Walther Geiser

Walther Geiser (born May 16, 1897 in Zofingen ; † March 6, 1993 in Oberwil ) was a Swiss composer and music teacher.

Life and work

After finishing school, Walther Geiser studied composition and violin at the Conservatory in Basel . After the First World War he came to Berlin via Italy , Cologne and Vienna . There he took up further composition studies with Ferruccio Busoni at the Akademie der Künste in the 1920s , which he graduated in 1923.

From 1924 to 1963 he taught violin, chamber music , composition and orchestral conducting at the Basel Conservatory . He also directed the orchestra of this conservatory.

Walther Geiser was also active as a musician and conductor . As a violist he was a member of the Basel String Quartet. He conducted numerous radio concerts and symphonies . From 1954 to 1972 he also directed the Basel Bach Choir .

He was also president of the Basel section of the International Society for New Music . He was also a member of the Swiss Tonkünstlerverein. In 1962 he was awarded the composer's prize by the Swiss Tonkünstlerverein.

His compositional work includes works for choir , organ and orchestra as well as chamber music. In his later works he increasingly dealt with the twelve-tone technique .

Works (selection)

• Suite for violin and piano op.10
• Trio for strings in D minor op.8
• Sonatina for viola and organ op.46, 1954
• Divertimento for wind quartet op.55
• Symphony No. 2 op. 60
• Metamorphoses for violin op.62
• Inclyta Basilea Festival
• Sonatina for oboe and piano op.38

literature

• Regula Puskás: Geiser, Walther. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Biographical article by Michael Schneider in Music in the past and present .

Web links

• Literature by and about Walther Geiser in the catalog of the German National Library