View source for Paul Hindemith

{{short description|German composer (1895–1963)}}
{{redirect|Hindemith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Paul Hindemith
| image         = Paul Hindemith 1923.jpg
| image_upright = 
| caption       = Hindemith in 1923
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1895|11|16|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Hanau]], German Empire
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1963|12|28|1895|11|16|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Frankfurt]], West Germany
| education     = [[Hoch Conservatory|Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium]]
| occupation    = {{plainlist|
* Violist
* Composer
* Teacher
}}
| works         = [[List of compositions by Paul Hindemith|Compositions]]
| organization  = {{plainlist|
* [[Oper Frankfurt|Frankfurt Opera Orchestra]]
* [[Amar Quartet]]
* [[Donaueschingen Festival]]
* [[Yale University]]
* [[University of Zürich]]
}}
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* [[Howland Memorial Prize]]
* [[Pour le Mérite]]
* [[Wihuri Sibelius Prize]]
* [[Balzan Prize]]
}}
}}

'''Paul Hindemith''' ({{IPAc-en|'|p|aʊ|l|_|'|h|ɪ|n|d|ə|m|ɪ|t}} {{respell|POWL|_|HIN|də|mit}}; {{IPA|de|ˌpaʊ̯l ˈhɪndəmɪt|lang|De-Paul Hindemith.ogg}}; 16 November 1895{{spnd}}28 December 1963) was a German and American composer, [[music theorist]], teacher, [[violist]] and conductor. He founded the [[Amar Quartet]] in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''[[Neue Sachlichkeit]]'' (New Objectivity) style of music in the 1920s, with compositions such as ''[[Kammermusik (Hindemith)|Kammermusik]]'', including works with viola and [[viola d'amore]] as solo instruments in a neo-[[Bach]]ian spirit. Other notable compositions include his song cycle ''[[Das Marienleben]]'' (1923), his oratorio [[Das Unaufhörliche]] (1931),<ref>[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review?slug=hindemith-das-unaufh%C3%B6rliche "Hindemith (Das) Unaufhörliche"] ''Gramaphone''</ref> ''[[Der Schwanendreher]]'' for viola and orchestra (1935), the opera ''[[Mathis der Maler (opera)|Mathis der Maler]]'' (1938) and the symphony ''[[Symphony: Mathis der Maler|Mathis der Maler]]'' (1934), the ''[[Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber]]'' (1943), and the oratorio ''[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (Hindemith)|When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]'' (1946), a requiem based on [[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd|Walt Whitman's poem]]. Hindemith and his wife emigrated to Switzerland and the United States ahead of World War II, after worsening difficulties with the [[Nazi]] German regime. In his later years, he conducted and recorded much of his own music.

Most of Hindemith's compositions are anchored by a [[Tonic (music)|foundational tone]], and use [[musical form]]s and [[counterpoint]] and [[cadence]]s typical of the Baroque and Classical traditions. His harmonic language is more modern, freely using all 12 notes of the [[chromatic scale]] within his tonal framework, as detailed in his three-volume treatise, ''The Craft of Musical Composition''.

==Life and career==
Paul Hindemith was born in [[Hanau]], near [[Frankfurt]], the eldest child of the painter and decorator Robert Hindemith from [[Lower Silesia]] and his wife Marie (née Warnecke).<ref name="lexm" /> He was taught the violin as a child. He entered Frankfurt's [[Hoch Conservatory|Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium]], where he studied violin with [[Adolf Rebner]], as well as conducting and composition with [[Arnold Mendelssohn]] and [[Bernhard Sekles]]. At first he supported himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy groups. He became deputy leader of the [[Oper Frankfurt|Frankfurt Opera Orchestra]] in 1914 and was promoted to [[concertmaster]] in 1916.<ref name="Mootz">{{cite news |last=Mootz |first=William |title=Hindemith To Conduct Sinfonietta Here Next Week |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52000849/paul-hindemith-mootz/ |work=[[The Courier-Journal]] |location=Louisville, KY |date=19 February 1950 |page=69 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref> He played second violin in the [[Adolf Rebner|Rebner]] [[String quartet|String Quartet]] from 1914.

