Hindemith, Paul

Hindemith, Paul (b Hanau, 1895; d Frankfurt, 1963). Ger.-born Amer. composer, conductor, violist, and teacher (Amer. cit. 1945). Became first violinist in Frankfurt Opera orch. 1915 and Rebner Qt. Served in Ger. Army 1917–19, but continued to compose and to play in str. qt. Returned to opera orch. Left Rebner Qt. 1921. Two 1-act operas, Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen and Das Nusch-Nuschi, were cond. by Fritz Busch, Stuttgart 1921 and by Ludwig Rottenberg (whose daughter, Gertrud, Hindemith married in 1924) in Frankfurt 1922 (with a 3rd opera Sancta Susanna). These works, later disowned as prentice pieces, had a succès de scandale. His 2nd str. qt. was perf. Donaueschingen 1921, by qt., with Hindemith as violist, led by Licco Amar. This led to the permanent est. of the Amar Qt., which played only modern works. Hindemith left the Frankfurt Opera orch. in 1923, concentrating on his work with the Amar Qt. and as a member of the selection committee for Donaueschingen fests.

In 1927 Hindemith became teacher of comp. at Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Among his pupils were Franz Reizenstein, Walter Leigh, and Arnold Cooke. Also working in Berlin were 2 conds. who had championed Hindemith's mus., Furtwängler at the Phil. and Klemperer at the Kroll Opera. In 1929, because of pressure of work, Hindemith disbanded the Amar Qt. His satirical opera Neues vom Tage (News of the Day) was prod. in Berlin under Klemperer in summer 1929 (the first opera to incl. a sop. singing in her bath, which shocked Hitler); and his cantata Lehrstück, to a text by Brecht, created a scandal at the 1929 Baden-Baden Festival. In Oct. 1929 Hindemith made his first visit to London, where he was soloist in the f.p. of Walton's va. conc., having met Walton at Salzburg in 1923.

In 1933, the year Hitler came to power, Hindemith began work on an opera on the subject of the painter Matthias Grünewald, a medieval artist with a social conscience. He arr. 3 interludes as a suite, which he called the Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter) Sym. These were performed by the Berlin PO under Furtwängler in Mar. 1934 and were an immediate success. But official criticism of his mus. now began to be voiced publicly. Furtwängler wrote an article in Nov. 1934 defending Hindemith and opposing his ‘political denunciation’. As a result of the ensuing controversy, the Nazis forbade prod. of the Mathis opera. In 1935 Hindemith accepted an invitation from Turkey to est. a mus. sch. On his return from Ankara, he found the régime friendlier towards him and a Frankfurt première for Mathis seemed possible. But in 1936, after ‘demonstrative’ applause for Kulenkampff's playing of the new vn. sonata, Goebbels banned all further perfs. of Hindemith's mus. After a further spell in Turkey in 1937, Hindemith resigned from the Berlin Hochschule and visited NY to give lectures. He then settled in Switzerland, and in May 1938 Mathis der Maler was staged in Zurich, but mention of the event was forbidden in Ger. newspapers. In Feb. 1940 he sailed for the fourth time to the USA, this time to stay indefinitely. He was appointed visiting prof. of the theory of mus. at Yale Univ., and also was head of advanced comp. at the Berkshire summer fest. at Tanglewood, where his pupils in 1940 incl. Lukas Foss and Leonard Bernstein. He returned to Europe in 1947, visiting Italy, Holland, Belgium, Eng., Ger., Austria, and Switzerland where he renewed friendship with Furtwängler. In 1949–50 he spent a year at Harvard Univ. as Norton Prof., giving the Charles Eliot Norton lectures, later pubd. as A Composer's World. In 1951 he accepted a teaching post at Zurich Univ., dividing his time with his duties at Yale, but in 1953 resigned from Yale and returned to Europe. Cond. Vienna PO at Salzburg Fest. (1952) and Beethoven's 9th Sym. at Bayreuth (1953).

Hindemith is invariably associated with the term Gebrauchsmusik (utility mus.) but this is a misleading and drab name for his attitude to his art, which was that audiences should participate as well as listen. In his Berlin teaching days, therefore, he comp. works which could be used for teaching and would also provide material for amateurs. His title for this type of work was Sing-und Spielmusik (Music to Sing and Play). Examples are his children's opera Wir bauen eine Stadt (Let's Build a Town—echoed years later by Britten in Let's Make an Opera)—and Plöner Musiktag (A Day of Music in Plön), which is a series of instr. and choral pieces written for schoolchildren in Schleswig-Holstein.

