Paul Sacher

Swiss conductor, patron and impresario. In 1926 he founded the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Basler Kammerorchester), which specialized in both modern (twentieth-century) and pre-classical (mid-eighteenth-century) repertory. Immensely wealthy, he commissioned works from many well-known composers. Pierre Boulez wrote his Grawemeyer Award-winning work Sur Incises for Sacher's 90th birthday. Boulez bequeathed his entire catalogue (including drafts) to the Paul Sacher Foundation. Henze dedicated his Tenth Symphony to Sacher's memory, who had commissioned it but died before itz completion. In 1983, Sacher acquired the Stravinsky estate. The Paul Sacher Stiftung (Foundation) is located in the center of Basel (in Münsterplatz) and houses one of the world's most important musical-manuscript collections. Sacher bought most of these manuscripts himself, and they include complete collections by several important twentieth-century composers (including Lutosławski, Ligeti and Boulez). In 1997, he received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Kraków. He was considered the world's third-richest man of the 1990s after marrying the heiress of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann–La Roche. At the time of his death, he was reputed in various publications to be the richest man in Europe. He died 26 May 1999, aged 93. Link to Wikipedia biography