Peter Escher (composer)

Peter Escher (born October 9, 1915 in Basel ; † September 7, 2008 in Olten ) was a Swiss composer .

Live and act

Peter Escher attended the humanistic grammar school , but was forced by his father to do an apprenticeship as a druggist in the fourth year of school , which he broke off again in the second year. Inspired by an exhibition in Basel with paintings by Arnold Böcklin , Escher wanted to become a painter in 1928, but then finally turned to music and in 1934 took piano lessons from Max Brefin and harmony lessons from Jacques Zuber.

After the recruitment school, Escher trained in music education with Hermann Klug ( Rudolf Steiner Education Center for Music Basel) and attended further courses at the University of Basel ( musicology with Jacques Handschin ) and at the Conservatory (counterpoint with Walter Müller von Kulm , composition with Rudolf Moser ). As a composer, he won first prize twice at the Vercelli International Composition Competition in 1950 and 1951 . In 1953, she won first prize at the International Composition Competition in Genoa .

Through Müller von Kulm, Escher became an assistant at the Basler Bach Choir and conducted numerous choirs in the Basel region in the years that followed. In 1947 he brought Britten's St. Nicholas cantata to the Swiss premiere. From 1959 to 1963 Escher was the association conductor of the cantonal choir association. Between 1954 and 1988 Escher was active on the board of the Northwestern Switzerland Choral Conductors Association, most recently as Vice President. In 1988 he was made an honorary member and in 1996 he was made honorary president.

In 1966 Escher moved to Olten, where he has led the Reformed church choir since 1954, the city orchestra since 1961 and the choral society since 1963. In 1975 the city of Olten awarded him the art prize, in 1984 and again in 2000 he received the culture prize of the canton of Solothurn. From 1981 to 2002 Escher worked as a columnist for the Oltner Tagblatt .

literature

• Always younger with age. Portrait of Peter Escher, composer, Olten. In: Triangle. Bulletin for Music Education in the Canton of Solothurn , 4 (1989), pp. 7–9.
• Beat Hügli: Peter Escher. Mediator between the worlds . In: Oltner Neujahrsblätter, 53 (1995), pp. 61-64.

Web links

• Official website about Peter Escher (run by his descendants)