After his father's 1915 death in [[World War I]], Hindemith was conscripted into the [[Imperial German Army]] in September 1917 and sent to a regiment in [[Alsace]] in January 1918.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Schubert |first=Giselher |author-link=Giselher Schubert |title=Hindemith, Paul |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013053 |url-access=subscription |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.13053}} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> There he was assigned to play bass drum in the regiment band, and also formed a string quartet. In May 1918 he was deployed to the front in [[Flanders]], where he served as a sentry; his diary has him "surviving grenade attacks only by good luck", according to ''[[New Grove Dictionary]]''.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> After the armistice he returned to Frankfurt and the Rebner Quartet.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1921, Hindemith founded the [[Amar Quartet]], playing viola, and extensively toured Europe with an emphasis on contemporary music. His younger brother [[Rudolf Hindemith|Rudolf]] was the original cellist.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |type=Liner notes |url=https://arbiterrecords.org/catalog/hindemith-as-interpreter-the-amar-hindemith-string-quartet/ |first=Tully |last=Potter |publisher=Arbiter Records |id=139 |title=Hindemith as Interpreter: The Amar-Hindemith Quartet |date=2003 |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref>

{{listen|image=none|help=no|filename=Hindemith - Marienleben 1.flac|title=''Das Marienleben''|description=the opening of the song cycle|format=[[flac]]}}
As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''[[Neue Sachlichkeit]]'' (New Objectivity) style of music in the 1920s, with compositions such as ''[[Kammermusik (Hindemith)|Kammermusik]]''. Reminiscent of Bach's ''[[Brandenburg Concertos]]'', they include works with viola and viola d'amore as solo instruments in a neo-Bachian spirit.<ref name="www.roh.org.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://www.roh.org.uk/people/paul-hindemith|title=Paul Hindemith — People — Royal Opera House|website=www.roh.org.uk|access-date=22 August 2018}}</ref> In 1922, some of his pieces were played in the [[International Society for Contemporary Music]] festival at [[Salzburg]], which first brought him to the attention of an international audience. The next year, he composed the [[song cycle]] ''[[Das Marienleben]]'' (''The Life of Mary'') and began to work as an organizer of the [[Donaueschingen Festival]], where he programmed works by several [[avant-garde]] composers, including [[Anton Webern]] and [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. In 1927 he was appointed Professor at the [[Berlin University of the Arts|Berliner Hochschule für Musik]] in Berlin.<ref name="Dict.">''A Dictionary of Twentieth Century World Biography''. United Kingdom: [[Book Club Associates]], 1992, p. 267.</ref> Hindemith wrote the music for [[Hans Richter (artist)|Hans Richter]]'s 1928 avant-garde film ''[[Ghosts Before Breakfast]]'' (''Vormittagsspuk'') and also acted in the film; the score and original film were later [[Nazi book burnings|burned by the Nazis]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilke|first1=Tobias|title=Medien der Unmittelbarkeit|year=2010|publisher=Wilhelm Fink|location=Munich|isbn=978-3-7705-4923-8|page=63|language=de}}</ref> In 1929, Hindemith played the solo part in the premiere of [[William Walton]]'s [[Viola Concerto (Walton)|viola concerto]], after [[Lionel Tertis]], for whom it was written, turned it down.

On 15 May 1924, Hindemith married the actress and singer Gertrud (Johanna Gertrude) Rottenberg (1900–1967).<ref name="lexm">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Maurer Zenck |first=Claudia |editor-first1=Claudia |editor-last1=Maurer Zenck |editor-first2=Peter |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first3=Sophie |editor-last3=Fetthauer |url=https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00002010 |title=Paul Hindemith |encyclopedia=[[Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit]] |date=2018 |publisher=Universität Hamburg |location=Hamburg |access-date=8 August 2020}}</ref> The marriage was childless.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/biography/1918-1927/life/marriage/|title=Marriage: Paul Hindemith|website=www.hindemith.info}}</ref>

The [[Nazism|Nazis]]' relationship to Hindemith's music was complicated. Some condemned his music as "[[Degenerate art|degenerate]]" (largely based on his early, sexually charged operas such as ''[[Sancta Susanna]]''). In December 1934, during a speech at the [[Berlin Sports Palace]], Germany's Minister of Propaganda [[Joseph Goebbels]] publicly denounced Hindemith as an "atonal noisemaker".<ref name=turk/> The Nazis banned his music in October 1936, and he was subsequently included in the 1938 [[Degenerate music|Entartete Musik]] (Degenerate Music) exhibition in [[Düsseldorf]].<ref name="ORT">{{Cite web|url=http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/hindemith-paul/|title=Music and the Holocaust: Paul Hindemith |publisher=[[World ORT|ORT]] |website=holocaustmusic.ort.org |access-date=22 August 2018}}</ref> Other officials working in [[Nazi Germany]], though, thought that he might provide Germany with an example of a modern German composer, as, by this time, he was writing music based in tonality, with frequent references to folk music. The conductor [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]]'s defence of Hindemith, published in 1934, takes this line.<ref>Furtwängler 1934.</ref> The controversy around his work continued throughout the thirties, with Hindemith falling in and out of favour with the Nazis.

