Hanny Christians

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Hanny Christen (born August 3, 1899 in Liestal ; † June 29, 1976 in Basel ; actually Johanna Christen) was a Swiss collector of folk music and ethnographic material. Since the rediscovery of her extensive collection, which includes around 12,000 folk melodies from the period between 1800 and 1940, she has become a key figure in the field of Swiss folk music.

Life

Christen-Spinnler family grave, grave at Wolfgottesacker cemetery, Basel
Grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery , Basel
Johanna Christen (1899–1976), collector of folk music and folkloric material. Grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery, Basel
Grave in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery , Basel

Hanny Christen was the daughter of Sophie and Oscar Christen-Spinnler and was born on August 3, 1899 with her twin sister Trudy in Liestal. She grew up with her siblings Elsa and Walter in Basel, attended the daughter's school and received extensive musical training. Due to the early death of their mother (1911), the three sisters found themselves in a community which, after the marriage of their brother and the death of their father, oriented themselves towards new content.

Hanny Christen gained interest in the history and customs of the Basel area ( canton Basel-Landschaft ) from the notes of her grandfather, government councilor Jakob Christen , and one day began to discover her home country for herself. It was not just customs, anecdotes and legends that captivated them. More and more it was also the folk music and the musicians who - according to Hanny Christen - still knew how to play the traditional melodies in an unadulterated way and on the most varied of instruments. The boundaries of the Basel area quickly became too narrow for her, and she began with great enthusiasm to collect folk music from all over Switzerland and to put together a comprehensive collection of Swiss folk tunes. Because of her musical education, she was qualified for this work: she had learned to play the cello and piano, could sing well and had excellent hearing and memory. Later one saw the dwarf "Musighanneli" dragging one of the first misshapen tape recorders around. She tried incessantly to bring what she had discovered to traditional costume associations, dance groups and the radio, but often failed due to ideological differences; she was largely denied recognition during her lifetime. She died on June 29, 1976.

estate

On April 21, 1963, Hanny Christen handed over her estate to the Basel University Library , where it slumbered unprocessed until it was rediscovered almost 30 years later. Since December 2004, the written estate and the photographs have been in storage in the Basel-Landschaft State Archives, while the sound recordings are stored in the Swiss National Sound Archives.

The extensive estate consists of a huge collection of music, tapes, photos, writings on the topics of folk dance, folk songs, musicians, musical instruments, folk costumes, hikes, folk customs, as well as her own publications and others and records of her collaboration with Radio Bern.

Preservation of tradition

With her passion for preservation and her interest in romantic music, Hanny Christen joined the tradition of those cultural curators who campaigned for the preservation of the old "pure" traditions. These cultivators of folk culture were not themselves bearers of this culture, neither farmers nor the rural population, but predominantly educated people from the cities. In the role of preserver of folk culture, Hanny Christen was very keen to preserve folk music in its "original" form. She vehemently rejected any "newfangled tendencies" in music, including country music , which gradually became popular with the spread of radio after 1930, but also jazz , which quickly spread in post-war Europe.

Collection of notes

Hanny Christen gathered her huge collection of folk melodies mainly between 1940 and 1960. On the one hand, older minstrels played or sang to her, which she then wrote down in her little notebook, on the other hand, she was sometimes allowed to copy entire dance books of the minstrels. Since many minstrels whose repertoire was recorded in this way were already between sixty and eighty years old by the time Hanny Christen visited them, this collection goes back well into the 19th century - with some melodies probably even back to the 18th century.

In addition to regions from which one would expect a large number of melodies in such a collection even from today's perspective, such as Appenzellerland, Central Switzerland, Graubünden, Bern, etc., the collection contains hundreds of dances from regions that have not yet been written about traditional folk music.

Under the patronage of the “Society for Folk Music in Switzerland” (GVS) and under the direction of Fabian Müller , a team of authors worked for around a decade on the publication of this collection, which then became an encyclopedia in 10 volumes with extensive picture material and an additional register volume was published.

