Peter Mieg (5 September 1906 – 7 December 1990) was a Swiss composer, painter and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Biography

Mieg was born in

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neighb ...

where he spent almost all his life. He studied

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

as well as French and German Literature in Zurich,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from 1927 to 1933. In the early 1930s Mieg became a journalist writing articles about art, music and literature for newspapers such as the ''Basler Nachrichten'', the ''Weltwoche'' and the '' Badener Tagblatt''. Between 1933 and 1939 he became friends with the conductor and patron

Paul Sacher Paul Sacher (28 April 190626 May 1999) was a Swiss conductor, patron and billionaire businessperson. At the time of his death Sacher was majority shareholder of pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche and was considered the third richest person i ...

and the composers Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky,

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

and Bohuslav Martinu.

Compositions

In the 1940s Mieg completed his musical formation with Frank Martin. His first important works were written in the 1950s in a very personal neoclassicism. From that time on he was commissioned by the

Tonhalle Orchester Zürich Tonhalle is a German word meaning "tone hall", a concert hall. It may refer to: *Tonhalle Düsseldorf Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Düsseldorf. It was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. The resident orchestra, the ''Düsseldorfer ...

(''Symphony'', 1958), the

Zurich Chamber Orchestra The Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Zürcher Kammerorchester; ZKO, German abbreviation) is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Zurich. The ZKO's principal concert venue in Zurich is the Tonhalle. The ZKO also performs in Zurich at the Schauspielhaus Zü ...

(''Concerto per clavicembalo e orchestra da camera'', 1953, ''Concerto Veneziano'', 1955, the ''Concerto for oboe and orchestra'', 1957, the ''Concerto pour piano à quatre mains et orchestre à cordes'', 1980), the

Lucerne Festival Strings The Lucerne Festival Strings is one of Switzerland's most frequently touring chamber orchestras, which for decades was closely associated with the Lucerne School of Music, being for many years an "ensemble in residence". The orchestra was founded ...

(''Triple concerto dans le goût italien'', 1978) and many others. Mieg wrote some 135 compositions, including several

concertos A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ty ...

(for piano, for violin, for flute, for 2 flutes, for harp, for cello, for piano and cello), a lot of chamber music and piano music (5

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...

s).

Painting

In 1961 Mieg exhibited his gouaches for the first time. They mostly represent still life and

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

. He had been painting since his childhood.

Family

Peter Mieg's grandaunt was Swiss composer and singer Fanny Hünerwadel (1826-1854).

Bibliography

* Anna Kardos, Tom Hellat: ''Auf der Suche nach dem eigenen Klang – Der Komponist, Publizist und Maler Peter Mieg'', Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2016, * Silvia Kind: ''Peter Mieg'', in: Monologue.

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, 2001, p. 226–235. * Michael Schneider: ''Der Komponist Peter Mieg: Leben – Werk – Rezeption'' (The composer Peter Mieg: Life - Work - Reception). Amadeus,

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

1995, . * Brigitte Morach-Müller (editor): ''Peter Mieg als Maler'' (Peter Mieg as a painter). With articles by Emil Maurer, Peter Mieg, Jean Rudolf von Salis and

Edmond de Stoutz Edmond de Stoutz (18 December 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a Swiss conductor from Zurich. He was the founder of the Zürcher Kammerorchester (Zurich Chamber Orchestra) in 1945 and conducted the ensemble until 1996. As conductor he performed all ...

. Kromer, Lenzburg, 1984. * Reni Mertens & Walter Marti: ''Der Komponist, Maler, Schriftsteller und Journalist Peter Mieg'' (The composer, painter and journalist Peter Mieg). Film about Peter Mieg, 1980 * Uli Däster, Walter Kläy and Walter Labhart (editors): ''Peter Mieg. Eine Monographie'' (Peter Mieg. A Monography). Sauerländer, Aarau and Frankfurt 1976, .

External links

Official website

Peter Mieg
on the website o
musinfo.ch

Peter Mieg on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mieg, Peter 1906 births 1990 deaths People from Lenzburg Swiss Calvinist and Reformed Christians 20th-century classical composers Swiss classical composers 20th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters Swiss male classical composers 20th-century male musicians 20th-century Swiss male artists 20th-century Swiss composers