Paul Sacher - Biography

Biography

Sacher studied under Felix Weingartner, among others. In 1926 he founded the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Basler Kammerorchester) to play both modern works and those written before the classical period. Immensely wealthy, Sacher commissioned works from many well-known composers, including Igor Stravinsky (who provided him with the Concerto in D), Béla Bartók (Divertimento for Strings, the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, the String Quartet No. 6, and the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta), Bohuslav Martinů (many works including the Double Concerto, Concerto da camera etc.), Arthur Honegger (many works, including the Second Symphony and the Fourth Symphony Deliciae Basilienses), Frank Martin (six works, including the Petite Symphonie Concertante), Paul Hindemith, Hans Werner Henze, Richard Strauss, Elliott Carter, Witold Lutosławski (Sacher Variation, Double Concerto, Chain 2, etc.), Henri Dutilleux, and Harrison Birtwistle.

Pierre Boulez wrote his Grawemeyer Award-winning work Sur Incises for Sacher's 90th birthday. Boulez bequeathed his entire catalogue (including drafts) to the Paul Sacher Foundation. Henze dedicated his Tenth Symphony in memory of Sacher, who had commissioned it but died before it was completed.

In 1983 Sacher acquired the Stravinsky estate. The Paul Sacher Stiftung (Foundation) is located in the centre of Basel (in Munsterplatz) 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 of the most important 20th-century composers (including Lutosławski, Ligeti and Boulez). In 1997 Sacher received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Kraków.

He was named the world's third-richest man in the 1990s, having married the heiress of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann–La Roche. At the time of his death he was reputed in various publications to be the richest man in Europe. He died in 1999, aged 93.