Musica with Harp

History of the work

On the façade of the Conservatory at Kramgasse 36 is a sandstone relief: “Musika mit Harfe” (Music with Harp) by Jakob Probst, dated 1940. In the same year, from 29 July to 1 August, the music school moved into the new building on Kramgasse whose façade carries the relief.

The building has a history of its own. The music school, founded in 1858 and the second oldest in Switzerland after Geneva, moved several times; from 1927 it was called a conservatory. At the end of 1935 its supporter Max Kaufmann learned that the old Schaal on Kramgasse, still used for selling cheap meat, was to make way for a new building. The city bought the property, the voters agreed, and demolition began on 4 July 1938. The building, costing about 940 000 francs, was financed mainly from job-creation loans. The cold winter of 1938/39 and the outbreak of war delayed the work by seven months.

Jakob Probst, born in Reigoldswil in 1880 as the son of a watchmaker, first trained as a carpenter and attended the building school in Munich from 1906. In Paris he took a modelling course with Antoine Bourdelle, actually only a requirement for studying architecture, and then decided to become a sculptor. From 1913 he worked in Basel, and from 1932 he lived in Peney near Geneva. His well-known works include the soldiers' memorial in Liestal and the Henri Dunant monument in Geneva; in 1952 he took part in the Venice Biennale. He died in Vira in the Gambarogno in 1966.

The building was extended in 1955 and 1970 and thoroughly renovated by the city in 2009/10. The street façades are clad in sandstone, so the relief is made of the same material as the old-town frontage. Walking along Kramgasse, look up at number 36.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Jakob Probst · SIKART: Jakob Probst · HLS: Jakob Probst (Thomas Freivogel) · Hochbau Stadt Bern: Instandsetzung Musikschule Konservatorium Bern (2010) · Wikimedia Commons: Sandsteinrelief Musika mit Harfe (Jakob Probst 1940)