Hindemith-Jahrbuch 2013/XLII
Mainz 2014
ISBN 978-3-7957-7053-2
The Hindemith-Jahrbuch 2013/XLII starts out with a contribution by Wolfgang Rathert. During the Hindemith commemorative year of 2013, Rathert comes to terms with another great jubilarian of this year, Richard Wagner; his subject is "encounters" between these two very different personalities.
In his detailed study on Hindemith's musical poetics, Martin Breivik subjects pertinent aesthetic writings to a detailed investigation, repeatedly taking a sidelong glance at Arnold Schönberg's musical-aesthetic ideas. The way in which Hindemith accepts contemporary forms of music-making, whilst "translating" elements from these into his own language, is demonstrated by Breivik using the example of the fashionable dance "Shimmy" from Hindemith's Suite 1922 for Piano, Op. 26.
Rüdiger Jennert unearths a gem of a parody from the estate of Heinrich Burkard. In this piece for soprano the string quartet entitled Unheimliche Aufforderung (Uncanny Challenge), Hindemith occupies himself with the musical language of Richard Strauss which undoubtedly left traces in the works of his youth. In the summer of 1924, this humorous confrontation had a double effect - firstly, as a late and new confrontation with the established composer and, secondly, reflecting a phase of Hindemith's own compositional development as typified by his Cello Concerto of 1916 and which had long been overcome by 1924.
In his contribution, Hans Kohlhase dedicates himself to one of Hindemith's best-known works, the 1935 viola concerto entitled Der Schwanendreher. Unlike the current reception, which interprets Hindemith's programmatic foreword as a sign of naivety and thoughtlessness towards the National Socialist regime, Kohlhase draws attention to Hindemith's fundamental aesthetic-ethical positions, hinted at by the composer in encoded form in this work. He explains how strongly this work, in particular, is related to Hindemith's socio-political situation at this time.
Hans Joachim Kreutzer studied German language and literature with the great Emil Staiger in Zurich during the 1950s. Trained as a musician, he also attended courses given by Hindemith – as a pure luxury, as he says. Delivered during the winter semester of 1957/58, these were the composer's last lectures at the University of Zurich. Kreutzer outlines his memories of the course given by Hindemith on Schönberg's string quartets in a very clear and colourful manner.
Heinz-Jürgen Winkler