Paul Sacher


Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessman. At the time of his death, Sacher was the majority shareholder of the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company and was considered the third richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion.
He founded and conducted the Basler Kammerorchester. He commissioned notable works by composers of the 20th century and premiered them with the chamber orchestra. While better known for his interest in new music, he was also devoted to music of the baroque and classical eras. He founded the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, an institute for early music, in 1933.

Biography

Sacher studied under Felix Weingartner, among others. In 1926 he founded the chamber orchestra Basler Kammerorchester, which specialized in both modern and pre-classical repertory. In 1928 he founded the Basel Chamber Choir. Both the orchestra and choir gave their last performance in 1987. In 1984, the Serenata Basel was formed, with no direct connection to Sacher. They later adopted the name Kammerorchester Basel. He also founded the Collegium Musicum Zürich in 1941 with Walter Schulthess and Stefi Geyer which he conducted until its disbandment in 1992.

Personal life

Sacher was considered the world's third-richest man of the 1990s after inheriting a fortune from his late wife, Maja Hoffmann, who was the widow of Emanuel Hoffmann and heiress of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche. At the time of his death, Sacher was reputed in various publications to be the richest man in Europe. He died in 1999 at the age of 93.
Sacher had 3 children outside marriage; two daughters, Katharina and Cornelia von Faber-Castell, with the Countess of Faber-Castell, and a son, Georg Schmid.

Commissions

Immensely wealthy, Sacher commissioned works from many well-known composers, including:
Pierre Boulez wrote his Grawemeyer Award-winning work Sur Incises for Sacher's 90th birthday. Boulez bequeathed his entire catalogue to the Paul Sacher Foundation. Henze dedicated his Tenth Symphony to the memory of Sacher, who had commissioned it but died before its completion.
In 1983, Sacher acquired the Stravinsky estate. The is located in the centre of Basel and houses one of the world's most important musical-manuscript collections. Sacher bought most of these manuscripts himself, and they include complete collections by several important twentieth-century composers. In 1997, he received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Kraków.

"eSACHERe"

On the occasion of Sacher's 70th birthday, twelve composer friends of his were asked by Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich to write compositions for cello solo using his name spelled out in musical notes as the theme. Many of them were performed in a Zurich concert on 2 May 1976. The whole "eSACHERe" project was performed in its entirety for the first time by Czech cellist František Brikcius on 9 May 2011 in Prague.
ComposerComposition
Conrad BeckFür Paul Sacher : Drei Epigramme für Violoncello solo
Luciano BerioLes Mots sont allés
Pierre BoulezMessagesquisse, for 7 cellos
Benjamin BrittenTema "Sacher"
Henri DutilleuxTrois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher
Wolfgang FortnerZum Spielen für den 70. Geburtstag : Thema und Variationen für Violoncello Solo
Alberto GinasteraPuneña No. 2, Op. 45
Cristóbal HalffterVariationen über das Thema eSACHERe
Hans Werner HenzeCapriccio per Paul Sacher
Heinz HolligerChaconne, für Violoncello Solo
Klaus HuberTranspositio ad infinitum
Witold LutosławskiSacher-Variationen

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