HINDEMITH, PAUL

Leading contemporary composer and theorist; b. Hanau, Germany, Nov. 16, 1895; d. Frankfurt, Dec. 28, 1963. He learned to play violin as a child; and after attending a conservatory in Frankfurt, he became experienced as concertmaster, soloist, and quartet player, all fruitful for his composing career. From 1927 he taught composition at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik and in 1937 he published his influential Unterweisung im Tonsatz (translated by A. Mendel as The Craft of Musical Composition [New York 1941; rev. 1945]). In keeping with its principles he revised some of his own works, notably Das Marienleben (1923, 1948), a song cycle based on R. M. Rilke's poetry. When his activities were curtailed by the Nazis, he moved to Switzerland in 1938 and in 1940 to the U.S., becoming a citizen in 1946. He taught at Yale University from 1940, then at the University of Zurich (1953–56). In later years he was attracted to Catholicism, and in 1963 he wrote a Mass for unaccompanied mixed choir. In 1962 he shared the Balzan Prize—one of his numerous honors—with Pope John XXIII. His prolific output includes music in almost every category. Best known are the symphonic Mathis der Maler (1934), derived from his opera inspired by Matthias grÜnewald's Isenheim altarpiece, and the parallel opera-into-symphony Die Harmonie der Welt (1951). His theories as well as his style constitute a rallying point for neoclassicists, although his interest in contrapuntal forms, German folk songs, and chant evoke the baroque or earlier periods. Strongly opposed to 12-tone composition, he recognized the force of tonality and assigned central importance to the major triad.

Bibliography: Paul Hindemith: Catalogue of Published Works and Recordings (Schott; London 1954: suppl. 1962). n. del mar, "Paul Hindemith," European Music in the Twentieth Century, ed. h. hartog (New York 1957). e. preussner, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–) 6:439–451. n. cazden, "Hindemith and Nature," Music Review 15 (1954) 288–306. m. breivik, "Arnold Schönberg og Paul Hindemith: Individualister på funksjonalistisk grunn," Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning 78 (1996) 11–24. a. forte, "Paul Hindemith's Contribution to Music Theory in the United States," Journal of Music Theory 42 (1998) 1–14. p. hindemith, Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith, ed. and tr. g. skelton (New Haven, Conn. 1995). m. kube, "Paul Hindemiths Jazz-Rezeption: Stationen einer Episode,"

Musiktheorie, 10 (1995) 63–72. j. c. santore, "Attitudes toward Sexuality and the Tonal Structure of Hindemith's Sancta Susanna, " Opera Journal 30/2 (1997) 2–10. p. thalheimer, "Hindemith heute: Anmerkungen zur Aufführungspraxis seines Trios für Blockflöten," Tibia: Magazin für Holzbläser 20 (1995) 586–593. m. venuti, "Morire per la bellezza: una metafora dell'artista moderno nel capolavoro di Paul Hindemith," Rassegna Musicale Curci 52 (1999) 16–19.

[h. braunlich]