Sigurd Raschèr facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sigurd Raschèr
Classical Saxophonist Sigurd Raschèr
Background information
Born	15 May 1907 Elberfeld, Germany
Died	25 February 2001(2001-02-25) (aged 93) Shushan, New York
Genres	Classical
Instruments	Saxophone
Years active	1930–1977

Sigurd Manfred Raschèr (pronounced 'Rah-sher') (15 May 1907–25 February 2001) was an American saxophonist born in Germany. He became a very important person in the world of classical saxophone music in the 20th century. He helped many new pieces of music for the saxophone to be written and performed.

Early Life and Musical Start

Sigurd Raschèr was born in Elberfeld, Germany. This city is now part of Wuppertal. His father was a military doctor. Sigurd went to school in Switzerland and Germany.

He first learned to play the piano. Later, he decided to study the clarinet. But then, he started playing the saxophone to join a dance band. He soon realized the saxophone had many more possibilities than people thought. He practiced a lot and became very good.

Career in Europe

In 1930, Raschèr moved to Berlin. He was asked to play with the famous Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. There, he met a composer named Edmund von Borck. Borck wrote a special piece for Raschèr in 1932. This piece, a concerto for saxophone and orchestra, was played for the first time in Hanover, Germany. It was a big success! The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra also performed it with Raschèr.

Around 1933, times in Germany became difficult. Raschèr's friend invited him to Copenhagen, Denmark. Raschèr then taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Over the next four years, he played concerts in many countries like Norway, Italy, and England. In 1936, he played the first performance of a famous piece called Concertino da camera by Jacques Ibert. In 1938, he visited Australia. In 1939, he moved to the United States.

Career in the United States

Raschèr arrived in the United States in 1939. He played his first American concert on October 20, 1939, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Soon after, he played as a soloist at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic. He was the first saxophonist to be a soloist with both of these major orchestras.

His career continued with many solo concerts. Because of the war in Europe, he could not go back to Germany. In 1941, his wife, Ann Mari, joined him in the United States. They made their home on a small farm in Shushan, New York. They lived there for almost 60 years.

Even though he was born in Germany, people often said he was from Sweden in the 1940s. This was because he did not like the difficult political situation in Germany at the time. It also helped him avoid any suspicion in America during the war.

After World War II ended in 1945, Raschèr was invited to play concerts in Europe again. He traveled for months, performing with many orchestras. He also played with many university bands in the United States.

Raschèr performed as a soloist with over 250 orchestras and wind groups around the world. He played in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, and the United States.

His last saxophone solo performance was in 1977. He played the Glazunov concerto with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. This was just before his 70th birthday.

Sigurd Raschèr passed away in 2001 at the age of 93 in Shushan, New York. He had a stroke in 1994. His special collection of materials is now kept at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Working with Composers and New Music

Sigurd Raschèr inspired many composers to write new music for the saxophone. During his life, 208 pieces for saxophone were written and dedicated to him. Many of these are now considered very important works for the classical saxophone.

He became good friends with many composers. He encouraged them to write new music, but he never paid them to do so. He simply inspired them!

Some of the important works dedicated to Raschèr include:

• Edmund von Borck: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, 1932
• Warren Benson: Concertino for Alto Saxophone, 1955
• Henry Brant: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, 1941
• Eric Coates: Saxo-Rhapsody, 1936
• Ingolf Dahl: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, 1949
• Alexander Glazunov: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra, 1934
• Paul Hindemith: Concert Piece for Two Alto Saxophones, 1933
• Karel Husa: Elegie et Rondeau for Alto Saxophone and Piano, 1960
• Jacques Ibert: Concertino da camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments, 1935
• Lars Erik Larsson: Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra, 1934
• Frank Martin: Ballade for Alto Saxophone, String Orchestra, Piano and Tympani, 1938

Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

In 1969, Raschèr started the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet with his daughter Carina, Linda Bangs, and Bruce Weinberger. This was one of the first classical saxophone groups to play concerts all over the world. He played with the quartet for its first ten years. They performed in famous concert halls in Europe and the United States. The Wiener Zeitung newspaper called them the "Uncrowned Kings of the Saxophone."

