Walter Furrer (composer)

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Walter Furrer (born July 28, 1902 in Plauen , † February 22, 1978 in Bern ) was a Swiss composer and conductor.

Live and act

Walter Furrer was born on July 28, 1902 in Plauen in Vogtland. His parents were the Swiss engineer and later director of the Swiss arms factory Adolf Furrer (1873-1958) and Martha Furrer-Riedel, the eldest daughter of the teacher and Vogtland poet Louis Riedel.

Walter Furrer spent his childhood and youth in Bern, where he received piano lessons during his first school years. His most important teacher was the Swiss pianist Oskar Ziegler, who repeatedly pointed out the innovative work of his own teacher Ferruccio Busoni and thus had a lasting impact on his positive attitude towards the compositional avant-garde. After graduating from the municipal high school in Bern, Walter Furrer completed a few semesters of philology at the University of Lausanne and then went to Paris to study Nadia Boulanger's counterpoint class at the École normal de musique for two years . This was followed by an engagement as a répétiteur and choirmaster in Gotha , where the first song cycles based on texts by Christian Morgenstern, Gottfried Keller and August Stramm were written.

The political developments in Germany forced him to return to Switzerland, where he twenty-five years at the City Theater Bern as choirmaster and conductor, and subsequently, in 1957, ten years at Studio Radio Bern as a conductor , director and founder of the on behalf of the sender Chamber Choir and Composer was active.

Walter Furrer's oeuvre shows a wide range. Especially during his work at Studio Radio Bern, he also wrote a number of commissioned works, such as Der Schimmelreiter. Radio fantasy based on the novella of the same name by Theodor Storm with speaking roles, a singing part, choir and large orchestra (text book by Walter Beutter), which was first broadcast on October 31, 1960, quarter night. A radio ballad based on a Valais legend for chamber orchestra, organ, solos, choir, children's choir and speaking roles (text book by Kurt Weibel; first broadcast on January 6, 1965) as well as numerous radio plays . As for the compositions commissioned by the Stadttheater Bern, the three religious choirs from Faust I for mixed choir and obbligato organ (1940, published by Gebr. Hug & Co., Zurich and Leipzig) should be mentioned in particular .

Among the numerous vocal cycles, the Seven Songs for soprano and piano based on texts by Theodor Storm and Walter von der Vogelweide (1938), Six fables de La Fontaine pour baryton, clarinette, viola et violoncelle (1939), Sources du vent, sept mélodies pour soprano et orchestre based on texts by the French symbolist Pierre Reverdy (1966) and the six Turkish songs for baritone and chamber orchestra based on texts by Wasif Enderuni, Ahmed Haschim, Orhan Veli and Jahja Kemal (1968/1669).

In addition, numerous a cappella choirs, individual sacred compositions such as Le Chiese di Assisi, nove visioni musicali per organo (1973), concert works and, above all, the stage works Der Faun , opera in two images based on motifs by Felix Timmermans (premiere at the Stadttheater Bern on January 24, 1947), as well as dwarf nose , burlesque opera in five pictures after Wilhelm Hauff (1949/1952), whose libretti he wrote himself. The composer was inspired for the first work by the novella The Christmas Faun by the Flemish poet Felix Timmermans , and Hauff's fairy tale The Dwarf Nose was the inspiration for dwarf nose . With dramaturgical interventions calculated for the stage effect, he carefully redesigned the epic models, since he considered it important not to destroy the core messages that were timeless in both cases.

According to the Theater Lexikon der Schweiz , Walter Furrer gave radio “essential impulses with new musical and dramatic forms” and his style was shaped by New Music in Paris; Another characteristic is that he combined “a modified twelve-tone technique with folklore elements”. He expresses himself on this in the approximately fifteen-page essay My Study Years in Paris , which he wrote on the occasion of his 70th birthday and which was broadcast in 1972 by Studio Radio Bern in two programs enriched with music examples. In its November 2014 edition, the Schweizer Musikzeitung published part of this text, which exemplifies Parisian musical life in the twenties, and posted it as a whole online.

A notable area in Walter Furrer's musical oeuvre are the over 200 arrangements of Swiss folk songs in all four national languages ​​with piano accompaniment, which the Müller & Schade publishing house, Bern, published under the title Maisänger singen Volksweise in the sentence by Walter Furrer . Inspired by Béla Bartók's Hungarian folklore studies, Walter Furrer made the decision already in Paris to “do something similar for the benefit of Swiss folklore”. After several years of intensive collecting and arranging work in Bern, in the 1930s he formed a soloist group with professional singers consisting of three female and one male voice, which enjoyed great popularity on the radio and in public concerts for years.

The composer's daughter, Dr. phil. Beatrice Wolf-Furrer, handed over the entire compositional legacy, including all documents such as correspondence, reviews, contracts, etc. to the Burgerbibliothek Bern in June 2012 as part of a donation agreement .