Sound recordings

Hanny Christen made the first sound recordings with a Uher tape recorder in 1956, the last in 1973. Hanny Christen recorded music and conversations that testify to her trips to her informants on tapes between 1958 and 1963. The remaining tapes consist of recordings from radio broadcasts, which are also valuable because they are stored in the radio archives e.g. T. are no longer stored at all. These are programs with interpretations of the melodies collected by Hanny Christen by musicians from Radio Bern, with classical music and much more

Cooperation with Radio Bern

Hanny Christen began working with Radio Bern in 1949, and especially with Eugen Huber. She gave him her sheet music, which he then used for the musicians on Radio Bern. As soon as Hanny Christen was in possession of a tape recorder, she began to use recordings to “check” whether her instructions had been followed. Her collaboration with Radio Bern lasted until 1960. After the head of department, Franz Kienberger, had informed her that most of her minstrels did not meet the quality requirements of the radio, she withdrew in resignation. Nevertheless, it can be said that Hanny Christen has helped write radio history for around 10 years.

reception

After the composer Fabian Müller excavated the Hanny Christen collection in the basement of the Basel university archive in 1992, Hanny Christen's work was recognized and appreciated. In 2002 the sheet music she had collected was incorporated into a 10-volume work “Swiss Folk Music Collection. The dance music of Switzerland of the 19th and first half of the 20th century »published. With this publication, Hanny Christen's level of awareness increased, and there were various reinterpretations of the material, such as by the HujGroup, by Hanneli-Musig, the Swiss octet made up of classical musicians, which was founded especially for the interpretation of the Hanny Christen notes, or by the Stelser Buaba. But folk and rock musicians like Max Lässer also find inspiration in the work of Hanny Christen. In view of Hanny Christian's negative attitude towards “newfangled tendencies” in music, however, she herself would probably have found little pleasure in the reception of her work.

Publications

Fonts

  • The most beautiful folk dances in the Basel area. Collection with description. Piano setting by Ch. Lochbrunner. Association for the improvement of public health, Basel 1943.
  • Handwritten materials on folk music and folk dance in Switzerland. Basel 1941.
  • Mys Basel area. E Heimetbiechli . Preface by W. Hilfiker. Gaiser and Haldimann, Basel 1943.
  • (Ed.): The most beautiful folk dance ussim Baselbiet notes. For alli Baselbieter and Trachtelüt, where no Freud is the real, traditional Volksguet. Piano setting by Charles Lochbrunner. Association for the improvement of public health, Basel 1943.
  • Uss old quote there are a few Värsli for the Chlyne. Drawings by Trudy Haas. Gaiser, Basel 1944.
  • The Trumpeter Mathys. Historically Heimetspiel, 1813–1859. Basel 1947.
  • Four Swiss Dances for Ländlerkapellen Notes. Written down by Hanny Christen in the sentence of Eugen Huber. For the promotion of Swiss folk music ed. by Radio Bern on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. Come on. Müller and Schade, Bern 1950–1957.
  • Annababeli lupf dis. 17 Swiss folk dances in the "golden ring". Collected and provided with dance steps by Hanny Christen. Set up for two recorders and published. by Konrad Bächinger. Publishing house for new music, Wädenswil 1954.

Discography

  • Hanneli-Musig: Alpine dreams. Dance from Central Switzerland, CD ZYT 4897
  • Hanneli-Musig: Blümchen Wunderhold, CD ZYT 4895
  • Hanneli-Musig: Tänzix, CD ZYT 4900
  • HujGroup: Nöis Alts, Musiques Suisses MGB CD 6209

literature

  • Swiss folk music collection. The dance music of Switzerland in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. From the estate of Hanny Christen. Edited by Fabian Müller under the patronage of the Society for Folk Music in Switzerland (GVS / SMPS). Music printing. Mülirad, Zurich 2002.

Movie

  • Hanny Christians. Does anyone think of me? Portrait of the Swiss ethnomusicologist by Michael Hegglin (3sat SF DRS), 2005.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Christians, Hanny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christians, Johanna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss collector of folk music
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Liestal
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1976
Place of death Basel