Paul Hindemith
Encyclopedia
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, violist
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, teacher, music theorist and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
Biography
Born in HanauHanau
Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main. Its station is a major railway junction.- Geography :...
, near Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Hindemith was taught the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
as a child. He entered Frankfurt's Hoch’sche Konservatorium
Hoch Conservatory
Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...
, where he studied violin with Adolf Rebner
Adolf Rebner
Adolf Franklin Rebner was an Austrian violinist and violist....
, as well as conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and composition with Arnold Mendelssohn
Arnold Mendelssohn
Arnold Ludwig Mendelssohn was a German composer and music teacher.Mendelssohn was born in the then Ratibor, Province of Silesia, son of Felix Mendelssohn's second cousin Wilhelm Mendelssohn who had married in 1854 Louise Aimee Cauer...
and Bernhard Sekles
Bernhard Sekles
Bernhard Sekles was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue.Bernhard Sekles was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of Maximilian Seckeles and Anna, . The family name Seckeles was changed by Bernhard Sekles to Sekles. From 1894 to 1895 he was the third Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater...
. At first he supported himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy groups. He became deputy leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra in 1914, and was promoted to leader
Concertmaster
The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
in 1917. He played second violin in the Rebner
Adolf Rebner
Adolf Franklin Rebner was an Austrian violinist and violist....
String Quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
from 1914. In 1921 he founded the Amar Quartet
Amar Quartet
The Amar Quartet, also known as the Amar-Hindemith Quartet, was a musical ensemble founded by the composer Paul Hindemith in 1921 in Germany, and was extremely active in both classical and modern repertoire until being disbanded in 1929...
, playing viola, and extensively toured Europe.
In 1922, some of his pieces were played in the International Society for Contemporary Music
International Society for Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.ISCM was established in 1922, in Salzburg. Its core activity is the World Music Days Festival, held every year at a different location. The festival includes cutting edge productions...
festival at Salzburg, which first brought him to the attention of an international audience. The following year, he began to work as an organizer of the Donaueschingen Festival
Donaueschingen Festival
The Donaueschingen Festival is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen...
, where he programmed works by several avant garde composers, including Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
. From 1927 he taught composition at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik
Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK is a public art school in Berlin, Germany, one of the four universities in the city...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
During the 1930s he made a visit to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and several visits to Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
where (at the invitation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
) he led the task of reorganizing Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
music education and the early efforts for the establishment of Turkish State Opera and Ballet
Turkish State Opera and Ballet
The State Opera and Ballet is the national directorate of opera and ballet companies of Turkey, with venues in Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Antalya and Samsun...
. Towards the end of the 1930s, he made several tours in America as a viola and viola d'amore
Viola d'amore
The viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
soloist.
Hindemith's relationship to the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
is a complicated one. Some condemned his music as "degenerate" (largely on the basis of his early, sexually charged operas such as Sancta Susanna
Sancta Susanna
Sancta Susanna is an early opera by Paul Hindemith in one act, with a German libretto by August Stramm. Composed over a two week period in January/February 1921, its premiere was on 26 March 1922, at Opernhaus, Frankfurt....
), and in December 1934, during a speech at the Berlin Sports Palace, Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
publicly denounced Hindemith as an "atonal noisemaker."
Other officials working in Nazi Germany, though, thought that he might provide Germany with an example of a modern German composer, who by this time was writing music based in tonality, and with frequent references to folk music; the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
's defense of Hindemith, published in 1934, takes precisely this line.
The controversy around his work continued throughout the thirties, with the composer falling in and out of favor with the Nazi hierarchy; he finally emigrated to Switzerland in 1938 (in part because his wife was Jewish).
In 1935, Hindemith was commissioned by the Turkish government to reorganize that country's musical education, and, more specifically, was given the task of preparing material for the "Universal and Turkish Polyphonic Music Education Programme" for all music-related institutions in Turkey, a feat which he accomplished to universal acclaim.
This development seems to have been supported by the Nazi regime: it may have got him conveniently out of the way, yet at the same time he propagated a German view of musical history and education. (Hindemith himself said he believed he was being an ambassador for German culture.)
