Paul Hindemith
Hindemith was a theorist, teacher, violist, conductor, and composer who is regarded by many as the foremost German composer of his generation, a central figure in music between the First and Second World Wars. His style combined neo-classicism with modern harmonic conventions and some jazz elements. Hindemith's works include opera, ballet, orchestral, choral, and chamber music. As a younger man, Hindemith idealized Gebrauchmusik, an aesthetic of use over beauty. Yet his best-known works, particularly the opera Mathis der Maler, are appreciated for their warmth; rich, even opulent orchestral colors and gestures; a unique multi-rhythmic sense; and flowing, rapid polyphony.
Born outside of Frankfurt, Hindemith moved with his family to the city in 1902. It was here, in 1904, that Hindemith began taking violin lessons. By 1908, he became a student of Adolf Rebner, a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, who arranged for Hindemith to be awarded a free place at the conservatory the following year. Although he had long been composing, Hindemith began to study composition formally in addition to continuing his study of the violin. However, he was forced to leave the conservatory in 1917 when he was called up for military service. He spent most of his service as a member of a regimental band stationed about three kilometers from the front line. After returning from the war, Hindemith again took to the concert stage with the Rebner Quartet, having switched to viola in 1919, but he began thinking of himself primarily as a composer. In this period, his music evolved from late-Romantic-era Expressionism meant for a specific purpose, occasion, or reason to a new style of absolute and objective music. In 1923, he was invited to join the administrative committee of the Donaueschingen Festival, a group over which he exerted an ever-increasing amount of control, programming works of such composers as Schoenberg and Webern. The next year, he married Gertrud Rottenberg, the daughter of the conductor of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, an ensemble in which Hindemith had been playing. His series of eight works entitled Kammermusik was composed during these years. In 1927, he received an appointment as professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. In addition to maintaining an active performing career, Hindemith soon developed a strong interest in teaching and even took on an evening class at the Volksmusikschule NeuKolln. Early in 1934, the Nazi party began a campaign to discredit Hindemith, which culminated in a boycott of the composer's works announced by the Kulturgemeinde in November of that year. In January 1935, Hindemith was given a six-month leave from the Hochschule. However, as the boycott of his music was not endorsed by the music division of the Nazi party until 1937, he was allowed not only to return to teaching, but also to undertake a series of concert tours abroad, to have his music published, and to enter into an agreement with the government of Turkey to build an organized musical life in that country. Also in 1935, Hindemith completed his most famous opera, Mathis der Maler, which he had begun in 1933. Given the political circumstances, it was not premiered until 1938, in Zurich, after Hindemith had left Germany for Switzerland. He then moved to the U.S. in 1940. After a series of lecture and teaching engagements that had been arranged by friends, he took a position at Yale, teaching composition and, from 1945 to 1953, conducting the Collegium Musicum. Hindemith became an American citizen in 1946. In 1951, he accepted a position at the University of Zurich and, after retiring from Yale in 1953, took up permanent residence in Switzerland. Hindemith had been composing sonatas for every orchestral instrument over the entire course of his career. The last one he completed was the Tuba Sonata, which dates from 1955, the same year he retired from his post in Zurich. After that, he became more active as a conductor. In November 1963, he was taken ill and transferred to a hospital in Frankfurt, where he died of acute pancreatitis.
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Hindemith: Violin Concerto - Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3
Classical - Released by Everest Records on 29 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live In Concert Recording #125
The University of Illinois Symphonic Band
Classical - Released by Soundset Recordings on 1 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Requiem "For Those We Love"
Classical - Released by Tuxedo Music on 30 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonatas - For Woodwind Instruments And Piano
Classical - Released by Equilibrium on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Requiem "For Those We Love"
Vienna State Opera Choir, Wiener Symphoniker, Paul Hindemith, Hans Braun, Elisabeth Höngen
Classical - Released by HORTUS on 5 Jan 1990
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Mathis Der Maler (Matthias the Painter), Symphony for Orchestra [Digitally Remastered]
South German Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 24 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mathis The Painter Symphony for Orchestra
Classical - Released by Digital Music Group, Inc. on 10 Feb 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Symphonie Mathis der Maler
Paul Hindemith, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Classically on 11 Apr 2024
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: March from Symphonic Metamorfosis
Paul Hindemith, Goteborg Wind Orchestra, Christian Lindberg
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on 23 Jul 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Paul Hindemith Horn Concerto
Dennis Brain, Paul Hindemith, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by In Vinyl We Trust on 28 Oct 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Organ Concertos
Paul Hindemith, Martin Haselböck, Wiener Symphoniker, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 6 Mar 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 11, No. 1 (Digitally Remastered)
Anneliese Ninen-Zsigmondy, Denes Zsigmondy
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 24 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis, counterpoint, tonal and technical studies for the piano (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 24 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Octet
The Fine Arts Quartet, The New York Woodwind Quartet, Irving Ilmer
Classical - Released by Concert-Disc on 3 Sep 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Works
Paul Hindemith, Jesús-María Sanromá, Arthur Fiedler Orchestra, Bruno Reibold, Arthur Fiedler
Classical - Released by Biddulph Recordings on 23 Nov 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master of Music, Hindemith - Horn Concerto, Konzertmusik Für Streichorchester Und Blechbläser, Op.50
Dennis Brain, Paul Hindemith, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Oscardigital on 21 Jul 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Konzertmusik Für Klavier, Blechbläser Und Harfen, Op. 49
Monique Haas, Paul Hindemith, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Classically on 18 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Harmony Of The Universe Symphony (Die Harmonie Der Welt)
Classical - Released by Legacy International on 27 Dec 1965
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto for Trumpet, Bassoon, and Strings
Classical - Released by Big Round Records on 5 May 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Sonata for Piano and Trombone
Christian Lindberg, Roland Pöntinen, Paul Hindemith
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on 4 Nov 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Musique de concert, Op. 50 & Symphonie in B-Flat Major (Mono Version)
Paul Hindemith, Philharmonia Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo