Gian Bundi

Gian Bundi (born October 26, 1872 in Berlin , † December 26, 1936 in Bern ) was a Swiss fairy tale collector and editor , journalist and music critic .

He is one of the most important collectors and editors of fairy tales in Graubünden , and for the Engadin he is by far the most important and best known (see catalog raisonné at the end of this article).

Life

Gian Bundi was born on October 26th, 1872 as the second child of Catharina Bundi born. Giovanoli and Christian Georg Bundi in Berlin. He spent his childhood there with his sister Nina, who was four years older than him. In 1879 Christian Georg Bundi was able to buy the bakery and café that the Jenny family (from Bever in the Upper Engadin ) owned in Stettin. As a result, the Bundi family moved from Berlin to Kleine Domstrasse in Stettin . Gian Bundi grew up bilingual. At home in the family Puter was spoken, otherwise German.

Gian Bundi attended elementary school and high school in Szczecin. On October 14, 1892 he enrolled at the Georg August University in Göttingen for philology with a focus on history lectures in the summer semester and linguistics in the winter semester. A year later he went to the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena for one semester (WS 1893/94) . Here he enrolled for historical lectures, psychology and Italian grammar (with Wilhelm Cloetta ), most likely in order to be able to speak Romansh with his professor. From Jena Gian Bundi moved on to Heidelberg to the Ruprecht-Karls-University (SS 1894 to SS 1895, legal history and legal lectures), then to the law and political science faculty of the University of Zurich (WS 1895/96 to SS 1897) and to circuit to Bern , where he from WS 1897 to SS 1899 at the city's university was enrolled as a law student.

After completing his extensive studies, Gian Bundi moved to Chur in order to acquire the “tools of a press man” from the Free Councilor (quoted by J. Welti, NZZ 1936). However, it did not keep him in the capital of his home canton for very long, because as early as 1901 he accepted the call of editor-in-chief Michael Bühler and moved to the federal government in Bern . The fact that Bühler did not bring a stranger to the editorial office is proven by smaller and larger articles that appeared from December 16, 1900 in the so-called Sunday newspaper , the “fiction and literary Sunday supplement” of the Bund , which was then published twice a day . At the federal government, he formed the Bündner Trio with Michael Bühler and Georg Luck, which had a major impact on the Bern art scene during the first three decades of the 20th century. What these three Graubünden residents had in common was a strong tendency towards art, which later became a real profession for Gian Bundi. In 1919, after the reorganization of the Bern Orchestra Association, a permanent secretary was necessary, and Gian Bundi - now a music critic of high reputation - was appointed to this post. As a result, he resigned as a drawing editor at the Bund in 1919 , but remained in the literary editorial department until his death and from then on wrote practically only theater and music reviews, which were given high priority.

Although Gian Bundi studied philology and law, he mainly worked as a music critic and as secretary of the Bern Orchestra Association. Obviously his whole interest, his whole love, was in music, especially classical, but also folk music. This suggests that Gian Bundi was basically a musician at heart, but that he refrained from being a musician for an unknown reason, be it for financial considerations or that his musical skills were too low for a professional musician has assessed. There are few indications that he must have been a very good piano player. The musicologist Edgar Refardt mentions in his Nekrolog:

«He has studied neither music nor musicology, and a musical history lapse may have happened to him while writing a concert report. But he was always able to demonstrate what he had said on the piano because he had acquired his knowledge of the work of art from the work itself, from the sheet music, and where detailed research required it, he did not lack philological accuracy . " (E. Refardt, Memories of Gian Bundi, Basler Nachrichten 1936, No. 358).

Another indication is the fact that Gian Bundi and the soprano Erika Hellmüller (1891–1982) occasionally gave concerts in various foreign cities, in Germany, Holland, Belgium and other countries, in front of enthusiastic Swiss abroad. And there was no recital without a couple of Romance songs being sung. These simply couldn't be missing.

It is also worth mentioning that Gian Bundi was heavily involved in promoting young Swiss musicians. On the one hand this went beyond his reviews, on the other hand he was able to give them the opportunity to perform in concerts through his function as secretary of the Bernischer Orchesterverein, but sometimes it went so far that he gave them money directly (H. Marti, Gian Bundi, Bund 1936, No. 605). It is quite conceivable that his personal fate - on the one hand not being allowed to become a musician, on the other hand not having children - prompted him to take this step.

His mother died on July 1, 1920, and a little over a year later, on July 21, 1921, as did his father.

After the death of his parents, Gian Bundi got engaged to Bernhardine Rollier from Nods (Canton Bern). Their wedding took place on May 17, 1922 in Bern. The marriage remained childless. A heart condition bothered Gian Bundi more and more and forced him to bed, where he was left with by his wife, but also by his cousin Augusta Hartmann-Cavegn (1877–1953), who had come to Bern from the Engadine especially for this purpose Death on the night of December 26th to 27th, 1936. He had a very close and good relationship with his cousin. As a teenager she even stayed with him in Stettin once, but because of her dark hair, she was confronted with the hostility towards Jews that existed in northern Germany at the time, which bothered her very much. Her son, Theodor Hartmann, later an architect in Chur, was his godchild.

From the obituary notice we learn that Gian Bundi's sister Nina - she was depressed - was at the Waldhaus psychiatric clinic in Chur-Masans at the time . This fact was almost certainly the main reason why Gian Bundi had to sell his parents' house in Bever in order to be able to finance her stay there, because the Bundis probably had no health insurance, as was the case in the wealthier classes in Switzerland at the time . The sale of his parents' house in Bever hit him hard, because he always wanted to spend his retirement years in the Engadine and be buried in the Engadine soil.

The fairy tale collections

Probably in the 1890s Gian Bundi wrote down and published 17 fairy tales and one legend, some of which were told in Bever in the house of his aunt Anna Cavegn-Giovanoli (1842–1923), his mother's twin sister in the Annalas da la Societad Retorumantscha (Yearbook of the Rhaeto-Romanic Society) between 1901 and 1906 (Vol. 15, 16, 18 and 20) in Puter and a selection of them (only fairy tales by Nann'Engel) both in German in the two volumes of the Engadine fairy tales (no year, probably 1901/1902; illustrations: Giovanni Giacometti ) as well as in Puter in the Parevlas Engiadinaisas (no year, probably 1901; illustrations: Giovanni Giacometti). Although most of the fairy tales written down by Gian Bundi were told by his aunt Anna Cavegn-Giovanoli, the actual narrator is an Anna Engi, called Nann'Engel (Bever, 1803–1873). She must have been an excellent storyteller and entertainer, so that she - as a kind of first professional storyteller ever - was allowed to tell her fairy tales (it should have been around 50) on winter Thursdays in the Muralt house in Bever and was compensated for it. Of the 17 fairy tales mentioned above, ten are by Nann'Engel, five by Mengia Bivrun from Brail and one each by Anna Cavegn-Giovanoli and Anna Maria Coray (Bever). Some of the fairy tales collected by Gian Bundi are available in all four national languages ​​of Switzerland. In 1938 a volume with Bundischen fairy tales appeared in French ( La boîte aux six Merveilles et autres conte , translation: Edgar Piguet-Lansel ), 1971, as part of the new edition of the Engadine fairy tales , also in Italian. In addition to these collections, the Bundische Märchen has appeared in various collections of fairy tales in Switzerland and Europe (see catalog raisonné at the end of the article).

With regard to the illustrations of the Engadine fairy tales made by Giovanni Giacometti, it should be noted that the contact Bundi - Giacometti was very likely made by Josef Viktor Widmann , literary and art critic at the Bund and thus a colleague of Gian Bundi. Widmann knew Ferdinand Hodler personally, and Gian Bundi and Giovanni Giacometti met for the first time in Hodler's studio in Oschwand. Giacometti was certainly a stroke of luck for Gian Bundi, as he was probably the best illustrator of his time. In addition, as a Bergeller, he was very familiar with the Upper Engadin. For his part, it was Widmann who in 1901 discussed the fairy tale edition of the Engadin fairy tales that resulted from this collaboration . Commercially, the Engadin fairy tales were probably more of a failure. This can be concluded from the fact that in German two volumes with seven fairy tales (volume 1 four fairy tales / volume 2 three fairy tales) came on the market, in Romansh, however, only volume 1. A volume cost CHF 4.50, which was back then (around 1901 ) was a lot of money.