Hindemith did not stay in Turkey as long as many other émigrés. Nevertheless, he greatly influenced the developments of Turkish musical life; the Ankara State Conservatory
Ankara State Conservatory
The Ankara State Conservatory, the first conservatory to be founded in the Republic of Turkey, was established in 1936 by a directive of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.- Notable attendees :* Paul Hindemith* Carl Ebert* Evelyn Baghtcheban* Samin Baghtcheban...
owes much to his efforts. In fact, Hindemith was regarded to be a "real master" by young Turkish musicians and he was appreciated and greatly respected.
In 1940, Hindemith emigrated to the United States. At the same time that he was codifying his musical language, his teaching and compositions began to be affected by his theories, according to critics like Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
. Once in the U.S. he taught primarily at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
where he had such notable students as Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
, Graham George
Graham George
Graham Elias George was a Canadian composer, music theorist, organist, choir conductor, and music educator of English birth. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists largely of choral works written in the 20th-century Anglican style. He also wrote three ballets,...
, Norman Dello Joio
Norman Dello Joio
- Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the...
, Mel Powell
Mel Powell
Mel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
, Harold Shapero
Harold Shapero
Harold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
, Hans Otte
Hans Otte
Hans Otte born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany was a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen...
, Ruth Schonthal
Ruth Schonthal
Ruth Schönthal was a pianist and contemporary composer.-Early years:...
, and Oscar-winning film director George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...
. During this time he also gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures
The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard University was established in 1925 as an annual lectureship in "poetry in the broadest sense" and named for the university's former professor of fine arts. Distinguished creative figures and scholars in the arts, including painting,...
at Harvard, from which the book A Composer's World was extracted (Hindemith 1952). Hindemith had a long friendship with Erich Katz
Erich Katz
Erich Katz was a German-born musicologist, composer, music critic, musician and professor. He fled the Nazis in 1939, arriving first in England, emigrating to the United States in 1943, where he became a citizen. He was a driving force behind the early music and recorder movements in the United...
, whose own compositions were influenced by him.
He became an American citizen in 1946, but returned to Europe in 1953, living in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and teaching at the university there. Towards the end of his life he began to conduct more, and made numerous recordings, mostly of his own music.
An anonymous critic writing in Opera magazine in 1954, having attended a performance of Hindemith's Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage is an opera in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer....
, noted that "Mr Hindemith is no virtuoso conductor, but he does possess an extraordinary knack of making performers understand how his own music is supposed to go". He was awarded the Balzan Prize
Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...
in 1962.
After a prolonged decline in his physical health (though he kept composing until almost the last), Hindemith died in Frankfurt from pancreatitis
Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It occurs when pancreatic enzymes that digest food are activated in the pancreas instead of the small intestine. It may be acute – beginning suddenly and lasting a few days, or chronic – occurring over many years...
at the age of 68.
Hindemith's music
Hindemith is among the most significant German composers of his time. His early works are in a late romanticRomantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
idiom, and he later produced expressionist works, rather in the style of early Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, before developing a leaner, contrapuntally
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
complex style in the 1920s. This style has been described as neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, but is very different from the works by Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
labeled with that term, owing more to the contrapuntal
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
language of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
than the Classical clarity of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
.
The new style can be heard in the series of works called Kammermusik
Kammermusik (Hindemith)
Kammermusik is the name given to a series of eight musical compositions by the German composer Paul Hindemith.Written between 1921 and 1927, the first two works are for small ensembles , and share the opus number 24. Kammermusik No...
(Chamber Music) from 1922 to 1927. Each of these pieces is written for a different small instrumental ensemble, many of them very unusual. Kammermusik No. 6
Kammermusik (Hindemith)
Kammermusik is the name given to a series of eight musical compositions by the German composer Paul Hindemith.Written between 1921 and 1927, the first two works are for small ensembles , and share the opus number 24. Kammermusik No...
