Michael Zapf's Report: Clavichord days of the Swiss and German Clavichord Societies, October 20-22, 2006
Photos by Dorothea Demel
There is an ancient city core full of pedestrians of all nations, with tramways, car and bicycle traffic - but not a single traffic light. Even the most congested crossings only have pedestrian zebra stripes, nothing else. And the human being on foot rules, everything on the street stops to a halt when one is just near a zebra stripe. You would think such a city would be a 24-hour traffic jam. No it isn't. Everybody is on the move, with respect for the private rhythms of all the others, and I have never experienced a more flowing, friendly, relaxed, and efficient city. This city is Basel in Switzerland, a boom city with respect for the individual, and it was the perfect host to the combined clavichord days of the DCS and the SCG. The venue itself was Sally Fortino's gallery, which is a biotope of rambling plants, cats, antiques, and keyboard instruments; in an annex building complete with recital hall, coffee bar and dining room, hidden behind nondescript condominium buildings right in the middle of Basle.
PRELUDE
For three of us, the clavichord weekend had begun earlier. Dorothea Demel had visited Héricourt, to see Froberger's late habitat and an exhibition dedicated to him, whose stated purpose was to educate the townsfolk of Héricourt about this composer who had remained widely unknown even to them. Come to think of it, wouldn't that be a nice place for a Clavichord Weekend in let's say 2007, for his 340th day of death?
Castle (remains) in Héricourt,
where Froberger spent his last years as a teacher of Sibylla of Wuerttemberg
