Hermann Suter was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 composer and conductor.

Born in Kaiserstuhl

Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland

Kaiserstuhl is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The small town is listed as a heritage site of national significance.-History:...

, Aargau

Aargau

Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

, Suter studied in the conservatories at Basel, Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 and Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, under Hans Huber

Hans Huber (composer)

Hans Huber was a composer from Switzerland.He was born in Eppenberg-Wöschnau . The son of an amateur musician, Huber became a chorister and showed an early talent for the piano. In 1870 he entered Leipzig Conservatory...

 and Carl Reinecke

Carl Reinecke

Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...

. He was an organist and conductor in Zurich from 1892 to 1902, after which he moved to Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, where he lived to his death. He was director of the Basel Conservatory from 1918 to 1921.

Suter's compositions contain echoes of Brahms, Strauss, Mahler, and many other composers who Suter conducted at Basel. Much of his output is for chorus, both accompanied and unaccompanied; the best-known of his works is the oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 Le Laudi (The Praises) or Le Laudi di San Francesco d'Assisi, based on the Canticle of the Sun

Canticle of the Sun

The Canticle of the Sun, also known as the Laudes Creaturarum , is a religious song composed by Saint Francis of Assisi. It was written in the Umbrian dialect of Italian but has since been translated into many languages...

, written in the summer of 1923 in Plaun da Lej, in Engadine

Engadine

Engadine may refer to the following places:*Engadin, a valley in Graubünden, Switzerland*Engadine, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia*Engadine, Michigan, a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...

, and premiered June 13, 1924, in Basel. By 1930 the oratorio had been performed over eighty times in nearly as many cities. Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...

 led the Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 premiere, and the work was acclaimed in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Cologne

KOLN

KOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...

, and a host of smaller German cities. Other compositions include a symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 (1914), a violin concerto

Violin concerto

A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...

 (1924), three string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s (1901, 1910, 1921), a sextet

Sextet

A sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....

 for strings (1920), and numerous songs.

• The first US performance of Le Laudi may have been in 1930 at St. Mark's Church, New York City; no details of that performance are available.
• The first professional performance of Le Laudi in the US was in June, 2000, at Neil Blaisdell Concert Hall, Honolulu, Hawaii, with singers of the Honolulu International Choral Festival, soloists Zofia Kilanowicz, soprano, Milagro Vargas
  Milagro Vargas
  Milagro Vargas is an American mezzo-soprano known for her distinctive voice and stage presence. She has appeared as an international soloist in operatic, orchestral, chamber music and recital settings.-Family Background and Studies:...
  
  , mezzo-soprano, Stuart Neil, tenor, and Leslie 'Buz' Tennent, baritone, the Honolulu Boy Choir, and members of the Honolulu Symphony, Timothy Carney, conducting.
• The American Symphony Orchestra gave the US Premiere of Suter's Violin Concerto, Op. 23 in 2008.
• The UK premiere of Le Laudi took place in Cambridge on June 21, 2009, by Choir 2000 under the direction of Peter Britton.

External links