Tribute to Aloÿs Fornerod
Fifty years ago, on January 8, 1965, Aloÿs Fornerod passed away after a busy life as a composer, teacher, conservatory director, writer and columnist. On the initiative of his family, a tribute celebrates this anniversary at the same time as the 125th anniversary of the musician's birth.
Born in Cudrefin on November 16, 1890, Aloÿs Fornerod began his musical studies at the Lausanne Conservatoire before going on to the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He then moved to Strasbourg, where he studied orchestration with Hans Pfitzner from 1912 to 1913. In 1913, he played violin with the Orchestre symphonique and the Orchestre du Théâtre de Lausanne. From 1914, he was music critic for the Tribune de Lausanne.
Between 1922 and 1949, Aloÿs Fornerod taught at the Institut de Ribaupierre in Lausanne. In 1926, he was appointed Professor of Music History at the Lausanne Conservatoire. In addition to teaching, he directed several choirs. In 1954, he was appointed Director of the Fribourg Conservatoire.
His works include the Sonata for Cello and Piano, the String Quartet and the Piano Concerto, Le Voyage de printemps and Prometheus in chains for orchestra, the Te Deum and the opéra-comique Geneviève. His style is in the tradition of French classicism.
Hommage 2015 features six concerts:
- January 31 in Fribourg (Salle de l'Equilibre) by the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois
- February 6 at the Collège Saint-Michel church in Fribourg and February 7 at the Saint-François church in Lausanne by the Fribourg HEMU Choir
- March 15 at the Collège Saint-Michel church in Fribourg by the Fribourg University Chamber Choir and the Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois
- in early autumn, an OCL subscription concert
- in late autumn, a concert by the HEMU Orchestra in Lausanne.
A website dedicated to Fornerod will soon be online, and an exhibition is planned at the BCU in Lausanne.
