Theo[dor] Fueter (1873-1925)

[Wheesht]

Exactly one hundred years ago today, the Swiss composer Theodor Fueter died in Lugano after a long illness.
He was born on 30 May 1873 in Burgdorf, Switzerland, the son of a pharmacist. He first worked as a railway employee, then he went to Weimar to study music with Carl Müllerhartung (1834-1908), the founder in 1872 of Germany's first "orchestra school" – which later became what is today the "Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt".
Fueter learned to play the trumpet and worked as a conductor of the orchestras of two towns in Canton Bern, his native Burgdorf and Thun. He composed a number of lieder on texts by contemporary Swiss poets, a dozen of which were published in 1927. In 1920 his tone poem "Das heilige Ich" on a text by Karl Erny, for soprano, solo violin and orchestra was given a successful premiere in Baden, Switzerland. An opera, "Heinrich von Strättlingen" remained a fragment.
After an injury to his arm, Fueter was no longer able to play the trumpet, and he was increasingly affected by ill health.
After his death there were plans, initiated by his elder sister, to establish a "Theodor Fueter Stiftung für bedürftige Tonkünstler und Komponisten" (foundation for musicians and composers in need) in his honour, but these apparently never came to fruition.