, for example, is a concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
for the viola d'amore
Viola d'amore
The viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
, an instrument that has not been in wide use since the baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
period, but which Hindemith himself played. He continued to write for unusual groups throughout his life, producing a trio for viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, heckelphone
Heckelphone
The heckelphone is a musical instrument invented by Wilhelm Heckel and his sons. Introduced in 1904, it is similar to the oboe but pitched an octave lower.-General characteristics:...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(1928), a sonata for double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and a concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
for trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, and strings (both in 1949), for example.
Around the 1930s, Hindemith began to write less for chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
groups, and more for large orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l forces. In 1933-35, Hindemith wrote his opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Mathis der Maler
Mathis der Maler (opera)
Mathis der Maler is an opera by Paul Hindemith. The libretto is also by the composer.The opera's genesis lay in Hindemith's interest in the Protestant Reformation...
, based on the life of the painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Matthias Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald or "Mathis" , "Gothart" or "Neithardt" , , was a German Renaissance painter of religious works, who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the expressive and intense style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century.Only ten paintings—several consisting...
. This opera is rarely staged, though a well-known production by the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
in 1995 was an exception (Holland 1995). It combines the neo-classicism of earlier works with folk song
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. Hindemith turned some of the music from this opera into a purely instrumental symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
(also called Mathis der Maler
Mathis der Maler (symphony)
Symphony: Mathis der Maler is among the most famous orchestral works of German composer Paul Hindemith. The symphony is based on themes from Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler, which concerns the painter Matthias Grünewald .Hindemith composed the symphony in 1934, before he had completed work on...
), which is one of his most frequently performed works.
Hindemith wrote Gebrauchsmusik (Music for use) - compositions intended to have a social or political purpose and sometimes written to be played by amateurs. The concept was inspired by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
. An example of this is his Trauermusik
Trauermusik
Trauermusik is a suite for viola and orchestra, written on 21 January 1936 by Paul Hindemith at very short notice in honour of King George V of the United Kingdom, who died the previous night...
(Funeral Music), written in January 1936. Hindemith was preparing the London premiere of Der Schwanendreher
Der Schwanendreher
Paul Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher is a concerto for viola and orchestra. Der Schwanendreher occupies a place at the core of the viola concerto repertoire, along with the concertos by Walton and Bartók. It was composed in 1935 and premiered by the composer himself at a performance in Amsterdam on...
when he heard news of the death of George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. He quickly wrote this piece for solo viola and string orchestra in tribute to the late king, and the premiere was given that same evening, the day after the king's death.
Hindemith's most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is probably the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, written in 1943. It takes melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
from various works by Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
, mainly piano duets, but also one from the overture to his incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for Turandot (Op. 37/J. 75), and transforms and adapts them so that each movement of the piece is based on one theme.
In 1951, Hindemith completed his Symphony in B-flat
Symphony in B-flat for Band
Symphony in B for Band was written by Paul Hindemith, an influential German composer known for writing music in a variety of genres, including orchestral, opera, chamber, ballet, vocal and many more. The piece was completed in 1951 and premiered on April 5 of that year by the U.S. Army Band...
. Scored for concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
, it was written for the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own". Hindemith premiered it with that band on April 5 of that year. Its second performance took place under the baton of Hugh McMillan, conducting the Boulder Symphonic Band at the University of Colorado. The piece is representative of his late works, exhibiting strong contrapuntal lines throughout, and is a cornerstone of the band repertoire. Hindemith recorded it in stereo with members of the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in 1956.
Hindemith's musical system
Most of Hindemith's music employs a unique system that is tonal but non-diatonic. Like most tonal music, it is centered on a tonic and modulates from one tonal center to another, but it uses all 12 notes freely rather than relying on a scale picked as a subset of these notes. Hindemith even rewrote some of his music after developing this system. One of the key features of his system is that he ranks all musical intervalsInterval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
of the 12-tone equally tempered scale from the most consonant
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
to the most dissonant
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
. He classifies chords in six categories, on the basis of how dissonant they are, whether or not they contain a tritone, and whether or not they clearly suggest a root or tonal center. Hindemith's philosophy also encompassed melody—he strove for melodies that do not clearly outline major or minor triads.
