Bidspirit auction | SACHER PAUL: (1906-1999)

SACHER PAUL: (1906-1999) - SACHER PAUL: (1906-1999) Swiss Conductor, Partron and billionaire businessman. Sacher was considered the third richest person in the world, a billionaire holding the majority shareholder of pharmaceutical company Hoffman-La Roche. Sacher studied under Felix Weintgarner. He founded and conducted the Basler Kammerorchester, commissioning and conducting the premiere of notable works of composers of the 20th century. A very intersting and scarce war time T.L.S., ` Paul Sacher´, a bold purple ink signature, one page, 4to, Basel, 21st May 1941, on his personal printed stationery, to C. Henry Winter, in French. Sacher refers to the reopened services of postmail in these war times, and urges his correspondent to contact Arthur Honegger regarding a composition he would like to premiere in a few months time, saying ` Je lis dans les journaux qu´il est de nouveau permis de correspondre dans une mesure restreinte entre la zone libre et la zone occupée. Permettez-moi de vous déranger une fois de plus en vous demandant de bien vouloir soumettre à notre ami Arthur Honegger la question suivante: Est-il possible qu´il m´écrive une composition pour orchestre à cordes dont la partition pourrait être mis à ma disposition en quelques mois? Depuis assez longtemps Arthur Honegger a l´intention de satisfaire à mon désir et j´espère beaucoup que pour la saison prochaine il lui sera possible de réaliser ce projet´ (Translation ” I read in the newspapers that correspondence is once again permitted to a limited extent between the free zone and the occupied zone. Allow me to bother you once more by asking you to kindly submit the following question to our friend Arthur Honegger: Is it possible for him to write me a composition for string orchestra, the score of which could be made available to me within a few months? For quite some time Arthur Honegger has intended to fulfill my wish, and I very much hope that for the next season he will be able to realize this project.”) Further, Sacher refers to the impossibility of performing Joan of Arc at the Stake in Zurich, saying ` Malheureusement le Stadttheater de Zurich, vu les obstacles insurmontables qui avaient surgis, a dû renoncer à une représentation de ”Jeanne d´Arc” dans cette saison...´ (Translation: ” Unfortunately, the Zurich Stadttheater, due to the insurmountable obstacles that had arisen, had to cancel a performance of ”Joan of Arc” this season...”) VG to EX Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) Swiss Composer, a member of Les Six. Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (”Joan of Arc at the Stake ” ) is a mystère lyrique ”Sung mistery play” by Paul Claudel and with music by Arthur Honegger. This Oratorio was commissioned by Ida Rubinstein and was written in 1935 and premiered in 1938 in Basel with a local adult chorus and a freelance orchestra conducted by Paul Sacher . I t was an immediate success, with critics almost unanimous in praising a perfect cohesion between words and music.