In addition to libretti that he has translated, Gian Bundi has written his own libretti. Partly based on the Engadine fairy tales, including Die Schöne Bellinda (1916), music: Hans Huber , Der gläserne Berg (1916/17), music: Hans Huber, unfinished, Tredeschin (version 1 1919, version 2 1937, music: Karl Heinrich David , Version 3 2004, music: Gion Antoni Derungs ), Bluebeard , new version of the text (1920), music: Jacques Offenbach . The beautiful Bellinda and Bluebeard were performed between 1916 and 1920 in Bern, Basel and Zurich with moderate success.

The catalog raisonné also shows, however, that Gian Bundi was not only interested in fairy tales and their narrators, but also in historical and local history. Many of his contributions deal with topics that have to do with Graubünden and in particular with the Upper Engadin . And many of his historical publications, as the organs in which they were published reveal, were written for a specialist audience. Thanks to his knowledge of Romansh, Gian Bundi worked as a translator and - in a certain sense - as a door opener for the culture of the (future) 4th national language. Romansh was not elevated to the fourth national language until the referendum of February 20, 1938, in order to bind Romans closer to Switzerland and to curb the temptation of Italian linguists. Italy had long since cast an eye on the Romanesque areas of Switzerland in order to be able to include them in its lap as part of the millennial Italianità. So are z. For example, all Graubünden place names were Italianized by the linguist Garobbio at that time (see: M. Metalaga, E. Vialardi: Vocabolario engadinese-italiano, Milano 1943, specifically the foreword by Garobbio). The main aim was to prevent the Romans from indulging in the temptations from Italy. With his great commitment to the Romansh language and culture, Gian Bundi did his utmost to ensure that Romansh received the status of a national language in 1938 . However, he was no longer allowed to enjoy the success of his work, because he died in 1936.

Works

fairy tale

• Parevlas engiadinaisas. Published by Gian Bundi . In: Annalas XV (1901) pp. 215-247, XVI (1902) pp. 337-353, XVIII (1904) pp. 269-298 and XX (1906) pp. 133-163
• Engadine fairy tale . Illustrated by Giovanni Giacometti . Polygraphisches Institut, Zurich. Without a year. Volume 1 and 2
• Parevlas Engiadinaisas. Quintedas da Gian Bundi. Illustredas da Giovanni Giacometti . Ediziun e stampa: Institut Polygraphic AG a Turig. Without a year
• Donkey's egg . In: Swiss Archives for Folklore , Basel 1907, pp. 140–141
• From the Engadine . Illustrated by Hans Eggimann . Bern 1913
• L'homin sulvadi . Raccolta. In: Dun da Nadal , 1913, pp. 19-26
• The beggars of Ponte . In: Thiessing, René, Swiss Tourist Almanac. Winter 1921/22 . Edited by the Swiss Tourist Information Office, Zurich & Lausanne. Printed by: Otto Walther Ltd, Olten 1921
• Tredeschin . Parevla. In: Dun da Nadal , 1922, pp. 22-30
• La signuria dal munt da vaider . In: Dun da Nadal , 1926, pp. 23-28
• Cumper uors e cumer vuolp . In: Dun da Nadal , 1927, pp. 32-35
• Fairy tales from the Bündnerland . Swiss Society for Folklore , Basel 1935
• La boîte aux six Merveilles et autres contes. Legends engadinoises. Receuillis by Gian Bundi et Chasper Bardola, mis en français by Edgar Piguet-Lansel. Designs by Etienne Tach. Neuchâtel, without a year
• Parevlas engiadinaisas . Cuverta ed illustrations da Turo Pedretti. OSLG No. 100, intuorn 1941
• The dragon in the black forest and other fairy tales from the Engadine , told by Gian Bundi, selected by Karl Lendi, cover and pictures by Paul Hilber. SJW No. 191, 1945
• Fairy tales from the Bündnerland . Rascher, Zurich 1955
• Engadine fairy tale . Revised by Berta Schorta-Gantenbein. Illustrated by Giovanni Giacometti. Samedan 1971. New edition 2005
• Fiabe engiadinesi . Illustrate da Giovanni Giacometti. Tradotte da Renato Stampa. Samedan 1971
• Parevlas Engiadinaisas . Quintedas da Gian Bundi. Adattedas al rumauntsch dad hoz da Domenica Messmer. Illustredas da Giovanni Giacometti. Samedan 1971
• Il dragun aint il mulin: üna parevla . Tradütta dad Anita Gordon-Steinrisser. In: Dun da Nadal, 1982, pp. 15-23
• The donkey's egg and the dragons / L'öv da l'esan e'ls draguns: fairy tales from the Engadine / Parevlas da l'Engiadina . Illustrations by Hans Eggimann . Chur 2007