In the late 1930s, Hindemith wrote a theoretical book The Craft of Musical Composition (Hindemith 1937–70), which lays out this system in great detail. It presented the compositional technique he had been using throughout the 1930s and would continue to use for the rest of his life. He also advocated this system as a means of understanding and analyzing the harmonic structure of other music, claiming that it has a broader reach than the traditional roman numeral approach to chords (an approach that is strongly tied to the diatonic scales). In the same book, Hindemith uses his system to analyze his own music alongside music of J.S. Bach, and even that of Arnold Schoenberg.
His piano work of the early 1940s, Ludus Tonalis
Ludus Tonalis
Ludus Tonalis , subtitled Kontrapunktische, tonal, und Klaviertechnische Übungen , is a piano work by Paul Hindemith that was composed in 1942 during his stay in the United States.The piece starts with a three-part Praeludium in C resembling Bach's toccatas, and ends with a Postludium...
is seen by many as a further example or exploration of this system. It contains twelve fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
s, in the manner of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, each connected by an interlude during which the music moves from the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of the last fugue to the key of the next one. The order of the keys follows Hindemith's ranking of musical intervals around the tonal center of C.
One traditional aspect of classical music that Hindemith retains is the idea of dissonance resolving to consonance. Much of Hindemith's music begins in consonant territory, progresses rather smoothly into dissonance, and resolves at the end in full, consonant chords. This is especially apparent in his "Concert Music for Strings and Brass".
Works
See List of compositions by Paul Hindemith and List of operas by Hindemith.Pedagogical writings
- Unterweisung im Tonsatz, 3 vols. (Mainz: Schott, 1937–70) [English edition, as The Craft of Musical Composition, vol. 1: Theoretical Part, trans. by Arthur Mendel (New York: Associated Music Publishers; London: Schott, 1942) & vol. 2: Exercises in Two-Part Writing, trans. by Otto Ortmann (New York: Associated Music Publishers; London: Schott, 1941)]
- A Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony (1943)
- Elementary training for Musicians (1946)
Notable students
- Samuel AdlerSamuel Adler (composer)Samuel Hans Adler is an American composer and conductor.-Biography:Adler was born to a Jewish family in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Hugo Chaim Adler, a cantor and composer, and Selma Adler. The family fled to the United States in 1939, where Hugo became the cantor of Temple Emanuel in...
- Violet ArcherViolet ArcherViolet Archer, CM was a Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, organist, and percussionist. Born Violet Balestreri in Montreal, Quebec, her family changed their name to Archer. She died in Ottawa....
- John AvisonJohn AvisonJohn Avison, CM was a Canadian conductor and pianist. From 1938 to 1980, he was the founding conductor of the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra . He was a longtime member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and was married to VSO violinist Angelina Avison...
- Irwin BazelonIrwin BazelonIrwin Bazelon was an American composer of contemporary classical music.Contemporary American composer Irwin Bazelon’s music is known for its interesting rhythms and its emphasis on the brass and percussion sections. In total, Bazelon composed nine symphonies and over sixty orchestral, chamber, and...
- Charles L. BestorCharles L. BestorCharles Lemon Bestor is an American composer of contemporary classical music, professor, and administrator....
- Easley Blackwood Jr.Easley Blackwood Jr.Easley Blackwood, , is a professor of music, a concert pianist, a composer of music, some using unusual tunings, and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of microtonal tunings and traditional harmony.Blackwood was born in Indianapolis, Indiana...
- Wernher von BraunWernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
- Arnold CookeArnold CookeArnold Atkinson Cooke was a British composer.-Career:He was born at Gomersal, West Yorkshire into a family of carpet manufacturers. He was educated at Repton School and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History, but he was already attracted to a career in music...
- Norman Dello JoioNorman Dello Joio- Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the...
- Emma Lou DiemerEmma Lou DiemerEmma Lou Diemer is an American composer. Diemer has written many works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, keyboard, voice, chorus , and electronic media...