During the 1930s, Hindemith visited [[Cairo]] and also [[Ankara]] several times. He accepted an invitation from the Turkish government to oversee the creation of a music school in Ankara in 1935, after Goebbels had pressured him to request an indefinite leave of absence from the Berlin Academy.<ref name="ORT" /> In Turkey, he was the leading figure of a new music pedagogy in the era of president [[Kemal Atatürk]]. His deputy was [[Eduard Zuckmayer]]. Hindemith led the reorganization of Turkish music education and the early efforts to establish the [[Turkish State Opera and Ballet]]. He did not stay in Turkey as long as many other émigrés, but he greatly influenced Turkish musical life; the [[Ankara State Conservatory]] owes much to his efforts. Young Turkish musicians regarded Hindemith as a "real master", and he was appreciated and greatly respected.<ref name=turk>{{cite book |title=Turkey's Modernization: Refugees from Nazism and Atatürk's Vision |year=2006 |publisher=New Academia Publishing |isbn=978-0-9777908-8-3 |chapter=Chapter 5: The Creators |pages=88–90 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMc8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |editor-first=Arnold |editor-last=Reisman |access-date=5 April 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Paul Hindemith USA.jpg|thumb|Hindemith during the 1940s]]
Toward the end of the 1930s, Hindemith made several tours of America as a viola and [[viola d'amore]] soloist.

He emigrated to [[Switzerland]] in 1938, partly because his wife was of part-Jewish ancestry; "it was primarily Hindemith's conflict with the artistic policies of the Third Reich, however, that determined his decision to leave."<ref>{{cite book |last=Steinberg |first=Michael |title=The Concerto: A Listener's Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8oXNX2tY8AC&pg=PA205 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |page=205 |access-date=23 March 2013 |isbn=978-0-19-802634-1}}</ref>

At the same time that he was codifying his musical language, Hindemith's teaching and compositions began to be affected by his theories, according to critics such as [[Ernest Ansermet]].<ref>Ansermet 1961, note to p.&nbsp;42 added on an errata slip.</ref> Arriving in the U.S. in 1940, he taught primarily at [[Yale University]],<ref>{{cite news |date=25 October 1964 |title=Yale Plans to honor Composer Paul Hindemith |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52001131/paul-hindemith-yale/ |work=[[The Bridgeport Post]] |location=Bridgeport, CT |page=46 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref> where he founded the Yale Collegium Musicum.<ref name="www.roh.org.uk" /> At Yale, he required his students to study composition and theory from his pedagogical work, ''The Craft of Musical Composition'', among other educational texts. Because of his commitments outside the university, the number of composers who studied under Hindemith was small. According to Luther Noss's ''A History of the Yale School of Music 1855–1970'', Hindemith taught for a little over ten years, teaching 400 students, of whom 46 earned degrees, mostly in music theory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Forte |first1=Allen |last2=Hindemith |first2=Paul |date=January 21, 1998 |title=Paul Hindemith's Contribution to Music Theory in the United States |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2909%28199821%2942%3A1%3C1%3APHCTMT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1&origin=crossref |journal=Journal of Music Theory |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=6 |jstor=843851 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> He had such notable students as [[Lukas Foss]], [[Graham George]], [[Andrew Hill (jazz musician)|Andrew Hill]], [[Norman Dello Joio]], [[Mel Powell]], [[Yehudi Wyner]], [[Harold Shapero]], [[Hans Otte]], [[Ruth Schönthal]], [[Samuel Adler (composer)|Samuel Adler]], [[Leonard Sarason]], Fenno Heath, [[Mitch Leigh]], and [[George Roy Hill]]. Hindemith also taught at the [[University at Buffalo]], [[Cornell University]], and [[Wells College]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/biography/1939-1945/life/courses-as-an-instructor/|title=Courses as an Instructor: Paul Hindemith|website=www.hindemith.info}}</ref> During this time he gave the [[Charles Eliot Norton Lectures]] at [[Harvard]], from which the book ''A Composer's World'' (1952) was extracted.<ref>Hindemith, Paul (1952). ''A Composer's World: Horizons and Limitations''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.</ref> Hindemith had a long friendship with [[Erich Katz]], whose compositions were influenced by him.<ref>Davenport 1970, p. 43.</ref> Also among Hindemith's students were the future rocket scientist [[Wernher von Braun]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Bob |date=2005 |title=Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun |isbn=978-1-591-14926-2 |page=11|publisher=Naval Institute Press}}</ref> and the composers [[Franz Reizenstein]], [[Harald Genzmer]], [[Oskar Sala]], [[Arnold Cooke]],<ref>Lessing, Kolja (2002). [http://www.eda-records.com/177-1-CD-Details.html?cd_id=49 Notes to ''Franz Reizenstein: Solo Sonatas'']. EDA Records.</ref> [[Robert Strassburg]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugfWDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA522|title=Composer Genealogies: A Compendium of Composers, Their Teachers, and Their Students|first1=Scott|last1=Pfitzinger|date=2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|via=Google Books|page=522|isbn=978-1-4422-7225-5}}</ref> and [[List of music students by teacher: G to J#Paul Hindemith|dozens of other notables]].

