Paul Sacher
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Paul Sacher (April 28, 1906 – May 26, 1999) was a Swiss conductor, patron and impresario.
He studied under Felix Weingartner among others. In 1926 he founded the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Basler Kammerorchester) to play works written before the classical period and modern works. Immensely wealthy, he commissioned works from many well known composers, including Igor Stravinsky (who provided him with the Concerto in D), Béla Bartók (Divertimento and the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta), Arthur Honegger (many works, including the Second Symphony and the Fourth Symphony (Deliciae Basilienses ), Frank Martin (six works, including the Petite Symphonie Concertante), Paul Hindemith, Hans Werner Henze, Richard Strauss, Elliott Carter, and Harrison Birtwistle. Pierre Boulez's Messagesquisse was one of a number of pieces written in order to celebrate Sacher's seventieth birthday. Henze dedicated his Tenth Symphony as an in memoriam to Sacher, who had commissioned it but died before it was completed.
In 1983 Sacher acquired the Stravinsky estate.[1]
He was named as the world's third richest man in the 1990s, having married the heiress of the pharmaceutical company, Hoffmann-La Roche.
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