Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1982 Ernest Ansermet
Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of Ernest Ansermet
Obverse: Profile Bust of Ernest Ansermet and music notes.
Lettering: ERNEST ANSERMET 1883-1969
Reverse: Value and date
Lettering: 5 FR CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 1983
Engraver: Jean Lacoultre
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars)
Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Thickness: 1.5 mm.
Shape: Round.
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet (born November 11, 1883, Vevey, Switzerland — died February 20, 1969, Geneva), Swiss conductor known for his authoritative interpretations of the works of 20th-century French and Russian composers and for his keen intellectual approach to problems of contemporary musical aesthetics.
Ansermet studied at Lausanne and from 1906 to 1910 taught mathematics there. Later he studied composition under the Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch and conducted under two outstanding figures, Felix Mottl and Arthur Nikisch. About 1914 he met Stravinsky and in 1915 he became conductor of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. In 1918 he formed the renowned Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, of which he remained the conductor until his retirement in 1967. He frequently toured Europe with the orchestra and made many recordings with it. Ansermet was a notable exponent and interpreter of the works of Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Roussel, and other contemporary composers. Late in life he turned against 12-tone music (e.g., in his book The Fundamentals of Music in the Human Consciousness, 1961), although he continued to espouse other contemporary music.
His own works include a symphonic poem, settings of poems by Baudelaire, and the orchestration of Debussy’s Épigraphes antiques.