The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM)
- was founded in 1922 on the occasion of the Salzburg Music Festival by many of the most famous composers of the time. The aim of the newly founded society was the promotion of new music and the possibilities of its being performed. For this purpose a yearly festival in one of the member countries, changing the location every year, was instituted. Meanwhile 48 nations from all the continents are member of the international society.
- The annual festivals of new music, the World New Music Days that last from one to two weeks, have undergone changes in every country, but the aim of presenting compositions in approximately equal numbers from all member countries has remained the same, which means that the festival is not one of great stars but gives an idea of the position of every country with respect to New Music, to Avantgarde.
- Although the ISCM has often been said to have died, especially at the time of the totalitarian regimes (Hitler named it "degenerate" music (entartete Musik), Stalin considered it not to be "music of socialist realism"), it has been able to hold its own up to the present times.
Bibliography
Anton Haefeli: IGNM, Die Internationale Gesellschaft für neue Musik - Ihre Geschichte von 1922 bis zur Gegenwart. Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag (Zürich 1982)
History of the ISCM Zürich / pro musica
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| Booklet 25 years (PDF 0.7 MB) | Publication 50 years Pro Musica |
After one of the ISCM festivals had been very successfully staged in Zürich in 1926 (it was the fourth festival after Salzburg in 1923, Prague and Salzburg in 1924 and Venice in 1925) the association Pro Musica Zürich joined the ISCM in form of a local group.
Originally, in addition to New Music - spelt in capital letters, meaning the at that time specific new music of Europe - old pre-classical music, which was in those days no longer played, figured on the programme of Pro Musica. As the pre-classical music was more and more often found in general concert programmes, this activity was no longer required. In its place Electronic Music found its way into the programme as early as 1953.
1957 and 1991 further ISCM World Music Days took place in Zürich. The Pro Musica logo, which had been designed by Max Bill in 1935, was kept on until 1994 when it was decided that the vague Latin name "pro musica" was to be replaced by the more unmistakable IGNM Zürich (ISCM Zürich) so that a new logo had to be created.
The association has approx. 200 members and is financed by membership subscriptions and by subsidies by the city and canton of Zürich.
Bibliography
Joseph Willimann: pro Musica - der neuen Musik zulieb (50 Jahre Pro Musica, Ortsgruppe Zürich der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Neue Musik). Atlantis Musikbuch (Zürich 1988)
Anton Haefeli: Die internationalen Musikfeste in Zürich (161.Neujahrsblatt der Allgemeinen Musikgesellschaft Zürich) Verlag Hug & Co. (Zürich 1977)
25 Jahre Pro Musica. Verzeichnis der Werke und der Mitwirkenden (ed. Hermann Leeb) – PDF)