Sacher was considered the world's third-richest man of the 1990s after inheriting a fortune from his late wife,
Maja Hoffmann (1896–1989), who was the widow of
Emanuel Hoffmann (1896–1932) and heiress of the
pharmaceutical company
Hoffmann-La Roche. At the time of his death, Sacher was reputed in various publications to be the richest man in Europe. He died in 1999 at the age of 93. Sacher had 3 children outside marriage;
Commissions Immensely wealthy, Sacher commissioned works from many well-known composers, including: •
Igor Stravinsky (who provided him with the
Concerto in D) •
Béla Bartók (
Divertimento for Strings, the
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, the
String Quartet No. 6 and the
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta) •
Bohuslav Martinů (many works including the
Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani, Concerto da camera, etc.) •
Arthur Honegger (many works, including his
Second and
Fourth Symphony (
Deliciae Basilienses) •
Frank Martin (six works, including the
Petite symphonie concertante) •
Paul Hindemith •
Hans Werner Henze •
Richard Strauss •
Elliott Carter •
Witold Lutosławski (Sacher-Variationen,
Double Concerto,
Chain II) •
Henri Dutilleux (
Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher and ''Mystère de l'instant'') •
Harrison Birtwistle Pierre Boulez wrote his
Grawemeyer Award-winning work
Sur Incises for Sacher's 90th birthday. Boulez bequeathed his entire catalogue (including drafts) to the Paul Sacher Foundation. Henze dedicated his
Tenth Symphony to the memory of Sacher, who had commissioned it but died before its completion. In 1983, Sacher acquired the Stravinsky estate. The Paul Sacher Stiftung (Foundation) is located in the centre of Basel (in Münsterplatz) and houses one of the world's most important musical-manuscript collections. Sacher bought most of these manuscripts himself, and they include complete collections by several important twentieth-century composers (including
Lutosławski,
Ligeti,
Boulez and
Reich). In 1997, he received an honorary doctorate from the
Academy of Music in Kraków. =="eSACHERe"==