Paul Hindemith: The Music and Music Theory of

D ESBR USLAIS
T he music theory of composer Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), originally

entitled Unterweisung im Tonsatz, is well known, yet poorly understood.
This book provides a critical engagement with Hindemith’s Unterweisung,
particularly concerning its relationship to existing acoustic music theories.
By examining different Unterweisung-versions, it charts the evolution
of Hindemith’s use of language and mode of communication, including
THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF PAUL HINDEMITH

his reference to polytonality, atonality, Fuxian species counterpoint, and
avoidance of existing music for his examples. It also elaborates the
source material on which the theory is based, using a reconstruction of
Hindemith’s personal library.
Central to the book is the relationship of Hindemith’s Unterweisung to

his compositional practice. Hindemith’s fascination with the challenges
of music theory falls into a middle period in his oeuvre, enabling
profitable comparisons with his compositional practice both before and
after his theory-making. The book also comprises a detailed discussion
of Hindemith’s theoretical and compositional legacy. Beginning with an
overview of existing polemics, it draws together unpublished materials
from the Yale Hindemith Institute with reminiscences from former students
to construct an Unterweisung reception history. The book shows that,
while many areas of Hindemith’s theory have been overtaken by recent
interests in music theory that relate to cognition and geometry, his
influence has been deeply felt.
SIMON DESBRUSLAIS is Lecturer in Music and Director of Performance

at the University of Hull and an internationally acclaimed trumpet soloist.
Cover image: Portrait of Paul Hindemith courtesy of the Hindemith Foundation, Blonay,
THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF

Switzerland.
B OY D E L L P R E S S
An imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
PAUL HINDEMITH
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620–2731 (US)
S IMON DESBR USLAIS

The Music and Music Theory
of Paul Hindemith
The Music and Music Theory
of Paul Hindemith
Simon Desbruslais
THE BOYDELL PRESS

© Simon Desbruslais 2018
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation

no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval
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The right of Simon Desbruslais to be identified as the

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sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2018

The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978 1 78327 210 5
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd

PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
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This publication is printed on acid-free paper

To my parents, who taught me never to give up.
The time may perhaps return, when musical rules will be, as they were in
olden times, an essential part of the code of the physical sciences. It is an
alluring idea to think of a reorganization of scientific concepts on a musical
basis. Instead of a plan for the world’s destruction by superbombs, a blueprint
of music theory would be drawn up to serve as a plan for a tremendous
reformation of the universe. Harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic laws, as
worked out in a most beautiful and exalted composition, would transform the
world’s woes and falsehood into the ideal habitat for human beings, who by
the same process of musical ennoblement would have grown into creatures
worthy of such a paradise.
— Paul Hindemith, A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952) p. 102
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgements xvii
Introduction 1
1 An Unterweisung Critical Commentary 11
2 Hindemith’s Fourths 59
3 Stylistic Borrowing and Pre-Unterweisung Music 87
4 The Ludus Tonalis as Quintessential Hindemith 131
5 Theory-based Revisions 177
6 Practical Music and Practical Textbooks 223
7 The Hindemith Legacy 267
Postlude 315
Bibliography 321
Index 331
List of Figures
1.1 Comparison of Series 1 derivations. 31

1.2 The first diagram in Hindemith’s ‘practical application’,
Craft (1942) p. 158. 42
1.3 The final diagram in Hindemith’s ‘practical application’,
Craft (1942) p. 162. 43
1.4 Hindemith’s analysis of the opening to Wagner’s Tristan
und Isolde, ‘Prelude’, from Craft (1942) pp. 210–11. 48
1.5 Student class notes from the course ‘Basic Principles of
Theory’ (1947–1948). 53
2.1 Series 1, taken from Unterweisung II (1939) p. 91, and

Taruskin’s (2009a) arrangement of Series 1. 77
2.2 Page 51 from a student’s Orfeo Analysis (1942). 79
4.1 Hindemith’s first sketch for the chromatic order

of fugues in the Ludus. 135
4.2 Illustration of triple fugue cartoon from 1950s Ludus. 137
4.3 Hindemith’s harmonic fluctuation diagram from
Traditional Harmony, Vol. 2 (1949/1953) p. 42. 139
4.4 The illustrated Praeludium/Postludium pair from the
1950 edition of the Ludus. 152
5.1 Hindemith’s revised climax diagram from Introductory

Remarks (1948) p. 6. 186
6.1 The front page to Hindemith’s autograph of the

Sonata for Trumpet (1939). 245
7.1 Hindemith’s memo to Richard Donovan, YHC. 273

7.2 A concert including the music of Genzmer and
Reizenstein on 27 February 1933. 283
7.3 Hindemith’s corrections to a student’s trumpet piece. 290
List of Tables
1.1 The corresponding frequencies of Hindemith’s Series 1. 26

1.2 Hindemith’s Series 1 expressed algebraically to show
derivational inconsistency. 28
1.3 Hindemith’s Unterweisung compared with the
‘conventional theory of harmony’. 39
1.4 Chord groups taken from the Craft (1942), pp. 224–5. 41
2.1 Quartal IC vectors. 70

2.2 Incomplete quartal pitch collections. 73
3.1 Hindemith op. 25/1: first movement synopsis. 104

3.2 Hindemith op. 25/1: fourth movement, proportional design. 113
3.3 Fugal synopsis of Hindemith’s Third String Quartet op. 22. 120
4.1 Subject pitch centres of Ludus, Fugue 1 in C. 138

4.2 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 2 in G. 157
4.3 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 3 in F. 160
4.4 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 9 in B-flat. 163
4.5 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 10 in D-flat. 166
5.1 Tonal structure in Marienleben II. 187

5.2 Tonal symbolism in Marienleben II. 188
5.3 Marienleben revisions summary. 192
5.4 Structural synopsis of Marienleben II, no. 7, ‘Geburt Christi’. 212
5.5 Comparison of Lieder op. 33 and Five Songs. 213
6.1 Hindemith’s instrumental sonatas 1935–1955. 228

6.2 Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis source material. 261
List of Abbreviations
ABRSM Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

DMA Doctor of Musical Arts
HI Hindemith Institute
HJb Hindemith Jahrbuch
JMT Journal of Music Theory
OHAM Oral History of American Music
PNM Perspectives of New Music
THC Thomas Hall Collection
YHC Yale Hindemith Collection
Preface
Like many readers, I came to know Paul Hindemith through one of his
instrumental sonatas. In the gap between sixth form and university, I
would visit trumpet professor Iaan Wilson at the Royal Academy of Music
in London, who introduced me to Hindemith’s Sonata for Trumpet and
Piano. Our lessons occurred during a vital part of my technical and musical
development, although – again, similarly to many readers – I look back on
my endeavour with mixed feelings. I remember it being hard work – I had
to improve my physical level to play the first movement convincingly – and,
when it came to putting the trumpet part with the piano, it took me many
attempts before I was able to execute a coherent and accurate rendition.
However, it was not unrealistic. After practice I soon came to enjoy the work
and appreciate the technical platform it offered. This highlights, I believe, the
position that these duo sonatas often take. They are encountered regularly
along the road to securing instrumental technique and are particularly
common in examination, audition and competition environments. This does
not necessarily make them popular – but undoubtedly, they are familiar to
many. I was also to encounter his Elementary Training for Musicians whilst
an undergraduate student at King’s College London, guided by the now
prominent British composer Joseph Phibbs. The case of Hindemith’s music
and writing is therefore of sentimental value, both due to the time in my life
I first encountered it and the formative role it played in my development as
a musician.
But this is to form a narrow image of Hindemith’s musical legacy.
Though works such as the instrumental sonatas have found a natural place
in the repertoire – indeed, for many instruments they remain as some of the
key works for recitals, examinations, auditions and competitions – they offer
only one side of Hindemith’s creative personality. This is also the man who
wrote the ingenious Ludus Tonalis; the song cycle Das Marienleben; the jazz-
tinged Suite 1922; and the radical, scandalous one-act opera Sancta Susanna.
He was also an essential pioneer of the early music movement in North
America through the establishment of the Yale Collegium Musicum; one
of the most highly regarded proponents of the viola in the early twentieth
century; and, for a time, seen as the future of German modernism. Finally,
and central to the concerns of this book, Hindemith built one of the most
ambitious music theories of the twentieth century. I came to this central
aspect of his legacy only after his Trumpet Sonata and Elementary Training,
xvi PREFACE
which I believe is typical of the majority of musicians who know Hindemith

today. We come to his music theory through his music. This book is a study
of Hindemith’s music theory and an examination of how his compositions
evidence his pioneering approach. It is hoped that this study will revitalise
interest in, and examination of, his theoretical ideas.
Acknowledgements
This book began at Christ Church, Oxford, under the supervision of professors
Eric Clarke and Jonathan Cross. I am indebted to their highly significant and
formative contribution to my work, and to their careful development of my
approach and ideas. I would not be where I am today without them. I would
also like to take this opportunity to thank the music staff at the University
of Oxford for countless meetings and corridor conversations; the Oxford
Faculty of Music Librarians Jenny McParland, Martin Holmes and the late
Stephen Jordan; Michael Spitzer, Benedict Taylor and Guy Rickards for
their careful editing and commentary on my work; Lena Kleinschmidt from
Schott Music; the staff of the Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt-am-Main; the
Hindemith Collection at Yale University and its librarians Richard Boursey
and Emily Ferrigno; the Oral History of American Music and Anne Rhodes;
the late John McCabe; Antje Kalcher and the Universität der Künste Berlin;
my students at the universities of Oxford, Nottingham, Bristol, Surrey,
King’s College London and Hull, many of whom contributed unwittingly to
my ideas, and the many colleagues who offered invaluable comments after
reading drafts of this book including David Neumeyer, Deborah Pritchard,
Charles Wilson, Mark Slater, Milos Zatkalik, Helen Prior, Nicholas Attfield,
Stephen Farr, Julian Empett, Rebecca Lancashire, Peter McMullin, Toby
Young, Amy Skinner and diligent copyediting by Henry Bertram. It could
not have been completed without the financial support of Christ Church,
Oxford and the Oxford Music Faculty; a grant from Music & Letters to obtain
transcriptions from the Oral History of American Music; the Royal Musical
Association Fellowes Student Research Grant for copies of the Thomas Hall
Collection; the good faith, support and encouragement of Michael Middeke
and Megan Milan at Boydell & Brewer, in addition to various conversations
with musicians and academics too numerous to mention. I want to extend
particular gratitude to all of the staff in my new home at the University of
Hull for providing the environment necessary to complete this book.
A new English translation of Theodor Adorno’s provocative essay, ‘Ad
vocem Hindemith’ was made in connection with this book,1 by Daniela
Fountain, and funded by a University of Hull Research Grant. The full
1
‘Ad vocem Hindemith. Eine Dokumentation’, in Theodor W. Adorno, Musikalische
Schriften IV. Gesammelte Schriften [Collected Works], Vol. 17, ed. Rolf Tiedemann.
xviii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
translation is available by visiting https://boydellandbrewer.com/media/

wysiwyg/Docs/Adorno_translation_Web_Copy.pdf.
Cover image courtesy of Hindemith Foundation, Blonay, Switzerland.
All musical examples by Paul Hindemith © Schott Music, Mainz, reproduced

by permission. All rights reserved.
All other material by Paul Hindemith, including unpublished manuscripts,

courtesy of Hindemith Foundation, Blonay, Switzerland.
The author and publishers are grateful to all the institutions and individuals
listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright.
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered
for any omission, and the publishers will be pleased to add any necessary
acknowledgement in subsequent editions.
© Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt-am-Main 1970. All rights reserved by Suhrkamp

Verlag Berlin.
Introduction
This book is a critical study of Hindemith’s music theory, through a close

analysis of his music. His writing and theoretical ideas can be hard to grasp,
particularly given his often hazy description of how ideas such as ‘harmonic
fluctuation’ and ‘Series 1 orders’ can describe and compose music. The reader
should not be deterred by Hindemith’s rhetoric, however, as within his oeuvre
lies one of the great practical musicians of the twentieth century. Since the
time it was written, his music and music theory have encountered conflicting
receptions, dividing those performers whose repertoire owes its foundations
to a Hindemith sonata and those who claim that he was an unnecessary
tinkerer of his compositions and whose meddling in music theory caused
widespread mischief. Though this book does not refrain from offering
critical perspectives on Hindemith’s works, it does so with the agenda that
the reader may become more acquainted with Hindemith’s proto-theory and
may reflect on how it may be developed and nurtured within the context of
the twenty-first century.
Hindemith’s Theory Publications
Hindemith finished seven theoretical and pedagogical textbooks, all but one
of which are published by Schott & Co. and have enjoyed several revised
editions. Following Hindemith’s move from Germany to the USA during
1937, the original language of some of his texts switched to English. However,
they were still translated back to German, which is testament to his popularity
after the Second World War. In order of publication these include:
1. Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Theoretische Teil (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1st

edn 1937, 2nd edn 1940) [The Craft of Musical Composition: Theoretical
Part, trans. Mendel, Arthur (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1942)].
2. Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Übungsbuch für den zweistimmigen Satz
(Mainz: Schott & Co., 1939) [The Craft of Musical Composition:
Exercises in Two-Part Writing, trans. Ortmann, Otto (Mainz: Schott
& Co., 1941)].
3. A Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony, Vol. 1 (Mainz: Schott
& Co., 1943) [Aufgaben für Harmonie-Schüler, trans. anon, probably
Hindemith (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1949)].
2 INTRODUCTION
4. Elementary Training for Musicians (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1946).

5. Harmonie-Übungen für Fortgeschrittene (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1949)
[A Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony, Vol. 2: Exercises for
Advanced Students, trans. anon, probably Hindemith (Mainz: Schott
& Co., 1953)].
6. A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1952a) [Komponist in seiner Welt, trans. Hindemith,
Paul (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1959)].
7. Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Übungsbuch für den dreistimmigen Satz, ed.
Briner, A., Meyer, P. D. & Rubeli, A. (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1970).
The 1937 German Unterweisung edition ended with an appendix listing

compositions by Hindemith which best represent his theory in practice.
This document, which was omitted from future editions, is quoted below.
It provides a tremendously valuable insight into Hindemith’s opinion of his
theoretically based music at the time of writing his first textbook. That the
appendix was subsequently removed from all editions of the Unterweisung
– including the English translation as The Craft of Musical Composition in
1942 – begs the question of how these works relate to the political climate
of 1930s Germany.1
Die Verwirklichung der in diesem Buche vorgetragenen Ansichten über die

Technik des Tonsatzes läßt sich am besten in den nachstehenden Werken des
Verfassers verfolgen:
[The realisation of the views presented in this book on the technique of

composition can best be observed in the following works by the author:]
Sonate in Es für Violine und Klavier, op. 111 (1920)

Sonate für Bratsche und Klavier, op. 114 (1922)
Streichquartett, op. 22 (1922)
Die junge Magd. Sechs Gedichte von Georg Trakl für eine Altstimme
mit Flöte, Klarinette und Streichquartett, op. 232 (1922)
Kleine Kammermusik für 5 Bläser (Flöte, Oboe, Klarinette, Horn und
Fagott) op. 242 (1922)
Sonate für Bratschen allein, op. 251 (1923)
Sonate für Viola d’amour und Klavier, op. 252 (1929)
Sonate für Violoncell allein, op. 253 (1923)
1
Because the appendix was left out of the second edition of the Unterweisung in 1940,
it failed to make the journey into Mendel’s translation in 1942. For this reason, it has
been overlooked in many studies of Hindemith’s music theory in the English language.
INTRODUCTION 3
Fünf Stücke in der ersten Lage für Streichorchester, op. 444 (1927)
Frau Musica. Musik zum Singen und Spielen nach einem Text von
Luther, op. 451 (1928)
Konzertmusik für Solobratsche und größeres Kammerorchestra,
op. 48 (1930)
Konzertmusik für Klavier, Blechbläser und Harfen, op. 49 (1931)
Konzertmusik für Streichorchester und Blechbläser, op. 50 (1931)
Das Unaufhörliche. Oratorium nach einem Text von Gottfried Benn für
Soli, gemischten Chor, Knabenchor und Orchester (1931)
Plöner Musiktag. Musik zum Singen und Spielen: A. Morgenmusik,
B. Tafelmusik, C. Kantate, D. Abendkonzert (1932)
Philharmonisches Konzert. Variationen für Orchester (1932)
Trio Nr. 2 für Violine, Bratsche und Violoncell (1933)
Symphonie Mathis der Maler für Orchester (1934)
Mathis der Maler. Oper in sieben Bildern (1934)
Der Schwanendreher. Konzert nach alten Volksliedern für Bratsche und
kleines Orchester (1935)
Sonate in E für Violine und Klavier (1935)
Trauermusik für Bratsche und Streichorchester (1936)
Drei Sonaten für Klavier (1936)
Sonate für Flöte und Klavier
Als praktische Erläuterung wird ferner eine Neufassung des 1924 erschienenen
“Marienleben” (Gedichte von Rainer Maria Rilke) und des “Liederbuches für
mehrere Singstimmen” (1925) veröffentlicht werden. Das im Text wiederholt
erwähnte Übungsbuch erscheint, sobald die bei der Verwendung des
theoretischen Teils gemachten Erfahrungen es gestatten.
[As a practical demonstration, a new version of the 1924 published

“Marienleben” (poems by Rainer Maria Rilke) and the “Liederbuches für
mehrere Singstimmen” (1925) will also be published. The workbook that has
been repeatedly mentioned in the text will appear as soon as the experience
gained from the use of the theoretical part permits it.]
This book uses the appendix to create the following three categories, which
form the analytical basis of chapters 3, 4 and 5:
1. music written before the Unterweisung and yet quoted in the appendix;
2. music written immediately after the Unterweisung, such as the Ludus
Tonalis (1942);
3. music written before the Unterweisung but subsequently revised as a
corollary of his theory, such as Das Marienleben (1923, revised 1948).
4 INTRODUCTION
Hindemith’s Theory and Practice in Primary Sources
In addition to the chronological placement of Hindemith’s compositions and

theory, there is a corpus of rich documents which give reference to his theory
and practice. These include:
1. Unterweisung drafts
2. Unterweisung appendix
3. Das Marienleben foreword
4. Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt am Main
5. Yale Hindemith Collection
6. Oral History of American Music
7. Blonay Bibliothek
8. Thomas Hall Collection
a. Correspondence with Arthur Mendel
b. Edward Ballantine, Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb
9. University libraries at Buffalo, Berkeley and Berlin
10. Rebner and Amar String Quartet Programmes
11. Continuing expansion of the Hindemith Complete Edition
Giselher Schubert (1980) has examined Hindemith’s Unterweisung drafts

from 1935–1937, although a detailed examination of the (significant)
alterations between the published 1937 and 1940 versions is still needed.2 The
Unterweisung appendix, though an exceptional document, is often unnoticed.
The foreword to Hindemith’s Das Marienleben has also often been overlooked
because of the scarcity of the English translation. It is widely available in
German, as the front to the Schott publication of the 1948 revised version,
although no translation is provided. For this, one must look to a separately
published English translation (Schott & Co., 1948), which is poorly
disseminated and out of print; at the time of writing this book, there was
not a single library copy in the United Kingdom. The foreword is a valuable
document, perhaps even more so than the Unterweisung, for investigating the
relationship between Hindemith’s theory and compositional practice.
Following Hindemith’s death in 1963, two international research centres
were founded: the Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt am Main (HI), and the
Yale Hindemith Collection (YHC). Between them they hold the majority
of Hindemith autographs and correspondences. Frankfurt retains archival
ties with Schott Music and publishes an ongoing collected-works edition
(Hindemith Sämtliche Werke), a journal (Hindemith Jahrbuch [henceforth
2
Schubert, Giselher, ‘Vorgeschichte und Entstehung der “Unterweisung im Tonsatz:
Theoretischer Teil”’ HJb, Vol. 9 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1980) pp. 16–64.
INTRODUCTION 5
HJb]) and a pamphlet (Hindemith Forum). It is also affiliated with the Paul
Hindemith Prize in composition at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival
(since 1990) and the Paul Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau (since 2000).
The Blonay Bibliothek is a paper resource held within the Institute, which
records the various books and papers owned by Hindemith in his personal
library. These books are stored in a Hindemith Library in Blonay, Switzerland.
It contains valuable information about the theoretical books Hindemith
was interested in, and includes details on those that he dated and annotated.
Within the YHC, there are several thousand pages of primary source material.
Access is facilitated by an online catalogue. Furthermore, the Yale archive
catalogue system keeps archives for all its notable alumni and staff. Within the
Yale Collection is a collection of manuscripts entitled ‘Thomas Hall’. These
contain material such as Arthur Mendel correspondences and the unpublished
score of Edward Ballantine’s Mary Had a Little Lamb Variations, in the style
of Hindemith.
Much of this material appears perhaps for the first time in this book,
lending a new perspective on Hindemith’s music theory. Key sources include:
1. Class notes from Hindemith’s students at Yale

2. Hindemith’s corrections to student compositions
3. Letters and correspondences, particularly concerning Arthur Mendel
and the Unterweisung translation
4. Reminiscences from former students, contemporaries and colleagues
held in the Oral History of American Music
5. ‘Blackboard’ fugue fragments recorded by students in Buffalo and Yale
6. The connection of Hindemith’s source material to his Blonay library
7. Unpublished documents referring to Hindemith’s work in the Berlin
Rundfunkversuchsstelle
The chronological placement of Hindemith’s music theory within his

compositional activity; the Unterweisung appendix; the compositional revisions
and the classroom teaching, all invite an investigation into the relationship
between Hindemith’s theory and practice.
Secondary Sources on Hindemith
Two key texts that relate to this field are Ian Kemp, Hindemith (1970) and
David Neumeyer, The Music of Paul Hindemith (1986). Kemp’s text is sixth
in the Oxford Studies of Composers series, edited by Colin Mason, which also
includes monographs on Fux, Marenzio, Cherubini, Tallis and Schoenberg:
save for the latter, these were composers who had been quantitatively
marginalised in musicological publications at that time. As Kemp’s book was
6 INTRODUCTION
published only seven years after Hindemith’s death, it allowed him to take
advice from Gertrud Hindemith (who died in 1967) and therefore includes
valuable perspectives. Moreover, Kemp published, for the first time, many
anecdotes from Schott’s Hindemith archive, which was to become part of
the HI.
Kemp both introduces the central Unterweisung concepts and offers a brief
application. Notable strengths include his discussion of pitch centres from
Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony and his appliance of Hindemith’s
analytical principles in graph form.3 However Kemp’s text is concise at only
fifty-nine pages in length. It therefore leaves many areas for investigation.
These include most notably the analysis of complete scores, rather than
segments; critical engagement with Hindemith’s theoretical methods; and an
Unterweisung reception history.
This book is indebted to the work of Neumeyer, whose 1986 monograph is
the major study of Hindemith’s music theory and compositions. It is part of the
Composers of the Twentieth Century Series, edited by Allen Forte (Neumeyer’s
doctoral supervisor), which also includes monographs on Scriabin, Varèse and
Stravinsky. The book is structured in four parts: (1) preliminaries on theory,
composition and analysis; (2) Mathis der Maler; (3) music before Mathis;
and (4) music after Mathis. Neumeyer therefore associates Mathis (1933–
1935) with a stylistic watershed in Hindemith’s music. It is the seminal text
on Hindemith, both for its analytical depth and reference to Hindemith’s
theoretical and compositional sketches.
Neumeyer similarly analyses Hindemith’s Das Marienleben and Ludus
Tonalis, which is unsurprising given the theoretical context surrounding
them. My book differs from Neumeyer’s in three fundamental ways. Firstly, it
does not consider the third Unterweisung volume as an accurate document of
Hindemith’s theoretical position. One of the reasons for this is precisely due to
the doubts that Hindemith had when writing it. Hindemith certainly intended
to add volumes in three- and four-part writing immediately following the
publication of the first two volumes; whether the posthumous third volume
truly represents this, however, is unclear. Secondly, the method in this book is
wholly unrelated. Neumeyer does not investigate the theoretical potential of
quartal pitch systems, nor their close relationship to Hindemith’s theoretical
writing, choosing instead to invent an elaborate inventory of symbols based
on the third Unterweisung volume. Indeed, Stephen Hinton finds it ‘a series of
hieroglyphics which is imprecise and tends to confuse rather than enlighten’.4
3
Kemp, Ian, Hindemith (London: Oxford University Press, 1970) pp. 35–9.
4
Hinton, Stephen, ‘Review: Neumeyer, David, The Music of Paul Hindemith (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1986)’ Music Analysis, Vol. 7, No. 3 (October, 1988)
pp. 356–9.
INTRODUCTION 7
Thirdly, Neumeyer does not use Hindemith’s Unterweisung appendix to the

extent I do here.
It has been over twenty-five years since Neumeyer’s monograph. In the
meantime, there have been no detailed examinations of the relationship
between Hindemith’s theory and composition in the English language that
have not been the complement of a doctoral degree (DMA) in performance.
Since then, many unpublished documents have come to light, such as the Yale
Thomas Hall Collection (THC) and material from the Berlin Universität der
Künste. Secondary material used in this book, published since Neumeyer’s
monograph, includes complete repertoire lists for the Rebner and Amar
String Quartets (1991–1993), a succession of dedicated Hindemith articles
in the Journal of Musicology, and a Hindemith monograph in Danish by Niels
Viggo Bentzon (1997).
The analytical method developed here is indebted to post-tonal prolongation
models by Joseph Straus (1987) and Fred Lerdahl (1989 and 2001). Earlier
concepts of atonal prolongation may be traced to Felix Salzer (1952) and
Robert Morgan (1976).5 In these forms, it exists as an ironic consequence
of Heinrich Schenker’s tonal reductive technique, applied liberally to diverse
music examples from Machaut to Bartók and Stravinsky. Straus advises
caution concerning the range of repertoire that prolongation is applied to,
and adds four conditions to define and enhance the theoretical definition
of prolongation. A sensitivity towards pitch salience, discussed by Lerdahl,
is added to express precisely why certain pitches are more prominent than
others and may therefore be subject to prolongation. This book is particularly
concerned with the prolongation of Hindemith’s quartal pitch collections, as
an expression of Unterweisung theory.
Apart from the two monographs by Kemp and Neumeyer, which are out
of print, detailed and committed studies of the close relationship between
Hindemith’s music and theory are surprisingly few. The overwhelming
majority of texts that attempt to relate Hindemith’s Unterweisung to his
compositional process are DMA doctoral theses in performance. The
Trumpet Sonata (1939) has already earned six complete dissertations,
perhaps due to its proximity to the publication of Unterweisung in 1937.6
5
Salzer, Felix, Structural Hearing (New York: C. Boni, 1952) and Morgan, Robert P.,
‘Dissonant Prolongation: Theoretical and Compositional Precedents’ Journal of Music
Theory, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring, 1976) pp. 49–91.
6
These include Morton, P., The Influence of Paul Hindemith’s The Craft of
Musical Composition on his Sonata for Trumpet in B-flat and Piano (University
of Alabama, DMA, 1995); Bogard, R., The Trumpet in Selected Solo and Chamber
Works of Paul Hindemith: Elements of Trumpet Technique and their Relationship to the
Gebrauchsmusik Concept (University of North Texas, DMA, 1994); Retzlaff, C.,
8 INTRODUCTION
There is a short and rudimentary application of the Unterweisung to

