Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) is important in classical music not only for his popular works, such as the Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber and his opera, Mathis der Maler, but also for his contributions to musical education through texts, development of music education programs and as a composition teacher. In addition to teaching in Germany and organizing concerts of new music, Hindemith also traveled abroad to assess music education programs in Egypt and Turkey. He was eventually paid to organize the whole musical education system in Turkey where he was essential in development of many performance companies. Active in Germany during the complicated time of Hitler and the Nazis, Hindemith, whose wife was Jewish, vacillated between alliance and enmity with the state, both receiving commissions from the Nazis and eventually immigrating to Switzerland in 1938. Two years later, Hindemith moved to the United States where he was on the composition faculty at Yale University. As an educator, he worked with many composers who later became successful.
Not only a composer and educator, Paul Hindemith was also a violist. The Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4, is from 1922 and utilizes his knowledge of the instrument. The work is grouped within his early compositional style, which is late-Romantic in its use of harmony and long, spun-out melodies. The first movement, Ruhig, begins with a simple, beautiful melody in the viola set above blocked chords in the piano. The viola then presents an extended cadenza that is followed by more melodic material leading directly into the second movement. The structure of this work is interesting in that both the second and third movements are themes with subsequent variations. The second movement is reminiscent of Hindemith’s later style in its opening, contrapuntal texture. Each of its variations has a different time signature, texture, and feeling. The second movement leads directly into the third, where the piano and viola present a stately theme which is spun out into a virtuosic movement for both instruments before ending on unison thematic material.
Program Notes are by Kyle Blaha, a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at The Juilliard School and faculty member in the Juilliard Pre-College and Evening Division.