Catalog raisonné

Dramatic works

  • Weg ins Leben, Ballet, 1939 (Premiere 1952)
  • The Magic Horn, ballet, 1939
  • The Faun, opera in two pictures based on motifs by Felix Timmermans, 1944/45 (premiered January 24, 1947)
  • Zwerg Nase, burlesque opera in five pictures after Wilhelm Hauff, 1949/52
  • Der Schimmelreiter, radio fantasy based on the novel of the same name by Theodor Storm with speaking roles, a singing part, choir and large orchestra, text book by Walter Beutter, 1958 (first broadcast October 30, 1960)
  • Quatembernacht, a radio ballad based on a Valais saga handed down by Johannes Jegerlehner for chamber orchestra, organ, solos, choir, children's choir and speaking voices, text book by Kurt Weibel, 1964 (first broadcast: January 6, 1965)

Songs / song cycles

  • Five dance songs of death, for alto and piano, based on texts by Christian Morgenstern , 1927
  • Alte Weisen, twelve songs for alto and orchestra, based on texts by Gottfried Keller , 1928
  • Three chants for alto and clarinet, based on texts by August Stramm, 1929
  • Three children's songs for boy's voice and piano, based on texts by Güll, 1934
  • Seven songs for soprano and piano, based on texts by Theodor Storm and Walter von der Vogelweide, 1938
  • Six fables de La Fontaine, pour baryton, clarinette, viola et violoncelle, 1939
  • Four songs for alto voice and piano, based on texts by Theodor Storm, 1943
  • Above each nest , Fughetta for boy's voice a cappella, based on a text by Joseph Victor Widmann , 1954 (published in song books for Bernische secondary schools and Pro-Gymnasien , volume 5, Staatlicher Lehrmittelverlag, Bern 1958)
  • Sources du vent, sept mélodies pour soprano et orchester, based on texts by Pierre Reverdy, 1966
  • The hour struck, four songs for medium voice / soprano and piano, based on texts by Theodor Storm, 1966
  • Turkish songs, six songs for baritone and chamber orchestra, based on texts by Wasif Enderuni, Ahmed Haschimi, Orhan Veli and Jahja Kemal, translated into German by Annemarie Schimmel, 1968

Choirs

  • Male choirs a cappella, parts from the Leunawerk, text by Bauer, 1928
  • Two choirs based on texts by Schönlank ( Sause, Riemen ) and Ernst Toller ( Marschlied ), 1933
  • Voices of the Night , for mixed a cappella choir, text by Peter Bratschi, 1934
  • Pan, Suite for male choir a cappella, text Shepherd, 1935
  • Tüf im Tal, for mixed a cappella choir, text by Peter Bratschi, 1938; Müller & Schade, Bern
  • Three religious choirs from Faust I (Goethe) for mixed choir and obbligato organ ( Mater dolorosa Dies irae , Chorus ad diem festi Paschae ), 1940, Hug brothers, Zurich and Leipzig
  • Three choirs based on texts by Petzold ( Der Strom ), Vanzetti ( Vision ) and Jacoby ( Weltgebot ), 1942, SASB (Schweizerischer Arbeitersängerbund)
  • Two blacksmith songs for mixed choir a cappella ( anvil bell , young blacksmith song ), text by Peter Bratschi, 1944, SASB
  • Hütet das Licht, for mixed a cappella choir, text by A. Wagner, 1944, SASB
  • Three women's choirs a cappella based on texts by Nobs-Hutzli ( Wiegenlied ) and Hesse ( Gavotte , Wiegenlied ), 1948, SASB and Folda
  • Alone, for male choir a cappella, text by Peter Bratschi, 1949, Copyright by SASB
  • Im Eisenwerk, for male choir and boys' choir a cappella, text by Peter Bratschi, 1949, SASB

Concert pieces

  • Theme variations for piano, 1926
  • Three diary sketches, for a large orchestra, 1927
  • Scherzo drôlatique , for large orchestra (concert adaptation of the kitchen boy ballet from Zwerg Nase ), 1955, public premiere in 1973 in Aachen. Sound recording from 1960 with the Beromünster Radio Orchestra under the direction of the composer on Neo.Mx3
  • Musique de chambre pour flûte, hautbois et quatuor à cordes, 1966
  • Der Schimmelreiter, symphonic poem for large orchestra based on the radio fantasy of the same name, 1965. Sound recording from 1965 with the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana under the direction of the composer on Neo.Mx3
  • Music for strings, 1974 (composition commissioned by the city of Bern)
  • Interlude from the opera Der Faun for large orchestra, 1977

Religious music

  • Love, motet, text by P. Kästner, 1953, Copyright by SASB
  • Psalm 142 for soprano and organ, 1967
  • Psalm 102 and 27 for alto, oboe and organ, 1968
  • Le chiese di Assisi, nove visioni musicali per organo, 1973

In addition, numerous commissioned works in the form of stage and radio play music were created.

media

  • Audio CD Walter Furrer - selection of works, recorded by SRF 2 Kultur on 19./20. June 2018 , coproduction by Müller & Schade AG and Beatrice Wolf-Furrer, Bern 2018

literature

  • Ingrid Bigler-Marschall: Walter Furrer . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 663.
  • Tamara Ackermann, Vision - the composition ideas of the Swiss Workers 'Association using the example of workers' songs by Walter Furrer (1902-1978 ), master's thesis, presented at the University of Basel at the end of August 2018
  • Walter Furrer, an unjustifiably forgotten composer. Biographical summary by Beatrice Wolf-Furrer , Müller & Schade AG, Bern 2018

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ingrid Bigler-Marschall : Walter Furrer . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 663.
  2. ↑ "My years of study in Paris." Autobiographical notes by Walter Furrer. In: Schweizer Musikzeitung , November 6, 2014.
  3. ^ Autobiographical notes by Walter Furrer - My years of study in Paris. SMZ, accessed August 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ Walter Furrer's estate in the catalog of the Bern Burger Library
personal data
SURNAME Furrer, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Plauen
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1978
Place of death Bern