Villa La Chance in Blonay
In June 1953 Paul and Gertrud Hindemith moved to Switzerland. As a residence, they chose the area on Lake Geneva that they already knew from their time in Bluche. They moved into a hotel in Vevey and began looking for a house to live in. On 1 August they bought the Villa La Chance in Blonay, a small town overlooking Lake Geneva between Montreux and Vevey, and had their belongings sent from Berlin and New Haven.
Paul Hindemith wrote about the first weeks in the new house: «Our new house is turning out very well. It is really a delight to have all one's things together once again after so many years. Of course there is still much work to do before everything is in good order, but it's fun getting there. The address is easy: Blonay – but that's only for publishing and private correspondence. If my address ever has to be given to any outsiders, then always just Vevey, poste restante. This place is teeming with so many famous and pseudo-famous folks from whom I'd like to distance myself somewhat.»
The Villa La Chance, where the Hindemiths lived for the rest of their lives, also served them as a retreat into their private sphere, which they rigorously shielded from strangers. They furnished their house in a correspondingly personal manner. Hints of the «lion,» Gertrud's zodiacal sign, were found everywhere: on pictures, inn signs, benches and lamps. Hindemith decorated a hidden garden house with signs of the lion, in which he also composed during the summer, as well as walls of the house.
The extensive library that they could now set up for the first time, documented their extraordinarily wide-ranging literary interests. The reference library in Hindemith's work room comprised an impressive collection of music-theoretical works. He also kept the collected works of Heinrich Daniel Zschokke, one of his favourite authors during his late years. Of particular value were the scores bearing dedications; Hindemith received dedications from many important twentieth-century composers. Working in the garden and drawing provided relaxation, as did making Christmas cards for friends.