Heinrich Sutermeister (12 August 1910 – 16 March 1995) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, most famous for his

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Romeo und Julia is an opera in two acts by Heinrich Sutermeister. The composer wrote the libretto, after Shakespeare's '' Romeo and Juliet''. Erik Levi explains that the opera: "presents a synthesis of Romantic and impressionist elements. It marks a ... retur ...

''.

Life and career

Sutermeister was born in

Feuerthalen Feuerthalen is a municipality in the district of Andelfingen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Langwiesen also belongs to the same municipality. History Feuerthalen is first mentioned in 876 as ''Langewisa''. In 1318 it was mentioned as ...

. During the early 1930s he was a student at the Akademie der Tonkunst in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Car ...

was his teacher. Orff thereafter remained a powerful influence on his music. Returning to Switzerland in the mid-1930s, Sutermeister devoted his life to composition. He wrote some works for the radio, starting with '' Die schwarze Spinne'' in 1936, before turning later to television opera. His most successful stage work was ''

'', premiered in Dresden in 1940 under

Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz. T ...

. Sutermeister's penultimate stage work, ''Madame Bovary'', first given in Zurich in 1967, is loosely based on

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. With many characters cut, it consists largely of monologues for Emma Bovary, who was sung by

Anneliese Rothenberger Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly adm ...

. For his final opera, he adapted

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

's play ''

Exit the King ''Exit the King'' (french: Le Roi se meurt) is an absurdist drama by Eugène Ionesco that premiered in 1962. It is the third in Ionesco's "Berenger Cycle", preceded by '' The Killer'' (1958) and ''Rhinocéros'' (1959), and followed by ''A Stro ...

'' (''Le Roi se meurt''). According to musicologist Elizabeth Forbes, this opera, premiered in 1985 at

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, with only six characters, a tiny chorus and a small orchestra is, in its modest way, as effective as anything Sutermeister wrote. Elizabeth Forbesbr>"Obituary: Heinrich Sutermeister
''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 20 March 1995. He was the brother of Hans Martin Sutermeister. Their grandfather was the folklorist

Otto Sutermeister Friedrich Gottlieb Otto Sutermeister (27 September 1832 in Tegerfelden – 18 August 1901 in Aarau) was a Swiss folklorist and professor at the University of Berne who collected and revised numerous folk tales, legends, fables, and proverbs.< ...

. He died in

Vaux-sur-Morges Vaux-sur-Morges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges. Geography Vaux-sur-Morges has an area, , of . Of this area, or 74.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.3% is forested. Of the r ...

Works

Stage and broadcast works

Concert, chamber and religious music

*''1. Piano Concerto'', 1943 *''Capriccio for unaccompanied Clarinet in A'',1947 *''Die Alpen'', fantasy on Swiss folksongs, 1948 *''Gavotte de Concert'', for trumpet and piano, 1950 *''2. Piano Concerto'', 1953 *''Missa da Requiem'', 1952–1953 *''1. Cello Concerto'', 1954–55 *''3. Piano Concerto'', 1961–62 *''Poème funèbre – En mémoire de Paul Hindemith'' for string orchestra, 1965 *''Omnia ad Unum'', cantata, 1965–66 *''2. Cello Concerto'', 1971 *''Te Deum'', 1975 *''Clarinet Concerto'', 1975–76 *''Consolatio philosophiae'', 'Scène dramatique', 1979

References

;Notes ;Sources *Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages,
Operone page on Sutermeister, accessed 1 April 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutermeister, Heinrich 1910 births 1995 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male musicians 20th-century Swiss composers Male opera composers People from Feuerthalen Swiss classical composers Swiss male classical composers Swiss opera composers