Maurice-Yves Sandoz (1892-1958)
Writer, composer and collector.
Maurice-Yves Sandoz was a man of many dimensions. After receiving a thorough scientific education (he completed his studies with a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Lausanne in 1920), his love of the arts, literature and music drove him to devote himself fully to those fields, not only as a patron and collector, but also as a writer and composer in his own right.
A perpetual traveller, he lived in Burier in Switzerland, in Rome and in Naples, in New York and Lisbon, also spending time in North Africa, India, England, Brazil and Mexico. He was also an incomparable host; wherever he made his home his guests included the most outstanding intellectuals and artists of his time, as well as personalities from other walks of life.
His passion for rare minerals, for the subtle mechanisms of Fabergé's creations, and the remarkable encounters that marked the stages of his life, all contributed to the exceptional character of this man of many talents.
His bibliography of about fifteen titles, spanning three decades from the twenties to the fifties, includes collections of short stories (Fantastic memories, On the Verge, etc.), novels (The Maze, The House without windows), plays (La Maîtresse, The Balance), poetry and travel writing. His work has appeared in a total of seventy-six editions in five languages, the most recent being a German edition of Der Friedhof von Skutari in 1992 and a Swiss edition of Le Labyrinthe in 1994. All of his narratives have a surrealist flavour, many being illustrated by famous artists such as Salvador Dali, whom Sandoz met in New York in the early forties.
As for the musical work of Maurice Sandoz, which is less abundant than his writings, it was influenced at first by Schumann, but subsequently fell into the French school of Duparc, Debussy and Fauré. Based essentially on piano and the voice, it includes a symphonic choreographic Suite, composed in honour of Serge de Diaghilev, and played in Montreux in 1913 with Ernest Ansermet as conductor.