Hindemith’s Third Piano Sonata by Radoslavova (2006) and a more general
analysis by Thurston (1984), in addition to studies of Hindemith’s chamber
music, which focus on the output from the 1930s.7 These include his sonatas
for Harp (Poeschl-Edrich, 2005), Viola (Whang, 2005), Flute (Ohlsson,
1975), Clarinet (Townend, 1967), Bassoon (Koper, 1972) and Trombone
(Walter, 1996).8 As the DMA degree includes a substantial performance
component, the analytical discussion of the music is usually brief and relates
the Unterweisung to each composition by its chronological connection rather
than on how the music itself may demonstrate Hindemith’s theoretical ideas.
Notable biographical material includes Andres Briner (1971), Geoffrey
Skelton (1975), Luther Noss (1989) and Guy Rickards (1995). They provide
useful documentary evidence but do not investigate the specific relationship
of Hindemith’s theory and compositional practice. Noss is noteworthy as one
of the few authors to present material from the YHC, including valuable
information for this book, such as Hindemith’s student lists. Routledge’s
prominent music bibliography series is yet to attempt an edition on many
mainstream Western composers, such as Monteverdi, Beethoven, Mozart
World War II Symbolism and Programmatic Content in Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for
Trumpet and Piano (California State University, DMA, 2008); and, more loosely,
Cox, B., Selected Chamber Compositions of Paul Hindemith Employing Trumpet: A
Stylistic and Performance Analysis (University of Southern Mississippi, DMA, 1995);
Toering, R., A Performance Interpretation of the Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by
Donald H. White and a Comparison with the Trumpet Sonatas of Paul Hindemith and
Kent Kennan (University of Cincinnati, DMA, 1981); and Heinzen, C., Semiotic
Modelling: Relevance to Trumpet Performance and Musical Interpretation using Paul
Hindemith’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (Louisiana State University, DMA, 2006).
7
Radoslavova, I., Paul Hindemith’s Craft of Musical Composition and its Application
in his Third Piano Sonata (University of Wisconsin, DMA, 2006). This took the form
of a lecture recital in a performance and research doctorate. See also: Thurston, V.,
Hindemith’s Third Piano Sonata: A New Assessment (Ohio State University, DMA, 1984).
8
Poeschl-Edrich, B., Modern and Tonal: An Analytical Study of Paul Hindemith’s
Sonata for Harp (Boston University, DMA, 2005); Whang, D., Observations of Paul
Hindemith’s Approach to Form and Tonal Language: The Three Sonatas for Viola and Piano
(University of Hartford, DMA, 2005); Ohlsson, J., Paul Hindemith’s Music for Flute:
Analyses of Solo Works and Stylistic and Formal Considerations of Chamber Work (Ohio
State University, DMA, 1975); Townsend, G., A Stylistic and Performance Analysis of
the Clarinet Music of Paul Hindemith (University of Illinois, EdD, 1967); Koper, R., A
Stylistic and Performance Analysis of the Bassoon Music of Paul Hindemith (University of
Illinois: EdD, 1972), Walter, R., Paul Hindemith’s “Sonata” for Trombone: A Performance
Analysis (Louisiana State University, DMA, 1996).
INTRODUCTION 9
or Stravinsky. However, there are already two on Hindemith (2005 and

2009).9 This further highlights the wealth of archival material available on
Hindemith; and yet, no devoted monograph has been published on Hindemith
in the English language since Neumeyer. The quantity of archival material is
disproportionately rich compared to the quantity of monographs.
Book Outline
The first challenge faced by Hindemith scholarship is the clarification of

the identity of his music theory. Chapter 1 addresses this, in addition to
critically engaging with some of his theoretical inconsistencies. Chapter 2
develops a method for the analysis of Hindemith’s music, based on set theory
and voice leading, which is connected to the areas of Unterweisung theory
that have the clearest relationship with free composition: quartal harmony
and chromatic counterpoint. Chapters 3–5 comprise the main analytical
data of this book and investigate the three areas relating to Hindemith’s
Unterweisung appendix: music written before, music written after, and music
revised. These demonstrate the evolving presence of theory-principles in
his music, in addition to changes in Hindemith’s style that are not directly
referred to in theory. Chapter 6 focuses on the biographical circumstances
of Hindemith’s influential sonata sequence and draws together a wide range
of anecdotal information to assemble an image of current perceptions. It
also considers the more practically oriented textbooks Elementary Training
for Musicians and Traditional Harmony, which stem from the different
requirements of the Yale teaching environment. While Chapter 1 partly
investigates imperfections in Hindemith’s theory-writing, Chapter 7 shows
that the expression of these problems in the English-language journal The
Music Review carries an inappropriate level of venom. The level of criticism
in this influential academic publication (one of the only journals to publish
in depth on Unterweisung-theory in English) is unreservedly caustic. This
further shows that an understanding of Hindemith’s ideological position
is necessary for an accurate evaluation of his music theory: in other words,
it is unfair to attack the Unterweisung without first trying to understand
what Hindemith was trying to achieve. Chapter 7 examines the legacy of
Hindemith’s work, with a particular focus on how the identity of his music
theory, and his relationship to his students, affected its dissemination.
Hindemith was both unfortunate, leaving the United States at precisely
9
See Desbruslais, Simon, ‘Review: Stephen Luttmann, Paul Hindemith: A Research
and Information Guide, 2nd edn (New York: Routledge, 2009)’ Twentieth-Century
Music, Vol. 8, No. 2 (September, 2011) pp. 266–9.
10 INTRODUCTION
the time when set theory and Schenkerian theory gained a foothold, and
lacking in the delicacy and subtlety necessary to achieve the admiration of
a large proportion of his students. It also shows subsequent theoretical and
compositional fashions that are indebted to his work, notably music theory
that blends music with natural science, accompanied by the aspiration to
create a theory that is in some way applicable to all forms of Western music.
Chapters 1–5 focus on detailed theoretical analysis, followed by chapters
6–7 which include more emphasis on critical and historical musicology.
This book therefore addresses the following three central questions: what
is the identity of Hindemith’s music theory, how does it relate to his music,
and what legacy did it leave? Hindemith scholarship is ripe for such enquiry
in 2017, through the lens of unpublished archival sources. The connection
between his music and theory deserves a re-evaluation.
o
1
An Unterweisung Critical Commentary
Setting the Scene
Not all composers are music theorists, and fewer still publish theoretical
textbooks. Of these few, the connection between their music and theory varies:
Johann Joseph Fux wrote music in a mature Baroque style, yet his theory
codified the earlier polyphonic practice of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
The French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote an extensive treatise
on thorough-bass, beginning with a first part that speculatively justifies the
diatonic system using the overtone series. In turn, the Austrian thorough-bass
theorists wrote practical treatises which reflected the harmonic character of
their music-making, such as Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Simon Sechter
and Anton Bruckner.1 The German theorist Hugo Riemann took Rameau’s
speculative application one step further and invented harmonic dualism
to objectify the minor mode.2 Some composer-theorists were prominent
composers in their lifetimes. Many were not.
Against this backdrop is a rare occurrence of a composer who turned
to the writing of music theory textbooks as a way of streamlining his own
compositional style: Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). Though he has been classed
among the great composers of the early twentieth century, in the esteemed
company of Béla Bartók, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, his legacy
and music theory remain enigmatic.3 Unlike Schoenberg, who wrote textbooks
to observe features of earlier, diatonic music, Hindemith created a speculative
music theory that offered a direction for contemporary composition to follow
which did not sever its ties with tonality, and yet used the chromatic scale. He
entitled it Unterweisung im Tonsatz.
Hindemith’s committed engagement with music theory is, further,
unusual given his early popularity as a performer and a composer. His
1
See Wason, Robert W., Viennese Harmonic Theory from Albrechtsberger to Schenker
and Schoenberg (New York: University of Rochester Press, 1985).
2
See Rehding, Alexander, Hugo Riemann and the Birth of Modern Musical Thought
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
3
For example, see Lampert, V., Somfai, L., White, E. W., Noble, J., Kemp, I., New
Grove Modern Masters: Bartók, Stravinsky, Hindemith (New York: W. W. Norton &
Co., 1984).
12 THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF PAUL HINDEMITH
initial achievements in performance included entering the Frankfurt Opera

Orchestra aged nineteen and subsequently playing in the Rebner and Amar
String Quartets. The status of his technical prowess as a viola soloist was
elevated to the highest international standing during the 1920s and 1930s,
where he premiered his three viola concertos and, in addition, William
Walton’s Viola Concerto at infamously short notice.4 Hindemith performed
his viola concertos with some of the leading musicians and ensembles of
the twentieth century: for example, his fifth Kammermusik was premiered
in November 1927 with the Berlin Staatskapelle under Otto Klemperer.
Moreover, these were not isolated performances; Ian Kemp reports that, by
1938, Hindemith had played the Kammermusik ninety times.5
Many composer-theorists turned to theory after their works received
limited popularity or attention. This was emphatically not the case for
Hindemith: by the mid-1920s, he was widely regarded as the leading, living
German composer. This was due in part to the success of three modernist
one-act operas (Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen, Das Nusch-Nuschi and Sancta
Susanna), five String Quartets and the Kammermusiken. He also held an
influential director position at the Donaueschingen music festival, which was
to become the prominent Baden-Baden festival, and from 1 July 1919 he had
secured the influential support of the publisher Schott & Co. He was an ideal
candidate to continue the line of German New Music after the death of Max
Reger in 1916; indeed, many of his early works were influenced by Reger,
and his later Organ Sonatas.6 Though his music was not always received with
unanimous critical acclaim, it was undoubtedly well known and effectively
disseminated during his lifetime.
Hindemith published the first instalment of his music theory at the age
of forty-one, in June–July 1937, just prior to his emigration to the United
States. Before this date, he had written in excess of 103 compositions, which
included a wide range of genres from opera and oratorio to orchestral and
instrumental works.7 Afterwards he wrote at least seventy-five compositions,
4
William Walton’s Viola Concerto was to be premiered in 1929 by Lionel Tertis,
who declined the work. Hindemith stepped in to give the premiere performance, at a
Henry Wood Promenade Concert on 3 October 1929, conducted by Walton.
5
Kemp, Ian, ‘Some Thoughts on Hindemith’s Viola Concertos’ HJb, Vol. 35 (Mainz:
Schott & Co., 2006) p. 69.
6
Kemp, Ian, Hindemith (London: Oxford University Press, 1970) p. 7.
7
The breakdown of works before June 1937 include: eleven stages works, twenty
orchestral works, one oratorio, six unaccompanied choral works, seven works for solo
voice and orchestra, fourteen works for solo voice and piano, eleven chamber works
for three or more instruments, twenty-one chamber works for one to two instruments,
and twelve works for keyboard. There are numerous other fragments, lost works, works
AN UNTERWEISUNG CRITICAL COMMENTARY 13
in addition to a large number of canons and compositions for amateurs (Sing-

und-Spielmusik). His theory-making therefore occurred in a middle period of
his compositional life. This chronology offers a valuable opportunity to analyse
the connection of Hindemith’s music theory to his compositions in a manner
that may rarely be found in other composers, particularly of international
standing. We are able to look at both early works, ostensibly written without
theoretical concerns, and late works, written in a conspicuously theoretical
manner. Moreover, some works, such as Das Marienleben (1923 rev. 1948) were
written before his theory and subsequently revised as a consequence of it.
Hindemith has been described by Geoffrey Skelton, the first author
to publish a Hindemith biography in the English language, as achieving
technical mastery with the completion of the pivotal seven-scene opera Mathis
der Maler in 1935.8 Its close proximity to the completion of Unterweisung
I in 1937 is no coincidence. Skelton suggests that Hindemith was keen to
remove the element of chance in the process of composition – ‘the variation
of quality brought on by an over-reliance on artistic inspiration’ – and arrive at
a complete control of his ‘craft’. He concludes that it was ‘an essential part of
the process of Hindemith getting to know and understand himself ’.9 Skelton’s
believable interpretation offers an enticing rationale to the Unterweisung :
the writing of a grand theory text may have been concerned as much with
Hindemith consolidating his technique, and refining his own methods, as it
was for teaching others. It may also have been written to address his lack
of formal academic qualifications. Parallel to Hindemith’s academic and
compositional mission, one may argue convincingly that the complex, and in
many ways chaotic, compositional environment of 1920s Germany, and the
pluralistic nature of Hindemith’s music from this time, invited a thinker to
create order in an increasingly multifarious musical language. We may also
look to other developments in music theory during the early twentieth century
which paved the way for Hindemith’s approach: Schenker’s rethinking of
contrapuntal structural levels and organicism; Schoenberg’s harmonic theory
and Ernst Kurth’s ‘Spannung’ (part of the school of Energetics), were all
essential precursors of Hindemith’s work. Of further influence on his theory-
for mechanical instruments, miscellaneous dramatic music, film scores, incidental

music, and music for amateurs. After June 1937, Hindemith’s works include: four stage
works, eighteen orchestral works, one requiem and four other works for choir and
ensemble, eight unaccompanied choral works, one work for solo voice with orchestra,
eleven works for solo voice and piano, six chamber works for three or more instruments,
sixteen chamber works for one or two instruments, and six works for keyboard.
8
Skelton, Geoffrey, Paul Hindemith: The Man behind the Music (London: Gollancz,
1975) p. 143.
9
Ibid.
writing was the assortment of colleagues in the Berlin Musikhochschule whose

expertise likely steered the direction of Hindemith’s acoustic experiments. This
particularly includes Friedrich Trautwein, inventor of the Trautonium and
who was affiliated with the Berlin Rundfunkversuchsstelle (an experimental
radio institute). Finally, a ban on Hindemith’s music and an increasing sense
of artistic isolation following ‘Der Fall Hindemith’ in 1934 likely contributed
to the grand and speculative essence of the Unterweisung text.
The unique relationship of Hindemith’s musical compositions and musical
theory opens up rich possibilities for investigation, which are central to this
book. For example, what elements of the Unterweisung are applicable to free
composition? And of these components, which have had the greatest impact
upon Hindemith’s musical language, particularly given the chronological
placement of Hindemith’s theoretical work during his compositional activity?
The results provide a context for Hindemith’s compositional legacy.
Overview, Description and Identity
The first volume of the Unterweisung im Tonsatz is an original, speculative and

generalising theory of music. It consists of six chapters which introduce and
apply concepts of harmony, melody, and analytic method. The Unterweisung
is based on two main premises: Series 1, which creates an order of melodic
relationships, and Series 2, which creates an order of harmonic relationships.
These are founded on the acoustic, and scientifically verifiable, phenomena
of overtones and combination tones respectively. Series 1 and 2 are then
used to develop a new understanding of harmony – including two-voice
framework, chord value, harmonic fluctuation and degree progression – and of
melody – including step progression, chordal association and melodic degree
progression. Both theories of harmony and melody prioritise the fourth and
the fifth over other intervals. Unfortunately, Hindemith’s chapter order lacks
a logical progression:
1. Introductory;
2. The Medium;
3. The Nature of the Building Stones;
4. Harmony;
5. Melody;
6. Analyses.
Series 1 and 2 are introduced in Unterweisung Chapter 3. They concern

melody and harmony respectively. The following two chapters run the
opposite order: harmony and then melody, which confuses the practical
application of Series 1 and 2. Hindemith also uses his concept of two-voice
framework to describe harmony in Chapter 4, even though it is primarily

a contrapuntal technique and therefore harmonically incomplete. There
is a further lack of distinction between the concepts of harmonic degree
progression and melodic degree progression. The final and most disruptive
layout in this volume is the presence of a short section entitled ‘practical
application’: before the melody section has been introduced.
Through his music theory, Hindemith hoped to rekindle interest in a
synthetic approach to music and the natural sciences – particularly physics
and astrology.10 His aspiration that music theory and science would one day
converge in a universal form reflects the polymath music theorists of old,
from Pythagoras to Hermann von Helmholtz, who pioneered work across
a range of disciplines.11 The introduction to the first Unterweisung volume
is abundant in language that implicitly links Hindemith’s music theory to
Johannes Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi (1619), most notably the concept of
‘harmonic gravitation’.12 This relationship was made explicit twenty years
later in Hindemith’s opera of the life of Kepler, Die Harmonie der Welt (1957),
and it is the most speculative aspect of his treatise. Hindemith also believed
that his music theory could be applied to music from all genres and eras, as
demonstrated by the analysis of music from Gregorian Chant to Schoenberg
and Stravinsky, although it is critical of serialism and polytonality. It is one of
the most ambitious works of music theory ever written.
10
Hindemith, Paul, A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1952a) p. 102. The final paragraph of Chapter 5, on ‘Means
of Production’, outlines in poetic detail Hindemith’s hopes for the future of music
theory: ‘The time may perhaps return, when musical rules will be, as they were in olden
times, an essential part of the code of the physical sciences. It is an alluring idea to
think of a reorganization of scientific concepts on a musical basis. Instead of a plan for
the world’s destruction by superbombs, a blueprint of music theory would be drawn up
to serve as a plan for a tremendous reformation of the universe. Harmonic, melodic,
and rhythmic laws, as worked out in a most beautiful and exalted composition, would
transform the world’s woes and falsehood into the ideal habitat for human beings, who
by the same process of musical ennoblement would have grown into creatures worthy
of such a paradise’.
11
The Blonay Bibliothek lists that Hindemith kept a copy of Albert Einstein’s
Relativity (New York, 1947). His interests in the progress of natural science towards
theories that could cover a wide variety of phenomena corresponds with the aims of
the Unterweisung.
12
The first reference to this concept occurs in Craft (1942) p. 22: ‘In the world of
tones, the triad corresponds to the force of gravity’. Hindemith also owned a copy
of Kepler’s Welt-Harmonik (Munich & Berlin: Oldenbourg, 1939), which contains a
German translation of Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi (1619).
Volume I of the Unterweisung is a peculiar and hazy blend of practical

species counterpoint and speculative music theory, and consequently the
prescriptive and descriptive elements of theory and analysis. It begins with
a quotation from Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) – a wholly practical
textbook, without speculative theory, which trains the student to imitate the
contrapuntal style of Palestrina.13 Whether Hindemith foretells accurately
that ‘the success of Fux’s work shall be a good omen for mine’, however,
is surely a matter for debate.14 Unterweisung I has a different status to
both Kepler’s speculative Harmony of the Worlds and Fux’s practical species
counterpoint. Common ground between the Unterweisung and Fux’s Gradus
includes the pedagogic structure of the four Unterweisung volumes, both
on a larger scale in the progression from each volume from two- to four-
part counterpoint, and on a smaller scale within each volume, whereby the
student begins with a restrictive set of rules, which are gradually relaxed.
Hindemith’s concept of ‘two-voice framework’ is the closest to species
counterpoint. It concerns a contrapuntal reduction, whereby only the outer
two parts are shown. These parts may then be analysed for voice-leading
progressions. However, Hindemith’s failure to complete the publication
of the third and fourth parts has left this pedagogic structure incomplete;
the final product, a work of free composition, is never reached. The second
Unterweisung volume, on two-part composition, is the closest in style and
substance to Fux’s species counterpoint.
Three texts written by Hindemith after Unterweisung I provide clearer
insights into his music theory with the benefit of hindsight: an article,
‘Methods of Music Theory’ in The Musical Quarterly (1944); the monograph
A Composer’s World (1952); and a talk entitled Sterbende Gewässer (Polluted
Waters, 1963).15 The first of these summarises his objectives:
Music theory investigates, arranges, and explains the working material of the
composer. The ideal goal of this investigation, arrangement, and explanation
is to comprehend once and for all the whole domain of tone in all directions
and relationships, so that every conceivable sort of music can be explained,
13
Fux is one of only three theorists referenced by Hindemith in the Unterweisung.
Riemann and Prout are the others, mentioned in passing. Hindemith owned a German
translation of Fux’s Gradus Ad Parnassum published in 1938.
14
Craft (1942) p. 11.
15
Sterbende Gewässer was delivered on 28 June 1963 in Bonn. It has since been
translated by one of Hindemith’s students as ‘Polluted Waters’. This translation is
unpublished, and is held in the YHC.
so far as its technical nature is concerned, whether it be a composition that

comes down to us from the remotest ages or the work of a composer of the
future.16
Hindemith desired therefore a generalising theory of music – one which

may be applied to every possible type of composition. He contextualises his
‘physical’ approach to music theory – in other words, one which is based in
part upon scientifically observable phenomena – against the work of Jean-
Philippe Rameau (the justification of the diatonic system in acoustics) and
Giuseppe Tartini (one of the first authors to publish on combination tones).17
Hindemith’s failure to complete the Unterweisung four-volume set led
him to revise these goals in A Composer’s World, which is the published
form of his Harvard Charles Eliot Norton lecture series. Compiled nearly
twenty years after Hindemith began to formulate the Unterweisung, it
afforded him a historical perspective on his own theory and offers reasons
why the Unterweisung was, and is, needed. Moreover, Neumeyer (1986) has
suggested that it is a more accurate representation of his theory as expressed
in Unterweisung III .18 A recurring theme in A Composer’s World is his
reference to ‘Musica est scientia bene modulandi’ [Music is the knowledge
of modulating properly] from Boethius’ De Institutione Musica (early sixth
century C.E.) which dictates the importance of a scientific approach to
music.19 This does not refer to the initial moment of artistic inspiration,
which Hindemith likens to a bolt of lightning brightening a landscape, but
to the technical working out and realisation of this vision.20 It is implied
during this discussion that Hindemith’s theory teaching, based on the
Unterweisung, offers a way of refining musical technique to achieve this
outward expression of the internal artistic creations of a composer.21 His
16
Hindemith, Paul, ‘Methods of Music Theory’ The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 1,
trans. Mendel, Arthur ( January, 1944) pp. 20–28.
17
Ibid., p. 23. Overtones form the basis of Rameau, Jean-Philippe, Traité de
l’harmonie (Paris, 1722). Combination tones were first observed by the German
organist Georg Andreas Sorge in his Anweisung zur Stimmung der Orgelwerke und des
Claviers (Hamburg, 1744). This was succeeded by Giuseppe Tartini in his Trattato di
Musica (Padua, 1754), who used combination tones as a method for tuning the violin.
18
Neumeyer, David, The Music of Paul Hindemith (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1986) p. 22. Hindemith’s work on Unterweisung III was still ongoing at that time.
19
The first part of De Institutione Musica relates to ‘Musica Mundana’ (Music of the
Spheres), and therefore to Hindemith’s fascination with Kepler.
20
Hindemith (1952a) p. 60 and 67. He also uses the metaphor of turning a negative
photographic image into a colourful positive on p. 220.
21
Ibid., p. 59.
view is neatly summarised in an analogy to the sciences, where Hindemith

writes that a colleague once said, ‘Everybody can have – and has – scientific
ideas, but it takes a scientist to know what to do with them’.22
Both ‘Methods of Music Theory’ and A Composer’s World historicise
Hindemith’s theoretical position. Perhaps this is necessitated by Hindemith’s
lack of theoretical context in the earlier Unterweisung, which, while indebted
heavily to the work of Helmholtz, Oettingen, Pythagoras, Kepler and Kurth,
does not reference them. Instead, Hindemith chooses to express his aims as a
twentieth-century development of Fux, rather than a new, acoustic derivation
of pitch hierarchy. Explicitly reflecting on, and engaging with, existing music
theory was a missed opportunity.
Further perspective on Hindemith’s music theory is provided by his final
text, Sterbende Gewässer. It was delivered as a talk fewer than five months before
his death, and therefore represents his final thoughts on music theory. Sterbende
Gewässer is notable for showing that, while Hindemith may have planned to
revise the entire Unterweisung set, he did not intend to reject the basis of his
theory in overtones and combination tones (Series 1 and 2). He describes his
theoretical objectives as the creation of a ‘total tonality’, which contains not
only the major and minor scales, but all compositional possibilities.
Chronology and Translation into English
Hindemith engaged with the challenges of music theory after accepting

a chair in composition at the Berlin Musikhochschule in 1927, which
carried the obligation to deliver a coherent curriculum in musical training.
The decision to publish a didactic text may be traced to a commission in
1933 by Josef Müller-Blattau, who approached Hindemith to write a series
of handbooks.23 Neumeyer (1986) details the eight chapters found in the
handbooks Hindemith was to call ‘Komposition und Kompositionslehre’: 24
22
Ibid., p. 58.
23
Hindemith was commissioned by Josef Müller-Blattau in 1933 to write a
music handbook under the title of ‘Die Lehre der Erfindung und Gestaltung in der
Instrumentalmusik’, although Hindemith’s manuscript title simply read ‘Komposition
und Kompositionslehre’. Three drafts of this appeared, although the publisher initially
withdrew the project for political reasons. Discussed in Neumeyer (1986) pp. 24–5 and
Hinton, Stephen, The Idea of Gebrauchsmusik: A Study of Musical Aesthetics in the Weimar
Republic (1919–1933) with Particular Reference to the Works of Paul Hindemith (New
York: Garland, 1989) p. 215.
24
Neumeyer (1986) p. 25, referenced from Rubeli, Alfred, Paul Hindemiths A
Cappella-Werke (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1975) p. 75.
handbook chapters 1 and 8, entitled ‘Invention and Form’, may be compared

to the Unterweisung chapter on analysis (although invention receives scant
treatment); the second handbook chapter, ‘The Music of the Last Decades’
may also relate to his Unterweisung criticism of atonality and polytonality;
the third chapter resonates with the didactic element of the Unterweisung,
while ‘Harmony and Counterpoint’ anticipates Series 1 and 2.
1. Invention and Form;

2. The Music of the Last Decades;
3. Teacher and Student;
4. Harmony and Counterpoint;
5. Curriculum I;
6. Curriculum II;
7. Curriculum III;
8. Again, Invention and Form.
These handbooks were never published. This may be attributed to the infamous
‘Der Fall Hindemith’ due to friction with the National Socialists, resulting
in the publisher, Athenaion, withholding them from publication.25 This was
precipitated by Hindemith’s ‘incautious’ words, which he was alleged to have
spoken in Switzerland in the summer of 1934, and which led to a probationary
ban on radio broadcasts of his music. Hindemith’s music theory was therefore
inextricably linked to the wider political environment – a matter to which we
will return in Chapter 3.
The progression from a series of handbooks to the Unterweisung took place
between 1933 and 1935. Four drafts were compiled between 1935 and 1937,
of which the fourth became the first published edition – the last letter of
Unterweisung I was written on 7 April 1937.26 The unpublished drafts have
been analysed by Schubert (1980), showing that the speculative component,
particularly in relation to Kepler, only appeared in the second and third
versions.27 These are interpreted as ‘an attempt on Hindemith’s part to find a
new justification for composing after experiencing increasing isolation under
National Socialist rule’.28
25
Hinton, Stephen (1989) p. 215, Neumeyer (1986) p. 24.
26
Skelton, Geoffrey, Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1995) p. 100.
27
Schubert, Giselher, ‘Vorgeschichte und Entstehung der “Unterweisung im Tonsatz:
Theoretischer Teil”’ HJb, Vol. 9 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1980) pp. 16–64.
28
Hinton, Stephen (1989) p. 223.
In addition to the four drafts of the Unterweisung from 1935–1937, further

revision took place to form the 1940 second edition.29 It is by coincidence
that the English translation of 1942 by Arthur Mendel was of the revised,
1940 edition; the 1937 text was originally intended for translation by Remi
Gassmann with a foreword by Donald Francis Tovey. However, Gassmann
was not able to prioritise the task, as is evidenced by Hindemith’s letter to
Ernest Voigt on 8 November 1939:
I have heard nothing more from Gassmann, you presumably also not. Perhaps
he is using the war confusions as a further excuse for putting [the translation of
the Unterweisung] off. I feel we shouldn’t waste much more time on him […]
If the second volume appears in English, that will be quite sufficient for all
practical purposes. The purely practical work is not dependant on the theories
set out in the first volume, and thus the theoretical part can safely be left for
publication later, with a more trustworthy translator working on it.30
Gassmann’s failure to translate the Unterweisung on schedule both robbed

Hindemith of a foreword by Tovey – who died on 10 July 1940 – and a
translation of the 1937 volume of the Unterweisung.31 This is a double
misfortune, as the advocacy of Tovey would have helped Hindemith’s cause
to the English-speaking public (the 1942 Mendel translation has no foreword
at all). Moreover, Hindemith’s tone in the 1937 edition is considerably
less speculative.
Luther Noss has written the following Unterweisung chronology, held
in the YHC, which corroborates the unfortunate events surrounding the
English translation:
29
While Giselher Schubert discusses the genesis of the Unterweisung up until the
completed edition of 1937, with a particular emphasis on the unpublished drafts
preceding this, there are no thorough studies that tackle the implications of these
alterations. See Schubert (1980).
30
Skelton (1995) p. 139. This quotation surprisingly contradicts with the presence of
Series 1 and 2 in Unterweisung II (1939), pp. 89–94. However, Hindemith dispenses
with a Kepler analogy for Series 1 and 2, favouring instead a metaphor of family
generations. For example, the root of an interval is a ‘father’ and the other pitch is his
‘child’, rather than harmonic ‘gravitation’.
31
Ibid., p. 142: ‘In July 1937 Donald Tovey wrote to Miss Weisse, his former teacher:
“The great event in musical history at this moment is the appearance of Hindemith’s
harmony book”’.
1935 Began writing in December.