[[File:Paul Hindemith receives the Sibelius award from Antti Wihuri in Helsinki, 1955.jpg|thumb|Hindemith (left) received the [[Wihuri Sibelius Prize]] in 1955 from [[Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation|Antti Wihuri]].]]
Hindemith became a [[Citizenship of the United States|U.S. citizen]] in 1946, but returned to Europe in 1953, living in [[Zürich]] and teaching at the university there until he retired from teaching in 1957.<ref name="www.roh.org.uk" /><ref name="ORT" /> Toward the end of his life he began to conduct more and made numerous recordings, mostly of his own music.<ref name="ORT" />

In 1954, an anonymous critic for ''Opera'' magazine, having attended a performance of Hindemith's ''[[Neues vom Tage]]'', wrote: "Mr Hindemith is no virtuoso conductor, but he does possess an extraordinary knack of making performers understand how his own music is supposed to go."<ref>''Opera'' (June 1954): 348.</ref>

Hindemith received the [[Wihuri Sibelius Prize]] in 1955.<ref name="Obituary" /> He was awarded the [[Balzan Prize]] in 1962 "for the wealth, extent and variety of his work, which is among the most valid in contemporary music, and which contains masterpieces of opera, symphonic and chamber music."<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news |date=30 December 1963 |title=Paul Hindemith, modern music pioneer, succumbs at age 68 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52001620/paul-hindemith-obituary/ |work=[[Intelligencer Journal]] |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |page=9 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/paul-hindemith|title=Paul Hindemith: 1962 Balzan Prize for Music |access-date=22 August 2018}}</ref>

[[File:HindemithGrab.JPG|thumb|Swiss gravesite]]

Despite a prolonged decline in his physical health, Hindemith composed almost until his death. He died in Frankfurt from [[pancreatitis]], aged 68. He and his wife were buried in the cemetery in [[Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz|La Chiésaz]], [[Vaud]], Switzerland.<ref name="lexm" />

==Music==
Hindemith is among the most significant German composers of his time. His early works are in a late [[Romantic music|romantic]] idiom, and he later produced [[expressionist]] works, rather in the style of the early [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]], before developing a leaner, [[contrapuntal]]ly complex style in the 1920s. This style has been described as [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassical]],<ref>Taylor 1997, p. 261.</ref> but is quite different from the works by [[Igor Stravinsky]] labeled with that term, owing more to the contrapuntal language of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] and [[Max Reger]] than the Classical clarity of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}

{{listen|filename=Paul Hindemith - Kleine Kammermusik.ogg|title=''Kleine Kammermusik''|description=performed by the [[Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet]]|format=[[ogg]]}}

The new style can be heard in the series of works called ''[[Kammermusik (Hindemith)|Kammermusik]]'' (Chamber Music) from 1922 to 1927. Each of these pieces is written for a different small instrumental ensemble, many of them very unusual. ''[[Kammermusik (Hindemith)|Kammermusik No. 6]]'', for example, is a concerto for the [[viola d'amore]], an instrument that has not been in wide use since the [[Baroque music|baroque]] period, but which Hindemith himself played. He continued to write for unusual groups of instruments throughout his life, producing (for example) a trio for viola, [[heckelphone]] and piano (1928), seven trios for three [[trautonium]]s (1930), a [[Sonata (music)|sonata]] for double bass, and a concerto for trumpet, bassoon, and strings (both in 1949).

In the 1930s Hindemith began to write less for [[chamber music]] groups, and more for large orchestral forces. He wrote his opera ''[[Mathis der Maler (opera)|Mathis der Maler]]'', based on the life of the painter [[Matthias Grünewald]], in 1933–1935. This opera is rarely staged, though a well-known production by the [[New York City Opera]] in 1995 was an exception.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/09/arts/music-review-city-opera-gamely-flirts-with-danger.html Holland 1995].</ref> In 2021, [[Naxos (company)|Naxos]] released a 2012 [[Theater an der Wien]] production on DVD.<ref>[https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=NBD0130V Naxos]</ref> The opera combines the neoclassicism of Hindemith's earlier works with [[folk song]]. As a preliminary stage of composing the opera, Hindemith wrote a purely instrumental [[symphony]] also called ''[[Mathis der Maler (symphony)|Mathis der Maler]]'', which is one of his most frequently performed works. In the opera, some portions of the symphony appear as instrumental interludes; others are elaborated in vocal scenes.

