The authors of this year’s Yearbook follow in Hindemith’s path as a performer of his own compositions and works by other composers which took him to a variety of countries in Europe and America. The authors explore the extent of his activities and their impact with the aid of material which has previously received scant attention.

Matthias Pasdzierny investigates the role Hindemith played in musical life in Germany after the Second World War as a projection figure for post-war musical history in West Germany. He postulates that the emigrant Hindemith was considered as the “one who remained most at home” of all musicians who had emigrated.

Damien Ehrhardt looks into Hindemith’s varied reception in France. Between the two world wars, Hindemith was viewed in France as being a member of the international avant-garde; after the Second World War however, he faded into the background during the blossoming of serial composition concepts – comparable with his situation in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Michael Freyhan presents Hindemith’s personal impressions during his concert tours through Great Britain and reminiscences of Hindemith’s performances by contemporary musicians. The documentation is supplemented by press reviews of Hindemith concerts in England.  

Hindemith’s tour of South America in the summer and autumn of 1954 began with a series of concerts in Buenos Aires which caused a similarly great sensation to guest appearances made by Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. The musicologist Silvia Glocer examines how these concerts were reported in the Argentinian press.

The composer and musicologist Roman Vlad, artistic director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, selected Expressionism as the thematic focus in 1964. The plans for the festival which also incorporated other art forms also showcased Hindemith’s early Expressionist compositions. Angela Carone was able to discover previously unknown documents originating from the estate of Roman Vlad which are housed as a collection in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini di Venezia and provide an insight into the original planning concept, Hindemith’s participation and the final programming of this festival. (HJW)

Michael Wackerbauer
Die Donaueschinger Musikfeste 1921 bis 1926
Regesten zu den Briefen und Dokumenten im Fürstlich Fürstenbergischen Archiv mit einer historischen Einführung (Regensburger Studien zur Musikgeschichte Bd. 12)
Regensburg: ConBrio, 2017, 576 S.
ISBN 978-3-940768-73-5

In the summer of 1921, the “Kammermusik-Aufführungen zur Förderung zeitgenössischer Tonkunst” [Chamber Music Performances for the Advancement of Contemporary Music] were held for the first time in the small historic town of Donaueschingen. The concerts organised and financially supported by the House of Fürstenberg who were at this time resident in Donaueschingen were “to be exclusively dedicated to the creation of unknown or controversial musical talents” according to a statement issued in April 1921. The first music festival in 1921 laid the foundations for an annual series of events which took place in Donaueschingen up to 1926, before being relocated to Baden-Baden and then Berlin. Following an intermezzo tainted by Nazi ideologies during the 1930s, the music festival returned to Donaueschingen in 1946 and is today still considered as a significant platform for the presentation of contemporary music.

Paul Hindemith was one of the influential figures during the first ten years of the festival. Originally invited in 1921 as one of those “unknown or controversial musical talents”, he was appointed as a member of the programme committee in 1923 where he was involved in the selection of works and development of conceptual ideas for the further progress of the festival which became transformed from a “breeding ground for talent” into a stage for compositional experimentation. What is more, Hindemith was also active as a musician in the realisation of the festival performances right from the start.

The collected source material relating to the Donaueschingen Festivals held between 1921 and 1926 currently housed in the archives of the House of Fürstenberg contains almost 4 400 documents. This material has been systematically examined within the framework of the German Research Foundation research project “Bruchlinien und Kontinuitäten. Die Donaueschinger Musikfeste 1921–1950” [Fault lines and Continuities. The Donaueschingen Music Festival 1921–1950] undertaken by the Institute of Musicology at the University of Regensburg. The newly published volume of records contains a detailed historical introduction on the origins of the festival, a summary of the concert programmes dating from 1921 to 1926, a chronologically structured table of contents of letters received during this period and also an index of names, works and institutions. The volume is augmented by a selection of illustrations (including a letter of application submitted by the compositionally ambitious grammar school graduate Theodor W. Adorno dating from 1921).

The publication provides a profound insight into both the organisational procedures and pioneering artistic decisions implemented in the run-up to the festival. It is for example possible to reconstruct Hans Pfitzner’s course of action in 1921 regarding membership in the “honorary committee” which he made dependent on the condition that his suggested composers would all be admitted to the programme without further examination (this wish was however not granted and Pfitzner was subsequently not admitted to the honorary committee). The letters range from applications, recommendations and complaints via the internal correspondence between the individual organisers to the registration of guests and requests for the reservation of hotel rooms. It is possible to reconstruct the careers of numerous musicians on the basis of these records: individuals who sent applications to be permitted to participate in the festival concerts from composers who were then and still remain unknown today, those whose works did not pass muster under the critical inspection undertaken by the programme committee and also those figures whose careers were advanced through their participation in Donaueschingen such as Ernst Krenek, Ernst Toch and Philipp Jarnach. These records are clearly presented in reader-friendly double columns which flow along easily. In conclusion: an indispensable treasure trove for anyone who is interested in these sources which were previously difficult to access.

Susanne Schaal-Gotthardt
Translation: Lindsay Chalmers-Gerbracht

Ein doppeltes Jubiläum konnte am 20. April 2018 in Blonay gefeiert werden. Vor 50 Jahren nahm die Fondation Hindemith, Blonay, ihre Arbeit als Rechtsnachfolgerin des kinderlos gestorbenen Ehepaares Paul und Gertrud Hindemith auf, und zehn Jahre später gründete sie in Blonay das Centre de Musique Hindemith.

Weitere Informationen

Pressemitteilung und Einladung zum Konzert

Das Hindemith Institut Frankfurt und die Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main (HfMDK), in Zusammenarbeit mit der Gottfried-Benn-Gesellschaft e. V., präsentieren am Samstag, den 5. Mai 2018 um 19.30 Uhr im Großen Saal der HfMDK (Eschersheimer Landstraße 29, 60322 Frankfurt) Teile des Oratoriums „Das Unaufhörliche“. 

Weitere Informationen