The founding of the SSPM in 1893

Erich Adolf Hoffmann* - "In the summer of 1892, at a singing festival in Birsfelden attended by F. Schneeberger from Biel, Johann Jakob Rosenmund from Liestal and Heinrich Kunz as jurors, F. Schneeberger told his colleagues about a project he had been thinking about for a long time: to bring together like-minded, forward-looking music and singing teachers, and to create a specialized body to serve this association. He was listened to with great interest and understanding. Shortly afterwards, at a chance meeting in Basel with piano maker Boller, singing teacher Arnold Spahr from Liestal and Heinrich Kunz, Arnold Spahr came up with a similar idea. The fact that most music teaching posts in Switzerland were occupied by foreigners seemed to him a highly anomalous situation, which could only be explained by the insufficient development of our music schools (at the time, there were no conservatories in German-speaking Switzerland); he stressed that only a grouping of all music and singing teachers in Switzerland would be able to remedy this obvious problem.

At the same time, an article on the teaching of singing in schools by Louis Zehntner, who was studying in Stuttgart at the time, appeared in the magazine Schweizerische Lehrerzeitung. The topic of reforming the teaching of singing was also close to F. Schneeberger's heart. Not only in the cities, where many professional musicians were already working as singing teachers, but especially in rural areas, where the teaching of singing was often, if not mostly, entrusted to the elementary school teacher.

And so the idea of a much-needed union of music and singing teachers ripened, particularly in the very limited region of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, and on October 1, 1893, this first fruit was ready to be picked. On this important day for Swiss music teachers, the initiative committee, consisting of Eduard Surläuly, Director of Music (Musikdirektor) in Schaffhausen, Ferd. Schneeberger, music director in Biel, and J. J. Rosenmund, music director in Liestal, met at the Hotel Gotthard in Olten (where the SSPM committee would later gladly hold its meetings until a few years ago!), with six colleagues already registered as members, namely Messrs. the music directors Rudolf Mäder in Zurich, Joseph Johann Landolt in Basel, Heinrich Kunz in Aarburg, Walter Weinmann in Olten, Louis Zehntner in Basel, and the singing director and teacher Suter (father of Hermann Suter) in Laufenburg, to found the Association Suisse des Maîtres de Chant et de Musique (Schweizerischer Gesang- und Musiklehrer-Verein) [the name change to Société suisse de pédagogie musicale took place in 1911, editor's note].

The minutes note: "A number of people had excused themselves for valid reasons, but the majority were absent without having given the slightest sign, which was duly condemned in the introductory remarks."

The nine-member meeting deliberated for five hours. After the appointment of an executive committee consisting of Surläuly as chairman and L. Zehntner as secretary, the founding of an association body was not only discussed in depth, but immediately decided upon with great courage and resolution. The necessary preparatory work, including the search for a publisher, had already been carried out by F. Schneeberger, and could be presented unchanged to Lack, Scheim & Cie. in Berne. The title chosen for this newsletter, which was to appear twice monthly under the editorship of F. Schneeberger, was: "Der Volksgesang - Organ des Schweizerischen Gesang- und Musiklehrer-Vereins zur Pflege der Musik in Schule, Haus, Kirche und Verein."

The articles of association, the draft of which had also been outlined by F. Schneeberger, were examined paragraph by paragraph. Here are the most important points:

§ 1. The purpose of the Swiss Association of Singing and Music Masters is: the improvement and promotion of singing and music in schools, churches, homes and societies, and the maintenance and preservation of solidarity among the members of the association.

§ 2. Membership is open to all singing and music teachers working in Switzerland, and to all music lovers.

The minutes and the association's organ give no account of the association's activities or of the work carried out by the committee during the period from October 1893 to April 1894. We only learn that a general meeting was held in Baden in November, at which Ed. Surläuly was elected as the first president. The other functions were allocated on April 23, 1894 in Olten."

* Erich Adolf Hoffmann's text originally appeared as an appendix to Antoine-E. Cherbuliez Geschichte der Musikpädagogik in der Schweizpublished in 1944 by the SSPM. This historical text is transcribed unchanged, except for the brief biographies in footnotes, which we have shortened for reasons of space. French translation of the original German text.