assistant teacher. In 1956 he became the main teacher at the teachers 'and kindergarten teachers' seminars. He shaped these schools significantly by introducing Orff's instruments , treating the recorder as a solo instrument and conducting systematic breathing and vocal training. With the seminar choirs he studied well-known works of choral music and performed his own works.

Roetschi died on February 19, 2015 in Solothurn at the age of 92. His wife, the artist Margrit Roetschi-Meyer (1923–2015), had died just six days earlier .

plant

Roetschi created stage works, sacred and secular vocal music, songs, chamber and orchestral music, music for keyboard instruments and brass music, arrangements and teaching literature. He set texts by Solothurn writers such as Josef Reinhart , Silja Walter and Fritz Grob . The “Canton Song” and the ten “District Songs” that he composed for Expo 64 became very well known . His latest work is from 2011: The new version of the piano concerto that he composed in 2005 for his son, the pianist Adalbert Roetschi .

The originals of Alban Roetschi's work are kept in the Solothurn Central Library. For the composer's 80th birthday in 2002, Hans-Rudolf Binz presented a catalog raisonné, which was expanded and supplemented in 2008 and 2012.

literature

  • Hans-Rudolf Binz: Directory of the works of Alban Roetschi (* 1922): kept in the Solothurn Central Library. [Extended Edition]. Solothurn: Central Library Solothurn, 2012.
  • Franz Schläfli, Peter Rufer: Solothurn songs: Accompanying band . Solothurn: Kantonaler Lehrmittelverlag, 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solothurn artist and her husband died within a few days. In: Oltner Tagblatt of February 23, 2015 (accessed on February 23, 2015).
  2. ↑ Obituary notice. In: Solothurner Zeitung of February 23, 2015 (accessed on February 23, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Roetschi, Alban
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Solothurn
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 2015
Place of death Solothurn