Chamber Orchestra Zurich

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The Zurich Chamber Orchestra existed in Zurich from 1920 to 1943 . It was founded as a pioneering act by the Swiss violinist and conductor of Russian origin, Alexander Schaichet , who initiated the second modern chamber orchestra worldwide . The orchestra u. a. by the then President of the Tonhalle Society Zurich, Hermann Reiff, and the Winterthur entrepreneur and patron Werner Reinhart .

The Zurich Chamber Orchestra became the model for the Basel Chamber Orchestra founded in 1926 by the conductor and patron Paul Sacher . Both orchestras can be described as the engines of the chamber orchestra movement in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. The Zurich Chamber Orchestra played concerts mainly in Zurich, but also in other cities in Switzerland.

With the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Alexander Schaichet systematically developed a repertoire from the baroque to the early classical period, which was largely forgotten at the beginning of the 20th century. A second focus was on works from the 19th and, above all, the 20th century. Concert works, played by young musicians such as Annie Fischer , Georg Solti or Maria Stader , also played an important role in the programming. 51 world premieres and 215 Zurich premieres are documented.

As an orchestra in the music theater, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra also put on a number of performances: in 1926 as part of the IGNM festival in Zurich Manuel de Falla's El Retablo de Maese Pedro with the figures created for it by the artist Otto Morach , in 1929 Ernst Toch's fairytale opera The Princess on the Pea and in 1930 Paul Hindemith's humorous sketch There and Back and Ernst Toch's one-act play Erwin and Elmire .

The Zurich Chamber Orchestra , which was disbanded in the middle of World War II in 1943 , was replaced in autumn 1945 by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra founded by Edmond de Stoutz , which still exists today. The two ensembles had no personal connections whatsoever. Paul Sacher founded the Collegium Musicum Zurich in Zurich as early as 1941 (until 1991), which accelerated the dissolution of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

literature

  • Verena Naegele: Irma and Alexander Schaichet - A life for music. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-28002-312-2 .
  • Christoph Gaiser: The chamber orchestra as a medium for “new” music. Diss. HU Berlin, 2004, pp. 225-233.
  • Joseph Willimann: 50 years of Pro Musica local group Zurich of the International Society for New Music. Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-254-00148-6 .
  • Sibylle Ehrismann: Fifty years of the Collegium Musicum Zurich: Direction Paul Sacher; the concerts of the chamber orchestra Collegium Musicum Zurich 1941 / 42–1991 / 92. Atlantis-Musikbuch-Verlag, Zurich [including] 1994, ISBN 3-254-00187-7 . Pp. 15, 90.
  • Walter Labhart: Jews and Judaism in the music creation of Switzerland, in: Jüdische Lebenswelt Schweiz, page 193ff., Chronos Verlag Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-0340-0679-9

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