Like his friend Walton, Hindemith began as an enfant terrible and ended by being regarded by the avant-garde as an ultra-conservative. He rejected the extremist methods of the avant-garde (but this did not prevent him from writing for an early elec. instr., the trautonium). His early works show the influences of Strauss and Reger, succeeded by Stravinsky and Bartók. As his style developed, his rhythmic drive and partiality for contrapuntal textures grew more evident, coupled with a reticent lyricism. This lyricism grew more evident at the time of Mathis der Maler, while his harmonic idiom was based on well-controlled dissonant tensions. Tonality was the firm basis of all his comps. The severe reaction against his mus., which eventually slackened, was as unjust as it was unthinking. The best of his mus. occupies an important place in the history of 20th-cent. comp. Prin. works:OPERAS: Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (Murderer, the Hope of Women), 1-act, text by Kokoschka, Op.12 (1919); Das Nusch-Nuschi, 1-act, text by Blei, Op.20 (1920); Sancta Susanna, 1-act, text by Stramm, Op.21 (1921); Cardillac, Op.39 (1926, new version 1952); Hin und Zurück, Op.45a (1927); Neues vom Tage (1928–9, new version 1953); Mathis der Maler (1933–5); Die Harmonie der Welt (The Harmony of the World) (1956–7); The Long Christmas Dinner (Das lange Weihnachtsmahl) (1960). Also realization of Monteverdi's Orfeo (1943).THEATRE PIECES: Tuttifäntchen, mus. for children's Christmas play (1922); Lehrstück (Lesson on Consent), cantata to text by Brecht (1929); Wir bauen eine Stadt, children's opera (1930).BALLETS: Der Dämon, Op.28 (1922); Nobilissima Visione (1938); Hérodiade (1944).ORCH.: Lustige Sinfonietta, Op.4 (1916); Dance Suite, Das Nusch-Nuschi, Op.20 (1921); Concerto for Orchestra, Op.38 (1925); Concert Music, pf., brass, hps., Op.49 (1930); Concert music, str., brass, Op.50 (1930); Philharmonic Concerto (1932); sym., Mathis der Maler (1934); Symphonic Dances (1937); suite Nobilissima Visione (1938); The Four Temperaments, theme and vars., str., solo pf. (1940, perf. as ballet 1946); Sym. in E♭ (1940); Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1940–3); Symphonia Serena (1946); Sinfonietta in E (1949–50); sym. in B♭, concert band (1951); Sym. Die Harmonie der Welt (1951); Pittsburgh Symphony (1958); March (1960).KAMMERMUSIK SERIES: No.1 (small orch.) Op.24 (1922); Kleine Kammermusik (wind quintet) Op.24 No.2 (1922); No.2 (pf. conc. with 12 instr.) Op.36 No.1 (1924), No.3 (vc. conc. with 10 instr.) Op.36 No.2 (1925), No.4 (vn. conc.) Op.36 No.3 (1925), No.5 (va. conc.) Op.36 No.4 (1927), No.6 (va. d'amore conc.) Op.46 No.1 (1927), No.7 (org. conc.) Op.46 No.2 (1927).CONCERTOS (besides those above): Concert Music, va., large chamber orch., Op.48 (1930); Concert Piece, trautonium, str. (unpubd.) (1931); Der Schwanendreher, va., small orch., based on folk-songs (1935); Trauermusik, va., str. (1936); vn. conc. (1939); vc. conc. (1940); pf. conc. (1945); cl. conc. (1947); hn. conc. (1949); conc. for ww., hp., orch. (1949); conc., tpt., bn., str. (1949); org. conc. (1962).CHORUS & ORCH.: Das Unaufhörliche (The Perpetual), oratorio, sop., ten., bar., and bass, ch., orch., text by G. Benn (1931); Requiem When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (text by Whitman), mez., bar., ch., orch. (1946); Ite, angeli veloces (Go, flights of angels), cantata to text by Claudel in 3 parts: I, Triumphgesang Davids, alto, ten., ch., orch., wind band, spectators (1955), II, Custos quid de nocte, ten., ch., orch. (1955), III, Cantique de l'espérance, mez., ch., orch., wind band, spectators (1953); Mainzer Umzug, sop., ten., bar., ch., orch. (1962).VOICE & ORCH.: Die junge Magd, 6 Trakl songs, cont., fl., cl., str. qt., Op.23 