1936 Finished a first draft in February but decided to rewrite the entire
book. Gertrud Hindemith said it was in order to make it more
“comprehensible and practical”.
Completed the revision by November (all but the “Analyses” chapter,
with examples).
Arrangements for having an English translation were already being
made and a certain Herr Gassmann was engaged.
1937 Further revisions were made during February and January.
The manuscript was sent to Schott in Mainz before he embarked for
New York on March 25 to make his first concert tour of the United
States.
Completed the “Analyses” chapter during the voyage over and the first
few days in New York.
Sent this material to Schott on April 7.
The German edition was published by Schott in June.
PH still expected an English translation to be out by “Christmas”.
1938 Began work on a second revised German edition in September.
Still thought an English translation would soon be ready.
1939 Gassmann now promised to have the translation ready by May 15.
1940 The English translation was still not done as of July, but PH thought it
better to wait until the English translation of Craft II was published.
Gassmann was finally “fired” as a translator and Arthur Mendel was
asked to do it. [Mendel had been called in to help with the translation
of Craft II; the AMP officials liked what he did and thus asked him to
do Craft I ].32
There is a semantic difference between the titles Unterweisung im Tonsatz

and The Craft of Musical Composition. Firstly, the term Unterweisung (literally,
‘instruction’) implies a more pedagogical slant than Mendel’s translation
suggests. Secondly, the term Tonsatz referred, at the time, to what is now
considered in the Anglo-American university education system as the
‘techniques of composition’ or ‘harmony and counterpoint’.33 The German
edition refers therefore, in title at least, not to free composition but to
techniques of composition (also referred to as pastiche composition). A more
32
Unpublished chronology of the Unterweisung held in the YHC. It is likely to have
been written by Luther Noss.
33
For further information on the term ‘Tonsatz’ at the beginning of the twentieth
century, see Holtmeier, Ludwig, ‘From “Musiktheorie” to “Tonsatz”: National
Socialism and German Music Theory after 1945’ Music Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 2 ( July,
2004) pp. 245–66.
literal translation of Unterweisung im Tonsatz is ‘Instruction in Harmony

and Counterpoint’. This would ally it more closely with Fux’s Gradus. The
translation of the title, as we will see, proved to be a regular talking point
between Hindemith and his translators and it relates to both linguistic issues
and the problematic identity of the treatise.
The first English version of Hindemith’s work to appear in publication was
the second volume of the Unterweisung, translated by Otto Ortmann. Mendel
(Gassmann’s replacement) was asked to proof this translation, evidenced by
several unpublished letters from 1941, and he was shocked to find Ortmann’s
suggested translation of the title as ‘The Craft of Tone-Setting’.34 He was
also worried that his own translation, which was to be published in 1942,
would have to carry the same title. Mendel was satisfied with ‘Craft’, although
suggested the two figurative translations: ‘The Composer’s Craft’ or ‘The Craft
of the Composer’. In a subsequent letter, Mendel writes that the American
musicologist, Carl Engel, was consulted over the translation, who offered ‘The
Craft of the Composer and his Tools’.35 In the 1940 supplementary volume
of Grove’s Dictionary, prior to the English Unterweisung translation, Marion
M. Scott translates the title as ‘Groundwork of Musical Composition’ while
John Halliday refers to it as ‘Instruction in Composition’ in his 1941 doctoral
thesis.36 Mendel had also toyed with replacing ‘Tools’ with ‘Medium’ or
‘Materials’ before arriving at the final title.37 This long labour of the translation
of the title is due not only to the problematic German word, Tonsatz, but also
to Mendel’s view that the title should be simple and self-explanatory: ‘Once
people are inside the book they will be willing to read explanations and take
them into account. But what is on the cover should need no explanation’.38
Though Mendel’s suggestions were incorporated into the final English
34
MSS 81: THC, Box 1: 1941 Correspondence between Arthur Mendel (1905–
1979) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). Mendel expresses his dislike for ‘The Craft
of Tone-Setting’ in a memorandum to Voigt and Hindemith to accompany his letter
of 2 February 1941.
35
THC, Box 1: 1941 Correspondence. Letter dated 24 March 1941.
36
Halliday, John, Paul Hindemith – The Theorist (University of Rochester, Eastman
School of Music, PhD, 1941), which was kindly made available by the Eastman
School of Music Library, and Thomson, William, A Clarification of the Tonality Concept
(University of Indiana, PhD, 1952) p. viii.
37
THC, Box 1: 1941 Correspondence. Letter dated 24 March 1941. Mendel
suggests the following: ‘The Composer’s Materials, The Craft of the Composer and his
Materials, The Tonal Material(s) of the Composer’. This letter also shows that Mendel
was responsible for the addition of the footnote concerning the translation of Satz at
the bottom of Unterweisung II (1939) p. vii.
38
Ibid.
title, Ortmann’s translation as ‘Tone-Setting’ is, in fact, arguably closer to

Hindemith’s original meaning of ‘Tonsatz’.
Series 1
The Unterweisung constructs what Hindemith referred to retrospectively in

1963 as a ‘total tonality’.39 It encompasses not merely the major and minor
diatonic systems, but all possibilities of the chromatic scale. The first volume
formulates a theory of melody (Series 1) and harmony (Series 2), and it begins
with empirical, acoustic observations and yet reaches speculative conclusions.
Series 1 is described as ‘gravitational’ in a selection of Hindemith’s writings,
including A Composer’s World, which bears an explicit relationship to the
aforementioned planetary motion theories of Kepler.40
Hindemith’s Series 1 is a hierarchical order of pitches. Each successive
pitch in the order has a diminished relationship to the initial, ‘progenitor’ tone
– a concept Hindemith may have absorbed from the order of consonances
derived by Jean-Philippe Rameau in his Traité de l’harmonie (1722) or
François-Joseph Fétis in his Traité complet de la théorie et de la pratique de
l’harmonie (1844).41 Unlike Rameau, however, Hindemith’s order of pitches
(Example 1.1) contains all notes of the chromatic scale, beginning with C and
ending in F-sharp. Therefore, F-sharp – the tritone – is the furthest note away
from C in the hierarchy. Series 1 has a primarily linear function, which can
operate on both macro and micro levels, from advising the pitch relationships
within a single melody to governing the melodic layout of complete musical
works. Hindemith’s use of Series 1 is varied: it governs the starting pitches of
each fugue in his Ludus Tonalis and organises distant pitch relationships in
Mathis der Maler and Das Marienleben.
Similar in approach to Rameau’s Traité, Series 1 stems from the overtone
series (which Hindemith likely demonstrated in his Berlin and Yale classrooms
using a monochord) and it emphasises the prominence of the fourth and fifth
Example 1.1 Hindemith’s Series 1.
& w w w w bw bw bw w #w
w w bw
39
Hindemith, Sterbende Gewässer (1963).
40
Hindemith also perceives tonality in terms of gravitational relationships: see
Hindemith (1952a) p. 55.
41
The word ‘progenitor’ is common in the Craft, and is typical of Hindemith’s
metaphor of the family when outlining his tonal relationships.
in melody writing. Hindemith derives each pitch by adapting the (natural)

order of harmonic partials from a fundamental note of C at 64 Hz, which
generates the frequencies shown in Table 1.1. He did not strictly follow the
overtone series itself – which eventually contains every note of the modern
chromatic scale – because it falls outside the limits of an octave. Unlike Rameau,
who assumed octave equivalency to derive his acoustic order of consonances,
Hindemith’s solution proceeds to examine each partial and divide it by an
integer in order to place it within the limits of an octave.42 The second note in
his order takes the third partial and divides it by two, while the third note takes
the fourth partial and divides it by three. Hindemith elucidates this strategy
with the following rule:
To arrive at each new tone of the scale, divide the vibration-number of each
overtone successively by the order-numbers of the preceding tones in the
series.43
For comparative purposes, we may express Hindemith’s Series 1 rule

algebraically:
( + 1)
=
Where x is the order number in the series, f is the frequency, and f1 is the
fundamental frequency.
The second pitch in Series 1 is derived by dividing the third partial (192 Hz)
of the fundamental pitch (64 Hz) by two (Example 1.2). The third partial
cannot then be divided by another integer and remain within an octave, so
Hindemith proceeds to the larger fourth partial. This time, he divides it by
three in order to find a frequency within the octave (Example 1.3).
And now we arrive at a problem. What is not explicit in Hindemith’s
text, particularly to begin with, is that his initial rule will only be used for
three pitches in his series. Excluding the generating pitch (C), these are:
pitch 2 (G), pitch 3 (F) and pitch 8 (D). It is no coincidence that for each
of these pitches, as well as for pitch 9 (B-flat), the frequency corresponds
exactly with Pythagorean temperament.
42
Rameau (1722, trans. Gossett 1971) p. 6, ‘The order and origin of perfection of
these consonances is determined by the order of their numbers’. Fétis (1844) described
tonality with reference to forces of musical attraction between scale degrees. Fétis,
François-Joseph, Traité complet de la théorie et de la pratique de l’harmonie (Paris and
Brussels, 1844).
43
Craft (1942) p. 34.
The fourth pitch in Series 1 does not follow Hindemith’s rule and is derived
by dividing the fifth partial by three, not four (Example 1.4).
The fifth pitch is what we would have derived had Hindemith’s rule been
applied consistently, by dividing the fifth partial by four (Example 1.5).
Hindemith then finds that the awkward ratios produced by dividing the
seventh partial (448 Hz) prevent him from using partials above the sixth. It
may be divided by three different integers to create pitches within the span of
an octave:
448 ÷ 4 = 112 (B-flat)

448 ÷ 5 = 89.6 (G-flat)
448 ÷ 6 = 74.66 (E-flat)
In all three calculations, the results yield temperaments that are more suitably
found elsewhere: the first option derives a B-flat that is too close to the A one
Example 1.2 The derivation of pitch 2 from Series 1, based on the diagrams
found in the Craft (1942) p. 34.
? œœ ? œ
w
192 192
w
128
96 ( = 192 / 2)
64
? œœ 256
w 85.33 ( = 256 / 3)
œ
? œ
320
w 106.66 ( = 320 / 3)
œ
? œœ
320
w 80 ( = 320 / 4)
Table 1.1 The corresponding frequencies of Hindemith’s Series 1.
Frequency Helmholtz a Pythagorean Equal

No. Tone Operation (Hz) (Hz) Temperament (Hz) Temperament (Hz)
1 C Starting tone 64 b 64 (1:1) 64 (1:1) 64
2 G Third partial (G: 192 Hz) divided by two 96 96 (2:3) 96 (2:3) 95.89
3 F Fourth partial (C: 256 Hz) divided by three 85.33 85.33 (3:4) 85.33 (3:4) 85.43
4 A Fifth partial (E: 320 Hz) divided by three 106.66 106.67 (3:5) 108 (16:27) 107.63
5 E Fifth partial (E: 320 Hz) divided by four 80 80 (4:5) 81 (64:81) 80.63
6 E-flat Sixth partial (G: 384 Hz) divided by five 76.8 76.8 (5:6) 75.85 (27:32) 76.11
7 c A-flat Fourth partial (C: 256 Hz) divided by five, then multiplied by two 102.4 102.4 (5:8) 101.14 (81:128) 101.60
d D Third partial of G (D: 288 Hz) divided by four 72 72 (8:9) 72 (8:9) 71.84
8
9 B-flat Fourth partial of F (F: 341.33 Hz) divided by three 113.77 e 112 (4:7) 113.78 (9:16) 114.04
10 D-flat Fourth partial of F (F: 341.33 Hz) divided by five 68.27 – 67.42 (243:256) 67.81
11 B Third partial of E (B: 240 Hz) divided by two 120 – 121.5 (128:243) 120.82
12 G-flat/ Second partial of B-flat (B-flat: 227.56 Hz) divided by five, or 91/ 90 89.6 (5:7) 91.13 (512:729) 90.51
F-sharp fifth partial of D (F-sharp: 360 Hz) divided by four
a
See p. 187 of the English translation of Helmholtz (1870) [On the Sensations of Tone, trans. Ellis, Alexander J. (New York: Dover, 1954)]. His ratio of pitch
numbers is applied here to a fundamental of 64 Hz for comparative purposes. He does not offer suitable ratios for the minor second or major seventh.
b
These figures are taken from the Craft where there is a noticeable inconsistency in the number of decimal places. I round to two decimal places where necessary.
c
Hindemith backtracks to using the fourth overtone rather than the seventh.
d
Hindemith finds that he has exhausted the use of the overtones of the pitch of C (64 Hz) and so experiments with other starting pitches to derive the
remaining tones.
e
Hindemith gives this value as 113.78 in the original, rounding it to two decimal places.
semitone below – Hindemith prefers to divide the fourth partial of F by three

to derive a B-flat of 113.78 Hz. The second option derives a G-flat which is
too close to F, whereas the third derives an E-flat which is too close to D.
Problematically, Hindemith again breaks his formula, this time by using
a new fundamental from which to derive a new sequence of partials. This is
uneconomical and it creates unnecessary confusion; these could (and should)
be understood as higher partials of C, which include all pitches past the order
number 7 (A-flat). It is unfortunately impossible to derive further pitches
from this formula that resemble any standard pitches.
Hindemith’s method is thus inconsistent, and it cannot be expressed
with a single, generating formula. It is not arithmetically elegant enough to
have conformed to achievements in the natural sciences, which are so often
the benchmark for theoretical success in the arts. Had Hindemith used one
formula throughout it may have warranted more scientific credibility – an issue
with which William Thomson (1952) finds fault in his doctoral dissertation,
ten years after Hindemith’s theory had been published in English. Thomson
provides an imagined version of Series 1 had Hindemith continued his
derivation process systematically, where, after the E-flat, he offers: B-flat,
G-flat, A-flat, D, D-flat, B-natural.44 He finds that the moment arbitrariness
enters Hindemith’s judgements, all credibility is lost, concluding that anyone
else could essentially invent a completely different scale that would be valid
on the same grounds: ‘If arbitrariness is admitted as one of the criteria, any
individual can establish a set of interval values and a plan for scale tuning to
fit his own requirements’.45
Table 1.2 simplifies Hindemith’s calculations as formulae. It demonstrates
that, in several cases, there were easier ways to derive certain pitches than
Hindemith realised – some of which are in keeping with his first method of
deriving pitches. His derivation of D includes the following calculations:
1. Deduce G: 3/2 * C (64 Hz) = 96 Hz

2. Deduce third partial of G: 3 * 96 = 288 Hz
3. Deduce D: 288 ÷ 4 = 72 Hz
44
Thomson (1952) p. 58.
45
Ibid., p. 59. He also states that, ‘On the basis of evidence just presented, there is no
reason to regard the method of scale construction of interval classification offered by
Hindemith as more effective or “necessary” than another. It might well be true that the
scale which he constructs by this manner or deduction would produce a more desirable
aesthetic effect when used as the basis of tuning in actual musical practice. However, the
aesthetic value of such a structure should in no way be considered as ample justification
for the manner in which it is purportedly derived from man’s knowledge of natural
relationships’.
Table 1.2 Hindemith’s Series 1 expressed algebraically to show derivational

inconsistency.
Order Pitch Frequency Hindemith’s

Number x Class fx (Hz) Method Formula
1 C 64
3 ( + 1)
2 G 96
2
4 ( + 1)
3 F 256/3
3
5 ( + 1)
4 A 320/3
3 1
5
5 E 80
4 1
6
6 E-flat 386/5
5 1
4 8 ( + 1)
7 A-flat 512/5 2 =
5 5 2
3
3 ( + 1)
8 D 72 2 =
9
4 8
4 ( + 7)
4
9 B-flat 1024/9 3 =
16
3 9
4 ( + 6)
4
10 D-flat 1024/15 3 =
16
5 15 +5
5 ( + 4)
3
11 B 120 4 =
15
2 8 3
16 ( + 52)
4
12 G-flat 91 15 =
64
3 45 + 33
or or or or
9
5 45 ( + 33)
F-sharp 90 8 =
4 32 + 20
This superfluously long process, which Hindemith justifies because ‘the

generating power of the parent tone, C, is exhausted’, uses the second pitch
of his Series (G) to find partials that can be divided to find new pitches.46
However, had Hindemith expressed his work algebraically he would have
found that his process could be simplified thus:
3
3 2 9
=
4 8
By performing a simple arithmetical operation one may notice that it is possible

to derive the same frequency (D = 72 Hz) using the original fundamental
(C = 64 Hz) rather than resorting to a new fundamental. Acknowledging and
integrating this approach would have made the derivation of Series 1 more
systematic and easier to follow. Perhaps Hindemith avoided it knowingly
because it divides the ninth partial of C, which is above Hindemith’s mystical
seventh partial. Whether consciously or otherwise, Hindemith contradicts
himself when he writes that ‘the overtones lying above the seventh cannot
be used for the derivation of further scale tones, any more than the seventh
one itself ’ as the use of subsequent partials can be algebraically related back
to the initial pitch; each further partial is simply a multiple of the ‘parent’
frequency.47 Moreover, it is confusing that he acknowledges in passing that
it is possible to use the ninth partial to derive this D, while choosing not to
pursue the possibility further, or to engage with the problem that it creates
with his chosen barrier of the seventh partial. Series 1 does not integrate the
mystic number seven as much as Hindemith leads us to believe.
Hindemith derives the Series 1 B-flat and G-flat differently between the
1940 Unterweisung edition and 1942 Craft translation. This resulted from
correspondences with translator Arthur Mendel during the editing process,
who found problems with Hindemith’s frequency derivation. Mendel was
particularly concerned by the B-flat, as demonstrated in an unpublished
letter dated 2 November 1941.48 Hindemith originally derives it as 115.2 Hz
(576/5): however, he discounts this frequency as he finds that it produces
a result that is too far from the lower A of 106.66 Hz (320/3). He offers a
derivation that produces a B-flat as 113.77 Hz (1024/9). Mendel was not
bothered that Hindemith had the first B-flat (115.2 Hz), but by the fact
that Hindemith then used this ‘discarded’ frequency to derive his G-flat.
Unfortunately, Mendel’s alternative suggestion is also inaccurate, for he fails
to calculate the recurring decimals. Hindemith replied, to which Mendel
46
Craft (1942) p. 39.
47
Ibid.
48
Letter contained in the THC, Box 1: 1941 Correspondence.
argued on the 22 December 1941 that it was still incorrect. Despite this
to‑ing and fro‑ing it appears that Mendel’s petition was eventually successful,
as the comparison in Figure 1.1 suggests.
Other alterations made between the 1940 revised edition of the
Unterweisung and Mendel’s 1942 Craft translation include the list of ‘equal
temperament’ frequencies given at the bottom of Hindemith’s diagram
entitled ‘Derivation of the Tones from C’.49 It is unclear which temperament
Hindemith’s frequencies refer to in the 1940 Unterweisung; they are not
equally tempered. These pitches are altered in Mendel’s 1942 translation,
although they still do not resemble the correct form of equal temperament,
which is given in Table 1.1. The correct form, whereby the ratio between each
semitone is 2, was finally offered by Mendel in a letter dated 24 June 1942
using logarithms and based on Riemann’s Tonbestimmung (1857), which was
later incorporated into the revised Craft edition of 1945.50 It should also be
noted that there is an uncanny resemblance between the temperament of
Series 1 and Helmholtz’s approach in Die Lehre von dem Tonempfindungen
(1863), of which Hindemith owned a copy.51 It is included for comparison as
a separate column in Table 1.1.
Hindemith lists specific frequencies to explain Series 1, followed by a
summary table. Unfortunately, he is inconsistent with his number of decimal
places, which can lead to confusion. When deriving the final pitch in Series 1
(G-flat), Hindemith proposes two options: the first is the second partial of
the 227.56 Hz B-flat (which can be more accurately expressed as the fraction
2048/9) divided by five, and the second is the fourth partial of his D-flat
(1024/15) divided by three. The use of fractions show that the two operations
arrive at an identical result, given the common numerators, and that when
multiplying the denominators, 9 * 5 is the same as 15 * 3. They both give
a final frequency of 91.02. However, Hindemith writes that they give two
different answers, one as 91.02 and the other as 91.03.52 This is a consequence
of using rounded (and therefore, imperfect) decimals left over from previous
calculations rather than fractions.53
49
This table is a removable sheet from the Unterweisung (1940), whereas it may be
found in between p. 56 and p. 57 in the Craft (1942).
50
Letter contained in the THC, Box 1: 1942 Correspondence.
51
The Blonay Bibliothek lists that Hindemith owned two texts by Helmholtz: Über
die physiologischen Ursachen der musikalischen Harmonie (Braunschweig, 1865) and the
second edition of Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen (Braunschweig, 1877).
52
Craft (1942) p. 41.
53
That being said, Hindemith arbitrarily discards the small decimal places in both
instances to give 91, which means that this error is inconsequential in the final array
of frequencies. The most robust representation of a frequency such as 85.3 recurring
Unterweisung (1940) p. 59.
Craft (1942) p. 41.
Figure 1.1 Comparison of Series 1 derivations.
Hindemith appears to believe that in addition to an order of pitches, Series 1

generates a temperament. He states that ‘when the generating tone changes,
the tiny differences in the intervals change with it’.54 He also believes that
the subtle differences in intonation when compared with an equal tempered
approach (such as that offered by a keyboard instrument) are a nuance positive
to his system. Crucial to his penchant for quartal pitch collections, the
intervals of fifths and fourths are also preserved in their purest forms, without
the compromises of equal temperament.55 His system is not always precise,
however: the F-sharp may be tuned to either 90 Hz or 91 Hz. These pitches
fall either side of an F-sharp tuned to 90.51 Hz in equal temperament.
Hindemith decides on which frequency to use based on its proximity
to neighbouring semitones in the order, such as his aforementioned B-flat.
The most important factor in the derivation of Series 1 is therefore for the
movement of adjacent pitches to sound like steps rather than leaps.56 Though
Hindemith acknowledges there to be a range of distances between semitones
is as the fraction 256/3, shown in the equation below. This tactic is also adopted by
Halliday (1941) in his translation of sections of the Unterweisung. It both eliminates
any discrepancy over decimal places and shows a greater transparency in Hindemith’s
derivation:
( + 1) 64( + 1) 64 4 256
= = =
3 3
54
Ibid., p. 43.
55
Refer to Chapter 2 of this book for a detailed examination of quartal pitch
collections.
56
Craft (1942) p. 25.
in his order – from roughly 15:16 to 18:19 – he believes that this spectrum of
interval sizes is too small to be detected by the listener.57 By equal-tempered
standards, Hindemith’s major third is slightly flat, and the minor third is
slightly sharp. Despite such intricacies residing in his temperament, he
unaccountably conflicts with his system by stating:
I shall neither conjure away the comma nor suggest new structures of tempered
series. I shall simply follow the suggestions which to the understanding ear
lie hidden in the overtone series, and shall thus arrive at a simple and natural
construction of the scale.58
Thomson (1952) believes that Hindemith’s Series 1 is merely a ‘by-product’

of Hindemith’s system of tuning.59 In other words, he holds that Hindemith’s
system is based first and foremost on temperament, followed by a hierarchy
of pitches. In a sense, the frequency does ‘come first’ in Hindemith’s decision-
making process. However, the rationale Hindemith used to settle on each pitch
was precisely because of its proximity to a discrete pitch in either Pythagorean
or equal temperament. Therefore, while the procedure arrives at a frequency
before a pitch, the motivation is to end on a pitch that is a suitable distance
away from any other neighbouring semitones. To describe Series 1 primarily
as a system of tuning is to confuse the means with the end. Thomson finds
further that, ‘By omitting from his system of derivation those overtones which
lie above the fifth (g’), Hindemith necessarily invalidates any other part of his
system which might survive careful scrutiny. His denial that the B-flat (224),
the B-flat (112) and the G-flat (89.6) are useable reveals a lack of consistency’.
Thomson is unable to find justification in Hindemith’s denial of the seventh
partial, as he finds that it makes the scale predetermined – and thus not a truly
natural system.
Before we proceed to examine Series 2, it should be emphasised that
Series 1 is not a dodecaphonic row. Though it is intended to create a basic
spectrum of relationships from which compositions may be constructed, it
does not completely sever its bonds with tonality. Furthermore, dodecaphonic
technique – unlike a hierarchical system – is built on the premise that each
pitch is of equal value. While not diatonic, we may still refer to Series 1 as
a scale: in fact, Hindemith does this in the Unterweisung when he refers to
‘Tonleiterversuche’.60 Confusingly, Hindemith also describes his order using
57
Ibid., pp. 42–3.
58
Ibid., p. 33.
59
Thomson (1952) p. 45.
60
Unterweisung (1937) p. 47. Though Mendel translated ‘Tonleiterversuche’ as
‘scale-construction’, a more literal translation would be ‘scale-experiments’.
the term ‘Reihe’, which is translated by Mendel as ‘Series’ – the same word used
by Schoenberg to describe dodecaphony. This should not, however, obfuscate
the significant differences between Hindemith’s and Schoenberg’s approaches
to the construction of musical systems.61
Series 2
While Series 1 is a hierarchy of pitches, Series 2 is a hierarchy of intervals.

