About Session
‘It takes a musician to raise a village. On the enchanting musical educational work of Swiss missionary Martin Schmid in Bolivia’ In the Jesuit Church in Lucerne, a simple plaque commemorates ‘P. Martin Schmid SJ (1694 in Baar – 1772 in Lucerne), missionary, architect, composer in Bolivia 1730-1767’, who succeeded in building thriving settlements in the Bolivian jungle with the help of music. Martin Schmid’s multifaceted musical work as a composer of Baroque music, innovative music teacher, and ingenious instrument maker is considered a unique example of successful acculturation based on respect for the indigenous population, the effects of which can still be felt 250 years later. Schmid’s idiosyncratic church buildings provided space for impressive musically designed masses and performances – and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Baroque compositions discovered during the restauration live on in the tradition of local music schools and have formed the basis of the international Chiquitos Baroque Music Festival since 1996, which has become a who’s who of the Baroque music scene worldwide and enjoys a growing audience. Regarding the community-building music and singing educational work of P. Martin Schmid we can asks: How can the lasting effectiveness of this historical impulse be explained? And what can we learn from it today?
