Hugo Pfister (composer)

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Hugo Pfister (born September 7, 1914 in Zurich ; † October 31, 1969 ) was a Swiss composer .

Life

After finishing school and completing the Küsnacht ZH teacher training college, Hugo Pfister was an elementary school teacher in Obfelden ZH for ten years and then in Richterswil . He was very interested in scientific and artistic studies and especially music. From 1939 he studied piano, music theory and composition with Czesław Marek . Despite a long absence from active service , he decided in 1943 to devote himself entirely to music. In 1944 he obtained a teaching diploma for piano and became a piano teacher at the Küsnacht teacher training college. Pfister was an avid sailor. Water, wind and waves took a place in his musical work early on. During a free semester in 1956/1957 he stayed in Paris, where he took lessons from Nadia Boulanger . In addition to his work as a music teacher at the Küsnacht ZH teacher training college, he devoted himself to composing until his untimely death. The collaboration with the Camerata Zurich and its founder and director Räto Tschupp , who premiered some of Hugo Pfister's works and recorded them on records, began with a Fantaisie concertante .

Hugo Pfister's music is characterized, among other things, by the extensive use of the twelve-tone row , the independent harmonics , a rhythmic structure that is not simple but can always be grasped by the listener. "The love for literature and language, which has grown since high school, has made Pfister an ideal radio play and stage musician ...", using electronically generated sounds as early as 1967. His chamber music work Aegean Diary , which he created after a three-week sailing trip in 1963, had great success at the premiere . In 1967 Pfister became terminally ill, but he created another 16 compositions by his untimely death in 1969.

Awards

  • Honorary gifts from the City of Zurich in 1961 and 1966
  • Working year, organized by the Federal Department of the Interior

Fonts

7 lectures and essays by Pfister are reproduced in the biography written by Räto Tschupp, including the important music-pedagogical text from 1948 On the contribution of music lessons to general education in secondary schools (pp. 96-104) and his French text from 1956 La nouvelle musique (Pp. 107-112).

Discography (selection)

  • Paul Müller-Zurich , Hugo Pfister, Hans Schaeuble: Concert works : Concerto for 2 violins, string orchestra and harpsichord op. 61, by Paul Müller-Zurich, 1958/59; Aegean diary for oboe, string orchestra and percussion , by Hugo Pfister, 1963; Music for 2 solo violins and string orchestra op. 18, by Hans Schaeuble, 1935, rev. 1978; Sibylle and Mirjam Tschopp, violins, Barbara Zumthurn-Nünlist, oboe, Camerata Zürich, Dir. Räto Tschupp, introductory text by Chris Walton ; Music from the Zurich Central Library ; Music scene Switzerland, MGB CD 6160
  • Hugo Pfister: Sonata per due trombe, archi e timpani ; Henri Adelbrecht, Louis Duquenoy (trumpets), Camerata Zurich, cond. Räto Tschupp; 1964; can in the network of Switzerland. National Sound Archives: Link .
  • Hugo Pfister: Fantaisie concertante for flute, harp, horn and string orchestra; Camerata Zurich, Dir. Räto Tschupp; Radio studio Zurich 1961; can in the network of Switzerland. National Sound Archives: Link .

literature

  • Andres Briner: On the music of Hugo Pfister , in: Schweizer Musikzeitung vol. 105, 1965, pp. 322–326; Vol. 109, 1969, pp. 384-386.
  • Räto Tschupp: Hugo Pfister, a middle-generation Swiss composer ; Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1973, 183 pp., Ill .; ISBN 3-7611-0409-X ; contains: Leben und Werk p. 13–84, lectures and essays p. 87–140, catalog raisonné, with commentary by the composer: instrumental and chamber music, orchestral music, radio play and drama music, pp. 142–179.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Räto Tschupp: Hugo Pfister, a Swiss composer of the middle generation ; Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1973, 183 pp., Ill .; ISBN 3-7611-0409-X ; Pp. 7-8
  2. ^ Räto Tschupp: Hugo Pfister, a Swiss composer of the middle generation ; Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1973, 183 pp., Ill .; ISBN 3-7611-0409-X ; P. 39
  3. ^ Räto Tschupp: Hugo Pfister, a Swiss composer of the middle generation ; Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1973, 183 pp., Ill .; ISBN 3-7611-0409-X ; Pp. 87-140
personal data
SURNAME Pfister, Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1969