The quartet has played in many countries. It is the longest-running saxophone quartet in history. The quartet continues Raschèr's work of finding new music. Over 300 composers from 35 countries have written pieces for the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet.

Teaching Career

Raschèr also taught saxophone at famous music schools. These included the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music.

Many of his students became well-known saxophone teachers and performers themselves. Some of them include:

Raschèr Saxophone Workshops

After he stopped performing in 1977, Raschèr continued to teach. He gave week-long workshops to groups of saxophonists. These workshops were held in the United States and Germany. They often had 40 to 80 players of all ages. They were usually held at universities where his former students taught.

The workshops included master classes, performances by soloists and quartets. They ended with a concert where all the attendees played together as a "saxophone orchestra." The last U.S. workshop was at Yale University in 1992. The last European workshop was in Germany in 1993.

Saxophone Sound and Mouthpieces

Raschèr cared a lot about the sound of the saxophone. He believed that for classical music, the saxophone should sound the way its inventor, Adolphe Sax, intended. Sax designed the inside of the saxophone's mouthpiece to be large and round.

Until the 1940s, most saxophone mouthpieces were made this way. But then, with the rise of big-band jazz, saxophonists started using different mouthpiece shapes. They wanted a louder and sharper sound for jazz.

Between 1940 and 1960, many classical saxophonists began using narrower mouthpieces. These gave the instrument a brighter sound. Raschèr always taught that these modern mouthpieces were not what Sax had in mind. He felt that while they were good for jazz, they were not right for classical music.

His students and followers believed the best sound for a classical saxophone was softer and rounder. This sound comes from a mouthpiece with a large, round inside. Raschèr strongly insisted on this. This caused some disagreements with other classical saxophonists who preferred the brighter sound.

By 1970, narrow mouthpieces were very popular. Manufacturers stopped making the large-chambered ones. This made it hard for Raschèr's students to find the right mouthpieces. They had to look for old ones made in the 1920s and 1930s.

To solve this problem, Raschèr worked with a manufacturer to create a "Sigurd Raschèr brand" mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was just like the older, large-chambered ones. The Raschèr mouthpiece is still made today.

Top Tones

Raschèr also focused on playing very high notes on the saxophone. As early as 1930, he showed that a skilled player could play four octaves on the saxophone. At that time, most players only played two and a half octaves. This higher range became known as the "altissimo register." But Raschèr preferred to call them "top tones."

Raschèr encouraged composers to use these high notes in their music. He loved to show how well he could play these "top tones." He argued that playing these notes was a real musical skill, not just a trick. His book about this topic, Top-Tones for the Saxophone, was published in 1941. It is still highly respected today.

To show how these high notes were natural to the saxophone, he had the Buescher factory make a special saxophone for him. This instrument had no tone holes at all! A picture of it is in his Top Tones book. He showed that he could play at least 16 overtones (natural notes) on this special instrument. He said that studying these overtones was the best way to learn the extended range and make the saxophone sound better overall.

The extended range (altissimo register) was a big topic of discussion in the middle of the 20th century. Raschèr argued that the saxophone's inventor, Adolphe Sax, had intended the instrument to be played this way. Raschèr found proof that Sax had shown a three-octave range to composers in the 1840s.

Even though some saxophonists did not like the altissimo register at first, it is now a common technique. Almost all classical and jazz saxophonists use it. It is now taught to advanced high school and college students. It is a required skill for anyone studying saxophone performance.

Ronald Caravan, a saxophonist, said that many players at first did not like Raschèr's work in extending the saxophone's range. But composers were more open to this new way of playing. By 1977, Raschèr's hard work and the many composers who used the high notes helped make the extended range a key part of modern saxophone playing.

Awards and Recognition

• He received the Band Masters of America Award for special artists.
• He was an Honorary Life Member of the North American Saxophone Alliance.
• He received the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Medal.
• He was made an honorary brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

See also

In Spanish: Sigurd Raschèr para niños