Carlo Hemmerling

Carlo Hemmerling was a musician, composer and choirmaster from Vaud.

Carlo Hemmerling studied music at the Lausanne Conservatory with Alexandre Denéréaz and R. Gayrhos, then at the École Normale de Paris , where he worked with Paul Dukas .

An excellent organist and improviser, Hemmerling first made a name for himself as a choirmaster. He was quickly recognized and appointed head of the Union chorale de Vevey , an ensemble with which he created a large part of his works, and presented many concerts with an orchestra of high artistic quality. Director of the Choir of Bienne then conductor of the Union chorale de Lausanne, he also conducts the Ladies' Choir of the Lausanne Conservatory and the University Choir. In 1957, he took over the direction of the Lausanne Conservatory and, from 1960, presided over the destinies of SUISA ( Swiss Societyfor the rights of authors of musical works). He also chairs the Cantonal Society of Vaudois Singers, and is a very active and appreciated member of the music commission of the Federal Singing Society as well as of the Council of the Lausanne Conservatory.

A prolific composer, he notably left a symphony, a suite for violin and orchestra, a Culliéranne suite for string orchestra, two string quartets, a sonata for violin and piano, six variations on the Vivat as well as many film scores ( Santorini , Wealth of the Earth , A Work , A People , Manouche , The Three Bells ) and stage ( The Veil of Fire , Polyphemus , We must swear to nothing , The Galant Bluebeard , Via Mala). But it is above all in the choral domain that Carlo Hemmerling excels. Among the a cappella choirs , let us mention the very famous O petit pays on a text by Gonzague de Reynold, then again Don Quixote and Sancho Panza , for four mixed voices a cappella , imposed at the Montreux competition in 1950, Une maison , Mie guillerette , Marching in step , The Hunt is on and The Good Syndic . Let us also mention three great occasional works, conceived for soloists, choir and orchestra: Rives bleues (Nyon, 1947), Le Chant des Noces (Lausanne, 1953) andThe Winegrowers' Festival (Vevey, 1955). The libretto and the poems of these three solid choral frescoes, dedicated to the Vaud region and its winegrowing and rural traditions, were all three written by Géo-Henri Blanc, also from Veveysan.

Carlo Hemmerling dies onOctober 3, 1967, in his home in Cully.