Literary works

• Number 17! A piece from the animal book . Bern 1913
• Engadine carnations . Chur 1920
• Hans Huber. The personality after letters and memories . Basel 1925

Libretti

• The beautiful Bellinda. Romantic opera in 3 acts . H. Jent, Bern 1916

Autobiographical

• A spring trip in northern Italy . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 1908
• Winter days in Paris . Reprint from the Bund , 1914 ( Bund No. 123, 125, 127, 129, 131 and 133)
• Diary sheets from the holidays (July 23–27, 1915) . Reprint from the Bund , Bern 1915
• In Vienna during wartime . Reprint from the Bund , 1917 (November 8-11, 1917)
• Summer days in Germany . In: Der Bund , Bern 1926, No. 304, 306, 308 and 310
• In German princely and bourgeois cities . Special print from the federal government , 1931
• A trip to the Venetian Terra Firma . Reprint from the Bund , 1933 (May 25, 26 and 28, 1933)
• Fog, sun and wine in Alsace . Reprint from the Bund , 1933 (November 28 and 30, December 1, 1933)

Historical

• Ils tschantamaints della vschinauncha da Bever nel 16vel secul . Publichos da Gian Bundi. In: Annalas XVII, 1903, pp. 171-208
• Church singing in the Engadine community of Zuoz . A unique piece of cultural history . Separately printed from the Schweizerische Musikzeitung and Sängerblatt , 1907, No. 34–36
• Church singing in the Engadine . In: Schweizerische Musikzeitung and Sängerblatt , 1908, No. 21, p. 212
• The Engadine chamois hunter Gian Marchett Colani . The archetype for JC Heers Markus Paltram . In: Official festival newspaper for the Swiss Federal Shooting Festival in Bern 1910 , No. 6, pp. 142–145
• The story of a temple of gifts (the temple of gifts in Chur 1842) . In: Official festival newspaper for the Swiss Federal Shooting Festival in Bern 1910 , No. 6, pp. 148–149
• Education in the high mountains . In: Switzerland , 1913, No. 20, pp. 478–479
• Albert Weltis Landsgemeinde fresco in the Council of States chamber in Bern . In: Die Kunst für Alle , 1915, issue 13/14, pp. 241–246
• Dr. Johann v. Planta-Räzüns and his liege lord. A contribution to the history of the Planta process . Separate print from the Bündnerisches monthly newspaper , 1916
• In the footsteps of Hans Ardüser . In: Schwizerhüsli , Liestal 1917, No. 39, pp. 613-617
• The confession of Dr. Johann Planta. On the Planta Trial in 1572 . Separate reprint from the Bündnerisches Monatsblatt , 1920, no.3
• Romance in the Grisons. In: Thiessing, René, Swiss Tourist Almanac. Winter 1921/22 . Edited by the Swiss Tourist Information Office, Zurich & Lausanne. Printed by: Otto Walther Ltd, Olten 1921
• Emigration and local culture in Bünden . In: Der Bund , 1925, No. 531
• Las Agnas. A cultural and historical foray into the Upper Engadin . Reprinted separately from the Bündnerisches Monatsblatt , 1925
• Bern Orchestra Association 1877–1927. On the fiftieth anniversary of its founding . Festschrift 1927
• A proposal to abolish the Rhaeto-Romance language in Bünden . In: Der Bund , Bern 1927, No. 195
• Gieri la Tscheppa from the Grisons Schamsertal and his fairy tales . In: Swiss Archives for Folklore No. 33, Basel 1934, pp. 166–178

