The commission for the Swiss Rhapsody came from the three Swiss cantonal band associations of Fribourg, Wallis, and Luzern, which were looking for a first class piece for their cantonal music contests. They approached Felix Hauswirth with the question of whether it was possible to give this commission to the Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas. Hauswirth got in contact with Hidas and his publisher Ben Cruiming, and Hidas composed the Swiss Rhapsody. What was unique about this commission was the fact that the commissioners wanted to supervise the composing process.
