Paul Hindemith
Synopsis
German organist, composer, and teacher
- Born in Hanau, nr Frankfurt, Germany on November 16, 1895.
- He was taught music from an early age.
- He took violin from Anna Hegner, and Adolf Rebner.
- 1912-13 He studied composition with Arnold Mendelssohn (a great-nephew of Felix Mendelssohn)
- 1917 went into the army
- 1919 At this point after the war he considered himself primarily a composer.
- During this time his musical output increased with opears, chamber music, piano music, vocal works, parodies, entertainment music, and film scores
- His style turned from eclectic to his own style of impressionism
- He became a member of the programme committee of the Danaueschingen Festival.
- 1928 The festival focused on organ music.
- 1924 he married Gertrud Rottenberg
- 1927 He moved to Berlin to teach at the Berlin Musikhochscule.
- There he came to the conclusion that composition could not be taught, only the 'craft' of handling musical materials.
- He started researching music theory and acoustics.
- He was one of the first composers to offer classes in Film Music
- 1935 on the invitation of the Turkish government, moved to Turkey to oversea the organization of musical lifef there.
- During this time he helped Jewish musicians escape to Turkey
- 1935 published 'The Craft of Musical Compostion'
- 1937 He wrote Theoretischer Teil
- His composition period during the 1930's was based off the theory text he published
- 1940 he emigrated to the USA because of the outbreak of WWII
- He gave a series of lectures at Yale University
- 1941 He became a permanent staff of Yale University.
- He founded the Yale Collegium Musicum, for historically based performances.
- His music became very famous in the USA
- During this time he became obsessed with early music
- 1946 became an American citizen
- 1949 he heard that new music enthusiasts dismissed his later works as 'Old Iron'. He responded, "It is an honour to belong with the 'old iron'. Music history is full of old iron, and it was always more durable than new bullshit" (Oxford music Online)
- 1949 he became the Chair of Poetry at Harvard University
- 1949 became a teacher at the University of Zurich
- started conducting more than teaching in his later years
- Died Frankfurt, Germany on December 28, 1963
His compostitional style of his organ sonatas comes from his impressionistic period. His 2 Stucke Fur Orgel is more of the late romantic style harmonic ideas. Although his form styles are more traditional and based on chorales and such. His style is considered neoclassical although, he uses the contrapuntal style of JS Bach and Reger.
For details, see the Wikipedia article on Paul Hindemith.
List of Organ Works
| Opus | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Op. ?? | Organ Sonata No. 1 | 1937 |
| Op. ?? | Organ Sonata No. 2 | 1937 |
| Op. ?? | Organ Sonata No. 3 (on ancient folk songs) | 1940
l- l Op. ?? ll Organ Conceto ll 1963 |
Background and General Perspectives on Performing Howells Organ Works
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Registration and Organs
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Notes
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