Willy Burkhard (17 April 1900, Evilard, Canton of Bern – 18 June 1955) was a Swiss composer.
Willy Burkhard was an extremely influential composer of the 20th century. Burkhard was born in Evilard, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, which is the second largest canton in all of Switzerland.
He attended and graduated from a teachers' training college called the Muristalden and went on to study with E. Graf in Berne. His studies led him even further in his travels including Leipzig to study piano with Robert Teichmüller and composition with Sigfrid Karg-Elert. After Leipzig he moved on to Munich to study with Walter Courvoisier and later to Paris to work with Max d’Ollone.
It wasn't until 1924 that he began teaching composition, theory and the piano in Berne. He was appointed to the conservatory there in 1928. He conducted several choirs and small orchestras there. In 1933 due to health reasons, he was compelled to live for several years in Montana and Davos for his own good. He settled in Zürich in 1942 and taught composition and music theory at the conservatory there. In 1950 he received a prize from the Schweizerischer Tonkünstlerverein or the Swiss Association of Musicians.
Although Burkhard's main interest was to compose for the voice, he is most commonly known mainly to have renovated church music. After his illness, the kindness and compassion that he received from his friends and loved ones led him to become deeply humbled and turn to religion. He wrote a large number of cantatas based on spiritual and biblical texts. Some of the reasons that he was partial to biblical texts were due to its simple yet interpretive language and its metrical forms.
Burkhard was one of the most original and diverse composers of his generation; he wrote operas, oratorios, sonatas, suites, serenades, cantatas, concertos, organ music, orchestral charts, and chamber music as well. Burkhard believed that it was the composers mission to go out on a limb to create and discover new modes of expression by combining the old ones, but never following already set musical fashions. The trick was to create a new unique sound that resounded as one solid stylistic sound as that reflected some of what the composer's personality entailed. He would teach his students exactly this and never steer them away from their original findings.
Dramatic
Im Zeichen des Kreuzes, incid music, 1938–9Laupenspiel, op.56, radio score, 1939Oedipus rex, op.72 (incid music, Sophocles), speaking choruses, wind, timp, 1944Die schwarze Spinne (op, 2, R. Faesi, G. Boner after J. Gotthelf), op.80, 1948, rev. 1954Accompanied Choral
Choral duets, op.22/1 (C. Morgenstern), male chorus, tpt, trbns, op.22/2 (C.F. Meyer), chorus, vn, fl, 1926–8Till Ulenspiegel, cant., op.24, T, B, male chorus, orch, 1929Vorfrühling (cant., Morgenstern), op.27, chorus, str, 1930Te Deum, op.33, chorus 2vv, tpt, trbn, timp, org, 1931Spruchkantate, op.38 (J. von Eichendorff), male chorus, str, 1933Musikalische Übung, op.39 (Ps xii, trans. M. Luther), chorus, org, 1934Das Gesicht Jesajas, orat, op.41, 1v, chorus, org, orch, 1933–5Die Versuchung Jesu, cant., op.44, A/B, unison vv ad lib, org, 1936Ps xciii, op.49, unison vv, org, 1937Genug ist genug (cant., Meyer), op.53, chorus, 2 tpt, timp, str, 1938–9Lob der Musik, cant., op.54, solo vv, chorus, orch, c1939Cantate Domino, op.61/2, S, chorus, str, timp, 1940Heimatliche Kantate (G. Keller), op.61/3, Mez/Bar, unison vv ad lib, orch, 1940Kreuzvolk der Schweiz (Meyer), op.61/4, chorus, org, 1941Das Jahr (orat, H. Hiltbrunner), op.62, solo vv, chorus, orch, 1942Christi Leidensverkündigung, cant., op.65, T, small chorus, org, 1942Cantique de notre terre (J.P. Zimmermann), op.67, solo vv, chorus, orch, 1943Mass, op.85, S, B, chorus, orch, 1951Psalmen-Kantate, op.90, S, chorus, org, chbr orch, 1952Ps clxviii, op.96, unison vv, insts, 1954Unaccompanied choral
2 Choruses, op.2, 1923Cant. (Bible), op.3, T, chorus, 1923Motets, op.10, boys' and male chorus, 19258 Sprüche aus dem ‘Cherubinischen Wandersmann’, 2 sets op.17/1, 2 (Silesius), 1927Ezzolied, op.19, motet, 1927; 5 Gesänge (R. Dehmel), op.26, 193024 Melodien aus den Hassler’schen Choralgesängen, op.30, 4vv, 1931Das deutsche Sanctus, 2 unison choruses, 1932Neue Kraft (suite, Bible etc.), op.34, 19324 Choruses, op.35, male chorus, 1936Der Tod, chorus 4vv, 1933Vermahnlied, 2–4vv, 1934Bärnerlüt, male chorus 4vv, 19352 Gesänge, chorus 4vv, 1936Choruses, op.47, male chorus, 1936Die Verkündigung Mariä, motet, op.51, 19385 Choräle, chorus, 1939Sommerzeit, op.61/1, 19409 folksong arrs. and chorus, female chorus, 19422 Choruses: Mon âme, bénis l’éternel, Oui, glorifiez l’éternel, 1942Kleiner Psalter, op.82, 1949; Frühlingsglaube (Keller), male chorus, 1950Wer das längere Lebensteil wünscht, male chorus 4vv, 19502 Gesänge, 2vv, 1952Die Sintflut, cant., op.97, chorus 8vv, 1954Orchestral
Vn Conc. no.1, op.7, 1925Suite aus der Musik zu einem Weihnachtsmärchen, op.12, 1926Sym., op.21, 1926–8Ulenspiegel-Variationen, op.37 [prelude to op.24], 1932Fantasy, op.40, str, 1934Kleine Serenade, op.42, str, 1935Conc., op.50, str, 1939Hymnus, op.57, 1939Concertino, op.60, vc, str, 1940Vn Conc. no.2, op.69, 1943; Sym., 1 movt, op.73, 1944Conc., op.74, org, str, brass, 1945Konzertstück, op.75, org, orch, 1945Canzona, op.76, 2 fl, low str, 1945Kleine konzertante Suite, op.79, 1946Piccola sinfonia giocosa, op.81, small orch, 1949Fantasia mattutina, op.83, 1949; Toccata, op.86, 1951Sonata da camera, op.89, str, perc, 1952Va Conc., op.93, 1953Concertino, op.94, 2 fl, hpd, str, 1954Divertimento, op.95, str, 1954Chamber and instrumental
Fantasie, op.1, pf, 1922Variationen über ein Volkslied, op.8, pf, 1925Inventionen, op.14, pf, 1926Str Trio, op.13, 1 movt, 1926Kleine zweistimmige Suite, op.14a [arr. op.14], 11 insts, 19263 Preludes and Fugues, op.16, pf, 1927; 2 Trio Sonatas, op.18, org, 1927; Kleine Serenade, op.15, vn, va, 1927; Stinis Puppe Theresli, pf, 1928; Str Qt no.1, op.23, 1929; Variations on a *Minuet by Haydn, op.29, pf, 1930Variations on Chorale settings by Hassler, op.28, org, 1930Kleine Stücke, op.31, pf, 1931Fantasie, op.32, org, 1931Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, partita, org, 1932Grosser Gott wir loben dich, partita, org, 1932Praeludium und Fuge, E, org, 1932Was die Hirten alles erlebten, pf, 1935Pf Trio, op.43, 1936Sonatina, op.45, vn, pf, 1936Suite, op.48, 2 vn, 19378 kleine Klavierstücke, 1938Sonatina, op.52, org, 1938Fantasy and Chorale ‘Ein feste Burg’, op.58, org, 1939Sonata, op.59, va, 1939Etude concertante, vc, pf, 1940Sonatina, pf, 1940Weichnachtssonatine, op.71/1, pf, 1940Sonata, op.66, pf, 1943Str Qt no.2, op.68, 1943Suite en miniature, op.71/2, vn, pf, 1944Serenade, op.71/3, fl, gui, c1945Serenade, op.77, fl, cl, bn, hn, vn, va, db, hp, 19454 intermezzi, op.77a, hp, 1945Sonata, op.78, vn, pf, 1946Canzona, op.76a, 2 fl/fl, ob, pf/org, 1947Sonata, op.87, vc, pf, 1952Lyrische Musik, op.88, fl, va, vc, pf, c1952Choral-Triptychon, op.91, org, 1953Serenade, op.92, fl, cl, 1953Suite, op.98, fl, 19556 Preludes, op.99, pf, 1955Romanze, hn, pfSolo vocal
7 Songs, op.4, 1v, pf, 1924–56 Songs, op.5, 1v, pf, 1923–54 Nachtlieder, op.6, 1v, pf, 1924Frage, op.9, song cycle, 1v, pf, 19253 Duets, op.11 (F. Hebbel), 2S, vn, 19262 Rilke Cycles, op.20/1, B, chbr orch, op.20/2, S, chbr orch, 192710 Songs, op.25, 1v, pf, 1930Herbst (cant., Morgenstern), op.36, S, pf trio, 1932Das ewige Brausen (K.L. Hamsun), op.46, B, orch, 1936Der Sonntag (cant., Gotthelf), op.63, Mez/Bar, pf trio, 1942Magnificat, op.64, S, org, 1942, arr. as op.64a, S, str, 19429 Songs, op.70 (Morgenstern), 1v, pf, 1943Und als der Tag der Pfingsten erfüllt war, op.84, A/B, org, 1951Psalmenmusik, S, orch, 1953