Jakob Ummel

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Jakob Ummel (born December 21, 1895 in Ittigen ; † February 19, 1992 in Kühlewil ) was a Swiss singer and composer of yodelling songs . His best known sound creation is the song Bärnbiet .

Life

Jakob Ummel grew up as the second youngest of eight children in the then rural Ittigenfeld . He learned yodelling from his father, who came from Buchholterberg and worked as a cowherd in Eriz and Emmental and later as a milker and farmer . Ummel founded his first yodel choir as a teenager. As an active Aare water operator, he was also one of the co-founders of the yodelling double quartet Pontonier-Fahrverein Worblaufen in 1915. During his apprenticeship as a moulder in a foundry , he also performed as a clarinetist at dance evenings in order to earn a chunk of good clothes and shoes .

In 1923, Jakob Ummel married his partner Elsie Gasser. The couple had a small house built in Bern in Aaregg high above the Aare . He dedicated the song Mis brune Hüsli to this home :

“I know it at Hüsli am sunny Rain , that's where I live with Lütli , I'm at home. Fortunately, there is no need for Rychtum, no Gäld, if there is no lack of happiness. "

- Jakob Ummel : Me yodelling. Booklet 1

The global economic crisis in the 1930s urged him to take a secure job as a tram driver with the Bern city tram . He worked there until his retirement , whereby the loneliness in nature and the Höck with his friends in the country were always much more important to him than the hustle and bustle in the city.

He spent his last years in a retirement and nursing home in Kühlewil near Bern, where he died on February 19, 1992 at the age of 96.

Musical creation

At the beginning of the 20th century, melodies from Bavaria and Tyrol were very popular in the field of folk music in German-speaking Switzerland . At that time there was already a collection of old Bern German songs ( Im Röseligarte ), but nevertheless a need arose in yodelling circles for new, local songs. This is how the first two songs by Jakob Ummel, Der single Bürschel and Der alten Flösser , came into being in 1923. Ummel then discovered more and more his compositional inventiveness, so that he was able to publish his first songs as early as 1926.

His nine-part booklet series Mir Jodellüt for solo and duet was published between 1945 and 1970 . The complete work comprises a total of around 180 songs that are still part of the vocal repertoire of many Swiss yodelling choirs. Several of his sound creations became popular folk songs themselves , such as Bärnbiet , which established itself as the “secret national anthem of the Canton of Bern”, and De Bärge zue or I bi ne Bueb u tue's nid guet .

literature

  • Urs Kneubühl: 50 years of BKJV 1967. In: SMR Swiss Music Council. 3/1993.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Erzinger: Jakob Ummel - yodelling singer. In: Alpenrosen. 2/2016 (PDF; 979 kB). Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b Stephan Künzi: Bernese yodelling legend Ummel is honored. In: Berner Zeitung . May 25, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c Urs Kneubühl: Jakob Ummel. Federal Association of Yodel Conductors and Composers EJDKV (biography), accessed on October 11, 2018.
  4. ^ Ernst Lichtenhahn: Music, folk and popular music. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz , accessed on October 14, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Swiss folk song collection "In Röseligarte". In: Radio SRF Musikwelle . Retrieved October 11, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Ummel, Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss singer and composer of yodelling songs
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Ittigen
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 1992
Place of death Kühlewil