- Alvin EtlerAlvin EtlerAlvin Derald Etler was an American composer and oboist.-Career:A student of Paul Hindemith, Etler is noted for his highly rhythmic, harmonically and texturally complex compositional style, taking inspiration from the works of Bartók and Copland as well as the dissonant and accented styles of...
- Lukas FossLukas FossLukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
- Harald GenzmerHarald GenzmerHarald Genzmer was a German composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Born in Blumenthal, near Bremen, Germany, he studied composition with Paul Hindemith at the Berlin Hochschule für Music beginning in 1928.From 1938 he taught at the Volksmusikschule Berlin-Neukölln...
- Olga GorelliOlga GorelliOlga Gorelli, was well known for her musical talents as a composer and pianist. Olga Gorelli, maiden name Gratch, immigrated to the United States in 1937 with her family and settled in New Jersey. She married a physician, and had two children. She was a resident of Pennington, New Jersey...
- Bernhard HeidenBernhard HeidenBernhard Heiden was a German and American composer and music teacher, who studied under and was heavily influenced by Paul Hindemith...
- Andrew HillAndrew HillAndrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
- Ulysses KayUlysses KayUlysses Simpson Kay was an African American composer. His music is mostly neoclassical in style....
- Heinrich KonietznyHeinrich KonietznyHeinrich Josef Konietzny was a German musician, professor and composer.-Life:...
- Mitch LeighMitch LeighMitch Leigh is an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical Man Of La Mancha.-Biography:Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York) as Irwin Michnick...
- Walter LeighWalter LeighWalter Leigh was an English composer. Leigh is most famous for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture Agincourt and The Frogs of Aristophanes for chorus and orchestra...
- Willson OsborneWillson OsborneWillson Osborne was an American composer.After completing the undergraduate program in composition and music theory at the University of Michigan , Osborne was a student of Paul Hindemith at Yale University. Osborne was, like his mentor, a neoclassical composer...
- Hans OtteHans OtteHans Otte born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany was a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen...
- William P. PerryWilliam P. PerryWilliam P. Perry is an American composer and television producer.-Life and career:Born in Elmira, New York in 1930, he attended Harvard University and studied with Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston, and Randall Thompson...
- Mel PowellMel PowellMel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
- Franz ReizensteinFranz ReizensteinFranz Theodor Reizenstein was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his career there, including teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music and Boston University, as well as performing.-Life and work:Franz...
- John Donald RobbJohn Donald RobbJohn Donald Robb was an American composer, ethnomusicologist, arts administrator, and attorney from New Mexico. He was a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served as Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957...
- Oskar SalaOskar SalaOskar Sala was a 20th century German physicist, composer and a pioneer of electronic music born in Greiz. He played an instrument called the Trautonium, a predecessor to the synthesizer.-Studies:...
- Ruth SchonthalRuth SchonthalRuth Schönthal was a pianist and contemporary composer.-Early years:...
- Harold ShaperoHarold ShaperoHarold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
- Alan ShulmanAlan ShulmanAlan Shulman was an American composer and cello virtuoso. He wrote a considerable amount of symphonic music, chamber music, and jazz music. Trumpeter Eddie Bailey said, "Alan had the greatest ear of any musician I ever came across. He had better than perfect pitch...
- Joseph TalJoseph TalJosef Tal , was an Israeli composer. He wrote three Hebrew operas; four German operas; dramatic scenes; six symphonies; thirteen concerti; chamber music, including three string quartets; instrumental works; and electronic compositions...
- Francis ThorneFrancis ThorneFrancis Thorne is an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé.-Life:...
