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Hindemith's Resurrected Music for Left Hand Piano and Orchestra, Op. 29 Premieres in New York

Nov. 01, 2006

Paul Hindemith’s “newest” offering to the piano concerto repertoire makes its debut in New York at the hands of Leon Fleisher and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel on November 30. After eighty years without a performance, Music for Left Hand Piano and Orchestra, made its world premiere in 2004, with Fleisher as soloist and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

Rarely does a work by such a major figure as Hindemith undergo such a long incubation period as Music for Left Hand Piano and Orchestra. Interestingly enough, the exceptional delay can be accounted for in part by the peculiarity of the piece itself, as a work from the very small repertory of piano works composed solely for the left hand. The most prominent and seminal works for left hand piano, including Hindemith's Op. 29, all stemmed from the commissions of a wealthy Austrian, Paul Wittgenstein (18871961), brother of famed philosopher Ludwig. Wittgenstein had studied piano in his youth, with dreams of virtuosity; unfortunately for Wittgenstein, his participation in the Austrian army during World War I left him without a right arm and, thus, ended his chances of a career performing the standard piano literature. However, Wittgenstein put his financial resources to good use, commissioning and performing multiple large scale works for left-handed piano and, in doing so, establishing an entirely new compositional idiom.

Among the other composers commissioned by Wittgenstein for similar works were Korngold, Strauss, Britten, Prokofiev, and Ravel, Ravel's Piano Concerto in D major claiming the most renown over time. Unfortunately for Hindemith, his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand apparently fell onto the wrong ears, a contingency he had anticipated in a letter to Wittgenstein dated May 9, 1923: "I would be sorry if the piece didn't bring you joy - you might find it a bit strange to listen to at first - I wrote it with a great deal of love and like it very much." Wittgenstein never performed the piece, and, as he exerted sole control over its destiny, neither did anyone else. Only when Wittgenstein's papers became accessible in 2002 was a copy of the original found, albeit with a number of errors. The autograph score and parts had been lost, but with the aid of extant sketches at the Hindemith Institute, the piece has been resurrected.

To learn more about Hindemith and his works, please visit www.schott-music.com.

For  more information about the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Music for Left Hand Piano and Orchestra, please visit www.nyphil.org.

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