Hindemith wrote ''[[Gebrauchsmusik]]'' (Music for Use)—compositions intended to have a social or political purpose and sometimes written to be played by amateurs. The concept was inspired by [[Bertolt Brecht]]. An example of this is Hindemith's ''[[Trauermusik]]'' (Funeral Music), written in January 1936. He was preparing the London premiere of his viola concerto ''[[Der Schwanendreher]]'' when he heard news of the death of [[George V]]. He quickly wrote ''Trauermusik'' for solo viola and string orchestra in tribute to the late king, and the premiere was given that same evening, the day after the king's death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steinberg |first=Michael |title=The Concerto: A Listener's Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8oXNX2tY8AC&pg=PA212 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |page=212 |access-date=23 March 2013 |isbn=978-0-19-802634-1}}</ref> Other examples of Hindemith's ''Gebrauchsmusik'' include: 
* the ''Plöner Musiktage'' (1932), a series of pieces written for a day of community music-making in the city of [[Plön]], culminating in an evening concert by grammar-school students and teachers.
* a Scherzo for viola and cello (1934), written in several hours during a series of recording sessions as a "filler" for an unexpected blank side of a 78 rpm album, and recorded immediately upon its completion.
* ''Wir bauen eine Stadt'' ("We're Building a City"), an opera for eight-year-olds (1930).

Hindemith's most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is probably the ''Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber'', written in 1943. It takes [[melodies]] from various works by [[Carl Maria von Weber]], mainly piano duets, but also one from the overture to his [[incidental music]] for ''[[Turandot (Gozzi)|Turandot]]'' (Op. 37/J. 75), and transforms and adapts them so that each movement of the piece is based on one theme.

In 1951, Hindemith completed his ''[[Symphony in B-flat for Band|Symphony in B-flat]]''. Scored for [[concert band]], it was written for the [[United States Army Band|U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own"]]. Hindemith premiered it with that band on 5 April of that year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.hindemith.org/E/paul-hindemith/life.htm|publisher=Hindemith Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010413005831/http://www.hindemith.org/E/paul-hindemith/life.htm|archive-date=13 April 2001}}</ref> Its second performance took place under the baton of Hugh McMillan, conducting the Boulder Symphonic Band at the University of Colorado. The piece is representative of Hindemith's late works, exhibiting strong contrapuntal lines throughout, and is a cornerstone of the band repertoire. He recorded it in stereo with members of the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]] for [[EMI]] in 1956.

===Musical system===
[[File:Hindemith, Flute Sonata, II quartal harmony.png|thumb|upright=2|Opening of 2nd movement of Hindemith's Flute Sonata (1936)
[[File:Hindemith, Flute Sonata, II quartal harmony.mid]]]]
Most of Hindemith's music employs a unique system that is tonal but non-[[diatonic]], often notated without a traditional [[key signature]]. Like most tonal music, it is centred on a tonic and modulates from one tonal centre to another, but it "attempts ... the free use of all the twelve tones of the [[chromatic scale]]",<ref>{{cite book |last=Searle |first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Searle |title=Twentieth Century Counterpoint |publisher=Ernest Benn |location=London |edition=2nd |year=1955 |page=55}}</ref> rather than relying on a [[diatonic scale]] as a restricted subset of these notes. He even rewrote some of his music after developing this system. One of the core features of Hindemith's system is a ranking of all musical [[Interval (music)|intervals]] of the 12-tone equally tempered scale, from the most [[Consonance and dissonance|consonant]] to the most [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]]. He classifies chords in six categories, on the basis of dissonance, whether they contain a tritone, and whether they clearly suggest a root or tonal centre. His philosophy also encompassed melody—he strove for melodies that do not clearly outline major or minor triads.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/biography/1933-1939/work/principles-and-categories/ |title=Principles and Categories |website=www.hindemith.info |publisher=Hindemith Foundation |access-date=30 March 2023}}</ref>