No.2 (1922); Das Marienleben, 15 Rilke songs, sop., pf., Op.27 (1922–3; rev. version 1948, begun 1936; version with orch. Nos.1–4 1938, Nos.5–6 1959); Die Serenaden, cantata, sop., ob., va., vc., Op.35 (1924).CHAMBER MUSIC: 3 Pieces, vc., pf., Op.8 (1917); str. qt. No.1, Op.10 (1918), No.2, Op.16 (1920), No.3, Op.22 (1921), No.4, Op.32 (1923), No.5 (1943), No.6 (1945); vn. sonata in E♭, Op.11 No.1, in D, Op.11 No.2 (1918); va. sonata in F, Op.11 No.4, solo va., Op.11 No.5, vc. sonata, Op.11 No.6 (1919); solo va. sonata, Op.25 No.1, va. d'amore sonata, Op.25 No.2, solo vc. sonata, Op.25 No.3, va. sonata (unpubd.), Op.25 No.4 (1922); cl. quintet, Op.30; solo va. sonata (unpubd.), Op.31 No.4, Canonic sonata, 2 fl., Op.31 No.3 (1923); sonatas for solo vn., Op.31 Nos. 1 and 2 (1924); str. trio, Op.34 (1924); 3 Pieces for cl., tpt., vn., db., pf. (1925); trio for pf., va., heckelphone (or tenor sax.), Op.47 (1929); 14 Easy Duets, 2 vn. (1931); str. trio (1933); Scherzo, va., vc. (1934); vn. sonata in E (1935); fl. sonata (1936); bn. sonata; 3 Easy Pieces, vc., pf.; qt., cl., vn., vc., pf.; ob. sonata (1938); va. sonata in C; vn. sonata in C; cl. sonata; hp. sonata; tpt. sonata (all 1939); ca. sonata; tb. sonata; A Frog he went a-courting, vars., vc., pf. (all 1941); sax. sonata (1943); vc. sonata; septet for wind instr. (both 1948); db. sonata (1949); sonata for 4 hn. (1952); tuba sonata (1955); octet (1957–8).PIANO: Tanzstücke, Op.19 (1920); Suite 1922 (1922); Klaviermusik, Op.37 (Part I 1925, Part II 1926); mus. for film Vormittagsspuk, player-pf. (unpubd.) (1928); pf. sonata No.1 in A, No.2 in G, No.3 in B♭ (1936); sonata (4 hands) (1938); sonata for 2 pf. (1942); Ludus Tonalis (1942).ORGAN: org. sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (1937), No.3 (1940).VOCAL: 8 Lieder, sop., pf., Op.18 (1920); Das Marienleben, sop., pf., Op.27 (1922–3, rev. 1936–48); 6 Songs on Old Texts, unacc. ch., Op.33 (1923); 4 3-part choruses for boys (1930); 2 Hölderlin Songs (1933); 4 Hölderlin Songs (1935); 5 Songs on Old Texts, unacc. ch. (rev. version to Eng. texts of 6 Songs, 1923, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 6, with new song Wahre Liebe, 1937); 3 Choruses, male vv., 6 Chansons, ch., Variations on an Old Dance Song, male vv. (all 1939); La Belle Dame Sans Merci, v., pf.; 7 Songs to Eng. texts (both 1942); Sing on There in the Swamp, v., pf. (1943); To music (1944); Apparebit repentina dies, ch., brass (1947); 2 Songs to words by Oscar Cox, v., pf. (1955); 12 Madrigals, ch. (1958); Mass, unacc. ch. (1963). 13 Motets, sop. or ten., pf. (comp. in following order: No. 8 (1940–1), No.13 (1943), Nos. 2 and 11 (1944), Nos. 5 and 7 (1958), Nos. 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 (1959), Nos. 1 and 12 (1960).COMMUNAL & EDUCATIONAL MUSIC: Spielmusik, str., fls., obs., Op.43 No.1; Lieder für Singkreise (Songs for Group Singing), unacc. ch., Op.43 No.2 (1926); Schulwerk für Instrumental-Zusammenspiel (Educational Music for Instrumental Ensembles), str., Op.44 (1927); Sing-und Spielmusik für Liebhaber und Musikfreunde (Music to Sing and Play, for Amateurs and Music-lovers), Op.45; Frau Musica, 2 solo vv., ch., str., Op.45 No.1 (1928, as In Praise of Music 1943); Plöner Musiktag (1932).BOOKS: The Craft of Musical Composition (Unterweisung im Tonsatz) Vol. I, Theoretical (1935–7), Vol. II, Exercises in 2-part writing (1938–9), Vol. III, 3-part Writing (posth.); A Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony (1942–3); Elementary Training for Musicians (1945–6); A Composer's World: Horizons and Limitations (Norton Lectures, Harvard 1949–50; pubd. in Eng. 1950, in Ger. as Komponist im seiner Welt, 1953); Johann Sebastian Bach, Heritage and Obligation (Frankfurt Lecture, 1950).