Sacher, Paul

Sacher, Paul , respected Swiss conductor and philanthropist; b. Basel, April 28, 1906; d. near there, May 26, 1999. He studied with Weingartner (conducting) at the Basel Cons. and with Karl Nef (musicology) at the Univ. of Basel. In 1926 he founded the Basel Chamber Orch., which specialized in playing works from the pre-Classical and contemporary periods. In 1928 he also organized the Basel Chamber Choir. In 1933 he founded the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and was also director of the Collegium Musicum in Zürich from 1941. His Schola Cantorum Basiliensis was amalgamated with Basel’s Cons. and Musikschule to form the Musikakad-emie der Stadt Basel, which he directed from 1954 to 1969. He appeared as a guest conductor in many European cities. He made his U.S. debut as a guest conductor with the Collegiate Chorale in N.Y. (April 3, 1955). In 1934 he married Maja Stehlin, widow of Emmanuel Hoffmann, whose father founded the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical firm, makers of the drugs Valium and Librium. Through his wife’s fortune, Sacher was able to pursue his goal of commissioning works from the leading composers of the 20^th century; in all, he commissioned over 200 works, including scores by Stravinsky, Bartók, Strauss, Honegger, Hin-demith, Martin, Britten, Henze, and Boulez, many of which received their premieres under his direction. In 1983 he purchased the entire Stravinsky archive in N.Y. for $5, 250, 000. In 1986 the Paul Sacher Foundation building was opened in Basel; it houses the archives of Stravinsky, Webern, Martin, and Maderna, as well as of Sacher.

Bibliography

E. Lichtenhahn and T. Seebass, eds., Musik Handschriften aus der Sammlung P. S.: Festschrift zu P. S.s siebzigstem Geburtstag (Basel, 1976); M. Rostropovich, ed., Dank an P. S.(Zürich, 1976).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire