"La Chance" Villa
Although Paul Hindemith had already taken up his teaching
activity in Zurich in the autumn of 1951, he apparently could not decide
whether or not to return to Europe for good, and continued to teach at
Yale University. On 2 May 1953 he finally took his leave from his students
at Yale, with a grandiose farewell party thrown by them.
A few months later, on 1 September 1953, Paul and Gertrud Hindemith moved
into the Villa La Chance in Blonay, where they were to spend their last
ten years together. The couple had consciously and intentionally created a
private refuge on Lake Geneva away from the hustle and bustle of the
University of Zurich, the address of which was known only to their closest
friends and relatives. Hindemith could only be reached through a concert
agency or at the address of the Zurich apartment that he used during the
semester.
The Chalet La Chance lies on a steep incline on the edge of Blonay in
a large garden that Paul and Gertrud Hindemith cultivated. Between
sometimes extended concert tours, Paul Hindemith withdrew to work in the
seclusion of this house.
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Besides his actual workroom on the first floor of the house, to which he affectionately referred as his "aquarium" because of its large picture window, Hindemith also used a small summer-house as a composing shed. From both of these places he could enjoy a magnificent view over Lake Geneva onto the Alps of Valais and the Savoy . |
When
they moved to Blonay, the Hindemiths brought together their
possessions from three phases of their lives into La Chance. Along
with their American belongings from the immediately preceding years
in New Haven, came some things from the period of Swiss exile and
large portions of their German possessions that had survived the
Berlin bombings with only slight damage. A few days after the move,
Paul Hindemith remarked in a letter to Karl Bauer, "it is very
strange to move around again in one's property after so many years," and Gertrud Hindemith described the move into La Chance
to the Frankfurt pianist Emma Lübbecke-Job in the following terms:
"For the first time in 15 years we have everything together
underneath one roof; we haven't yet unpacked and examined everything. It was strange to see a long-buried time come into being
again, dozens of faces on photographs that one can't remember... one
feels then what a deep cut such an emigration signifies. The old
pieces of furniture have held up best; despite bombs and water
damage they are more beautiful than ever and fit in well in this
house, furnished by an owner of around 1900 with bull's-eye panes
and other such antiquated attributes."
Gertrud Hindemith lived in the house for four years after her
husband's death, and began to catalogue the documents from Paul
Hindemith's estate during this time.
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