Swiss Radiophonic Art and Commissioned Compositions by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) at the Prix Italia

Tatiana Eichenberger

doi:10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2025.8.15.93

Authors

Tatiana Eichenberger Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland Author https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7744-5177

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2025.8.15.93

Keywords:

radiophonic art, musical work, electroacoustic music, auditory arts, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), promotion of music, Rai – Radiotelevisione italiana, Prix Italia, radio competition, radio archive

Abstract

Since its establishment as a public broadcaster in 1931, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) has been tasked with producing and disseminating information and entertainment programmes. Its cultural remit has also encompassed the promotion of culture, including music. One form of this promotion has been the distribution of composition commissions for different occasions. The inventory of these works, which is being compiled as part of the project “Music promotion over the airwaves. The SRG’s commissions of Classical Music and their Effects on Musical Life in Switzerland (1931–2021)” at Zurich University of the Arts, also includes a few pieces that SRG SSR submitted to the international competition Prix Italia. A systematic search in the Prix Italia archives brought up 221 works of Swiss radiophonic art that can be considered its representative selection. This contribution takes the opportunity to examine the collection of productions submitted to the competition by SRG SSR, offering a unique overview of Swiss radiophonic art and exploring its characteristics and development in the course of the entire competition. On the other hand, a look behind the scenes of the Prix Italia offers an impression of what has been understood as radiophonic art in the international European radio community and how it has transformed over the last 75 years of the radio history.

Author Biography

Tatiana Eichenberger, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland

Tatiana Eichenberger researches at the intersection of media studies and musicology. She studied musicology and media studies at the University of Basel and previously completed her musical training at the Bern University of the Arts (flute concert and teaching diploma). In 2022, she defended her dissertation at the University of Basel on the emergence of electronic studios at the broadcasting corporations in Europe in the post-war years and their significance in the transformation process of the audio arts into the electronic age. Since 2022, Eichenberger has been researching composition commissions of Swiss radio as part of the project “Music Promotion through the Ether” at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Since the end of 2024, Eichenberger has been part of the Basel University of Music’s project dedicated to the 50th anniversary of its Electronic Studio (ESB) and is working on compiling its archive and drawing up the studio’s history.

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