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Celebrating the Life and Work of Paul Hindemith

Nov. 26, 2013

Celebrating the Life and Work of Paul Hindemith

In the coming weeks, the music world will be turning their thoughts to Paul Hindemith in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death on December 28. Hindemith, who was closely affiliated with Schott from 1919 onwards, was active in numerous areas of musical life as a composer, instrumentalist, conductor, music teacher and musical theorist. He left behind a substantial and widely varied musical legacy encompassing stage works, orchestral pieces, concertos, chamber music works, lieder, choral music and compositions for amateur musicians. He began his brilliant career as a provocative renegade of late Romantic aesthetics but subsequently developed a style blending the traditions of contrapuntal writing with the typical characteristics of his harmonic and melodic language. He was a resolute opponent of the diktat of dodecaphony and the serial avant-garde of the 1950s – this attitude nearly caused him relegation to the sidelines of musical history.

Today, many of his compositions have secured themselves an established place in concert programs, thus fulfilling his own prognosis for success made in 1959:

If a contemporary work has survived the initial period of glittering sensation and is still being performed around twenty-five years later, it then certainly possesses characteristics that distinguish it from the rest.

For more information on Paul Hindemith, including upcoming performances and a complete list of works, please visit www.schott-music.com.

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