Lyrics, translations

• Ladin seals . Transferred by Gian Bundi. In: Heimatschutz (Ladinische number) 1918, No. 11/12, pp. 138–140
• The Sicilian Vespers . Drama in five acts by E. Scribe and C. Duveyrier. Translation into German by Gian Bundi. Ricordi, Leipzig 1930
• Iphigenia on Tauris . Tragedy in four acts by Nicolas-François Guillard. Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck . German adaptation by Gian Bundi. Book printer Fritz Pochon-Jent, no year
• Duos chanzuns rumantschas da Jachen Luzzi . Geiser, Walther (music) and Bundi, Gian (translation). 1936
• Three songs for male choir - Trais chanzuns per cor viril . Based on Romance texts by Gian Fadri Caderas and Peider Lansel . Gersbach, Fritz (music) and Bundi, Gian (translation). Hug, 1933
• The lonely Swiss stone pine - Il schiember solitari . Romance text by Alois Tuor. Lavater, Hans (music) and Bundi, Gian (translation). Hug, 1929
• Töndury, Emil (music) and Bundi, Gian (translation):
  • Larmas - tears ;
  • Il comün nel silenzi - night in the village ;
  • Stervera d'amur - love runny nose ;
  • Nel ester - In a foreign country ;
  • La lavina - The avalanche ;
  • Tramunt - Old Year's Night ;
  • Lullaby (without Romance title);
  • A mia Rezia - My Bündnerland (1930)
• Vital, Wilhelm: Gian Pitschen dal chapè agüz. Ün pêr queders our da la parevla L'homin sulvedi da Gian Bundi . Separate print from the Dun da Nadal , 1939
• Our earth . Song for 3-part choir. Free reworking of the 1927 winegrowers' festival , seal by Pierre Girard. Doret, Gustave (music) and Bundi, Gian (translation)
• Honegger, Arthur ^: Cris du monde (The Worlds Scream) , Poème de René Bizet. German transmission by Gian Bundi. Paris, Maurice Sénart , 1931

Obituaries

• Professor JK Muoth . In: Der Bund , Bern 1906, No. 314
• Giovannes Mathis, an Engadine poet . In: Der Bund , Bern 1912, No. 368
• Richard La Nicca . In: Bündnerisches Monatsblatt , 1919, No. 1, pp. 110–113
• Richard La Nicca . In: The Bern Week in Words and Images , 1919, No. 12, p. 143
• Professor Bernhard Niggli . In: Der Bund , Bern 1935, No. 207, p. 3

Handwritten

• Three letters from Gian Bundi to Giovanni Giacometti . Letter 1 dated: Bevers, October 5, 1901, Letter 2: Bern, October 12, 1901 and Letter 3: Bern, November 30, 1901. All three letters from Mr. Bruno Giacometti , Zollikon / Maloja on loan to Mr. Peider Andri Parli , Malix (Switzerland)
• Letter from Gian Bundi to Richard Menzel-Giamara dated November 10, 1921 ( Basel UB, Autogr. Menzel II, Bundi G, 11.10.1921).
• Letter from Gian Bundi to Friedrich Klose dated November 29, 1922 ( catalog in HAN ).

literature

Main source

• Parli, Peider Andri: Gian Bundi. The Engadin fairy tale collector and editor in the mirror of his works . Licentiate thesis in Romansh language and literature, University of Zurich, 1988

