Kasi Geisser

Kasi Geisser (born October 30, 1899 as Kasimir Geisser ; † June 15, 1943 ) was a Swiss clarinet player , conductor and composer .

Life

As the son of a railroad worker for the Gotthard Railway Company , he grew up in Goldau . After completing compulsory schooling, he completed an apprenticeship as a glass blower . The work in the factory did not satisfy him, so he decided to become a freelance country musician . As such, he had to struggle with constant financial bottlenecks - also as a family man in Wollerau . At the age of 43 he died of cancer.

Musical creation

His music was at the beginning of country music in Switzerland. In his parents' house he practiced playing the clarinet in the attic, where he knew he was undisturbed. He later became a freelance country musician. His first Ländlerkapelle was named Echo vom Gotthard . Later he performed with the country band Kasi Geisser from Wollerau .

Around 2000 dances are ascribed to his pen, but only around 900 compositions are registered with SUISA. However, it is striking that many of these melodies can also be found in Hanny Christen's Swiss folk music collection and are considered traditional melodies there. This can be explained by the fact that in Geisser's time the distribution of music by means of sound carriers only gradually emerged and copyright societies were founded to represent the composers' rights to their works. Since a composer had to be specified for the recorded pieces on recordings, Geisser became the composer of many melodies that he probably heard from other musicians, sometimes composed new parts or played them in his own variations. Nevertheless, with his style of playing and his instrumental abilities, which were extraordinary at the time, he made a major contribution to the development of Swiss folk music, especially country music. His sometimes technically demanding compositions still place high demands on every clarinetist today.

His most famous melodies:

• With a motorbike is Muotathal ( Scottish );
• Roman drives an automobile ( Scottish ); The trio part of this Scottish is borrowed from a popular hit at the time.
• Evening on Lake Lucerne ( waltz );
• On Kerstelenbach ( Landler );
• The quiet women in the laundry room ( waltz );
• Xandi, is that all? ( Lander ); This piece is very similar to the Länder's "Schweizergruss", the author of which is Walter Wild. In Bavaria a similar melody is passed down as "Urner-Landler".
• Uri strong ( march );
• Now it's gonna be fun ( Scottish )
• When a Länders sound (adopted from Josef Stump 's "Älplers Feierabend", also Rossberger-Länders on the Schellack in 1911)

Kasi Geisser's musical estate is now in the House of Folk Music in Altdorf UR and is accessible to everyone.

Web links

• Arth Online