Similar to Series 1, the hierarchy may occur on both a micro level, such as local
interval progressions in a single phrase, and on a macro level, such as structural
intervals spanning a complete movement. It also emphasises the prominence
of the fifth and fourth over the third and sixth. However, it is not built upon
the order of Series 1, despite many similarities, and it is derived via an entirely
different method.
Hindemith constructs Series 2 from the acoustic phenomena of
combination (difference) tones, which are widely referred to as ‘Tartini Tones’
in acknowledgement of Giuseppe Tartini, who claimed to have discovered
them in 1714.62 When an interval is sounded, it creates a spectrum of lower,
‘imaginary’ pitches. These lower pitches are formed by nonlinearities inside the
human ear, and are therefore unlike overtones which are found in the sound
wave itself. Difference tones enforce a pitch from below, whereas harmonic
partials are heard above. Hindemith’s theory of interval density, illustrated
by Series 2, is therefore built upwards, rather than from above the interval
downwards. It is based on the listener’s physiological response to sound; it is
psychoacoustic rather than acoustic. To derive a difference tone, one subtracts
the lower pitch frequency from the upper pitch frequency: for the perfect fifth
[C3 G3] in equal temperament, the upper pitch [G3 = 196 Hz] less the lower
pitch [C3 = 130.81 Hz] equals a difference tone of 65.19 Hz, which is roughly
C2, one octave below.
The fifth is identified as the densest interval because the first two orders
of difference tones coincide on the same pitch. The pitch ‘reinforced’ an octave
61
Discussed in Landau, Victor, The Harmonic Theories of Paul Hindemith in Relation to
his Practice as a Composer of Chamber Music (New York University, PhD, 1957) pp. 47–8.
62
Hindemith’s ‘combination tone’ is known more specifically as a ‘difference tone’.
The term ‘combination tone’ could also mean ‘summation tone’, which is not used
in the Unterweisung. Tartini claims to have discovered difference tones in 1714,
although he did not publish on his work until 1754. For further information see
Green, Burdette & Butler, David, ‘From Acoustics to Tonpsychologie’, in The Cambridge
History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2002) pp. 254–6.
below is the lower note of the interval (in this case, a C). Hindemith’s results
are displayed in Example 1.6.
Hindemith ranks his Series 2 intervals by the criteria of ‘sustainability’
(Mendel translates the difficult word Tragfähigkeit as ‘strength’), ‘hardness’
and ‘density’.63 These categories generate the two spectra of harmonic and
melodic force on Hindemith’s Series 2 diagram. They assign the major third
greatest harmonic force, and the major second greatest melodic force. How
this information is generated from difference tones is unclear; indeed these
categories appear to stem more from Hindemith’s musical intuition and
observation of common practice than scientifically deduced phenomena.
The only clue relating these characteristics to difference tones is Hindemith’s
assertion that ‘the most beautiful [interval] is the major third, on account of the
triad formed by it with its combination tones’.64 In the second Unterweisung
volume on two-part writing (1939) Hindemith adjusts his approach to
melodic and harmonic force, choosing instead to identify a single descent of
interval value from the octave to the tritone.65
Example 1.6 Hindemith’s Series 2 accompanied by his illustration of

melodic and harmonic force. The lower two staves have been
added to show the first- and second-order difference tones for
each interval.
Harmonic Force
Series 2 & w
w
w
w
w
w w
w
w
w bw
w
w bw
w
ww w
w
b ww bw #w
w
Melodic Force
w w w bww3 bw
& w w w w w
w w bw# w
{
Difference w w w
? 3 # 3 # 3#
3
Tones
#3 3 3
# # ~ 3 ~
3 - 1st order
# - 2nd order
63
‘Wir stellen also in dieser Reihe – der Reihe 2 – eine Liste über die Tragfähigkeit,
den Härtegrad, die Dichte des einzelnen Bausteines auf ’. This sentence, consistent
with both the 1937 and 1940 editions of the Unterweisung, was altered by Mendel in
his translation. Unterweisung I (1937) p. 87.
64
Craft (1942) p. 88.
65
Unterweisung II (1939) p. 37.
As we found with the similarity of temperaments in Series 1, Hindemith’s

engagement with the problem of consonance and dissonance in Series 2
is indebted to Helmholtz’s Die Lehre von dem Tonempfindungen (1863).
The following diagram shows a succession of difference tones which are
ordered unison, fifth, fourth and major third. It is identical to the first half of
Hindemith’s Series 2, although does not cover the second or seventh intervals.
It also differs by ordering major and minor thirds before major and minor
sixths (Example 1.7).
The Unterweisung derivation of Series 2 is incomplete, and the reader is
provided with less detail by comparison with Series 1. Notwithstanding a
collection of graphs – which demonstrate Hindemith’s acoustic experiments
in Berlin – there is insufficient evidence for how he derives the second, seventh
and tritone intervals.66 Hindemith writes that ‘the combination tones do
not point to definite conclusions’ for the major second and minor seventh.67
Therefore, he resorts to following the pattern of the previous intervals, but
without a scientific basis. Similar to Series 1, when Hindemith discovers
that acoustics do not provide convenient results, he selects pitches to fit a
premeditated system. This undermines his credibility once again. Thomson
(1952) fills the gap and provides us with the remaining combination tones
used by Hindemith, which were omitted in the Unterweisung, and which have
been added to Example 1.6.
Hindemith does not provide much explanation for choosing difference
tones rather than overtones to derive Series 2.68 Two centuries earlier, Rameau
had selectively used overtones to verticalise the major triad, for example; and
Example 1.7 Helmholtz’s diagram for difference tones taken from the English
translation of Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen
{
[On the Sensations of Tone (New York: Dover, 1954)] p. 154.
& ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙˙ ˙
˙
˙
˙
? œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
66
Hindemith’s combination tone diagrams, created with the help of colleagues in
the Rundfunkversuchsstelle, show his empirical research. There is a notable difference
in the typesetting of Hindemith’s difference tone diagrams between the Unterweisung
(1937 and 1940) and the Craft (1942) which obscures some of the details.
67
Ibid., p. 79.
68
Thomson (1952) p. 74, finds Hindemith’s use of combination tones unnecessarily
complicated.
one may find within the overtone spectrum every type of interval. Why not
use these to derive a hierarchy for intervals? Perhaps Hindemith disliked the
chaotic disposition of intervals in the overtone series, and the ‘out of tune’
partials; or perhaps he wanted to find a different method to distinguish
between his two Series – difference tones, by definition, can only exist when
two or more individual voices sound, whereas harmonic partials can occur
from a single pitch.
From Interval to Chord Hierarchy
Hindemith uses Series 2 and difference tones to create a theory of chord roots
and chord hierarchy. He observes that for any given interval, the first- and
second-order difference tones double one pitch more than the other, which he
uses to identify a root pitch. For example, Hindemith claims that the root of
the perfect fifth is the lower tone (Example 1.8), as the difference tones of the
fifth double the lower note, thus giving it greater ‘weight’. He then uses this as
proof to show that the interval of a fourth is ‘weaker’ than a fifth given that the
upper – rather than lower – tone is doubled by difference tones. Nonlinearities
in the human ear subtly enforce one note of this interval more than the other;
therefore, Hindemith’s ranking process is psychoacoustic rather than acoustic.
Once we know the corresponding difference tones, this method is
straightforward enough for interval evaluation: but how do we derive the root
of a more complex chord containing more than one interval type? Hindemith
pioneers a fascinating and original approach which underpins the basis of
much of his analysis of Western music. He begins with the selection of a ‘best’
interval within the chord, which is determined by the Series 2 hierarchy. The
root of the ‘best’ interval determines the root of the chord. If, as may often
be the case, a chord contains several ‘best’ intervals then we are instructed to
take the lowest. By way of example: in a major triad [C E G], there is a fifth,
a minor third and a major third. The fifth is the furthest to the left of Series 2
and therefore the ‘best’ interval. The root of a fifth is the lower note (doubled
by difference tones), hence confirming that the root of a major triad is, as one
would expect, the tonic C. This may seem rudimentary; but as the method is
built upon the exhaustive Series 2 hierarchy of every interval, it may be applied
to any type of chord. An analysis of these interval and chord roots over time
is described as the ‘harmonic degree progression’, which we will see also feeds
concepts of harmonic tension and background structure. Hindemith applies
it as readily to the music of Machaut as he does to Schoenberg, which is
emblematic of his attempts to provide an all-encompassing theory of music.
The tritone receives close and prominent attention. It is evidently of great
interest to Hindemith – the tritone halves the octave, and does not therefore
have a clear root or inversion. Its character furthermore opposes Hindemith’s
Example 1.8 Interval roots taken from the Craft (1942) p. 68.
e Interval root
e
& e w w
w
{
w
? w~ ~
w
favoured intervals of the perfect fourth and fifth. To address the challenge
of root identity in the tritone, Hindemith introduces the concept of ‘root
representative’. In conventional harmonic theory, the tritone resolves in
contrary motion, where the top note moves up and the lower note moves
down.69 Depending on the tonal context, one of these notes might move by
a tone and the other by a semitone – such as the tritone [F B] resolving to
the major sixth [E-flat C]. Unterweisung theory reflects on this contrapuntal
practice and declares that the pitch moving by the smaller step (in this case
a semitone) is the root representative. The root representative is thus defined
by its voice-leading context – an approach which is consistent with the long
legacy of music theory that epitomises the guiding power of the semitone.
We now arrive at a crucial connection between Hindemith’s mature
compositional practice and his music-theory writing: in many of his
Unterweisung examples, an ‘unstable’ tritone chord resolves to a ‘stable’ quartal
or diatonic chord. One example is offered below (Example 1.9).70 In effect,
it theorises why chords with tritones are used in areas of harmonic tension
versus chords containing no tritones, and solely fifths and fourths, as areas of
harmonic stability.
This may be compared with the voice leading of the striking cadence into
bar 142 of Hindemith’s Second Piano Sonata, first movement. Notice how
the unstable tritone found in the seventh chord of the right hand resolves by
semitone to a perfect fourth (Example 1.10).
Using all of his theory up to this stage, Hindemith debates four main
points from what he describes as the ‘conventional theory of harmony’.71
Not all of these ideas are connected to the speculative concepts of Series 1
and 2. Table 1.3 lists his paraphrase of existing theory, followed by his new
rules from the analysis of chords.
69
An alternative to tritone resolution where both voices move in contrary motion
includes one pitch remaining static, such as the tritone [F B] resolving to the perfect
fifth [E B].
70
Craft (1942) pp. 128–9, examples 84c, 85b, 87a and 88c.
71
Ibid., p. 90.
Example 1.9 One interpretation of chord root and guide tones between a
chord that includes a tritone resolving to a chord consisting
solely of perfect fourths. Taken from Craft (1942) p. 128,
{
Example 85.
tritone
w bw
& w
w
w
bw
w
w
œ
? œw
guide tone
w
chord roots
Example 1.10 Hindemith, Second Piano Sonata, first movement, bb. 139–44,

cadence analysis.
tritone resolves to perfect fourth
bn˙˙ n˙˙
139
&
{ ?
## ˙˙
n ṅ˙˙ ™™
consecutive fourths
˙™ ˙™
˙˙
#˙ ™ ˙˙ ™™
& n b ˙ ™™ ˙˙˙ ™™™ ˙˙˙ ™™™ n ˙˙ ™™ ˙™ ∑
{ &
##˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™
?
˙˙™™ ˙˙ ™™
˙™
(root)
U
˙™
Using his new definition, Hindemith proceeds to classify every type of

chord, as shown in Table 1.4 (let us remember that it derived via the interval
hierarchy of Series 2). Most notably, the system used in the Unterweisung to
analyse chords is intended to be completely comprehensive; Hindemith states
that ‘there is no combination of intervals which does not fit into some division
of our system’.72 The presence of the tritone creates Hindemith’s fundamental
72
Ibid., p. 105.
Table 1.3 Hindemith’s Unterweisung compared with the ‘conventional theory

of harmony’.
Conventional Theory of Harmony Hindemith’s Unterweisung Approach
The basic principle for the construction of Chords are a group of at least three different
chords is the superposition of thirds. tones sounding simultaneously.
Chords are considered invertible. Chord inversion is the transposition of the

root into the upper part rather than the
rearrangement of the pitches.
By raising or lowering tones of the diatonic Chords are classified into two groups, A and
scale the chord-supply of a key may be B: chords without tritones and chords with
enriched. tritones.
Chords are susceptible of various

interpretations.
division between chord groups A (without tritone) and B (with tritone). Then,
within each subsection, chords where the bass note corresponds to the root of
the chord are ranked above those where the root lies above the bass pitch.73
Table 1.4 shows his complete list.
Hindemith’s chord groups define ‘value’. His process is not context-
dependent, with the exception of identifying tritone roots via a root
representative, unlike much previous music theory. In this manner, he precedes
the classification strategy of pitch class set theory, as identified by Michael
Schuijer (2008).74 Hindemith summarises his approach as follows:
in contrast to the conventional theory of harmony, in which all tones and tone-
combinations are ranked according to their relation to an a priori tonal scheme,
and thus have only relative values, our system attributes a fixed value to each.75
73
Unterweisung II (1939) p. 37: ‘intervals with lower root have a different value from
that of intervals with upper root’.
74
Schuijer, Michael, Analyzing Atonal Music: Pitch-Class Set Theory and its Contexts
(Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2008) p. 138: ‘When Forte started discussing PC
set similarity in 1964, the topic had already been raised twice, though in a different
connection. Paul Hindemith, in his Unterweisung im Tonsatz (1937), had proposed a
comprehensive classification of chords employing the twelve notes in the chromatic
octave’.
75
Craft (1942) p. 108.
Hindemith’s score analyses promote the identification of chords by terms

of these groupings. The notion of chords holding fixed value is attributable,
I would suggest, to the unique harmonic character of many Hindemith
compositions. They should not be confused with the diatonic Roman
numeral system: for example, the figure III1 refers to any of the chords in
group three, section one of the table, rather than a variant of the mediant
triad, according to conventional harmonic theory. Curiously, owing to
the clarity of Hindemith’s chord categorisation method, and the lack of
contextual information required for chord identification, his analytical
process is straightforward even for those of Hindemith’s students with
limited musicality. In summary, to rank any chord, Hindemith’s method
follows these steps:
1. Identify the ‘best’ interval of the chord, which is furthest to the left of
Series 2. In the case of several such intervals, take the lowest.
2. Derive the root of this interval by considering which pitch has the
greatest doubling from difference tones.
3. This root of the ‘best’ interval is the root of the complete chord.
Once chords have been classified according to Hindemith’s system, the analyst
may observe the spread of Harmonische Gefälle [Harmonic Fluctuation].
This concept illustrates the harmonic ebb and flow of a musical work,
which, though inherently abstract, is intended to both describe and guide
the compositional process. On the one hand, Hindemith’s chord categories
exist outside of context, and yet his Harmonische Gefälle places them within
a dynamic, temporal context. In this regard, Hindemith’s theory is indebted
to the work of Kurth, who in Grundlagen des linearen Kontrapunkts (1917)
identifies the kinetic and potential energy of chords, rather than treating them
as inert objects.76 Ian Bent (1987) moreover likens Hindemith’s Harmonische
Gefälle to the harmonic crescendos and decrescendos of Kurth’s Spiel von
Spannungen [Play of Tensions].77 This maps Hindemith’s theory onto the more
general category of ‘Energetics’ alongside theorists such as Hans Mersmann,
Kurt Westphal and Victor Zuckerkandl.78
76
Kurth, Ernst, Grundlagen des linearen Kontrapunkts (Bern: Drechsel, 1917) p. 64.
77
Bent, Ian, Analysis (London: Macmillan Press, 1987) p. 53.
78
See Rothfarb, Lee, ‘Energetics’, in The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory,
ed. Thomas Christensen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) pp. 927–55.
Table 1.4 Chord groups taken from the Craft (1942), pp. 224–5.
Group A Group B
i without seconds or sevenths ii without minor seconds or major

sevenths (tritone subordinate)
1 Root and bass tone are identical
a With minor seventh only (no major second)
& w
w w
bw
w w
Root and bass tone are identical & bw w
bw
w
w w
w
2 Root lies above the bass tone
w bw b Containing major seconds or minor sevenths or both
& bbw
w
w nnw
w
w w
w w
w
1 Root and bass w
& bw
w bw
w
w
w w
w bw
w ww
ww bw
w w
w bnbww ww #ww bw
w #w ww w w
ww #w
ww
etc.
iii containing seconds or sevenths or both tone are identical
1 Root and bass tone are identical 2 Root lies above the bass tone
w nw & bbw
w w
bbbww w bw
w bw #w bbww #w w
w ww bw w w
w w
ww w
ww bw
ww bww bw
w w w w bnw
w
ww n#w
ww ww # w
ww w
ww ww ww
bw bbbw
ww w
w
etc.
& ww w
w ww w w w ww w w w bww ww ww
w
w w bw
w w
w
w w
nw nw 3 Containing more
w #w w
ww bbww
w
& bbw
w w
bnw
w w
nw
w w
w w
bbw
w w w
bbw w w w w w & ##w
w #bw
w
w ##w w
w ###ww
etc.
w w w w w w w w w w w w ww ww ww ww
etc.
than one tritone
2 Root lies above the bass tone
w iv containing minor seconds or major sevenths
& w ww w
w b bww bw nbww bww nww w bbw
w
w nnw
w
w bw
w
ww
ww w ww b ww bwww w w ww ww w w w w or both (one or more tritones subordinate)
1 Root and bass bw w
bbw w w # #w
ww
w
&bw
bww bnw
w w
w w #w #w
etc.
v indeterminate tone are identical w w w w ww n#www
bw 2 Root lies above w

bw bbw w w w
& #w
w w & nb w
w w
w n w w
w ww w
bnbw
w
w w
etc.
the bass tone ww www #n#w
ww bb w
ww w #w
w w
Group A: Chords without tritones vi indeterminate & bbw

w bnw
w bnww nww
etc.
Group B: Chords with tritones (tritone predominating) w w w bb w
w
Practical Application
So far, so good – but how might Hindemith’s Unterweisung relate the

student to free composition? Regrettably, the practical application of Series
1 and 2 is not uniformly clear in Hindemith’s writing. While he includes a
section entitled ‘practical application’ in Unterweisung I, it does not answer
the necessary questions, and it appears, nonsensically, before Hindemith’s
theory of melody. It also concerns a short progression in five parts, which is far
removed from a work of free composition (Figure 1.2). Hindemith attempts
to justify his approach, however:
The conditions which I have set for myself in the treatment of the following
example are far harder than one would ever find in actual music. I have purposely
chosen so artificially complicated a case to show that even such problems
can be solved. How much easier then must the solution of the problems of
free composition, which can never contain more than a small fraction of the
difficulties of the following problem!79
While there is not an explicit ‘student’ in Hindemith’s practical application

case study, he parallels the Socratic Dialogue of Fux’s Gradus pedagogical
Figure 1.2 The first diagram in Hindemith’s ‘practical application’, Craft (1942)
p. 158.
79
Craft (1942) p. 157.
approach, whereby a poor example is provided, and then corrected. Hindemith

identifies the weakness of this progression on six grounds:
1. Linear construction (melody);

2. Two-voice framework (the counterpoint between the two outer voices);
3. Harmonic fluctuation (the organisation of harmonic tension);
4. Degree progression (voice-leading between chord roots);
5. Guide tones (voice-leading between tritones);
6. Tonality (movement of tonal centre).
For the first point, Hindemith acknowledges that he has not introduced his
theory of melody at this point in the book and that he will ‘therefore leave
this aspect of the matter for now with the assertion that the lines are poor’.80
This is symptomatic of the poor layout of the Unterweisung text. For the
second and third points, ‘no plan is apparent’ – Hindemith stresses the need
for a clear, deliberate design for the outer-voice counterpoint and Harmonic
Fluctuation. The fourth, fifth and sixth areas are problematic on the grounds
that they do not allow ‘any harmonic life to unfold’ and that they stand ‘still
in their tracks’.81
Figure 1.3 shows Hindemith’s revisions, based on Unterweisung theory.
We may observe that he emphasises traditional major and minor chords
(numbered 1 and 9), and quartal pitch collections (numbered 2, and within
3 and 5). There is also a quartal structure in the degree progression, from 5
to 7 [B-flat E-flat G-sharp]. If we relate this to the ‘tonic’ C-sharp, it adds
another fourth to the quartal collection to comprise the tetrachord [B-flat
Figure 1.3 The final diagram in Hindemith’s ‘practical application’, Craft (1942)
p. 162.
80
Ibid., p. 159.
81
Ibid.
E-flat G-sharp C-sharp]. The tritone (identified with square brackets) is

used with greater restraint, and only occurs in one form per chord. The
passage is harmonically clearer, and is both more tonal and conventional.
One is therefore led to believe that such characteristics are the outcome of
applying Unterweisung principles to free composition.
The Unterweisung Analytic Method
In the penultimate section of the Unterweisung, Hindemith finally arrives at a

theory of melody, which he identifies with the following terms:
W Changing tone (returning tone) [Wechselton]
D Passing tone [Durchgang]
V Suspension [Vorhalt]
N Unprepared suspension (neighbouring tone) [Nebenton]
N Neighbouring tone left by leap
N Neighbouring tone approached by leap
V Anticipation [Vorausnahme]
F Unaccented free tone
F Accented free tone
Hindemith uses these labels to create structural levels, shown in Example 1.11,

which are described as ‘melodic degree progressions’. He states that the melodic
degree progression ‘tells whether the harmonic construction of a melody is
logical and appropriate’.82 A melodic degree progression is held in dotted
brackets and is concisely defined as ‘notes which can be heard without effort
as a harmonically related group’.83 By identifying melodic degree progressions,
Hindemith also describes the harmonic course of the melody.
Somewhat confusingly, Hindemith theorises a separate ‘melodic step
progression’, despite its analogy with melodic degree progression. It is
82
Craft (1942) p. 183.
83
Ibid., p. 183.
Example 1.11 Hindemith’s first demonstration of melodic degree-progression

from the Craft (1942) p. 184.
Moderately fast
D(W)D (NÕ)
3œ œœœœ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
W D W
&8 œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ ™
œ
J J
Degree-Progression
& ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙ ˙
defined as ‘the line that connects one high point to the next, one low point
to the next, and one rhythmically prominent tone to the next, without taking
into consideration the less important parts of the melody lying between
these points’.84
These concepts show strong similarities between Hindemith and
Schenker. Indeed, tracing a link between the two men is straightforward. The
first Unterweisung editions (1937 and 1940) acknowledge the contribution of
Hermann Roth, who proof-read and commented upon Hindemith’s drafts.
Roth, a student of Hugo Riemann in 1905, corresponded with Schenker
frequently from 1912–1932, before they ceased contact for ‘personal’
reasons.85 Roth was familiar with the work of Heinrich Schenker and whose
text Elemente der Stimmführung (Stuttgart, 1926) acknowledged Schenker’s
influence. It is likely that Roth influenced Hindemith’s description of melody
and his understanding of structural levels. We also know that Hindemith
was familiar with Schenker’s work by 1926 at the latest, when he declared
that in Schenker’s work ‘the foundations of musical creativity are laid bare’.86
Hindemith’s Unterweisung concept of tonality, or ‘tonal higher units’, means
that his music often lends itself well to a complete Schenkerian reduction.
Depending on the period, it is often possible to create an Urlinie in his
music, as Hindemith himself would have us believe in his correspondence
with Schenker. This involved a small exchange of letters, which began with
Schenker’s criticism of Hindemith in Das Meisterwerk der Musik (1925).
84
Ibid., pp. 193–4.
85
Taken from ‘Hermann Roth’ Schenker Documents Online (http://www.
schenkerdocumentsonline.org/profiles/person/entity-000737.html) accessed 5 January
2016. The connection between Roth and Schenker may have been responsible for the
inclusion of one of Roth’s second-species counterpoint exercises in the second chapter,
‘Voice Leading: Counterpoint and Figured Bass’, in Allen Forte & Steven E. Gilbert,
Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1982) p. 44.
86
Bent, Ian, Analysis (London: Macmillan Press, 1987) p. 52.
Schenker’s outburst clearly affected Hindemith, which is unsurprising given

the commonalities between their music theories, provoking him to send
Schenker a copy of two of his string quartets. Hindemith hoped that Schenker
would find a satisfactory Urlinie within them:
With this letter I enclose the scores of two of my quartets; if, after overcoming
your preliminary and subsequent uneasiness, you examine them as I hope you
will with the same care and thoroughness you would give to a Scarlatti sonata, I
am convinced that you will find in this music your “Urlinie” and, together with
it, musical reason and logic and confirmation of your teachings.87
This correspondence showed that Hindemith believed himself to be

sympathetic with many of Schenker’s theories, although the sentiment was
not reciprocated. As Bent suggests, Schenker’s antagonism to Hindemith
was likely due to the similarity of their situations yet while Schenker looked
to music of the past, Hindemith was concerned with rationalising new
developments in composition.88 For a time it seems as though Hindemith was
keen to associate his music with Schenker’s contrapuntal reductions, which
may appear surprising given the anti-theoretical character of his early works.
However, Hindemith removed Roth’s name from the acknowledgements
after the 1940 edition. One may argue that this deletion was an attempt by
Hindemith to distance his work from Schenker’s following his emigration
to the United States – indeed, this is a view held by many, including Milton
Babbitt.89 In Hindemith’s later Elementary Training (1946), he aims a further
passing blow at Schenker’s efforts:
While music theory has discovered the basic principles of melody and harmony,
it has not yet been able to find satisfactory explanations for those higher
constructive functions of meter and rhythm that make up what is generally
known as Musical Form.90
Hindemith believed that his music theory was sufficiently general as to be

capable of analysing any composition in Western music. To this effect, he
87
Skelton (1995) pp. 45–6. Hindemith’s letter to Schenker is dated 25 October, 1926.
88
Ibid., p. 53.
89
Peles, Stephen, Dembski, Stephen and Straus, Joseph N. (eds), The Collected Essays
of Milton Babbitt (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003) p. 483: ‘Did Hindemith,
who had engaged in private correspondence with Schenker, wish to avoid any suggestions
of affinity or derivation, perhaps with respect to “step progressions,” perhaps not?’
90
Hindemith, Paul, Elementary Training for Musicians (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1946)
p. 157.
includes seven analyses at the end of Unterweisung I, covering the following

compositions:
1. Plainchant, Dies Irae;