Recordings
Hindemith conducted some of his own music in a series of recordings for EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
with the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
and for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
, which have been digitally remastered and released on CD. The Violin Concerto was also recorded by Hindemith for Decca/London, with the composer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
with David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....
as soloist. Everest Records
Everest Records
Everest Records was a stereophonic record label based in Bayside, Long Island started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music.-History:...
issued a recording of Hindemith's postwar When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (Hindemith)
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for those we love is a 1946 composition by composer Paul Hindemith, based on the poem of the same name by Walt Whitman. Conductor Robert Shaw commissioned the work after the 1945 death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
("A Requiem for Those We Love") on LP, conducted by Hindemith. A stereo recording of Hindemith conducting the requiem with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, with Louise Parker and George London
George London
George London may be:*George London , Canadian operatic bass-baritone*George London *Sir George Ernest London, of the Newfoundland Commission of Government...
as soloists, was made for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1963 and later issued on CD. He also appeared on television as a guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
's nationally syndicated "Music from Chicago" series; the performances have been released by VAI on home video. A complete orchestral music collection has been recorded by German and Australian orchestras, all released on the CPO label, recordings all conducted by Werner Andreas Albert.
Hindemithon Festival
A yearly festival of Hindemith's music, Hindemithon, is held at William Paterson UniversityWilliam Paterson University
William Paterson University is a comprehensive public institution located in Wayne, New Jersey serving nearly 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students through five colleges: , , , , and ....
in Wayne, New Jersey.
Media
Sources
- Ansermet, Ernest. 1961. Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine. 2 v. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière.
- Briner, Andres. 1971. Paul Hindemith. Zürich: Atlantis-Verlag; Mainz: Schott.
- Bruhn, SiglindSiglind BruhnSiglind Bruhn is a German musicologist and concert pianist.-Biographical Sketch:Siglind Bruhn was born in Hamburg. Her father was the engineer Ernst Bruhn, her mother the interpreter Leonore Bruhn née Kieberger...
(1998). The Temptation of Paul Hindemith. Mathis der Maler as a Spiritual Testimony. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-1-57647-013-8. - Bruhn, Siglind. 2000. Musical Ekphrasis in Rilke's Marienleben. Internationale Forschungen zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft 47. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 90-420-0800-8.
- Bruhn, Siglind. 2005. The Musical Order of the World: Kepler, Hesse, Hindemith. Interplay, no. 4. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 978-1-57647-117-3.
- Davenport, LaNoue. 1970. ""Erich Katz: A Profile"". The American Recorder (Spring): 43–44. Retrieved November 2, 2011
- Eaglefield-Hull, ArthurArthur Eaglefield HullArthur Eaglefield Hull was an English music critic, writer, composer and organist.Hull was initially a music student of Tobias Matthay and graduated with a Doctorate of Music from Oxford University...
. (Ed.). 1924. A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians. London: Dent. - Hindemith, Paul. 1937–70. Unterweisung im Tonsatz. 3 vols. Mainz, B. Schott's Söhne. First two volumes in English, as The Craft of Musical Composition, translated by Arthur Mendel and Otto Ortmann. New York: Associated Music Publishers; London: Schott & Co., 1941-42.
- Hindemith, Paul. 1952. A Composer's World, Horizons and Limitations. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Holland, Bernard. 1995. "Music Review; City Opera Gamely Flirts with Danger". New York Times, 9 September.
- Kater, Michael H. 1997. "The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich". New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kater, Michael H. 2000. "Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits". New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kemp, Ian. 1970. Hindemith. Oxford Studies of Composers 6. London, New York: Oxford University Press.
- Neumeyer, David. 1986. The Music of Paul Hindemith. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Noss, Luther. 1989. Paul Hindemith in the United States. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
- Preussner, Eberhard. 1984. Paul Hindemith: ein Lebensbild. Innsbruck: Edition Helbling.
- Skelton, Geoffrey. 1975. Paul Hindemith: The Man Behind the Music: A Biography. London: Gollancz.
- Taylor-Jay, Claire. 2004. "The Artist-Operas of Pfitzner, Krenek and Hindemith: Politics and the Ideology of the Artist". Aldershot: Ashgate.
External links
- Hindemith Foundation
- Hindemith Foundation list of compositions
- Schott Musik Publisher page
- The Paul Hindemith Collection at Yale University Music Library
- Art of the States: Paul Hindemith
- An Inner Emigration, notes on Hindemith and Der Schwanendreher by Ron DrummondRon DrummondRonald Norman Drummond is an American writer, editor, and independent scholar, currently living in Troy, New York.-Writer:...