Josias Jenny

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Josias Jenny ( April 29, 1920 in Arosa - November 7, 1989 in Köniz ) was a Schwyzerörgeli virtuoso and composer. Josias Jenny developed a characteristic accompaniment style consisting of precise, exact pulsating chord notes. This way of playing found its way into the Bündner style, one of whose pioneers Jenny is counted.

Life

He was the second youngest in a musical family and started playing the guitar at the age of five . From the age of seven he took his first steps with his father's Schwyzerörgeli. He did not give him any help because he was of the opinion that the best way to learn an instrument by ear was self-taught. Josias Jenny also played his father's violin. At the age of 16 Jenny got his first own instrument, a Schwyzerörgeli from Eichhorn . At the end of the 1930s he moved to Zurich , where he attended the seminar . In 1949 he moved to Meilen in the canton of Zurich and married his wife Magdalena in 1950. The marriage resulted in son Peter (born 1951). The family moved to Scheunenberg in 1960 . In 1970 Jenny divorced because of excessive alcohol consumption and he moved to Aarberg in 1972 , where he initially worked as an accountant. In 1977 he suffered a heart attack and another in 1983. In 1984 he moved to Niederwangen BE , where he died on November 7, 1989.

Act

As a child and adolescent, he took part in the house music of the Jenny family. In 1939 he founded the Berner Ländersquartet in Zurich together with the clarinetists Emil Wydler and Luzi Bergamin and the double bassist Beni Holzer. It quickly became known through numerous radio appearances, so that several records were recorded in the following years. From 1943 Jenny recorded several singles with her own compositions for Elite Records and Ideal . In Meilen, Jenny met Walter Hassler, with whom he first recorded a record in 1957 and later played with various country bands. Also in that year he founded the formation Zoge-n-am-Boge with the clarinetists Emil Wydler and Thomas Marthaler and the trombonist Sepp Bleiker .

In 1959 Jenny completed a month-long engagement at New York's Radio City Music Hall together with the clarinetist Karli Oswald and the yodeler Therese Wirth-von Känel . Commercial success began in the 1960s. Jenny published as a member of various country groups and as a companion u. a. by Peter Zinsli Records on Columbia Switzerland, EMI's folk music label . The beginning of the 1970s was marked by personal and health problems. Jenny hardly received any inquiries as a soloist. Only after 1977 did she play again under pseudonyms for well-known musicians like Ueli Mooser . After a new generation of young musicians referred to Jenny's work in the 1980s and also played older compositions by him, he recorded the solo album Josias Jenny spillt syni Musig , which was released in 1988, two years before his death .

Discography (selection)

Shellac between 1943 and 1950
  • Uf Mädigen / Am Aelplisee z'Arosa (Elite Records 2129)
  • Mis Schwyzerörgeli / Dem Berner Ländersquartet (Elite Records 2130)
  • Schwyzerörgeli-Scottish / Uf em Furkabödeli (Kristall 26065)
  • With the scouts / Schüneberger Dorfchilbi (Ideal IZ 8220)
  • Uf Prätschalp / Durch's Schanfigg (Ideal IZ 8222)
  • D'Schaja-Buebe / Aroser ski school evening (Ideal IZ 8223)
Solo releases
  • 1988: … spillt uf am Schwyzerörgali syni Musig (compilation, Phonotell)

literature

  • René Degoumois et al .: In the footsteps of Josias Jenny: one of the most influential Schwyzerörgeler of the 20th century . Mülirad-Verlag, Altdorf 2011, ISBN 978-3-9523817-1-7 .
  • René Degoumois, Martin Sebastian: Josias Jenny . In: Alpenrosen . No. 4/2015 , p. 6–13 ( PDF, 1.4 MB ).
  • Josias Jenny, 16 dancers for Schwyzerörgeli. Transcribed and handwriting by Thomas Leoni (2017).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Graubünden style in Swiss folk music. Radio SRF Musikwelle , September 4, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Jenny, Josias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss orchestra virtuoso and composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Arosa
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1989
Place of death Koeniz