2. Guillaume de Machaut, Ballade, ‘Il m’est avis’;
3. J. S. Bach, Three-Part Invention in F Minor;
4. Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, ‘Prelude’;
5. Igor Stravinsky, Piano Sonata 1924, first movement;
6. Arnold Schoenberg, Klavierstück, op. 33a;
7. Paul Hindemith, Mathis der Maler, Prelude.
This list is notable not only for its breadth (c. 1200–1935), but for the peculiar
gap in music from Bach to Wagner; including the omission of music in the
Classical Style. Perhaps it is no coincidence that this period is the centre of
Schenker’s work. While many of Hindemith’s melodic concepts are indebted
to Schenker, and transferred by Roth, he (perhaps consciously) avoids the
same repertoire.
Hindemith’s analysis of the opening to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, ‘Prelude’
is given in Figure 1.4. It includes four levels: harmonic fluctuation, two-voice
framework, (harmonic) degree progression and tonality. The application
of four levels is arbitrary; Hindemith applies only two to Gregorian chant
(degree progression and step progression) and seven to Machaut (main voice,
melodic degree progression, melodic step progression, two-voice framework,
harmonic fluctuation, harmonic degree progression and tonality). Hindemith’s
analysis shows Wagner’s emphasis on contrary motion by identifying the two-
voice framework. The study of Harmonic Fluctuation also provides a way
of measuring varying tension (‘ebb and flow’), by noting which harmonies
include tritones, although it does not include a graphic representation.91
Finally the reduction of a Tonality provides an original method for deriving
the tonic of A.
The Rundfunkversuchsstelle
Hindemith’s prominent position at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1927–

1937) coincided with a zeitgeist of interest and experimentation in acoustics
and instrumental development across Germany. In the spring of 1928, shortly
after Hindemith’s appointment, the Hochschule director, Franz Schreker,
founded an experimental radio institute (Rundfunkversuchsstelle) within the
91
Craft (1942) p. 214.
Figure 1.4 Hindemith’s analysis of the opening to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde,
‘Prelude’, from Craft (1942) pp. 210–11.
school.92 The institute was located in close proximity to Hindemith’s office

and provided him with a rare resource to investigate acoustic phenomena,
although it was closed down shortly after the appointment of Fritz Stein,
92
See Hailey, Christopher, Franz Schreker, 1878–1934: A Cultural Biography
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 233.
the new director of the Hochschule from 1933. The research culture of the
Rundfunkversuchsstelle almost certainly influenced Hindemith’s approach to
the building of music theory. He constructed a monochord (presumably after
studying Pythagoras), which is described in Chapter 2 of the Unterweisung
(‘The Medium’), and which is used for the acoustic derivation of Series 1. He
also came into contact with combination tones, via two different scenarios,
which form the basis of Series 2. The first possible scenario relates to a
combination tone demonstration at the Musikhochschule using flute and
oboe, on 2 March 1929, at which Hindemith may have been present.93 The
second possible scenario concerns Friedrich Trautwein, who was appointed
to the Rundfunkversuchsstelle in 1930, and who developed several original
instruments, including an amplified harpsichord, electronic bells and the
Trautonium. Hindemith wrote several compositions for the latter, including
a Konzertstück (1931). Owing to its ability to sustain clear frequencies, the
Trautonium would have been ideal for investigating acoustic phenomena.
Moreover, one of Hindemith’s students, Oskar Sala, was a proficient
performer of the Trautonium, and he, alongside Friedrich Trautwein and
Hermann Roth, is thanked for his contribution at the beginning to the 1937
edition of the Unterweisung.
Further evidence in support of Hindemith’s experimentation with
combination tones may be found many years later, in a proposal dated 23
September 1964 by George Lam for a Hindemith commemoration event at
Yale. Lam writes of an audio record kept by Hindemith which captured the
sounds of combination tones:
Hindemith had made a record of combination tones while at the Berlin

Hochschule. This record, made probably before 1934, though acoustically poor,
was used by Hindemith in his classes to illustrate the foundation of his theory.
He was very proud of this record.94
93
Folder 11, Record 6 of the Rundfunkversuchsstelle archive held in the Berlin
University of the Arts, includes the following information: ‘Am 2. März 1929 bestätigte
mir Herr Borris, daß auch seine Versuche beim Zusammenspiel von Oboe und Flöte
Kombinationstöne ergaben, wie ich das auf Grund von 1923 in der Gesellschaft für
technische Physik gezeigten Demonstrationen in der Vorlesung erwähnt hatte. Bei
Wiedergabe durch einen Lautsprecher waren die Kombinationstöne nach Borris
besonders stark.’ [On March 2nd 1929 Mr Borris confirmed that his experiments
with an oboe playing together with a flute produced combination tones in the same
manner as I demonstrated in a lecture for the society of technical physics in 1923. The
combination tones were particularly strong when played through a speaker according
to Borris.] (Translation by Daniela Fountain).
94
Unpublished letter from George Lam to Yale dated 23 September 1964.
This combination tone record is also referred to in a letter from Arthur Mendel,
dated 22 July 1942. Regrettably, following discussions with a member of staff
at the YHC, it appears that this record is lost.
As we found with the acknowledgement of Hermann Roth, both
Trautwein and Sala were removed after the 1940 Unterweisung edition. While
we may argue that Roth’s name was removed primarily to distance Hindemith
from Schenker, the removal of Trautwein and Sala was in all likelihood
precipitated by Hindemith’s increasingly tense relations with Germany, and
may be perceived as an attempt to distance his theoretical work from Berlin.
The relationship of the first Unterweisung volume to the 1930s political
climate shall be discussed in Chapter 3 within the context of Hindemith’s
early compositional practice.
Unterweisung Volumes II, III and IV: Hindemith’s ‘Rules’
Following the first, ostensibly theoretical volume of the Unterweisung,

Hindemith was only to publish a second volume: Exercises in Two-Part
Writing (Übungsbuch für den zweistimmigen Satz), leaving his plans to
complete volumes up to and including four-part composition unfinished.
Unlike the first, theoretical volume, Hindemith’s book on two-part writing is
almost entirely practical and based on a succession of clearly articulated rules
and examples. It begins with the close control of single-voice melody writing
within a chromatic pitch space (rules 1–13) followed by two-part composition
(rules 14–65). In this regard, it comprises exercises in both one and two-part
writing despite the title of the book. Hindemith acknowledges that he had
barely begun his grand Unterweisung plan in the second volume with the
following concluding remark:
We have not yet entered equally far into the domain of simultaneous sounds, or
into the secrets of harmony … two-voice setting can give but a hint, compared
with the important function which they [Unterweisung principles] fulfil in
settings of more than two voices.95
The parallelism between Hindemith’s theory and Fux’s Gradus becomes more
apparent in Unterweisung II. Though Hindemith never offers an explicit
attribution, his opening single-voice exercises are almost identical to Fux’s
Cantus Firmi. The exercises focus student attention on the control and variety
of steps and leaps in melodic writing – strangely, Series 1 is not mentioned
explicitly, although one may argue that it remains in the background of
95
Hindemith’s thought. Rule 7 forbids the use of broken chords in single-voice

melody writing, and yet Figure 8a permits the use of the three-note collections
shown in Example 1.12, as they are not to be considered triads according
to Hindemith. The types of collections Hindemith suggests may be used to
outline fourths and fifths in melody writing – which, as will be discussed, are a
major contributing feature to Hindemith’s musical style. They also emphasise
pitches and pitch relationships found towards the left of the Series 1 order. In
Unterweisung III, and in the sketches to Unterweisung IV, Hindemith uses the
alto clef to explicate Series 1, perhaps as another homage to Fux’s Gradus.96
One of the few and fundamental differences between Hindemith’s and
Fux’s approaches is simply that Hindemith permits use of all twelve chromatic
pitches, which is epitomised by Hindemith’s final example of one-voice writing
(Figure 37 from the Craft, shown in Example 1.13). In effect, Unterweisung II
is a revision of Fux to allow for the tonally plural compositional environment
of the twentieth century while keeping melodic principles of the past.
Hindemith also introduces a number of symbols, which were carried
into Unterweisung II and expanded in volumes III and IV, to identify ‘tonal
higher units’. These build upon his Theory of Melody from Unterweisung I
and relate to background structural levels. His symbols begin with ‘Tonal
Centre’, ‘Dominant’ and ‘Subdominant’ in Volume II, before including all
twelve chromatic scale degrees. Hindemith likely introduced these symbols
to avoid confusion between the Roman numeral system and his table of
chord groups.
In volumes II and III, Hindemith created harmonic fluctuation templates.
These outline the harmonic plan of complete works or exercises, based on the
ebb and flow of various structures. How these templates came to be designed,
however, is perhaps based more on Hindemith’s own aesthetic preference
than an a priori theoretical construction. Reminiscent of the derivation of
Example 1.12 Hindemith’s Unterweisung II (1939) p. 7, Figure 8a.
& w w w w ww
ww w
w ww ww w
Example 1.13 Hindemith’s Unterweisung II (1939) p. 16, Figure 37.
? w bw bw w nw w bw nw w
96
Unterweisung III (1970) p. 86.
Series 1 and 2, these templates represent a peculiar mix of pseudo-science and

aesthetics.
Hindemith practised elements of Unterweisung theory in both his Berlin
and Yale classes. We may trace his first use of these materials in Hindemith’s
letter to Willy Strecker (his publisher at Schott & Co.) on 11 November
1934 which states that ‘the plan for the first chapter is already drawn up, and
it has been thoroughly tried out in practice’.97 As we have found, however, the
practical element of volume I is unclear, and so it is possible that Hindemith’s
letter refers to the demonstration of overtones and combination tones as a
basis for Series 1 and 2, rather than the use of Unterweisung ideas to generate
free composition. In other words, there is potential confusion over what is
‘practical’, whether a scientific demonstration or a process of composition.
The theory-first approach is also evident in the ‘Advanced Theory of Music’
modules at Yale during the 1940s – the first teaching course given by
Hindemith when he became a permanent faculty member. The units were
split into two groups: the first consisted of a study of the principles of the
Unterweisung, then the second progressed to free composition – although
again the nature of this progression is unclear.98 The class notes of a student
from 1947–1948, shown in Figure 1.5, provide evidence of Hindemith’s
teaching in acoustics, and yet without demonstrating an explicitly practical
outcome (the voice-leading between two chords in four parts, at the end of
the second page, is a copy of Hindemith’s discussion of the tritone in Series 2,
found in Craft I, p. 82 – it does not relate to a practical procedure of voice-
leading). A subsequent entry in her notes also shows that Hindemith directed
his students towards Fux’s Gradus.
These notes show Hindemith’s teaching of combination tones as the basis
for Series 2, which includes the concept of roots and harmonic and melodic
‘value’. However, despite the relationship between the Unterweisung and
Hindemith’s Yale classes some ten years later, Noss writes that:
Students in Hindemith’s “Basic Principles of Theory” course … were surprised

to learn that he had been having second thoughts about some of the ideas he
had proposed [in the Craft] and was beginning to make certain modifications.99
This is also felt by another of Hindemith’s Yale colleagues, Howard Boatwright,

who draws attention to the evolution of Hindemith’s theory throughout his
life:
97
Skelton (1995) p. 83.
98
Noss, Luther, Paul Hindemith in the United States (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1989) p. 94.
99
Ibid., p. 99.
Figure 1.5 Student class notes from the course ‘Basic Principles of Theory’
(1947–1948).
Figure 1.5 (continued)
Perhaps [the Craft I was] written a little too soon because Hindemith sees the
picture more clearly now and in the remaining volumes will contradict many
things in the first volume. The final estimate of this work will have to depend
on the last book, and he is not through.100
100
Boatwright, Howard, Hindemith’s ‘Series’: A Critical Evaluation and a New
Formulation (unpublished, 1959) main book text p. 1.
In his 1972 review of the posthumous release of Unterweisung III, Charles

Shackford writes that he had first-hand experience of Hindemith’s teaching
as one of his composition students.101 He recalls that as early as 1943
Hindemith was using material from Unterweisung III in the classroom.
However, Shackford emphasises the incomplete nature of the 1970
posthumous publication. This, combined with statements by Noss and
Boatwright, problematises the status of Unterweisung III. While its study is
of considerable importance as a record of Hindemith’s subsequent musical-
theoretical ideas, Hindemith never pursued publishing the text in his own
lifetime. An entry in his pocket diary on 14 July 1949 states that ‘Chapter
20 of Part III is finished’.102 This should have heralded completion of the
book; however, Noss believed that Hindemith was never entirely satisfied
with it.103 Hindemith delayed publication, apparently waiting for time in
his schedule to reorganise (and perhaps rewrite) the whole series, which
he referred to as his ‘treatise’ in the conclusion of Unterweisung II.104 In
his recent article, O’Connell (2011) doubts the usefulness of reducing a
Degree Progression from a texture that includes more than two parts, and
he suspects that this may have been one of the reasons for Hindemith’s delay
over publication.105 It is also not clear, in A Composer’s World (1952), whether
the following statement refers to this process of revision, or to a new volume
in four-part writing: ‘I am preparing an elaborate textbook on the technique
of composition, based on the theories presented in this book’.106
Joseph Dunlap confirms in a letter to Noss dated 7 October 1973 that
Hindemith practiced Unterweisung principles in the classroom, and crucially
that he intended to revise the set:
Here are two chapters from P.H.’s book on three-part writing, ca 1946–7 – the
only ones I have. I believe that he wrote them in English, had someone type
them, and then sent them to Arthur Mendel, whose notes are in the margins.
The notes in red are Hindemith’s.
Eventually the corrected and annotated copies were given to me. I typed and
dittoed them for our theory class. XII through XVI are enclosed.
101
Shackford, Charles, ‘Review: Übungsbuch für den Dreistimmigen Satz’ Journal of
Music Theory, Vol. 16, No. 1–2 (Spring–Winter, 1972) pp. 238–65.
102
Noss (1989) p. 133.
103
Ibid.
104
105
O’Connell, Kevin, ‘Hindemith’s Voices’ The Musical Times, Vol. 152, No. 1915
(Summer, 2011) p. 4.
106
Hindemith (1952a) p. vi.
Hindemith was giving us work in three-part writing in 1942, but was having
problems, I think. Following World War II, he changed his approach.107
We must assume that Hindemith was displeased with the content of

Unterweisung III – it is telling that his wife, Gertrud, tried for a short time
to withhold publication of the volume after Hindemith’s death in 1963. Only
a small number of sketches were written for the final volume in four-part
writing, and, as Joseph Dunlap claims, Hindemith was considering a revision
of the entire series. We know that Hindemith practiced the third volume in
class; we know that he saw it as an essential continuation of his theory; we
know that he had written all if not most of the book – and yet, as Hindemith
chose not to publish the text when he had the opportunity to do so, we must
assume that there was an underlying problem with his approach. For these
reasons, the third volume is not a focus of this book. I differ from Neumeyer
(1986) on this central effort – rather than completing Hindemith’s ideas,
I shall examine his music to try and make sense of his theory. Neumeyer’s
distinguished study of Hindemith’s music attempts to complete Hindemith’s
music theory by plugging gaps with the introduction of further symbols
in relation to tonal higher units. This is the main point of departure with
the present textbook, which avoids these matters entirely as an area of the
Unterweisung that Hindemith cannot have been satisfied with – otherwise he
would have permitted the publication of Unterweisung III during the 1940s.
The identity of the Unterweisung is defined by Hindemith’s ideological
position and motivations. His work on music theory arose first and foremost
as a solution to his teaching requirements in Berlin. It also represented an
attempt to get to know, and refine, his style. This was associated with the change
in his compositional approach from the experimentalism and eclecticism of
the 1920s to a more consistent, conservative and personal manner represented
from works such as Concert Music for Strings and Brass op. 50 (1929–
1930) and Das Unaufhörliche (1931) onwards. Aspects of this style may be
deduced from his ‘practical application’. The integration of Kepler’s theories
of planetary motion is, however, wholly speculative and conflicts with these
goals. It is ambitiously introduced to define a universal theory of music, and
confuses the Unterweisung status. Hindemith wrote the first two volumes of
a chromatic, hierarchy-based Fuxian counterpoint, but without the complete
(and trustworthy) volumes in three- and four-part counterpoint it lacks an
explicit relevance to free composition. It should be noted that the publication
of the first volume was viewed by some (including Donald Francis Tovey) as
a major event in the history of music theory. Whether this held true remains
to be seen, and Hindemith’s theoretical legacy shall be examined in Chapter 7.
107
Unpublished letter from Joseph Dunlap to Luther Noss dated 7 October 1973.
There are, however, many positive and successful areas of Hindemith’s

Unterweisung theory. In Dunsby & Whittall (1988), Music Analysis in Theory
and Practice, Hindemith’s analyses are offered as insightful comparative
studies, accompanied by the statement that Hindemith ‘may yet come to be
regarded as a minor hero of analytical theory’.108 His analyses, while inherently
tonal, do not rely upon triadic harmony; they therefore do not carry the same
limitations as Schenker’s Ursatz, and may be applied to the extended harmonic
language of the early twentieth century. Hindemith’s ideas often preceded
other advancements – the similarity in approach between his categorisation of
chords and pitch class set theory, and the originality of harmonic fluctuation
method, should not go unnoticed.
Unfortunately, much of the practical application is unclear, incomplete,
and based on a subjectivity that conflicts with the pseudo-scientific identity
of Series 1 and 2. There are further issues with the expression, and derivation,
of Series 1 and 2. This particularly concerns the seemingly arbitrary derivation
of Series 1, and the missing difference tone information of Series 2 to derive
the second, the seventh and the tritone. Furthermore, the layout of the
Unterweisung introduces harmony, melody, and practical application in an
unintuitive, illogical order.
Hindemith makes the practical implications of the ‘new’ Series 1
temperament unclear. On the one hand, he constructs a chromatic hierarchy by
deriving frequencies. On the other, he does not seem to want the intonation of
live performance to follow it. However, one of the strengths is the Pythagorean
(mean-tone) tuning of the fourth and fifth. The prominence of these intervals
in Unterweisung theory is therefore articulated not only by their presence at
the beginning of Series 1, but by their tuning and the attention they receive in
Hindemith’s musical language.
The lack of clarity in Hindemith’s practical application of Unterweisung
concepts is a major stumbling block in his writing. Not every area lends itself
well to analysis, such as melodic step progression, which is introduced only as
a vague concept, and is almost synonymous with melodic degree progression.
However, there is an emphasis on the fourth and fifth, which is developed
by Series 1, Series 2, and chord value. The next chapter develops a theory of
quartal pitch relationships and voice leading to facilitate a meaningful analysis
of Hindemith’s music.
108
Dunsby, Jonathan & Whittall, Arnold, Music Analysis in Theory and Practice
(London: Faber, 1988) pp. 86–8.
2
Hindemith’s Fourths
Despite Hindemith’s intentions, and the overview of the previous chapter, the
practical application of the Unterweisung requires further clarification. This
is partly owing to the incomplete fourth volume (on four-part writing) and
the dubious fidelity of the posthumously-published third volume. There can
be little doubt that Hindemith intended his music theory for teaching and
composition purposes: many reports from Hindemith’s students recall his
active use of Unterweisung material in class. However, the texts themselves
– particularly the first, theoretical volume – do not always make the crucial
relationship between theory and practice explicit, and the volume on two-part
writing, though instructive, does not contain sufficient instruction for denser
textures. Theorising the psychoacoustic relationship of harmonic partials to
construct a pitch hierarchy offers a fascinating and enriching academic pursuit:
but how might it help the enthusiastic student to compose music?1
The present chapter cannot answer this question directly. We cannot take
Hindemith’s theory and apply it to his music without the need for several
undermining assumptions: what do we make of music in three or more parts?
What if our composition is not contrapuntal and functions without clearly
defined voices? How should we use Series 1 and 2 to generate compositions?
How does an identification of harmonic fluctuation affect our compositional
process? Should we aim for certain harmonic fluctuation models, which
Hindemith seemed to be moving towards in Unterweisung III? How does
a combination of these factors affect foreground and background structural
levels? Too much Unterweisung theory is missing or incomplete and though
much of its basis is scientifically conceived, its application appears hazily
subjective. However, we may consider those elements of Hindemith’s music
that are representative of his general style, and offer a mixture of set theory,
salience principles and voice-leading reduction to provide an analysis of
Hindemith’s music. Crucially, in doing so we may find a way back to his music
1
It is worth noting here that Hindemith’s psychoacoustics are, in the main, theoretical;
there is little evidence to suggest that he engaged in objective auditory experiments
to build his pitch hierarchy, although informal tests may have occurred during his
time at the Berlin Musikhochschule. For further information on psychoacoustics, see
Roederer, Juan G., The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction (New York:
Springer, 2008) pp. 9–11.
theory; his theory and practice are interwoven. In other words, we may reach
for a study of his music to better understand and appreciate the theory that he
was in the process of building.
Though it is not claimed as a new theory of Hindemith’s music per se, this
chapter offers a method for the study of Hindemith’s theoretical principles
within free composition, which is used throughout the rest of the book. Any
aversion to set theory or voice-leading reduction, it is hoped, will not deter
the reader from the desire to understand how certain pitches in Hindemith’s
music group together, and how he constructs his music on multiple layers.
Though these tools are idiosyncratic to the North American – and increasingly
global – model of the Music Theorist, they offer the most direct route to an
explanation of Hindemith’s musical style. The current chapter also evaluates
some of the challenges of grouping pitch collections based primarily on
fourths and fifths, to suggest potentially new theoretical avenues for the reader
to explore, which will be relevant to a wide range of music predominately from
the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It offers a yardstick to measure the
musical influence of Hindemith on his contemporaries and on subsequent
generations of composers, as will be examined in the final chapter.
The Hindemith Sound
After all is said and done, whether one likes or doesn’t like individual pieces,
Hindemith did establish an immediately recognizable style – which is not
given to many men to do anyway. I mean, it’s a style which I think has even
more individuation than say Berlioz. More individuation than Reger. And it
affects everything: the melodic conduct, the kind of harmony used, the kind of
sound.2 (Yehudi Wyner, former student of Hindemith’s, speaking during an
interview in 1975)
There is a distinctive quality to Hindemith’s music. Subjective response aside,

his music carries unmistakable stylistic fingerprints of harmony, counterpoint
and rhetoric. His most widespread identity stems from his compositions of
the late 1920s onwards, in proximity to his Berlin teaching appointment
in early 1927, when his music had arrived at an established and relatively
consistent manner. Unsurprisingly, the quintessential Hindemith style is
represented by many of his most familiar and disseminated works, such as
the Mathis der Maler Symphony, Concert Music for Strings and Brass, and
the bulk of the duo instrumental sonatas. It should be noted, however, that
2
Yehudi Wyner (OHAM, 18 June 1975). Though he describes learning composition
from Hindemith, he graduated with a degree in music theory from Yale.
HINDEMITH’S FOURTHS 61
earlier compositions such as his Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3 (1923) and his
Suite 1922, were written in a pluralistic and chameleon style and perhaps one
that some readers – particularly those acquainted with Hindemith through
later duo instrumental sonatas – will be unfamiliar with.3 Indeed, it will be
argued in Chapter 3 that many of Hindemith’s early compositions were, in
fact, consciously anti-theoretical.
We may describe the familiar Hindemith ‘sound’ – represented in the main
by his mature period – as comprising prominent fourth and fifth intervals,
interspersed with triadic harmony, with a tendency towards contrapuntal
techniques resembling baroque models, and yet which allow the use of all
notes within the chromatic scale. Hindemith implies that perfect fourths and
perfect fifths are used interchangeably, given that they are identical when
inverted, and this approach will be explored in detail below.4 Broadly speaking,
the characteristics of his ‘sound’ may be isolated into three components: pitch
collection, melodic contour and structural level. There are other distinctive
facets too, although they lend themselves less to a theoretical approach. These
include Hindemith’s generally idiomatic writing for orchestral instruments –
often challenging, yet seldom beyond the reach of competent music students
(here is not the place to introduce a theory of orchestration).5 His use of
instrumental colour and timbre is distinctive and characteristic, yet without
following clearly defined rules. His musical rhetoric, while occasionally witty
is more frequently underpinned by austere craftsmanship and a tendency
towards solemnity. His use of rhythm is often complex, but similar to his
idiomatic treatment of instruments, it is never inaccessible to the competent
musician. Though Hindemith theorised pitch, harmony and counterpoint
extensively, he was less concerned with (or committed to) the theoretical basis
of rhythm and treated it as a practical skill. This is evidenced by its substantial
presence in Elementary Training for Musicians, and the lack of rhythmic
sections in the first three Unterweisung volumes.6 There is no suggestion in
3
That being said, there are fingerprints of the style to come, as will be explored in
Chapter 3.
4
Persichetti, for example, only includes a chapter on ‘Chords by Fourths’, not by fifths,
presumably because of their relationship by inversion. Piston (1987: 503), however,
felt that a distinction was necessary, stating, by comparison with fourths, that quintal
harmony ‘seems to be more qualitatively stable, if only because the ear can imagine a
root in the bass, and sometimes a third in between the root and the fifth’. Debussy’s
Douze Études (cited in Example 2.2) includes studies on the third, fourth, sixth and
octave but not the fifth, presumably because its character relates closely to the fourth.
5
Hindemith’s piano writing is perhaps an exception, which many pianists find awkward.
6
Craft I (1942) p. 175, ‘The domain of harmony has been explored from end to
end, while rhythm, as I have previously stated, has escaped all attempts to study it
the surviving sketches to Unterweisung IV that Hindemith was to introduce a

study of rhythm. Curiously, Hindemith is reported to have similarly regarded
form as a practical skill owing to a report from John Colman in thinking back
to his experiences with Hindemith in Germany in 1936:
He claimed that form was not yet mastered. You couldn’t talk about it. Form is
an aspect of rhythm and rhythm is not fully explained yet. At least he claims
it’s not. He said we know everything about meter and we know a few rules of
thumb about rhythm but we really don’t know the last aspect of it, which is
structure. He claims that we know much less than a lot of other people pretend
or think we do.7
Quartal Pitch Collections
Hindemith was not the first composer to create harmony by stacking perfect
fourth and fifth intervals. During the harmonic developments of the nineteenth
century, musicians were drawn away from the triad, and towards chords built
from four or more discrete pitches. Diminished seventh and augmented
sixth chords, though not new, were used with increasing regularity, as was the
rise in popularity of voice leading that was parsimonious and yet not wholly
diatonic. Crucial to the musical language of Hindemith almost a century later
was the development of ‘quartal pitch collections’, which are formed solely
using clusters of fourths (or in inversion, fifths). Though they did not exist
in theoretical treatises at the time, we may trace early examples in the works
of Franz Liszt, who briefly used quartal clusters to denote the demonic, in
collections of altered tritones.8 His Malédiction Concerto for Piano and Strings
(1833–1840) begins with the harmonic progression shown in Example 2.1.
The first chord includes the tritone [F-natural B] – before parsimoniously
altering pitches which, perhaps coincidentally, form a chain of perfect fourths
in bar 3. The quartal collection is fairly superficial in this instance and occurs
against a deeper, triadic progression towards a second-inversion dominant
systematically’ and pp. 176–7, ‘Pleasant as it would be to provide in connection with

the present theory of tonal relations a key to the rhythmic part of our work, I must
postpone the solution of this problem to some later time’.
7
John Colman (OHAM, 21 November 1976). Though Hindemith seems to have
avoided theorising form, this is not to suggest that he did not treat it seriously. Indeed,
there are many reports of his sketching out complete pieces in class, which included
sketching out structures.
8
See Derek B. Scott, From the Erotic to the Demonic: On Critical Musicology (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003) pp. 130–33.
Example 2.1 Liszt’s Malédiction Concerto. The starred cluster consists of stacked
perfect fourths.
Quasi moderato
con furore
#c œœ ™™ œ œ œ ˙ œœ ™™
*
œ œ œ œ ˙ œ
& Ó œœ ™™ œœœ Œ ‰ œœœ œœœ ˙˙˙ Ó œœ ™™ œœœ Œ œœœ #œœœ œœœ #˙˙˙ œœœ
J J J
{ œ™ œœ Œ ‰n œœœ œœœœ ˙˙˙˙

