I always suspected there was more to Paul Hindemith than meets the ear. No question, he was one of the 20th century’s most influential composers, especially in the United States, where he offered a respectable alternative for young composers to the Schoenberg school of twelve-tone composition. But he sure could blanch the color out of tonality. You can have your tonal music, but don’t let it get too voluptuous!
Of course, it wasn’t always that way. There was an iconoclastic edge to a lot of his earlier works. At least they made one sit up and take notice – including the Nazis, who booted him out of Germany. Occasionally, he’d come up with something like “Mathis der Maler,” which manages to be both sober and spiritual. But seldom does he rollick, as he does in his popular “Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.” I suppose letting down your hair doesn’t necessarily come naturally to one who doesn’t have any.
Blame it on Hindemith’s philosophical adherence to “gebrauchsmusik” – in English, “utility music” – functional music written on demand, whether the Muse happens to be “in” or not. Hindemith penned reams of it. But it’s not all like being trapped in the back seat of your parents’ car on a long trip with nothing but a gray crayon.
Clearly the man did have a sense of humor, and liked to share inside jokes with his wife, Gertrud, whom he married in 1924. There is, for example, the Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra, with its third-movement allusions to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.” The work was premiered on May 15, 1949 – the couple’s silver wedding anniversary.
Hindemith was also a talented draughtsman, whether doodling in his manuscripts or sketching a mural on an outside wall of their Swiss villa. He was especially fond of designing his own Christmas cards. Sometimes the drawings were Thurberesque, with perhaps just a touch of Gerard Hoffnung’s whimsy when approaching musical subjects. Sometimes they were executed with a little more care.
He frequently included lions in his drawings. This was not a reference to St. Jerome, but rather to Hindemith’s wife, who happened to be a Leo. I find that touching, and rather human. A good deal more so than some of his music.
Happy birthday, Paul Hindemith!
A sample of Hindemith’s drawings
https://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/drawings/
More about his relationship with Gertrud
http://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/biography/1918-1927/life/marriage/
Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra (with Mendelssohn allusions beginning around 10:49)
Classic recording of “Mathis der Maler” Symphony, conducted by William Steinberg
Hindemith in a rare swashbuckling mood, from the “Symphonic Metamorphosis”
Hindemith the iconoclast (punctuated by a siren)
One of my most hated Hindemith works – get out the gray crayons!
And one of the most touching, written in a mere six hours the day after the death of King George V, as a last-minute replacement for Hindemith’s viola concerto “Der Schwanendreher,” and played by the composer himself on a live radio broadcast over the BBC not long after completing it at 5 p.m.