In the late 1930s Hindemith wrote an instructional treatise in three volumes, ''The Craft of Musical Composition'', which lays out this system in great detail. He also advocated this system as a means of understanding and analyzing the harmonic structure of other music, claiming that it has a broader reach than the traditional [[Roman numeral analysis|Roman numeral]] approach to chords (an approach strongly tied to diatonic scales). In the final chapter of Book 1, Hindemith seeks to illustrate the wide-ranging relevance and applicability of his system, analyzing musical examples from the medieval to the contemporary. These analyses include the early Gregorian melody ''[[Dies irae]]'', compositions by [[Guillaume de Machaut]], [[J. S. Bach]], [[Richard Wagner]], [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Arnold Schoenberg]], and a composition of his own.<ref>Hindemith, Paul. ''Unterweisung im Tonsatz''. 3 vols. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, 1937–1970. First two volumes in English, as [https://web.archive.org/web/20140701100137/http://noty-naputi.info/sites/default/files/Musical%20Composition-Hindemit.pdf ''The Craft of Musical Composition''], translated by Arthur Mendel and Otto Ortmann. New York: Associated Music Publishers; London: Schott & Co., 1941–1942.</ref>

Hindemith's 1942 piano work ''[[Ludus Tonalis]]'' contains twelve [[fugue]]s, in the manner of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], using traditional devices like inversion, diminution, augmentation, retrogradation, stretto, etc. Each fugue is connected by an [[wikt:interlude|interlude]] to the next, during which the music moves from the [[Key (music)|key]] of the last to its successor. The order of the keys follows Hindemith's ranking of musical intervals around the tonal center of C.<ref>Tippett, Michael (1995). ''Tippett on Music'', p.77. Oxford University. {{ISBN|9780198165422}}.</ref>

Another traditional aspect of classical music that Hindemith retains is the idea of dissonance resolving to consonance. Much of Hindemith's music begins in consonant territory, progresses into dissonant tension, and resolves in full, consonant chords and [[cadence]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hindemith |first=Ian |last=Kemp |url=https://archive.org/details/hindemith0000kemp/page/18/mode/2up |series=Oxford Studies of Composers 6 |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1970 |page=19 |isbn=0193141183}}</ref> This is especially apparent in his ''[[Konzertmusik for Brass and String Orchestra|Concert Music for Strings and Brass]]'' (1930).

==Awards and honors==
[[File:Musik Meile Wien, Paul Hindemith (36).jpg|thumb|Walk of Fame, Vienna]]
[[File:Paul-Hindemith-Anlage.jpg|thumb|Paul Hindemith Park, Frankfurt]]
* [[Howland Memorial Prize]] (1940), awarded by [[Yale University]]<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="info">{{cite web|url=https://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/biography/1939-1945/life/influence-in-america/|title=Influence in America|website=www.hindemith.info}}</ref>
* Elected to [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1940)<ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Hindemith |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/paul-hindemith |access-date=16 November 2022 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences}}</ref>
* [[Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg]] (1951)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott">{{cite web|url=https://en.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/paul-hindemith|title=Schott Music|website=en.schott-music.com}}</ref>
* Order [[Pour le Mérite]] (1952)<ref name="Schott" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Pour le Mérite: Paul Hindemith |url=http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/mgvita/hindemith1895_vita.pdf |work=www.orden-pourlemerite.de |access-date=7 August 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719202507/http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/plm/mgvita/hindemith1895_vita.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Wihuri Sibelius Prize]] (1955)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott" />
* [[Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt]] (1955)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lagis-hessen.de/pnd/118551256|title=Hessian Biography |website=www.lagis-hessen.de}}</ref>
* Elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1962)<ref>{{cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Paul+Hindemith |access-date=30 March 2023 |publisher=American Philosophical Society}}</ref>
* [[Balzan Prize]] (1963)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott" />
* [[5157 Hindemith]] (1973), asteroid discovered and named for him<ref>{{cite web |url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=5157 |title=(5157) Hindemith |publisher=IAU Minor Planet Center |access-date=5 April 2023}}</ref>

===Honorary doctorates===
* [[Philadelphia Academy of Music]] (1945)<ref name="info" />
* [[Columbia University]] (1948)<ref name="info" />
* [[Goethe University Frankfurt]] (1949)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott" />
* [[FU Berlin]] (1950)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott" />
* [[Oxford University]] (1954)<ref name="lexm" /><ref name="Schott" />

==Compositions==
{{main|List of compositions by Paul Hindemith|List of operas by Paul Hindemith}}