œ œœ ™™ œ
œœ Œ œœ œœœœ œœœœ #˙˙˙˙ œœœœ
fff
œ #
3 3
? # c Œ nœ œœœ ™™™ œ œ
Œ #œ œœ ™™
œ œ
nœ J #œ J J
nœ 3
#œ 3
seventh chord in bar 4. Scott (2003) further identifies a chain of quartal

pitch collections in the opening theme to the third Mephisto Waltz (1883),
which represents these harmonies more prominently. Following Liszt, these
collections were to gather popularity in France, among the Impressionists
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, where they would be used in more
generous measure; the fluid, harmonically indeterminate character of stacked
fourths fitted suitably with hazy Impressionist aesthetic.9 Notable works
include Debussy’s tenth prelude from book I, ‘La Cathédrale Engloutie
Profondément calme’ (1910), the tenth prelude from book II, ‘Canope’
(1912–1913), ‘Pour les quartes’ from Douze Études (1915) and Ravel’s Sonatine
(1903–1905) which focuses on the perfect fifth, among many others. Notable
in Example 2.2 is Debussy’s stacking of perfect fourths – in the lower stave
the two fourths are split between each hand – and the descending pattern over
one octave from bar 65 to 72.
Alexander Scriabin and Bela Bartók were some of the next prominent
Western composers to experiment with, and to develop, quartal pitch
collections. Scriabin used perfect and augmented fourths in combination to
create harmonies such as the ‘mystic’ chord, while Bartók, second perhaps only
to Hindemith, was to integrate the perfect fourth consistently into his musical
style.10 Works such as the Concerto for Orchestra (examined in Chapter 4 for
9
Hindemith thought highly of Debussy in particular. This may be evidenced by the
reminiscences from the OHAM archive: ‘[Hindemith] had a profound admiration for
Debussy’, Norman Dello Joio (OHAM, 26 April 1976); ‘[Hindemith] liked Debussy
very much’, David Kraehenbuehl (OHAM, 9 April 1976); ‘an admirer […] of Debussy’,
Arthur Mendel (OHAM, 21 April 1976); and ‘the composer [Hindemith] admired in
his younger years was Debussy’ Mel Powell (OHAM, 19 August 1976).
10
It should not be surprising, therefore, that Hindemith held Bartók in high esteem.
Yehudi Wyner testifies (OHAM, 18 June 1975) p. 54, ‘he admired the music of Bartók.
He would refer to him as a clever fellow; those were the very words’.
Example 2.2 Debussy’s ‘Pour les quartes’ from Douze Études (1915) bb. 65–72.
{
I ¯ Tempo œœ œœ r
3
œœ œœ œ œ
65
3 ≈ œœ œœ ‰ Œ
3
&b 4 Ó œ œ Œ
leggiero
m.d. 3
? b 43 ˙˙˙ ™ ˙˙ ™™
p
™ œœ
bb˙˙
dolce sostenuto
˙˙™™
˙™™ ˙˙ b
b œœ
{
j
68 Calmato
& b Œ nœœ œœ œœ œœ Œ Œ œœ
3
œœ .
R pp . .
˙ œœ . œ
più p
™ œœ ˙
? b ˙˙ ™ bbœœ ˙
bbœœ bn˙˙ bbœœ nn˙˙ ™™ œœ œ
˙™™ œœ œœ œœ b ˙˙ bb œœ bb œœ ˙˙ ™
˙ ˙
™
its contrapuntal invention) and Mikrokosmos (particularly ‘Fourths’ from book

5 no. 131) show a prominent use of quartal pitch collections. Pivotally, stacked
fourths became the basis of the opening to Schoenberg’s First Chamber
Symphony op. 9 (1906).11 Before Hindemith, this passage was one of the most
audibly explicit quartal pitch structures. The horn motif (from the anacrusis
to bar 5), in particular, is an iconic example of rising fourths. It consists of six
different pitches [A D G C F B-flat], all of which rise in fourths to create a
distinctive quartal colour. The motif lays out the quartal implication of the
preceding bars (which alludes to the quartal collection [C F B-flat E-flat
A-flat]) in a single melody. In this phrase only two pitches are avoided: D-flat
and B-natural, which forcefully appear in bars 6 and 7, and relate to the tonic
of E major – the submediant and dominant respectively (Example 2.3).
We could interpret the six pitches of the horn melody as corresponding to
the F-major scale – indeed, this would associate it with the preceding cadence.
However, this interpretation does not do justice to the musical character
created by stacking adjacent fourths. Diatonic scales and stacked fourths create
inherently different sounds, despite consisting of the same pitches. Therefore,
it is the salience of the horn melody – the way in which the melody is voiced
and written out – that marks it out as quartal.
11
Piston (1987) finds Schoenberg’s op. 9 to mark the beginning of the regular use of
quartal harmony (p. 501).
Example 2.3 Schoenberg’s First Chamber Symphony op. 9 (1906) bb. 1–6.
U œ ™b œ b œ
Cl; Vln 1
## b˙™ œ 4
& # # C bw
Vln 1; ob Horn
Ó b˙ bœw nw b˙ ™ nœ̇ ™ n˙ 4œ œ œ
{
u œ
U
? #### C Ó n˙ nw nw n˙ ™ ∑ 44 ∑
Ó n˙ bw n˙ ™
'Cello
u
© Copyright 1914, 2010 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien/UE 35555.
Hindemith, in greater measure than all other composers before him, was
to develop and apply the use of quartal harmony, and to use it as the basis of
a distinctive personal style. Unlike Scriabin and Olivier Messiaen, he did not
regularly combine perfect fourths with tritones, but rather, he favoured the
stacking of solely perfect fourth and fifth intervals. Crucially, this occurred
from foreground levels (such as adjacent chords within a phrase) to background
levels (informing the pitch structure of complete movements or works).
Let us examine a short passage from one of Hindemith’s most popular
works, his Mathis der Maler Symphony, scored in bars 98–106 for clarinet 2,
violins, violas and ’cellos (Example 2.4). Notice the abrupt change in harmony
after the first four bars of the phrase: the first section centres on F-sharp,
while the second section starts abruptly in B-flat, an enharmonic switch
from A-sharp (these pitches are also emphasised by the second clarinet
part). A conventional harmonic analysis would suggest that Hindemith has
moved by tertiary key relationship to the mediant. This interpretation seems
plausible in the first section, which alternates between a bass F-sharp and an
implied submediant D-sharp. But how can we understand the second chord
in the first bar of the phrase? The music had begun by implying perhaps an
alternation between F-sharp major and D-sharp minor, and yet the second
chord of the bar includes the pitches [D-sharp C-sharp B F-sharp/G-
sharp]. These may be ordered into ascending fourths [D-sharp G-sharp
C-sharp F-sharp B] – in other words, we can interpret the collection as
quartal. Taking this approach, the upper melody notes F-sharp and G-sharp
lose any clear sense of consonance and dissonance given that both may reside
within the quartal collection (although the F-sharp carries greater structural
weight as the pitch centre).12
12
A counterargument may wonder why, therefore, in the diatonic scale 7-35, not
every pitch is also consonant. The response goes that though the notes are the same,
their behaviour is not: within a salient quartal collection, particularly of low or medium
Example 2.4 Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony (1934) bb. 98–106.
{
≤ #œ œ nœ
98
& Œ #˙ œ #œ#œ #œ #œ#œ ˙ b˙

mp
#œ #œ #˙ #œ #œ#œ
bbn˙˙˙ nnb˙˙
p
? ##˙˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
#˙ ##˙˙ #˙ ##˙˙ #˙ ##˙˙ #˙ b ˙ ˙˙
#˙ #˙ #˙ #˙ # ˙
{
#˙ #˙ #˙
p mp
103
b œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ bœ
& œ n˙ nœ œ bœ œ ˙ nœ #œ
b˙ ˙˙
? bbn˙˙ b˙ bbn˙˙˙ ˙
b˙ nbb˙˙ ˙
b˙
##œœ
˙ b˙ ˙ ∑
˙ ˙ ˙ #œ
If we pursue this quartal interpretation over common-practice tonal

harmony, the second four bars of the passage make greater harmonic sense.
The pitch centre moves temporarily to A-sharp/B-Flat, and rather than
a combination of F and B-flat major, the first chord consists of the quartal
trichord [F B-flat E-flat] and the second, though missing a B-flat, consists of
[G C F E-flat]. The enharmonic switch to B-flat rather than A-sharp is also
indicative of quartal collections; stacking perfect fourths adds one flat each time.
A strong quartal flavour arises from bar 102 owing to the trichord [F
B-flat E-flat]. Pitch-class set theory expresses this collection as 3-9, which
we shall refer to as the quartal trichord. Further fourths may be added to
create larger quartal collections, which include four (4-23), five (5-35) and
six (6-32) discrete pitches. These are described as tetrachords, pentachords
and hexachords respectively. Notably, the five-note quartal collection (5-35) is
identical to the pentatonic scale.
Upon adding a seventh perfect fourth to the collection, we arrive at pitch
class set (pc-set) 7-35. Crucially, these are the same pitches found in the
diatonic major scale. A collection of pitches that began with a distinctive quartal
trichord has become synonymous with the major scale despite consisting solely
of stacked perfect fourths. So how do we discriminate between a diatonic and
a quartal collection, given that they share the same pitches up to cardinality
seven? If we sound the first part of Example 2.5, the chord is unmistakably
cardinality such as the pentatonic, every note is consonant – although they carry
different structural weight as defined by their proximity to the pitch centre, and in
theory, Hindemith’s Series 1 hierarchy.
Example 2.5 Pitch class set 7-35.
bbbœœœ
& b œœœ & bœ bœ œ œ bœ
bœ œ
7-35
bœ
3-9
œ
quartal. And yet upon sounding the second part, the melody is unmistakably
a major scale. The difference lies in how the pitches are laid out, vertically and
horizontally. For collections of low cardinality, quartal collections tend to hold
strong identity; the more pitches in the collection, however, the vaguer the
connection becomes.
A suitable approach to quartal pitch interpretation considers salience
characteristics – in other words, not just the pitches themselves, but their
context. Salience characteristics are epitomised by the following list, compiled
by Fred Lerdahl, which we may use to persuasively distinguish between
diatonic and quartal passages:
• attacked within the region;

• in a relatively strong metrical position;
• relatively loud;
• relatively prominent timbrally;
• in an extreme (high or low) registral position;
• relatively dense;
• relatively long in duration;
• relatively important motivically;
• next to a relatively large grouping boundary;
• parallel to a choice made elsewhere in the analysis;
• repetition;
• clarity of harmonic root in a sequence.
Let us now consider these in context. Apparebit Repentina Dies (1947), written
for a symposium on music criticism at Harvard University, combines mixed
chorus with a brass dectet. Typical of this stage in Hindemith’s compositional
output, the setting is strongly characterised by quartal collections, in addition
to a concern for the melodic quality of individual, contrapuntal parts. In other
words, each line must represent a strong melody on the terms of Unterweisung II
(Exercises in Two-Part Writing). The central motif is three bars in duration and
begins at bar 5. A diatonic or modal reading of this passage could be:
1. D-flat major, with shades of an A-flat major/minor polarity;

2. A-flat Mixolydian mode;
3. The motif begins in A-flat major, passes through G-flat major in bar 6,
then moves back towards A-flat major.
However, these versions struggle to explain why the motif ends on a B-flat.
If we were to understand this passage in terms of quartal harmony, then the
explanation lies in bar 5. The motif may be segmented as in Example 2.6.
The second and third bars of motif X comprise the quartal sets 3-9 and
4-23 respectively, which together form 5-35.13 The first bar is incomplete:
while it consists of two fourths [F C] and [A-flat E-flat], it is missing the
B-flat needed to make it into a complete quartal set [A-flat E-flat B-flat F C].
This explains why the motif ends on a B-flat, rather than the implied tonic of
A-flat; it completes the quartal collection. The opening three bars also outline
a strong pattern of ascending fourths, comprising 4-23.
In this instance, the use of pitch class sets assumes octave equivalence, set
cardinality, subsets, and supersets, as a method for identifying the characteristics
of each collection. It permits an examination of how quartal sets (such as
3-9 and 4-23), delineated by bar lines, can be grouped together into larger
supersets. In this sense it parallels the motivic cells of the Classical sentence
structure, whereby a full phrase may be broken down into small motifs.
Segmenting music in this way is not always straightforward, however, and
must take place within a stylistic context. There are two main traps, the first of
which involves the location of small quartal sets, such as 3-9. This is often at
the core of Hindemith’s music, as demonstrated in Example 2.7, taken from
the first movement of his Flute Sonata (1936). Note how the phrase markings
in the flute part in bars 5, 6 and 7 coincide precisely with quartal collections
3-9 and 4-23, with the exception of a C passing note in the upbeat to bar 7.
However, in Example 2.8 it is again possible to identify a 3-9 trichord.
And yet this is not an accurate representation of the musical surface; the
example was taken from Hindemith’s book on Traditional Harmony, where he
demonstrates the resolution of a conventional 4-3 suspension. The 3-9 trichord
is simply a by-product of the counterpoint, and it describes a dissonant, rather
than consonant event. The majority of Hindemith’s compositions, by contrast,
treat quartal pitch collections as consonant.
13
Pc-set 5-35, otherwise known as the pentatonic scale, was acknowledged by
Hindemith on many occasions, but as a non-Western scale. The following passage is
taken from Polluted Waters, p. 4, ‘We can see first in the keys the tonal system which
was the earliest to be developed in our western culture through the practice of singing
and instrumental playing, hundreds of years before the time of the first keyboards. The
black keys give us a picture of that pentatonic, five-note system. Its smallest steps are
the whole tone and the minor third. Numerous traces of this system are still found
today in the folksongs of many areas, especially in the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon world;
however, it also plays an important role in the East, especially in classical Chinese
music’. Surprising here is that he does not acknowledge the pentatonic scale in his own
music, although he does proceed to acknowledge its presence within the diatonic scale.
Example 2.6 Apparebit Repentina Dies (1947) bb. 1–8.
{
Motif X
5-35
3 >™ >
Broad
U Allegro (q ca 190)
3 U U
bb ˙˙˙˙ ™™™™
4Œ bœ 4
&4 ∑ ∑ ∑ b 4 œ bœ bœ 4 bœ bœJ bœ œ bœbœbœ 4 bœ
> >œ > > >
U̇
? 43 U̇™
f
œ b˙ U
≈œ œ b˙ ™
4-23
4 3 4
4-26 3-9
4 ∑ 4 ∑ ∑ 4
ff b˙™
4-23 8-23
Example 2.7 Flute Sonata (1936), first movement, bb. 5–7.
8-23
3-9 4-23 4-23

œ œ - -œ
‰ œJ œ œ œ œ
5
4 bœ œ b œ œ bœ œbœ œ bœbœ œ
Flute &4 œ
mf 3 3
{
œœ
? 44 œ bœœ™ bœ
? bœ œ
bœ j j
& bœ & œ nœ bœ bœ bœ œ™ bœ œ™ œ™ nœ œ™ nœ
3
bœ œ b˙ œ
b wœ
p
Piano
? 44 j j j j b œ bœ œ
bœ œ bœ œ
bœ ™ bœ ™ bœ ™ œ™
Example 2.8 Hindemith, Traditional Harmony (1943) p. 39.
3-9
Œ œ œ̇ œ
& ˙˙˙ ˙˙
We may now arrive at the following definitions for quartal pitch collections:
Definition 1: Quartal pitch collections consist solely of rising perfect

fourth intervals. These may be arranged in various ways by
octave displacement.
Definition 2: Quartal pitch collections are identified based on their salience
within a musical context.
Definition 3: Quartal pitch collections do not imply a root. The presence of
a pitch centre, or tonic, is inferred by context.
The larger the quartal collection, the more varied its intervallic content. The
most common quartal collections in Hindemith’s music, 3-9, 4-23 and 5-35,
contain no semitones or tritones. The semitone does not appear until quartal
collections of at least six discrete pitches (see Table 2.1); the tritone does
not appear until there are at least seven. This could account for an aspect of
Hindemith’s compositional process, in which he contrasts quartal collections
with more seemingly ‘chromatic’ material. It also isolates one of the main
challenges to Hindemith’s compositional technique: creating harmonic variety.
The definition of a quartal collection has been simple so far: it consists
of a series of salient pitches, which may be arranged into a regular order of
ascending fourths or fifths. For example, the prime order of 3-9 [C D G]
may be arranged into a pattern of ascending fourths [D G C] or fifths [C G
D]. However, what happens when a set clearly consists of two superimposed
fourths, and yet does not comprise a complete quartal pitch collection? Take,
for example, the set 4-26, which consists in prime form of a combination of
[C F] and [E-flat A-flat]. It is almost a quartal set, but it is missing a B-flat
‘link’ to produce the order of ascending fourths, [C F B-flat E-flat A-flat].
Moreover, it is used frequently in Hindemith’s music, as in Example 2.9,
taken from the beginning of the sixth song of Lieder nach alten Texten (1923).
The song begins with six instances of the pc-set 4-26, split into two group
of fourths [E-flat A-flat] and [C F]. By virtue of this repetition the pitch
collection gathers salience.
The list of incomplete quartal sets may be expanded to cover collections
with more than one ‘missing link’, such as the second chord of bar 49 in
Hindemith’s First Piano Sonata (Example 2.10). This chord comprises two
fifths [F C] and [A E] – it is missing two pitches, D and G, required to
create a complete quartal collection. We can describe this set as containing
two ‘degrees of incompleteness’. Further degrees of incompleteness may be
achieved by removing more fourth or fifth chains from a complete quartal
collection. Notable is the tendency for Hindemith to move towards fewer
Table 2.1 Quartal IC vectors.
Quartal pc-set Interval (ic) Vector

3-9 010020
4-23 021030
5-35 032140
6-32 143250
7-35 254361
8-23 465472
9-9 676683
degrees of incompleteness over time, which indicates that Hindemith’s

concept of harmonic fluctuation is paralleled by the degree of completeness
in a quartal collection.
Definition 4: Incomplete quartal pitch collections include one or more

missing fourths.
Example 2.11 illustrates each degree of incompleteness for the quartal

tetrachord. As the chords move to the right of the diagram, the distance, in
fourth intervals, between the initial fourth interval [C F] and the next fourth
interval becomes greater. There is, however, a mid-point in the sequence
where the pitch collections repeat, in retrograde. Thus the maximum degree of
incompleteness for the quartal tetrachord is four (4-9).
Example 2.9 Hindemith’s Lieder nach alten Texten (1923) no. 6,

‘Landsknechtstrinklied’, bb. 1–5.
° 23
& 88 ∑ ∑ ‰ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ œJ
Soprano I J
j j
4-26
23 r r j r r j j r r j j
Frisch auf, gut Gsell, laß
Soprano II & 88 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œj
23
Tum - mel dich, tum - mel dich, guts Wein - lein. Tum - mel dich, guts Wein - lein.
& 8 8 œr œr œj œr œr œj œj œj œj r r j j j j
œ œ œ œ œ œ
Alto
23 bœ œ œJ œ bœ œ
Tenor & 88 ∑ ∑ ∑ ‰ J
‹
? 28 38 bœR œR œJ bœR œR œJ bœJ bœJ bœJ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
Frisch auf, gut
Baritone R R J J J J
? 2 3 bœ œ œ bœ œ œ bœj bœ œ bœ œ œ
j
bœ œJ
bœ
Bass ¢ 88 R R J R R J J J R R J J
Example 2.10 Hindemith’s First Piano Sonata, first movement, bb. 49–51.
4-20
49
& œ ˙™
n œœ b œœ ˙™
{
˙™ #n ˙˙ ™™
?
5
˙™
5
œ œœ bœ n˙ ™
bœ ˙™ n ˙™
Example 2.11 Incomplete quartal tetrachords.
4-23 4-26 4-20 4-8 4-9 4-8 4-20 4-26 4-23
& ww bbw
ww bw
bw bbww bnw
ww nww
w w
ww w
w ww
ww w ww ww w w w ww ww
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Prime form
Incomplete quartal tetrachords may also be found within Hindemith’s

Unterweisung chord groups. The tendency of a quartal tetrachord towards
a maximum degree of incompleteness corresponds with these groups, as
the most incomplete quartal tetrachords (4-8 and 4-9) are the only quartal
tetrachords included in Hindemith’s section B groups (chords with tritone).
As Hindemith’s chord group B is to be understood as the least stable,
incomplete quartal collections are also unstable, according to Unterweisung
theory.
Table 2.2 lists permutations of incomplete quartal collections, according to
the above method. The bold asterisks show the point of highest incompleteness
for each cardinality: for even cardinalities this occurs once, for odd cardinalities
this occurs twice. The further towards an asterisk a set is found, the less
plausible it is that the set is based in quartal harmony.
There are other incomplete quartal chords not covered by this method.
These include 3-7 [C D G], 4-22 [C D E G] and 6-33 [C D E-flat F G
A]. 3-7 is found in Six Chansons, no. 1 bar 4, while 4-22 is found in the
fourth bar of Six Chansons and the opening motif of the Messe. With sets of
cardinalities greater than four, it is also possible to keep three pitches the same
before breaking the chain of fourths, to produce further incomplete quartal
collections. The table provided here is thus not exhaustive.
Post-Tonal Voice Leading
Much of Hindemith’s music is contrapuntal: meaning that it is based on

principles of voice leading, where individual parts follow linear progressions.
A voice-leading analysis can show how Hindemith’s harmonic space, which
is often characterised by quartal collections, is also governed by contrapuntal
progressions, and can help to determine pitch class salience, and therefore
determine the difference between the diatonic, chromatic, modal and
quartal facets of Hindemith’s pluralistic harmony. However, these need to
be adapted to take into account the differences between diatonic harmony,
for which voice-leading reduction was originally developed, and post-tonal
harmony. A similar approach has been taken by Neumeyer (1986), where he
Table 2.2 Incomplete quartal pitch collections. Bold asterisks mark the
maximum degree of incompleteness for each cardinality.
Degree of Incompleteness
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4-23 4-26 4-20 4-8 4-9 *4-8 4-20 4-26 4-23

5-35 5-27 5-20 *5-7 *5-7 5-20 5-27 5-35
6-32 6-z25 6-18 *6-z6 6-18 6-z25 6-32
7-35 7-29 *7-20 *7-20 7-29 7-35
8-23 8-6 *8-9 8-6 8-23
9-9 *9-5 *9-5 9-9
introduces a number of symbols to denote pitch hierarchy, taking heed of

those introduced in the posthumously published Unterweisung III. In the
present book, the approach to voice leading is distilled from the modern,
Americanised version of Schenker’s graphs where the Ursatz is no longer
a determining feature. Namely, harmonic and countrapuntal reductions are
performed with the use of atemporal beams and slurs to identify musical
connections on varying levels of musical structure. Though Schenker’s notion
of fundamental structure is side-lined in the following analyses, it is only
reasonable to acknowledge that voice-leading analysis owes a debt to his
way of thinking about counterpoint in composition more generally. As we
saw in the previous chapter, Hindemith’s removal of an acknowledgement to
Herman Roth in the 1940 second edition, and the 1942 English translation,
has been interpreted by some as an attempt to distance himself from
Schenker. For Schenkerian reductions to have been applied to Hindemith,
therefore, presents a sense of irony.
Set theory enabled a study of collections of pitches, whereas voice-leading
reduction is necessary to ascertain hierarchies, particularly the identification
of Hindemith’s single, governing pitch or ‘tonic’. Hindemith’s pitch centre
(Zentralton) is defined clearly in Unterweisung III:
The [Zentralton] is the point of rest in each series of relationships. So long

as it is not replaced by a new [Zentralton], it stands in the middle of the
relationship tensions as the basis and tonal centre. It is itself immoveable;
although it performs the most important tonal function, it is tonally inactive.
Without a tonal centre, a tonic, no systematically constructed harmonic music
is conceivable.14
14
Unterweisung III (1970) p. 86. The translation used here was made by one of
Hindemith’s students, and is held in the YHC.
As Hindemith’s Zentralton differs from traditional triadic harmony, a

diatonic, Schenkerian voice-leading reduction needs to be adjusted.15 This is
predominately the result of assuming that a pitch centre may be expanded,
usually on a background structural level, as a full diatonic triad. Diatonic
triads exist within Hindemith’s music, although care needs to be taken when
negotiating between a diatonic and quartal collection, as was the case in my set
theoretical discussion. The solution, as before, lies in which elements are most
salient. In many instances, the quartal collections are prolonged, and therefore
considered structurally consonant. This approach applies Straus’s 1987 atonal
prolongational model, combined with Lerdahl’s salience characteristics. Straus
convincingly summarises atonal prolongation as follows:
Given three musical events X, Y and Z […] the prolongational model claims “Y
is structurally inferior to X and extends X; X is not displaced until Z arrives”.16
The concepts of voice leading reduction and prolongation are also implicit
in Unterweisung I and II. These are included as Hindemith’s melodic and
harmonic degree-progressions and tonality levels of the Unterweisung I
graphic analyses, and the term ‘tonal higher units’ used in Unterweisung II.
Hindemith frequently uses the metaphor of family groups to define
prolongation, which unfortunately often confuses this aspect with his
derivation of Series 1, which similarly makes use of the metaphor of family
groups, despite meaning a differently ordered system. The following is taken
from Unterweisung II:
In the domain of intervals the family relationship of people is paralleled by the

tonal relationship to a common tonal centre. This is the source-tone, the father,
around which the intervals group themselves like a much-branched family of
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.17
While Hindemith does not recognise this feature outright in the

Unterweisung, it is implicit that harmony based on fourths and fifths in a
composition carries the greatest structural weight; or gravity, to use another of
Hindemith’s metaphors. This is due to the prominence of the fourth and fifth
in both Series 1 and Series 2, and in Hindemith’s chord group classifications.
15
The term ‘tonal centre’ is used in the Craft, in the section on Harmonic Degree
Progression. This comes from the German ‘Zentralton’, which does not actually infer
‘tonality’ but simply ‘tone’. Therefore, ‘pitch centre’ is a more suitable translation.
16
Straus, Joseph, ‘The Problem of Prolongation in Post-Tonal Music’ Journal of Music
Theory, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring, 1987) p. 2.
17
Consequentially, quartal pitch collections may be subject to prolongation in

