Urs Frauchiger, Music Scholar and Cultural Critic, Passes Away
Published: Wednesday, Oct 4th 2023, 02:50
Actualizado el: Viernes, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss musician, musicologist, author, cultural critic and former Pro-Helvetia chief Urs Frauchiger has passed away. He died on September 27th at the age of 87, his family announced on Tuesday. Franz Frauchiger was born on September 17, 1936 in Mungnau, Emmental. In 1963, he became a cello and school music teacher at the Konservatorium Biel, and from 1970 to 1976 he was the head of service at Radio DRS. From 1977 to 1991, he served as the director of the Konservatorium Bern, and from 1988 to 1991 as the general secretary of the Association of European Music Schools. From 1980 to 1988, Frauchiger was a member of the board of trustees of Pro Helvetia, and from 1991 to 1997 he was its director. He resigned from his position as Director of Pro Helvetia after only five years, citing that the foundation was "consuming too much money in administration and not enough in action", as he was quoted at the time. In interviews and essays, Frauchiger consistently defended culture and cultural creators against what he perceived to be a fiscally aggressive political environment as well as against the haughty cultural elite. Franz Frauchiger, who was a cellist in the renowned Reist Quartet for 20 years, had no qualms about embracing more trivial forms of culture. In the early 1980s, he wrote the cult classic "Im Nüni-Tram" (better known as "Äuä de scho"), a "Schreckmümpfeli".
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