==Pedagogical writings==
Hindemith's complete set of instructional books, in possible educational order:
* ''Elementary Training for Musicians''. London: Schott; New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1946. {{ISBN|978-0-901938-16-9}}
* ''A Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony''
:: ''Book 1: With Emphasis on Exercises and a Minimum of Rules'', revised edition. New York: Schott, 1968. {{ISBN|978-0-901938-42-8}}
:: ''Book 2: Exercises for Advanced Students'', translated by Arthur Mendel. New York: Schott, 1964. {{ISBN|978-0-901938-43-5}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140701100137/http://noty-naputi.info/sites/default/files/Musical%20Composition-Hindemit.pdf ''The Craft of Musical Composition'']
:: ''Book 1: Theoretical Part'', translated by Arthur Mendel. London: Schott; New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1942. {{ISBN|978-0-901938-30-5}}
:: ''Book 2: Exercises in Two-Part Writing'', translated by Otto Ortmann. London: Schott; New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1941. {{ISBN|978-0-901938-41-1}}
:: ''Book 3: Exercises in Three-Part Writing'', translated by John Colman. London: Schott; New York: Associated Music Publishers, 2024. {{ISBN|978-3-7957-1605-9}}

==Notable students==
{{For LMST|Paul|Hindemith}}

==Recordings==
Hindemith was a prolific composer.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/10484549/Paul-Hindemith-The-20th-centurys-most-neglected-composer.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/10484549/Paul-Hindemith-The-20th-centurys-most-neglected-composer.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Paul Hindemith: The 20th century's most neglected composer|first1=John|last1=Allison|date=4 December 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He conducted some of his own music in a series of recordings for [[EMI]] with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]] and for [[Deutsche Grammophon]] with the [[Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra]], which have been digitally remastered and released on CD.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Review: Hindemith Conducts Hindemith |page=40 |journal=Gramophone |date=20 April 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000U1NHE |title=Hindemith Conducts Hindemith: The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon |website=Amazon |access-date=7 October 2012}}</ref> The Violin Concerto was also recorded by [[Decca Records|Decca/London]], with the composer conducting the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] and [[David Oistrakh]] as soloist. [[Everest Records]] issued a recording of Hindemith's postwar ''[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (Hindemith)|When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]'' ("A Requiem for Those We Love") on LP, conducted by Hindemith. A stereo recording of Hindemith conducting the requiem with the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]], with Louise Parker and [[George London (bass-baritone)|George London]] as soloists, was made for [[Columbia Records]] in 1963 and later issued on CD. He also appeared on television as a guest conductor of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]]'s nationally syndicated "Music from Chicago" series; the performances have been released by [[Video Artists International|VAI]] on home video. A complete collection of Hindemith's orchestral music was recorded by German and Australian orchestras, all conducted by [[Werner Andreas Albert]] and released on the [[Classic Produktion Osnabrück|CPO]] label.

==Hindemithon Festival==
An annual festival of Hindemith's music has been held at [[William Paterson University]] in Wayne, New Jersey, from 2003 through at least 2017. It features student, staff, and professional musicians performing a range of Hindemith's works.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/music/concerts/midday17Spring |title=Midday Artists Series |date=Spring 2017 |publisher=William Paterson University |access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau]]
* [[Hindemith Prize]] of the [[Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival]]
* [[Music written in all major or minor keys]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* Ansermet, Ernest. 1961. ''Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine''. 2 v. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière.
* Briner, Andres. 1971. ''Paul Hindemith''. Zürich: Atlantis-Verlag; Mainz: Schott.
* Davenport, LaNoue. 1970. [http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/762/103349/Profile,ARS.pdf "Erich Katz: A Profile"]. ''The American Recorder'' (Spring): 43–44. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
* [[Arthur Eaglefield Hull|Eaglefield-Hull, Arthur]] (ed.). 1924. ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians''. London: Dent.
* Furtwängler, Wilhelm. 1934. "Der Fall Hindemith". ''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' 73, no. 551 (Sunday, 25 November): 1. Reprinted in [[Berta Geissmar]], ''Musik im Schatten der Politik''. Zürich: Atlantis, 1945. Reprinted in Wilhelm Furtwängler, ''Ton und Wort: Aufsätze und Vorträge 1918 bis 1954'', 91–96. Wiesbaden: F.A. Brockhaus, 1954; reissued Zürich: Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1994. {{ISBN|978-3-254-00199-3}}. English version as "The Hindemith Case", in Wilhelm Furtwängler, ''Furtwängler on Music'', edited and translated by Ronald Taylor, 117–20. Aldershot, Hants.: Scolar Press, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0-85967-816-2}}.
* Hindemith, Paul. 1937–1970. ''Unterweisung im Tonsatz''. 3 vols. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne. First two volumes in English, as [https://web.archive.org/web/20140701100137/http://noty-naputi.info/sites/default/files/Musical%20Composition-Hindemit.pdf ''The Craft of Musical Composition''], translated by Arthur Mendel and Otto Ortmann. New York: Associated Music Publishers; London: Schott & Co., 1941–1942.
* Hindemith, Paul. 1952. ''A Composer's World: Horizons and Limitations''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
* Holland, Bernard. 1995. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/09/arts/music-review-city-opera-gamely-flirts-with-danger.html "Music Review; City Opera Gamely Flirts with Danger"]. ''The New York Times'', 9 September.
* [[Michael Hans Kater|Kater, Michael H.]] 1997. ''The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich''. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Kater, Michael H. 2000. ''Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits''. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 2, pp. 31-56, is titled "Paul Hindemith: The Reluctant Emigré".
* [[Ian Kemp|Kemp, Ian]]. 1970. [https://archive.org/details/hindemith0000kemp/mode/2up ''Hindemith'']. Oxford Studies of Composers (6). London, New York: Oxford University Press.
* Neumeyer, David. 1986. ''The Music of Paul Hindemith''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
* Noss, Luther. 1989. ''Paul Hindemith in the United States''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
* Preussner, Eberhard. 1984. ''Paul Hindemith: ein Lebensbild''. Innsbruck: Edition Helbling.
* [[Geoffrey Skelton|Skelton, Geoffrey]]. 1975. ''Paul Hindemith: The Man Behind the Music: A Biography''. London: Gollancz. New York: Crescendo Publishing.
* Taylor, Ronald. 1997. ''Berlin and Its Culture: A Historical Portrait''. Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07200-6}}.
* Taylor-Jay, Claire. 2004. ''The Artist-Operas of Pfitzner, Krenek and Hindemith: Politics and the Ideology of the Artist''. Aldershot: Ashgate.

