I wrote Heidi in response to what I believed were divine promptings. Once the scenes were planned in 1996, I wrote the musical over a period of 20 years, from 1997 to 2017. The composition of many of the piano-vocal scores and orchestrations was supervised by Donald Grantham, Professor of Composition at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author with Kent Kennan of the college textbook The Technique of Orchestration.
My exposure to traditional Swiss songs came from my experience as a vocal coach/ accompanist at the San Francisco Conservatory. One of the singers I worked with was of Swiss descent, and had inherited her grandmother’s Swiss songbook, as well as her traditional Swiss outfits. We performed some of these songs on her recital, and as she swayed gracefully in her full- skirted dirndl, her whole appearance and her lovely voice mirrored the freshness and purity of the music she was singing. I was captivated.
We performed some of these songs on her recital, and as she swayed gracefully in her full- skirted dirndl, her whole appearance and her lovely voice mirrored the freshness and purity of the music she was singing. I was captivated.
Anne Adams Notario
I related my experience of playing Swiss songs to my housemate, who was also of Swiss descent. To my surprise, she then produced her own ancient copy of the same songbook we were using. It was only after I had moved to another state that I began writing the musical, but on my visits back to my former home, I borrowed her songbook and copied songs I thought I might use. They were all from the 19th century or earlier and were no longer under copyright laws. (The two known composers are credited in the program.) I have found no mention of that songbook on the Internet. As my housemate is deceased now and I long ago lost touch with the singer, it turns out that I had only a brief period of access to that book, whose songs give an authentic Swiss flavor to Heidi.