Sacher, Paul

Sacher, Paul (1906-1999), Swiss conductor and industrialist, renowned for his generous and discerning patronage of many leading 20th-century composers. Born in Basel, he studied at the Basel Conservatoire and founded the Basel Chamber Orchestra in 1926; 15 years later, he founded another chamber orchestra, the Zurich Collegium Musicum. As well as conducting both of these, he was a guest conductor of chamber and symphony orchestras in many countries, mostly in Classical and 20th-century music. In 1933, with August Wenzinger, he established the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as a teaching and research institute for early music-an important step in the development of period-instrument performance. Between 1954 and 1969 he was principal of the Basel Music Academy, which included the Schola. From 1938 to 1996 he was a director of the Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche (he married the Roche heiress Maja Stehlin in 1934), and the great wealth this brought him made possible his extensive musical philanthropy.

The long list of composers offered commissions by Sacher over more than 50 years included such figures as Bartók (Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, 1936), Richard Strauss (Metamorphosen, 1945), Stravinsky, Honegger, Frank Martin, Martinù, Henze, Britten, Lutos³awski, and Birtwistle (Endless Parade, 1987). Many composers became his personal friends; he offered a home to Bartók when he was escaping from pre-war Hungary, and to Martinù in his last illness. The Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel houses an important collection of manuscripts and other material, including the major archive of Stravinsky's manuscripts. On his 70th birthday, Sacher was honoured by a concert, arranged by Mstislav Rostropovich, including works written by 12 leading composers in his honour.