==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last=Fried |first=Alexander |date=19 February 1939 |title=Paul Hindemith Brings Fresh Air to Symphony |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52000662/paul-hindemith-fried/ |work=[[The San Francisco Examiner]] |location=San Francisco |page=50 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 May 2020}}
* {{cite news |last1=Schwarze |first1=Richard |date=21 November 1981 |title=Hindemith: He was simply a musician who produced 'music as a tree bears fruit' ... Well, not really |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51883931/paul-hindemith-schwarze/ |work=[[The Journal Herald]] |location=Dayton, Ohio |page=27 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=23 May 2020}}
* Desbruslais, Simon. 2019. [https://boydellandbrewer.com/the-music-and-music-theory-of-paul-hindemith.html ''The Music and Music Theory of Paul Hindemith''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806064758/https://boydellandbrewer.com/the-music-and-music-theory-of-paul-hindemith.html |date=6 August 2020 }}. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. {{ISBN|978-1-78327-210-5}}.
* Gregor, Neil. 2025. ''The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226839103}}.
* Luttmann, Stephen. 2013. ''Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide''. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1-135-84841-5}}.
* Petropoulos, Jonathan. 2014. ''Artists Under Hitler: Collaboration and Survival in Nazi Germany''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Ch. 5, pp.&nbsp;88–113, is titled "Paul Hindemith".
* Skelton, Geoffrey, ed. and trans. 1995. ''Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
* {{cite journal |last1=Winkler |first1=Heinz-Jürgen |title=Fascinated by Early Music: Paul Hindemith and Emanuel Winternitz |journal=Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography |volume=29 |issue=1–2 |date=2004 |pages=14–19 |issn=1522-7464 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/7/resources/5479 Paul Hindemith Oral History collection] at Oral History of American Music
* {{IMSLP|Hindemith, Paul|Paul Hindemith on IMSLP}}
* [http://www.hindemith.info/en/home Hindemith Foundation]
** [http://www.hindemith.info/en/life-work/catalogue-of-works/ Hindemith Foundation Catalogue of Works]
* [https://de.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/paul-hindemith Schott Music] Publisher page
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040203074058/http://www.nwsinfonietta.com/notes16Apr04.htm An Inner Emigration]}}, notes on Hindemith and ''Der Schwanendreher'' by [[Ron Drummond]]
* [http://abruckner.com/Data/documents/Paul_Hindemith_in_conversation_with_Seymour_Raven.mp4 Paul Hindemith in conversation with Seymour Raven (7 April 1963)]
* {{Helveticat}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/007859}}
* {{cite web | title=Hindemith Kabinett im Kuhhirtenturm | website=[[Museumsufer]] Frankfurt | url=https://www.museumsufer.de/en/all-museums/hindemith-kabinett/ | access-date=21 December 2022}}

{{Paul Hindemith}}
{{Neoclassicism (music)}}
{{Wihuri Sibelius Prize}}
{{Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindemith, Paul}}
[[Category:Paul Hindemith| ]]
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