Unterweisung theory.
The Circle of Fourths
We may now turn to Hindemith’s own theory, which while not explicit,
steers the student in the direction of quartal pitch collections. As we have
seen in the previous chapter, Hindemith did not make clear that his theory
promoted his own approach to composition. And yet the outcome of studying
the Unterweisung is sympathy towards Hindemith’s own harmonic and
contrapuntal processes. To study the Unterweisung is to study Hindemith’s
musical style (albeit without sufficient instruction in three or four parts). With
this in mind, we need to isolate those features of Hindemith’s theory that
articulate his stylistic tendencies, before using them to investigate his music in
further depth. This includes the rotational properties of Series 1, Hindemith’s
chord values, and the seven music analyses that conclude the Unterweisung.
Hindemith’s manipulation of harmonic partials, which provide his Series 1
order of pitches, is an outline of quartal harmony. This is a fundamental
character of his music, which was present, to a degree, in his early works, and
grew to greater prominence in parallel with his theory making.18 Hindemith
presents a teleological argument for the omnipresence of the fourth and
fifth in nature, by manipulating overtones and combinations tones. Rameau
(1722) had also used overtones as a basis for his music theory two centuries
earlier, although his conclusions differ. Most crucially, Hindemith orders
all intervals and pitches in a chromatic, rather than diatonic, space. Series 1
18
The following description, taken from Mellon, W. H., ‘Hindemith Today’ The
Chesterian (September, 1947) p. 33, is typical of the way Hindemith’s harmony
was defined before the term ‘quartal harmony’ came into usage. It is also relevant
that the author attempts to tie this to the general style of significant North
American composers: ‘the vocal and melodic contour of some of its [Hindemith’s
E-flat Symphony] lines give it a robust sanity that at times almost suggests the
later work of Vaughan Williams; just as certain pentatonic figurations [which can
be described as quartal 5-35 collections] and the transparently hollow figurations
and the transparently hollow spacings in Hindemith’s late work remind one of
the American idiom of Aaron Copland. I do not mean that Hindemith has been
consciously influenced by either Vaughan Williams or Copland; but it is possible
that, in becoming an American citizen, he has absorbed into his German training
and outlook something of the sturdy Puritanism which Vaughan Williams still
stands for, and which is reborn in the New England culture of the most significant
composers of the USA’.
may be represented in a number of ways to highlight its cyclical, concentric

properties. Hindemith provides one interpretation in Unterweisung II (1939),
which he reiterates in the inside cover of the published version of the Ludus
(Schott & Co., 1943), where each pitch orbits the fundamental. Taruskin
(2009a) constructs a new concentric imagining which draws attention to the
symmetry of Series 1 (see Figure 2.1). He does not mention, however, that his
concentric arrangement does not form perfect symmetry around the seventh
and eight degrees, A-flat and E-flat.19
Further symmetry exists in Series 1. Importantly, it also relates it to the
quartal pitch collections 3-9, 4-23, 5-35 and 6-32. Example 2.12 shows how
the outer trichords both form pc-set 3-9, leaving an inner space of six pitches.
If we swap the A and D pitches from this inner group, there are two chromatic
trichords spaced an augmented fourth apart.
Having observed that the outer pitches form Hindemith trichords, the
result obtained by swapping the inner pitches of A and B-flat can be seen in
Example 2.13. Moving in by step, the outer pitch collections form 5-35, and
6-32 (Example 2.14).
This exploration shows that Hindemith favoured symmetrical scale
relationships, and that his use of Series 1 is connected to the prevalence
of quartal pitch collections in his music.20 Moreover, it shows that various
manipulations of Series 1 will also produce quartal pitch collections. In other
words, because there are several ways of making quartal pitch relationships
within Series 1, if a composer is to use it to create musical material, he/she will
be more likely to write with quartal harmony than not.
Example 2.12 Quartal trichords in Series 1.
3-9 3-9
& w w w w bw bw w #w
w bw w bw
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t e
& bw nw bw
w bw nw
19
Taruskin, Richard, The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 4 (2009a) p. 768.
Taruskin does not mention, however, that his concentric arrangement does not form
perfect symmetry around the seventh and eight degrees, A-flat and E-flat.
20
Hindemith’s preference for scale symmetry is also mentioned in Neumeyer, David,
Counterpoint and Pitch Structure in the Early Music of Hindemith (Yale University, PhD,
1976) pp. 45–53.
& w2 w4 bw7 bw9 nw11 #w
{
w
? w3 w5 bw 6 w8 bw10 #w }
1 12
© Taruskin, Richard, The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 4: Music in the Early Twentieth
Century (2009): Example 13.3 (p. 768). By permission of Oxford University Press, USA.
Figure 2.1 Series 1, taken from Unterweisung II (1939) p. 91 (left), and
Taruskin’s (2009a) arrangement of Series 1 (right).
Links between Hindemith’s music theory and quartal harmony may

also be traced in his musical examples. Example 2.15 is taken from Craft I
(1942), from the melodic degree-progression section. Hindemith uses it
to showcase his method for melodic segmentation, in addition to his voice
leading terms: Durchgang (D) for ‘passing tone’, Wechselton (W) for ‘returning
tone’, abspringender Nebenton ( N) for ‘neighbouring tone left by leap’ and
anspringender Nebenton (N ) for ‘neighbouring tone approached by leap’.21
Hindemith’s melody example contains quartal collections on foreground
and background levels, the first segment comprising pc-set 5-35, while his
background level consists of exactly the same pitches in semibreve form.
Hindemith’s Yale Analyses and Series 2
Hindemith’s Series 2 order of intervals and interval inversions is similar to

the set-theoretical concept of interval class. In the Unterweisung, Hindemith
uses bar lines to group each interval pair in Series 2 together: fifths and
fourth, major third and minor sixth, minor third and major sixth, major
second and minor seventh, minor second and major seventh, and the tritone.
Both Series 2 and interval classes are based on the inversion of intervals, up
to and including the tritone. However, they treat these inversions in different
ways. Interval classes assume equivalence between each inversion pair, such
as the major second and minor seventh, or the minor third and major sixth.
21
Craft I (1942) p. 173.
Example 2.13 Quartal tetrachords in Series 1, with pitch rotation.
4-23 4-22
& w w w bw w bw bw w w #w
w bw
0 1 2 8 4 5 6 7 3 9 t e
Example 2.14 Quartal pentachords and hexachords in Series 1, with

pitch rotation.
6-32 6-32
5-35 5-35
& w w bw bw bw w w w #w
w w bw
0 1 2 8 7 5 6 4 3 9 t e
Example 2.15 A transcription of Hindemith’s Example 155, taken from Craft

(1942) p. 184, showing melodic degree progression.
(NÕ) D œ D œ
D œ
œ bœ bœ œ œ b œ œ n œ b œ œ œ bœ œ
Lively
b
2 bœœ œ
D D
œ ‰ b œ œ b œ
(W)
&4 œœ
2 bw bw w w
&4 w bw
ŒN
œ bœ bDœ œ œ b œ œ œ bœ Wœ œ œ nWœ œ bœ bœ œ bœ W
W
& œ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ œ b˙
3 3 3
w bw bw bw bw
& bw
While Hindemith groups the intervals in the same way, he ascribes a root to
each interval, such that the lower pitch of a fifth is root, whereas the upper
root of a fourth is the root, and so forth. The inversions are therefore not
equivalent. As a result, Hindemith recognises the interval of a fifth, while
Figure 2.2 Page 51 from a student’s Orfeo Analysis (1942). A clef for ‘Degree
Progression’ is omitted throughout the assignment, although the
dotted lines at the start of each system imply that it is attached
to the bass clef.
interval classes understand it as an equivalent inversion of the fourth, and do

not exceed the tritone.22
Hindemith constructed an analytical method, identified in the previous
chapter, which is elaborated upon in a section on ‘practical application’ and
applied to the concluding seven analytical case studies. It might be tempting
to use this to analyse his own music: indeed, this was a path that several of
Hindemith’s students at Yale chose to follow, epitomised by a painstakingly
thorough application of Unterweisung analysis to Claudio Monteverdi’s
Orfeo in an assignment from 1942.23 This analysis, over twenty-six carefully
handwritten pages, shows the diligence of an enthusiastic student dedicated
to her professor’s approach (Figure 2.2).
It is uncertain whether this graphic analysis was accompanied by written
commentary. If not, and assuming that it never existed (i.e. was not lost), it
would appear as though Hindemith’s analytical method, though containing
several inherently subjective criteria, did not encourage his students to think
critically about music. The cynic would argue that it is merely painting by
22
Forte, Allen, The Structure of Atonal Music (Yale University Press, 1973) p. 14,
defines interval classes as follows: ‘If d is the difference of two pc integers then d ≡ d1
mod 12’.
23
Given the meticulous attention to detail, and comprehensiveness of this analysis,
one is left to assume that there would have been several similar applications of
Unterweisung analysis by Hindemith students.
numbers. The example provided here represents the first entry of Arianna,
and the analysis consists of labelled Harmonic Fluctuation using Hindemith’s
chord values, and Degree Progression. To the modern analyst, an immediate
question is likely to be: what do these labels tell us about the music? How does
it relate to structure and interpretation of musical content? In practice, the
Degree Progression tells us little, as for the most part it coincides with the bass
line. The only difference may be found in the first bar, where F-sharp, rather
than the bass note A, is chosen.
It seems to me that this student analysis overcomplicates the passage.
Using heuristic Roman numerals, it is a simple progression from V–I in D
minor, beginning with a passing modulation to the subdominant G minor. No
justification is given for the use of Degree Progression. Perhaps the application
of Hindemith’s analytical method was ill-advised for this composition, given
its diatonic structure – though Hindemith went to lengths to show how it
could apply to music of all periods of Western music history, it is applied
least convincingly to diatonic music. Harmonic Fluctuation, on the other
hand, offers an interpretation of tonal distance, stability and rate of change
which is not easily drawn from other methods.24 It is an insightful analytical
tool, provided that one accepts the foundations upon which it was built:
Hindemith’s chord values. These are in turn are based on interval strength,
which in turn are derived from Series 2. In other words, if one rejects the
basis of Series 2, one rejects the basis of Hindemith’s analytical method unless
another interval hierarchy is introduced.
It is clear from the evidence of this student assignment that Hindemith
intended his Unterweisung to offer a practical method for the analysis of scores.
However, there are several reasons for not applying it in this book. Firstly,
though few analytical methods can claim to be entirely objective, Hindemith’s
analyses are notably subjective. Secondly, analysing his music with his own
method is a blunt object. We are led to find what Hindemith wanted us to find.
An Analytical Case Study: Sonata for Four Horns (1952)
The following analysis of the theme from the third movement of Hindemith’s
Sonata for Four Horns (1952) demonstrates the approach of this book, and
identifies some analytical challenges. In particular, it considers the tension
between modal lines and quartal harmony. The basis of the theme is taken
24
Harmonic Fluctuation was developed further in Unterweisung III (1970). One
may assume that this concept, one of Hindemith’s most insightful theoretical concepts,
would have undergone further growth and refinement when applied to four-part
composition in Unterweisung IV.
from an old German folksong, ‘Ich schell’ mein Horn in Jammers Ton’, which
was first put to music in a motet by Ludwig Senfl (c. 1490–1543), before being
assimilated by Johannes Brahms.25 It is likely that Hindemith came to know
the work through Senfl’s motet. The extract is characterised by a stepwise,
modal tetrachord, which plays on the ordering of semitones, yet underpinned
by a quartal approach to harmony.
As a first stage to our analysis, the theme of the first movement is
provided in Example 2.16 in a piano reduction, transposed to concert pitch,
and up one octave.
Example 2.16 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, Theme on
{
‘Ich Schell’ mein Horn’.
Getragen Tenuto (q = 80)

4 3 Œ 4 3
&4 bœ œ̇ œ œ b˙ 2 œ œœ bbœœ 4 œ̇ œ œœ b œœ œ̇ bœ œ ˙ 2
Œ̇ b œ œœ b œ œ œ b œ b ˙ ẇ ˙
œ bœ Œ Ó
bœ 4 ™
Œ̇
f
mf
b œ Ó
bœ œ Œ̇ b œ œ̇ b œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ
{
? 44 Ó Ó Œ 3
2 ˙ Ó 4 - - - bœ bœ œ œ
3
2
- -
6 A
3 Œ Œ 4 Œ 3
&2 œ bœœ ẇ œ œœ nœœ 4 b˙˙™ bœ
bœœ œœ b œœ œœ b œ 2
b
b ẇ œ Œ
p mf
b œ b œ b œ b˙ bœ bœ ˙ œ œ
? 23 bœ bœ bœ Ó Œ 4 œ œœ bb˙˙ bœ ∑bœ
œ 3
b˙ 4 Œ 2
{
10
riten. a tempo
3 Œ 4œ j
& 2 bœœ bœ bœœ œ 4Ó œ bœ™
œ œ œ b œ̇ bœ
œ b ˙œ™ œJ b˙ ˙˙
p
œ
? 23 bœ ™ bœ bœ bœ œ b˙ 4
{
4 ∑ Ó Œ œ
J
mf
13
Œ œ œ bœ œ ˙
& œ œ bœ œ œ̇ œ bœ ˙ w
˙ Œ œ œ̇ w
œ bœ bœ ˙ ˙
? œ bœ bœ œ œ œ w
w
˙ Ó ˙ œ̇
25
Senfl’s motet has been a source for two songs from Brahms, op. 41 and op. 43. The
original text is by Herzog Ulrich (1510), and was published in Das Ambraser Liederbuch
vom Jahre 1582.
The sonata has a small compass due to the use of a single instrument type.
As a result, many pitches are subjected to repetition. However, F receives by far
the greatest emphasis as the starting note, root of the final chord, and common
presence at the beginning and end of phrase structures. This defines it as the
pitch centre.
As the instruments are identical, timbral prominence does not
feature (unlike, for example, Hindemith’s Kammermusiken, where timbral
characteristics help to determine salience). However, the registral positioning
indicates an emphasis in the highest register B-flat and C in Horn 1, and
similarly, B-flat and C in the lowest register of Horn 4. Combined with the
pitch centre, this framework creates the quartal trichord 3-9 [C F B-flat].
The grouping of pitch collections in the theme is generally straightforward
given the four-part texture, although, on the whole, Hindemith tends towards
three parts. Many lines emphasise quartal collections, such as the first phrase
in Horn 4, encompassing [B-flat F C]. These are determined by the phrase
grouping, which begins on B-flat and ends on C, and the metric salience
of the F on the second minim of bar 2. It also incorporates the descending
modal tetrachord [B-flat A G F]. The second phrase in Horn 4 is particularly
quartal in the context of the theme. It may be segmented into at least three
different quartal collections, such as 4-22 (incomplete), 5-35 and 6-32. It is
not diatonic, given the use of the fifth and fourth intervals between pitches. It
creates the flattening effect invoked by large quartal collections, particularly by
the time D-flat is introduced in bar 6 (see Example 2.17).
Quartal pitch collections may be prolonged in Hindemith’s music. Their
segmentation is determined by structural salience characteristics. Passing
and neighbour notes define middleground prolongations. One issue we
now encounter is the classification of passing note figures during quartal
prolongations. From the fourth to the fifth crotchet in bar 3, the tie implies
a suspension in diatonic harmony. In this context, the subsequent B-flat is
classed as a passing note, as it moves off the tie, and towards the next metric
beat. The A-flat on the second crotchet of bar 7 represents a similar case,
although lasts for a full crotchet beat. Perhaps problematically, both passing
Example 2.17 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, bb. 4–6,
Horn 4, pitch groupings.
œ bœ
? 44 Œ œ bœ bœ 3
œ œ 2 bœ bœ bœ b˙ Ó
4-22
5-35
6-32
notes form consonant minor triads (G minor and F minor respectively). The
salience of the metric positioning and phrase structure defines these pitches
as passing notes, which are diatonically consonant. Moreover, the two inner
notes of the modal tetrachord are ambiguous; either could be consonant or
dissonant depending on context (Example 2.18).
The consecutive sevenths in bars 13–14 present a further issue to pitch
grouping. While comprising parallel diads, their relationship to surrounding
melodic material implies two quartal trichords. In bar 13, the salience of F as
the beginning of a phrase in Horn 1 creates an attachment to the subsequent
[C B-flat] interval. In the reverse direction, the [B A] interval at the beginning
of bar 14 connects with the E on crotchet beat two. This reading is related to
the Schenkerian concept of compound melody, and offers an explanation
as to why these parallel sevenths may be found to sound particularly
‘Hindemithian’.26 Moreover, it outlines a linear quartal pattern, shown in
Example 2.19, in addition to the ascending modal tetrachord [F G A B-flat].
This linear quartal pattern similarly occurs at bar 10, third minim beat.
This process may then be carried out on Hindemith’s subsequent variations
within this movement to show his manipulative procedures, and to illustrate
the presence of Hindemith’s Unterweisung principles within his compositional
practice.
The neighbour notes in Horn 3 from bars 2 to 3 create a similar situation.
The upbeat to bar 3 is grouped within the quartal tetrachord 4-23, and is
prolonged. This is determined by the salience of its position at the beginning
of a phrase, and its presence within a number of repeated B-flat pitches in
Example 2.18 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, b. 3 and
{ {
b. 7, pitch groupings prior to voice-leading interpretation.
3 Œ Œ
&2 œ œœ bbœœ &
ẇ œ œœ nœœ
ẇ
œ
? 23 œ̇ bœ ˙
˙
œ œ bœ ? bœ bœ ˙ Œ
Ó
P
P?
3
4-23 3-9 3-9 3-9 3-9 3-9
Reduction & 2 ˙˙ œœœ bbbœœœ & œœ
bœ
œœ œœœ
˙˙ œ
26
See Forte, Allen & Gilbert, Steven E., Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (New
York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1982) Chapter 3, ‘Compound Melody’ pp. 67–82.
{
Example 2.19 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, bb. 13–14.
Parallel Sevenths
Œ œ
& œ œ bœ œ œ̇
˙ Œ œ œ̇
œ bœ bœ ˙
? œ bœ bœ œ œ
˙ Ó
3-9
& bœœ
œ
œœ œœ 5 œœœ A
œ œ
Example 2.20 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, bb. 1–3.
4 3 Œ
&4 œ̇ œœ œ b˙ 2 œ œœ bbœœ
Œ̇ b œ œœ bbœœ œ
{
bœ b ˙ ẇ
? 44 Ó bœ bÓœ œ Œ̇ bœ 3 œ̇ bœ ˙ œ œ bœ
Ó Œ 2 ˙ Ó
N
‹ ˙ œœ œ bœ bœ
4
&4
œœ bbœœ œœ bœ b œœœ 3
2 ˙˙˙˙ œœœ bbœœ
˙
3-9 3-9
4-23
other parts; bars 1 to 3 repeat B-flat eight times, which is half of the total
number of crotchet beats.
The B-flat could be included within the pitch collection at the beginning
of bar 3, to create 5-35. However, at this point it is neither given salience by
phrase boundaries, nor metric position. Moreover, it creates an imaginary fifth
part in the quartal collection. This understanding would treat the neighbour
note figure as a compound melody in the Horn 3 part, which is unreasonable
as it moves solely in stepwise motion (Example 2.20).
These results may be expressed in the voice leading reduction, with
accompanying pitch collections (Example 2.21). It highlights Hindemith’s
preference for contrary motion between parts, unless they form a quartal
pattern. It further shows a tonal flattening from bars 8–10, from F towards
Example 2.21 Hindemith’s Sonata for Four Horns, third movement, reduction.
{
The reduction is transposed up one octave.
4 3 4 Œ 3
&4 œ œ̇ œœ œ b˙ œ œœ bbœœ 4 œ̇ œ œœ b œœ œ̇ bœ œ ˙ 2
2
Œ̇ b œ œœ bbœ œ bœb ˙ ẇ ˙
bœ Ó Œ̇ œ̇ ˙ œ Œ̇ œ
œ bœ 4 ™ bœ œ Ó œ œ
?4Ó Ó Œ bœ œ bœ 3 bœ bœ bœ œ œ 23
4 2 ˙ Ó 4
Œ
‹ ˙
modal tetrachord
œœ œ bœ bœ œ œ
4
&4 œœ bbœœ œœ bœ b œœœ 3
2 ˙˙˙˙ œœœ bbœœ 44 œœ œ œ bœœ œ 3
2
˙ bœ b œ œ
{
3-9 3-9
4-23
6 semitone
3 Œ Œ 4 b˙ Œ 3
&2 œ bœœ ẇ œ œœ nœœ 4 ˙™ bœœ œœ œ œœ bbœœ 2
b
b ẇ œ Œ bœ
bœ bœ bœ œ
? 23 bœ bœ bœ bb˙˙ Ó
bœ bœ ˙
Œ 4 œœ œœbb˙˙ bœ ∑bœ
œ 23
4 Œ
‹ b bœ
3
& 2 bb˙˙ bœœ̇
œœ œœœ 44 ˙œ̇œ œ œœ bœ 23
œ bbœœ
{
3-9 4-23
tritones
10
3 Œ 4œ j
& 2 bœœ bœ bœœ œ 4Ó œ bœ™
œ œ œ b œ̇ bœ
œ b ˙œ™ œJ b˙ ˙˙
œ
? 23 ™ bœ b œ b œ œ b ˙ 4
4 ∑ Ó Œ œ
bœ J
‹ bœ œœ bœ
3 bœ bœœ bbb˙˙˙ 4 bœœ b˙˙ œœ
{
&2 4
b˙
3-9
13
Œ œ œ bœ œ ˙
& œ œ bœœ œ œ̇ œ bœ ˙ w
w
˙ Œ œ̇
œ bœ bœ ˙ ˙
? œ bœ b œ œ œ œ w
w
˙ Ó ˙ œ̇
‹ b œœ œœ œœ 5 œœœ A œœ b œ œœ w
œ œ bœ
& ˙˙˙ œ
3-9 3-9
A-flat and D-flat. Bar 10 is also the only area to include the tritone interval,
save a single passing note in the final cadence at bar 15. This shows a structural
plan for harmonic tension and fluctuation. In the Series 1 order, transposed to
F, the furthest pitch is B. This is only referred to twice in the theme: a passing
note in the cadence at bar 6, and in the final cadence in bar 15.
o
3
Stylistic Borrowing
and Pre-Unterweisung Music
This chapter analyses in close detail a cross-section of Hindemith’s early music

in order to demonstrate the presence of two pitch strategies.1 The first relates
to his use of quartal pitch collections, which have been defined in the previous
chapter. They arguably stem from Hindemith’s expert familiarity with string
instruments, as the open strings on a violin, viola, ’cello or double bass all form
the quartal tetrachord 4-23. This collection was to be subsequently formalised
in the Unterweisung as Series 1 and 2, and became a hierarchical basis for
chord roots, chord formation and an analytical method. The second pitch
strategy examined in this chapter relates to collections with higher cardinal
values, such as the octatonic scale (8-23) which provide a more general sense
of chromaticism. A dual practice of quartal and high-cardinality collections is
evident in Hindemith’s early music, while after the Unterweisung he shows a
clear preference for the first strategy, based on ascending fourths, at the expense
of octatonic collections. These two strategies cannot coexist; it is impossible to
create a quartal tetrachord within the octatonic scale.
Hindemith’s early music, defined here until 1922, self-consciously swings
from seriousness to the grotesque, borrowing from styles such as expressionism,
impressionism and jazz; baroque and classical forms; and dances such as
shimmies and foxtrots. Perhaps as a result of this pluralism, it has proven to be
exceptionally hard to analyse. This is also a consequence of the complexity of
some of his music, particularly in terms of pitch structure, and the formidable
wealth of motivic material. And yet, an analytical understanding of this
music is required to discriminate between those elements of Hindemith’s
style that were jettisoned after the Unterweisung, including the octatonic
scale, and those that remained consistent, such as quartal pitch collections.
It helps us to construct a musical backdrop against which Hindemith first
began formulating his theory of music. Provocatively, among the works of
this period, several elements can be considered within the broad definition
1
An early portion of this chapter was printed as ‘Towards a Musical Syntax in Paul
Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25/1 (1922), First Movement’, in Histories
and Narratives of Music Analysis, ed. Miloš Zatkalik, Milena Medić & Denis Collins
(Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) pp. 398–419.
of early twentieth-century atonality. There are furthermore several instances

of polytonality. Both atonality and polytonality were subsequently rejected in
Unterweisung theory, leading to two possible conclusions: (1) that Hindemith
was keen to distance himself from his early works, or (2) that he was keen
to distance himself from compositional techniques which had offended the
agenda of the Third Reich. Both possibilities shall be explored to provide a
further context for Hindemith’s music theory and aesthetics.
Hindemith’s interest in music theory was not always evident, as is made
clear from a short autobiography which accompanied his music in the second
Donaueschingen music festival in 1922, which forms a glaring contrast with
his views later in life:
I cannot give analyses of my new works because I don’t know how to explain
a piece of music in a few words (I would rather write a new one in the time).
Besides I think that for people with ears my things are perfectly easy to
understand, so an analysis is superfluous. For people without ears such cribs
can’t help. Neither do I write out single themes, which always give a false
impression.2
A study of compositions from this early period, therefore, should be conducted

with the understanding that Hindemith was eager to include influences from
the music around him, without readily engaging with the theoretical and
analytical implications associated with these borrowings. It forms a stark
contrast with Hindemith later in life, who became the epitome of a cerebral,
theoretically-based composer. Our examination of this period focuses on
Hindemith’s string music, notably the solo works and string quartets, given
the relationship of these pieces to his activities as an internationally recognised
performer. The majority of Hindemith’s solo string works were written before
Hindemith’s appointment to the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1927, which
perhaps indicates an impetus to move away from this genre as he approached
stylistic maturity and consistency. We shall also examine sections from the
Suite 1922, which typifies Hindemith’s pluralism and stylistic borrowings.
These compositions were written just before the period of Hindemith’s
output that has been associated with Germany’s then prevalent ‘Neue
Sachlichkeit’ (‘New Objectivity’). Ernst Krenek suitably defines it as the
‘emphasis on perfect construction rather than exuding sentiment (therefore,
anti-Romantic). It exists in that no-man’s land between serious music and
entertainment music’.3 Giselher Schubert, in his discussion of Hindemith
2
Kemp, Ian, Hindemith (London: Oxford University Press, 1970) p. 1.
3
Krenek, Ernst, Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1974) p. 24.
STYLISTIC BORROWING AND PRE-UNTERWEISUNG MUSIC 89
and Neue Sachlichkeit, associates an affinity for Neue Sachlichkeit in works