Obituaries and tributes with acknowledgment of responsibility

• Bezzola, Reto R .: Litteratura dals Rumauntschs e Ladins . Lia Rumantscha, Cuira 1979, p. 382 and 818
• Fonio, Anton: Gian Bundi . In: Chalender Ladin . Publichà tras l'Uniun dals Grischs . 1938, p. 26-29
• Grütter, Max: The Bund. A look back at the completion of the hundredth year 1850–1950 . Bern 1950
• Tobias Hoffmann-Allenspach: Gian Bundi . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 301.
• Marti, Hugo : Gian Bundi . In: Der Bund , Bern, Monday, December 28, 1936, No. 605
• Pieth, Friedrich (Ed.): Bündnerisches Monatsblatt , Chur, January 1937, p. 31
• Refardt, Edgar: Memories of Gian Bundi . In: Basler Nachrichten , Tuesday, December 29, 1936, 1st supplement to no.358
• Refardt, Edgar and Schuh, Willi: Swiss music dictionary . Zurich 1939, p. 34
• Refardt, Edgar: Additions and corrections to the Historical-Biographical Music Dictionary of Switzerland 1928 , typescript, completed in 1941
• Schmid, Bernhard: Gian Bundi (1872-1936) . In: Correspondence sheet of the Swiss Society for Folklore , Basel 1937, p. 30
• Singer, Samuel: Gian Bundi, the storyteller and folklorist . In: Der Bund , Bern, Tuesday, December 29, 1936, No. 608
• Tung, Enrico: In memoria da Gian Bundi . In: Fögl d'Engiadina , no. 2, venderdi, 8 schner 1937, Engadin Press and Co, Samedan e San Murezzan
• Tung, Enrico: In memoria da Gian Bundi . In: Gazetta Ladina , no. 1, 1937
• Tung, Enrico: Gian Bundi . In: Annalas 52, 1938, p. 176-178
• Welti, Jakob: Gian Bundi . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Monday, December 28, 1936

Obituaries and tributes without a statement of responsibility

• Farewell to Gian Bundi . In: Der Bund , Bern, Thursday, December 31, 1936, No. 611
• Reports and Notes . In it a short necrology on Gian Bundi. Gebr. Hug, Zurich
• Gian Bundi . In: Basler Nachrichten , Monday, December 28, 1936, No. 356
• Gian Bundi as secretary of the Bern Orchestra Association . In: Der Bund , Bern, Wednesday, December 30, 1936, No. 610
• Gian Bundi . In: Swiss Contemporaries Lexicon . Established and edited by Hermann Aellen. Gotthelf-Verlag Bern and Leipzig, 2nd edition 1932
• In memory (of Gian Bundi) . In: Sängerblatt des Männerchor Chur , No. 1, 1937, p. 15/17
• Annual report 1936/37 of the Bernischer Orchesterverein, p. 1

Other sources

• Memories of Mrs. Augusta Hartmann geb. Cavegn. Record from 1933. Romanesque original (handwriting) and German translation (typewriting) by Ms. Ines Gartmann, Zuoz / Zernez, owned by Dr. Theodor Hartmann, Chur
• Augusta Hartmann-Cavegn. July 17, 1877–6. September 1953. In memory of your friends. Sermon in the dead for Ms. Augusta Hartmann-Cavegn, given by Rev. Facchetti. Typescript. In the possession of Dr. Theodor Hartmann, Chur

Fairy tale collections with Bundi fairy tales

• Nossas tarablas - Nossas parevlas . Lia Rumantscha , 2nd ediziun, 1965, p. 118-121 e p. 190-195
• Uffer, Leza: Rhaeto-Romanic fairy tales and their storytellers . Basel 1945, pp. 156-165
• Uffer, Leza: Las tarablas da Guarda . Writings of the Swiss Society for Folklore, Volume 51, Basel 1970, pp. 20–26

Web links

• Gian Bundi's estate in the Basel University Library
• Matriculation edition of the University of Zurich ( Memento from August 18, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )