Sigurd Rascher

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Sigurd Manfred Rascher (born May 15, 1907 in Elberfeld , today Wuppertal , † February 25, 2001 in Shushan , Washington County (New York) ) was a German-American saxophonist in classical music in the 20th century.

Rascher, to whom contemporary composers dedicated more than 200 works for saxophone, was one of the most important promoters of the saxophone as a classical concert instrument. He kicked u. a. as a soloist with more than 250 orchestras and wind ensembles worldwide, for example with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra .

Life

Rascher was born in Elberfeld in 1907 as one of three children of the doctor Hanns-August Rascher; his younger brother was the later concentration camp doctor and Nazi medical criminal Sigmund Rascher (1909–1945). From 1930 to 1933 he studied clarinet in Stuttgart at what was then the Württemberg University of Music .

Rascher also lived temporarily in Berlin , where he played in 1932 for the first time saxophone in an orchestra, as Edmund von Borck to the rapid contact had sought earlier, a piece for that had written that he together with the Berlin Philharmonic brought to Performance . After the Nazis came to power, Rascher emigrated to Denmark in 1933 . In 1934 he moved to Sweden , where he befriended the composers Svea and Waldemar Welander and Lars-Erik Larsson and later married Ann Mari Wigen, who bore him a son. Until 1938 Rascher taught saxophone both at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music and on the opposite side of the Oresund at the Malmö Conservatory of Music in Malmö . He also played in several European orchestras.

In 1938 the family tried to emigrate to the United States, but this did not work right away, so that Rascher had to work as a sugar cane cutter in Cuba . In 1939 he went on a concert tour to Boston and New York City , where he became principal saxophonist with the New York Philharmonic . This engagement was followed by a successful career as a soloist. As a lecturer for saxophone, Rascher u. a. at the Manhattan School of Music (1940), the University of Michigan (1954), the Eastman School of Music (1959–1965) and at New York Union College (1968–1972). Concert tours and master classes regularly took Rascher to Europe after the war.

After Marcel Mule , with whom Rascher had previously been in competition, had dissolved his saxophone quartet , which had been successful for forty years , Rascher founded in 1969 together with his daughter Karin ("Carina", soprano saxophone ), the tenor saxophonist Bruce Weinberger and the baritone saxophonist Linda Bangs under the The name Rascher Saxophone Quartet has been a leading ensemble in its field for decades. Rascher himself was the formation's alto saxophonist until 1980 ; his position was taken by John-Edward Kelly in 1981 (followed by Harry Kinross White and Elliot Riley).

Rascher was one of the most prominent saxophonists in art music . a. Alexander Glasunow , Jacques Ibert , Paul Hindemith , Erland von Koch and Darius Milhaud wrote compositions for his instrument. He died on February 25, 2001 on his farm in Shushan, Washington County, New York, at the age of 93. Rascher was the father of a son and three daughters.

literature

  • Willy Dähnhardt ; Birgit S. Nielsen (Ed.): Exile in Denmark: German-speaking scientists, artists and writers in Danish exile after 1933 , Heide: Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt Boyens, 1993 ISBN 3-8042-0569-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ronald L. Caravan: Sigurd M. Rascher (1907-2001) - Superlative musical legacy forged by uncommon character . From dornpub.com, accessed April 15, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Douglas Martin: Sigurd Rascher, 94, Who Showed the Sax Could Be Classy . In: The New York Times . 57th year, no. 12/2008 . New York City March 21, 2001 ( mdickinson.com [accessed April 15, 2019]).
  3. ^ Siegfried Bär : The fall of the Rascher house. A documentary novel. With six portrait drawings by Frieder Wiech. LJ, Merzhausen 2006. E-Book: Verlag e-Publi, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-7418-6834-4 .
  4. ↑ a b c Anders Lundegård: Sigurd Rascher . In: BACKGROUND AND EMERGENCE OF THE SWEDISH SAXOPHONE CONCERTO - LARS-ERIK LARSSON, Op.14 . Evanston, Illinois 1995 ( classicalsaxophonist.com [accessed April 15, 2019] dissertation).
  5. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Schaal: LIKE THE CLAIMING WAY OF THE WIND - About the saxophone in classical music - MARCEL MULE OR THE DREAM OF FOURFOLD BREATH. (No longer available online.) Hjs-jazz.de, 1997, archived from the original on April 30, 2003 ; accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  6. ^ Hans-Dieter Grünefeld: The saxophone classic . The Raschèr Quartet - a portrait for the 40th anniversary. In: Neue Musikzeitung . 57th year, no. 12/2008 . ConBrio-Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 2008 ( nmz.de [accessed on April 15, 2019]).

Remarks

  1. ↑ See also the following book announcement: Sonja Kastilan: Bücher . On June 21, 2006 from welt.de , accessed on April 15, 2019
  2. ↑ This compilation of various newspaper clippings with concert reviews from the period can serve as an illustration of the success: PDF; approx. 1.01 MB. (No longer available online.) Exil-archiv.de, 1997, archived from the original on November 12, 2007 ; accessed on April 23, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Rascher, Sigurd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rascher, Sigurd Manfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 2001
Place of death Shushan , USA