such as the Kammermusiken Nos 2–7 (1924–1927), Concerto for Orchestra
op. 38 (1925), Das Marienleben op. 27 (first version, 1922–1923) and Cardillac
op. 39 (1925–1926).4 While he does not offer a year for the beginning of
Hindemith’s connection with the Neue Sachlichkeit, it is implied that it
began from approximately 1923, including Das Marienleben, before reaching
its apotheosis with Cardillac in 1925–1926. Our examination of Hindemith’s
pre-Neue Sachlichkeit work is significant, as it generally demonstrates the
most eclectic compositional processes.
One aim in my analysis of this music is to move away from a
common and rather unhelpful description of ‘chromaticism’; in reality, the
constructive principles are notably more complex. We begin by investigating
the compositional influences on the young Hindemith, including both a
comparison of similarities between selected compositions by contemporary
composers and an examination of the music to which Hindemith was
exposed, particularly as a performer with the Rebner and Amar Quartets.
General issues are then discussed, connected with the understanding of
Hindemith’s string music from his early period, followed by a more in-
depth analysis of the Solo Viola Sonata op. 25/1, and the counterpoint in
the String Quartet op. 22.5
The Contexts of Hindemith’s Early Pluralist Style
It is hard to imagine a musical composition that exists entirely as the product

of self-expression, without a trace of external influence. Every composer will
have experienced the music of others, and artistic influences may arrive by a
number of means. These might include the general dissemination of music
through publishing, music heard in performance, be it live or recorded, and
music which the composer performs him- or herself. It is insightful to suggest
the influences upon Hindemith through this final category, particularly
given that he was an exceptionally busy, professional player of the violin, and
subsequently the viola.
In 1923 Adolf Weismann questioned the relationship of Hindemith’s
compositions to the music he was performing when he wrote ‘Is not
Hindemith the viola player, and member of the Amar Quartet, all too ready to
4
Schubert, Giselher, ‘Paul Hindemith’ New Grove Online, accessed 21
December 2016.
5
I am not counting music for harp and piano in this category, although these
instruments are technically members of the string family.
adopt the methods of the composers performed by himself?’6 It is now possible

to trace these influences more directly, which shows that Hindemith, above
many composers of the time, had a particularly eclectic exposure to music as
a performer. It also shows that many of the pitch collections associated with
Hindemith’s early music, such as the octatonic scale, may be found in the
music he knew through performance.
Hindemith began his performing career on the violin, joining the first
violins of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra in 1914, before being promoted to
leader in 1917.7 As a chamber musician, he joined the Rebner Quartet as second
violin to Adolph Rebner, his teacher in the Frankfurt Hoch Conservatory,
before permanently switching to the viola after returning from a short spell
of military service in 1918. Following the refusal of Gustav Havemann to
perform his String Quartet op. 16 in the Donaueschingen Music Festival of
1921, Hindemith founded the Amar String Quartet. This quartet specialised
in the performance of contemporary music, and gave numerous premieres
by leading composers in Germany at the time alongside canonical works by
Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.
In the three issues of the Hindemith Jahrbuch from 1991–1993, Michael
Kube has provided a complete list of performance activities involving
Hindemith and the Rebner and Amar String Quartets. The inventory
demonstrates Hindemith’s fondness for op. 25/1, as he included the work in 23
separate concerts in which either the Rebner or Amar Quartets were involved.
Hindemith’s other unaccompanied string works were chosen notably fewer
times, including the Sonata for Solo Viola op. 11/5 (1919) once, the Sonata
for Solo Viola op. 31/4 (1923) twice and the Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3
(1923) four times.8 The solo sonata was often programmed between two string
quartet works, thus providing a musical contrasting. It was also not unusual
for the concert to consist of works entirely by Hindemith, although there are
plenty of examples that show the versatility and diversity of programming of
other composers by the ensemble.9
6
Weismann, Adolf, ‘Notes from Abroad’ Musical Times, Vol. 64, No. 970
(December, 1923) p. 872.
7
Schubert, Giselher, ‘Paul Hindemith’ New Grove Online (accessed 21 December
2016).
8
Kube, Michael, ‘Am Quartettpult. Paul Hindemith im Rebner- und Amar-
Quartett: Dokumentation (3. Teil)’ HJb, Vol. 22 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1993) p. 210.
9
Refer to volumes 20–22 in the Hindemith Jahrbuch for a complete list of these
programmes (1991–1993). The third volume also digests this information to list
each work performed in an index. This work updates Neumeyer, David, & Schubert,
Giselher, ‘Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith’ Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg
There is much to be learned about Hindemith’s compositional process from

the works he performed with his quartet around the time that he was writing.
For example, it is clear that the ensemble enjoyed frequent performances
of the first two quartets by Bartók. The first quartet op. 7 was performed
on twenty-two occasions, beginning on 17 February 1919, while the second
quartet op. 17 was performed thirteen times beginning on 28 October 1920.
The Amar Quartet also made the first audio recording of Bartók’s second
quartet – the first ever of any work by Bartók.10 This was not to the neglect
of older music, however – in fact, performances of Mozart, Beethoven and
Brahms were at least as common. Hindemith’s own compositions received by
far the most performances. What this meant was that Hindemith, owing to
his intensive activity as a chamber performer, was exposed to an enormously
eclectic range of repertoire in his twenties. His employment as violinist in the
Frankfurt Opera Orchestra between 1914 and 1923 included the premieres of
operas by Schreker and Bartók in addition to the performances of many of the
leading composers of the time.11 There can be little doubt that a performing
knowledge of this music contributed to the development of his compositional
style. Below are three examples of concert programmes demonstrating the
inclusion of op. 25/1:
No. 307: 6 May 1923, Freiburg (Lecture Hall)

Introductory remarks: Dr. Hermann Erpf
1. Hindemith, Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3: world premiere
2. Hindemith, Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1
3. Hindemith, String Quartet op. 2212
No. 328: 17 October 1923, Hamborn

1. Dvořák, String Quartet in F op. 96
3. Smetana, String Quartet in E Minor ‘Aus meinem Leben’13
Institute Vol. 13, No. 1 ( June, 1990) pp. 3–46, particularly p. 5, as will be discussed
below.
10
This recording is discussed in Breuer, János, ‘Die erste Bartók-Schallplatte. Das
II. Streichquartett op. 17 in der Einspielung des Amar-Hindemiths-Quartetts’ HJb,
Vol. 5 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1976) pp. 123–45.
11
The Frankfurt premieres included: Schreker, Die Gezeichneten (25 April 1918), Der
Schatzgräber (21 January 1920) and Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle and The Wooden Prince
(13 May 1922).
12
Quartett: Dokumentation (2. Teil)’ HJb, Vol. 21 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1992) p. 172.
13
Ibid., p. 178.
No. 452: 12 October 1924, Osnabrück (School Council Auditorium)

1. Schubert, String Quartet in E Major D. 353
3. Reger, String Quartet in F-sharp Minor op. 12114
The following works, in particular, have compositional techniques in common

with Hindemith:
Debussy, String Quartet op. 10: performed twelve times from

27 October 1919
Bartók, String Quartet in A Minor op. 7: performed twenty-two times from
17 February 1919
Bartók, String Quartet in A Minor op. 17: performed thirteen times from
28 October 1920
Schoenberg, String Quartet op. 7: performed thirty times from
23 February 1920
Schoenberg, String Quartet op. 10: performed ten times from
28 December 1918
Stravinsky, Concertino for String Quartet: performed twenty-seven times from
24 September 1924
These works, deliberately chosen from the large repertoires of the Rebner
and Amar Quartets, demonstrate that Hindemith regularly performed (and
one may assume, rehearsed) music that included octatonic and whole-tone
collections, combined with the modernist aesthetics of Schoenberg and
Stravinsky. The oft-cited and powerful anecdote regarding Hindemith’s
rehearsal of Debussy’s String Quartet is worth noting here in full:
During my time as a soldier in the First World War I was a member of a

string quartet which served our commanding officer as a means of escape
from the miseries of war. He was a great music-lover and a connoisseur and
admirer of French art. It was no wonder, then, that his dearest wish was to
hear Debussy’s String Quartet. We rehearsed the work and played it to him
with much feeling at a private concert. Just after we had finished the slow
movement the signals officer burst in and reported in great consternation
that the news of Debussy’s death [on 25 March 1918] had just come through
on the radio. We did not continue our performance. It was as if the spirit had
been removed from our playing. But now we felt for the first time how much
more music is than just style, technique and an expression of personal feeling.
14
Ibid., p. 200.
Here music transcended all political barriers, national hatred and the horrors
of war. Never before or since have I felt so clearly in which direction music
must be made to go.15
Notwithstanding the use of this text to show Hindemith’s involvement with

the music of Debussy and his experiences as a performer during the First World
War, there is an additional piece of crucial information here which has been
overlooked. The date of this performance coincides with the death of Debussy
on 25 March 1918: this is over a year before Hindemith performed the same
work with the Rebner Quartet. While it is not possible to catalogue fully the
works that Hindemith performed in WWI, it is important to acknowledge
that, while the documentation of performances with the Rebner and Amar
Quartets provides concrete information regarding Hindemith’s exposure and
performing awareness of key modernist string quartets, it is also possible that
he performed many of the works at an earlier date.
Hindemith’s early music was therefore intimately connected with the music
that he knew as a performer, as demonstrated by his activities as a chamber
musician with the Amar and Rebner Quartets. While there is further work
to be done, should further information come to light regarding his complete
activities as a solo performer, his intensive musical activities at this time justify
a comparison of compositional techniques and gestures found in the works of
composers such as Bartók, Stravinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg and Webern to
his own music. This is particularly the case with regard to Hindemith’s eclectic
use of pitch collections, ranging from pentatonic to octatonic scales, as a close
analysis will now demonstrate.
Analysing Early Hindemith
My analyses offer two hermeneutic levels. The first is a study of the music
itself. The second places Hindemith within a contemporary context in order
to discern how specific stylistic influences may have entered his music,
consciously or otherwise. This offers insights into not just what Hindemith’s
compositional process may have been, but it also provides insights into the
piece, whether intended by Hindemith or not.
The following demonstrates the pitch and voice-leading characteristics of
Hindemith’s early music, using the salience characteristics introduced by the
previous chapter. As the music was written before Hindemith’s development
of the Unterweisung, it falls into a grey area between tonality and atonality.
15
Referenced by Skelton, Geoffrey, Paul Hindemith: The Man behind the Music
(London: Gollancz, 1975) p. 35.
As in Lerdahl’s study of Schoenberg, ‘we have in pure form the theorist’s

nightmare: coherence in the face of no theory’.16 This coherence, rather than
resting on the stability effects of diatonic harmony, or the voice-leading logic
of chromatic transformations within a tonal network, can be understood with
reference to salient compositional elements.
The opening of a sonata fragment that Hindemith composed in 1922
(Example 3.1) demonstrates a straightforward juxtaposition of two pitch
collections, which were prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century: the
octatonic and whole-tone scales. In the opening six bars, these scales are
constructed around the open strings of the violin, namely G, D, A and E. The
D in bar 1 is emphasised by its strong metrical position, dynamic, duration and
motivic significance. This is similarly the case with the E in bar 2 and the A
in bar 5. The G in bar 3, as it does not function as a pedal in the same way as
the previous two bars, is emphasised by its registral position and its position as
the beginning of a rising sequence. Understanding these pitches as salient, the
octatonic scale is built from all of the pitches in the bar with the exception of
the E-flat. This matches the pedal of the lower D, and its function is to cause
a minor ninth dissonance with the lower D.
It is almost impossible to be sure whether Hindemith consciously utilised
the octatonic and whole-tone scales, or whether it was simply a coincidence
of certain pitch combinations. Another interpretation of bars 3 and 4, for
example, could be that they are constructed primarily around chains of
minor thirds, and that scale patterns are coincidental. However, by placing
this work within the context of the music that Hindemith was playing at the
time, such as Bartók, Debussy and Stravinsky, where octatonic and whole-
tone scales are prominent, the presence of these collections becomes more
explicit.
I have chosen to begin my discussion of analytical methods with this
fragment for two reasons. Firstly, because it was only published in 1993, after
many of the major analytical studies of Hindemith’s music were written.17
Secondly, because it presents relatively straightforward analytical issues – the
presence of pitch collections and structural hierarchies is, I believe, relatively
clear. However, much of the music I will now discuss is significantly more
complex, and poses many more analytical challenges.
The opening three bars of the first movement of Hindemith’s Solo Viola
Sonata op. 11/5 (1919), shown in Example 3.2a, can be understood as a
succession of phrases built around different transpositions of the octatonic
16
Lerdahl, Fred, ‘Atonal Prolongational Structure’ Contemporary Music Review,
Vol. 4 (1989) p. 65.
17
Hindemith, Paul, ‘Streicherkammermusik II’, Paul Hindemith: Sämtliche Werke,
Vol. 5, No. 5 (Schott & Co., 1993). This was also published independently.
Example 3.1 Hindemith, Solo Violin Sonata fragment (1922) bb. 1–6.
Presto (Halbe)
œ nœ #œ bœ
bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœœ œœ nœœ œœ #œœ œœ #œœ #œœ
& œ œ œ œ œ œ
ff
œ œ œ œ œ #œ
& ˙ nœ #œ œ œ bœ ˙ #œ œ #œ œ œ
œ
œ œ œ #œ #œ nœ œ
œ
Octatonic Octatonic ˙ Whole tones
œœ bœœ œœ œœ œœ nœœ œ #œ
4
& n œ œ œ # œ œœ œœ #œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ# œ
#œ œ nœ œ #œ
p cresc.
œ œ < œ̇ > œ œ bœ œ #œ nœ #œ
Cadence
œ
& œ œ œ #œ #œ nœ œ ˙ #œ œ œ #œ œ
Whole tones Octatonic Octatonic
Example 3.2 (a) Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola op. 11/5 (1919), first
movement, bb. 1–3.
3 2 3 1
bœ
bœœ œœ ≈ bœ #œ#œ œbœ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ ≈ bœ œ œ
& #œ œ œ œJ #œ #œ œ œ œ#œ œ œ nœJ ‰
œ
X Y
(b) The three transpositions of the octatonic scale (8-28).
& œ bœ œ bœ bœ nœ œ
œ
2
& #œ œ œ bœ œ
#œ œ #œ
3
& œ œ bœ bœ nœ #œ
œ œ
scale. These are labelled 1–3 in Example 3.2b. However, while in the previous
example a pitch collection was restricted to each bar, and was therefore
afforded salience by the natural phrasing caused by Hindemith’s bar lines, in
this case the spread is more uneven. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider the
presence of notes foreign to the octatonic scale, labelled as X and Y, within the
phrase. These notes may be understood as lower neighbour notes, in standard
voice-leading taxonomy, which relates to the salience of the first and third
notes within the figure, resulting from their metrically stronger positions.
This indicates that the neighbouring note belongs to a more superficial
structural level. This interpretation suggests that Hindemith utilises all three
transpositions of the octatonic scale in the first phrase.
It is therefore necessary to discriminate, albeit in a small way in this
example, between levels of structure when interpreting these pitch strategies.
This has a precedent in Forte’s analysis of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi
d’un faune, where he reduces the opening four bars which, while seemingly
chromatic on the surface, reveal an underpinning octatonic structure.18
Hindemith’s reference to the octatonic scale is one which I will be referring
to throughout this chapter, not only because it provides a lens through which
to understand his compositional logic, but as a way of placing him amongst
the music of his contemporaries. For example, op. 11/5 (1919) was preceded
by Stravinsky’s Petrushka in 1910–1911 (the famous ‘Petrushka Chord’ may
be traced in the octatonic scale labelled in Example 3.2b as number 2) and by
Bartók’s First String Quartet op. 7 (1909), which Hindemith performed for
the first time on 17 February 1919 with the Rebner Quartet.
In the second phrase of Hindemith’s op. 11/5, from bar 5 to bar 9, the
opening material is repeated in a transposed form. It begins with a quasi-
retrograde of the opening two chords, followed by a transposition of the
semiquaver motif found in the first bar up an augmented fourth, which keeps
it within the third octatonic scale. However, the second chord of bar 5, and
the second chord of bar 6, are no longer octatonic, as shown in Example 3.3.
Apart from observing that there are tangible references to the octatonic
scale in Hindemith, and that by acknowledging this it becomes possible to
discern which pitches are ‘foreign’ such as passing notes and neighbour notes,
there are also many strong references to whole-tone collections, such as in
Example 3.4, taken from bars 25–7 of the first movement of op. 11/5.
I have highlighted, as before, those pitches which lie outside the collection.
I believe that this is quite a clear example of a whole-tone scale in use, as
the notes that are not part of the scale do not occur on rhythmic accents;
in the main, they are neighbour notes. These ‘discounted’ pitches also form
a transposition of the whole-tone scale. It is surely not coincidental that
Hindemith and the Amar quartet performed Debussy’s String Quartet op. 10
on 27 October 1919, much of which is coloured by whole-tone collections. The
influence of Debussy on Hindemith’s early years is not to be underestimated.
Mel Powell, one of Hindemith’s Yale students, recollects:
18
Forte, Allen, ‘Debussy and the Octatonic’ Music Analysis, Vol. 10, No. 1/2 (March–
July, 1991) pp. 140–41.
Example 3.3 Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola op. 11/5 (1919), first
2 4-24 3 4-24
5
n# œœ bn œœ nœ œ œœ bb œœ
B #œ nœ ≈ #œ œ #œ #œ œ #œ nœ
<n>œ nœ
Example 3.4 Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola op. 11/5 (1919), first
bœ œ#œ b œ œ #œ œ œ #œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œbœ nœ œ œ
25
B œ œ œ
#œ #œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ nœ bœ
The composer [Hindemith] admired in his younger years was Debussy … and
it surprises many people. I suppose I was interested in my own personal Kampf,
my own struggle, and I think I must’ve said something like … “Every time I
write a decent piece, it turns out to be one of yours.” I said to him, at the time.
He said, “Well, as long as it’s a decent piece, that’s what counts. Because, the
first 150 pieces I wrote turned out to be Debussy’s.”
But, [Hindemith] failed. And the reason he failed he was aware of is that,
again he used to say, in a very good spirited way: later in my life, it had great
meaning for me – I translated it into some other things. He said that … “I
can’t restrain movement, I always go for a climax. Whereas Debussy, the real
secret of Debussy, is that he knows how not to do that. And I don’t know how.”
Hindemith had said … “you work with such failures, you don’t need success.”
… So his harmonic flavour was really patterned after Debussy’s.19
Apart from octatonic and whole-tone scales, Hindemith absorbed pentatonic

scales and perhaps even Scriabin’s mystic chord into his compositions from this
period, such as his 1922 Suite. Example 3.5 displays a descending pentatonic
scale on the black notes of the piano, and Example 3.6 shows a passing,
incomplete mystic chord with the unmistakable characteristics of two fourths
in the top half of the sonority. This is preceded by other chords containing
fourths, which contribute to a distinctively ‘Hindemithian’ flavour of fourth
chords, which, when stacked together, create quartal collections.
19
Mel Powell (OHAM, 16 August 1976).
Example 3.5 Hindemith’s 1922 Suite bb. 22–3, demonstrating the chord
5-35, the pentatonic scale, in this case based on the black
{
notes of the piano.
œ œ œ œ œœ œœ
5
œ
22
œ œ œ œ
& œ ##œœœ œœ œbbœœ œ œ œ
œ b œ n>œ œ œ œ œ œ 5
5
? œR ≈ nœj œ bœ bœ bœ bœ 5
œ œ b œ
œ bœ bœ b œ b œ bœ bœ b œ # œj
b b œ
nœ œ
œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
#œ
5-35, Pentatonic Scale
Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1 (1922)
This sonata must be listed amongst Hindemith’s favourites of his own

compositions for a solo string instrument, and forms the analytical focus of
this chapter. It was dedicated to the violist Ladislav Černý (1891–1975), of the
Prague String Quartet, and first performed in Cologne on 18 March 1922 by
Hindemith himself on the viola.20 The timeframe within which this work was
composed is particularly fascinating: Hindemith began by writing the fourth
movement on 7 March 1922, followed by the second and third movements on
9 March. The first and fifth movements were composed on 18 March – the
day of the premiere – and were completed on the train journey from Frankfurt
to Cologne.21 That these movements were composed at great speed shows
20
Luttmann, Stephen, Paul Hindemith: A Guide to Research (New York: Routledge,
2005) p. 344.
21
‘Die Komposition der Sätze vollzog sich in nachstehender Reihenfolge (wobei bei
den je an einem einzigen Tag geschriebenen Sätzen natürlich auch die umgekehrte
Folge, wenngleich etwas weniger wahrscheinlich, denkbar ist): Zuerst entstand der 4.
Satz (am 7. März 1922), zwei Tage später (am 9. März) der 2. und der 3. Satz, und nach
einer Pause von gut einer Woche folgten schließlich die Ecksätze des Werkes, der 1.
und der 5. Satz (am 18. März) … Nüchtern, doch voll selbstbewußtem Stolz schreibt
Hindemith im Werkverzeichnis: “Die zwei Sätze I und V habe ich im Speisewagen
zwischen Frankfurt und Köln komponiert und bin dann gleich aufs Podium und
habe die Sonate gespielt”’ [‘The movements were composed in the following order
(whereupon movements written on the same day could have been in reverse order
although less likely): The fourth movement was written first (on March 7th 1922), two
days later (on March 9th) the second and third movement and after a break of about
Example 3.6 Hindemith’s 1922 Suite bb. 19–20, demonstrating the passing
chord 5-20, a close subset of 6-34, often referred to as Scriabin’s
‘mystic’ chord.
{
5-30, subset of 6-34
œ #œ œ #œ œ œ
##œœ œœ n>œ œ œ # œ œ ##œœ œ œœ n>œ
19
& ≈ #œ œ
œ >œ œ
fz
>œ
fz
? #œj #œœ # œ
œœ # œ œ n
J #œœ #nœœ
#œ
that Hindemith was working intuitively, rather than as a result of long term
planning, as will become evident below.
Op. 25/1, as one of Hindemith’s favourite pieces, is therefore an ideal
subject for an analysis of his early style. However, it presents a daunting
task. The compositional process is complex in almost every way: pitch
collections, proportional design, motivic relationships and rhythm. Through
a detailed analysis I demonstrate, and define, elements of Hindemith’s
compositional logic and strategies, in order to show the presence of coherent
pitch collections. This includes identifying the presence of notable stylistic
influences, and areas that contain the Hindemithian stamps of quartal
trichords and tetrachords.
A fundamental question is: did Hindemith favour certain pitch collections
in op. 25/1? And, if so, what are the properties of these collections? Let us
begin with the first bar of op. 25/1, which is a motif that recurs throughout
the movement and is based upon an octatonic pitch collection (a collection
containing eight discrete pitches), not to be confused with the octatonic scale
(a specific collection of eight discrete pitches which alternates between tones
and semitones). The motif and the octatonic pitch collection are shown in
Example 3.7.
a week the corner movements of the work followed, the first and fifth movement (on
March 18th) … Matter-of-factly yet full of self-confident pride Hindemith writes
in the “werkverzeichnis” (collection of his works): “The two movements I and V I
composed in the restaurant carriage between Frankfurt and Cologne and I went
straight onto the podium and played the sonata”’] (Translation by Daniela Fountain).
Hindemith, Paul, ‘Streicherkammermusik II’, Paul Hindemith: Sämtliche Werke, Vol. 5,
No. 5 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1993), foreword by Danuser, Hermann, p. xix.
Example 3.7 (a) Op. 25/1, first movement, b. 1.

1
b œ≤ nœ≥
B œœ bœ œ
#œ #œ
f
(b) Octatonic pitch collection, b. 1 (8-12).
œ #œ œ
& #œ œ bœ œ #œ
This pitch collection contains a prominent F-sharp which is the central

pitch to this movement. Not only does it underpin the first triad, but there are
subsequent passages where the F-natural refers back to the diatonic function
of a leading note, thus defining the F-sharp as the tonal centre. In Example 3.8,
this is demonstrated by the voice leading – in bars 3 and 4, the F is given
prominence by its grouping position and repetition. In bar 27 the same is true,
and the F is given greater emphasis by being in a metrically stronger position.
These are just two examples; there are eight appearances of this motif, and
in five the F-sharp is directly preceded by a salient F-natural. Apart from
these occurrences, the first two happen at the outset of the piece, as a direct
repetition, and can therefore be discounted. The F-sharp is therefore given
greater prominence by the F-natural leading note, making it a fundamental
pitch against which all others are hierarchically balanced.
The voice-leading structure of the first motif points to C-sharp as a
secondary pitch centre, or dominant. It sets up interplay between pitch
hierarchies, which Hindemith later believed to contribute towards implied
harmony in A Composer’s World:
The intervals produced by the successive tones of melodies have, in addition to

their melodic function, harmonic significance, and we cannot fail to perceive
it. These harmonies, again without our active interpretational participation,
assemble around fundamental tones, as did the vertical harmonies, and thus
again produce the effect of tonal perspective. In painting it is up to the painter
to decide whether he wants to have perspective as a part of the pictorial effect
or not. In music we cannot escape the analogous effect of tonal unification,
of tonality. The intervals which constitute the building material of melodies
and harmonies fall into tonal groupments, necessitated by their own physical
structure and without our consent.22
22
Hindemith, Paul, A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1952a) p. 55.
Neumeyer (1986) finds that the opening three-bar motif of the first movement
is treated as a dissonant prolongation.23 He borrows the term from Robert
Morgan (1976), who adapts Schenker’s concept of prolongation to a dissonant,
rather than consonant, background.24 This may be revised using the atonal
prolongation model of Chapter 2. I have stated that F-sharp is the primary
pitch, followed by C-sharp, and so one could understand that in the opening
bar, the F-sharp is prolonged over the structurally inferior beat two until being
displaced by the C-sharp in beat 3, shown in Example 3.9. This notion is
reinforced by the motivic and metrical salience of X.
This similarly applies to Neumeyer’s dissonant prolongational analysis,
whereby the C-sharp in the third beat of bar 1 is prolonged until the arrival
of F-sharp in bar 4 in Example 3.10. However, care must be taken not to
associate these single-pitch prolongations with triadic prolongations, as they
are prolonged by their salience and not by tonal implications.
Example 3.10 also shows motif β, which is formed by two partial chromatic
wedge shapes, sandwiched between two occurrences of motif α. It begins and
ends with an F-natural, which serves to define the pitch centre of F-sharp. It is
based on the pc-set 6-1, which associates it with bar 27, which also emphasises
Example 3.8 Op. 25/1, first movement, bb. 3–5 and bb. 27–8.
bœ
B œœ œ bœ bœ œ nœ bœ bœ nœ œ #œœœ bœ nœœ
3
#œ
bœ
œ bœ nœ
27
B œ œ
œ # œ œ # œ œ œ n œ # œ œ # œ œ œ #œ # œœ
Example 3.9 Op. 25/1, first movement, dissonant prolongations in b. 1 where

dissonance X is prolonged through a structurally inferior Y, before
being displaced by Z.
X
bbYœœ nœ
Z
B œœ œ
#œ #œ
23
Neumeyer (1986) p. 121.
24
Morgan, Robert P., ‘Dissonant Prolongation: Theoretical and Compositional
Precedents’ Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring, 1976) pp. 49–91.
Example 3.10 Op. 25/1, first movement, dissonant prolongation

from b. 2 to b. 4.
X Y Z
bœ bœ
B #œœœ bœ nœœ œ œ bœ bœ œ nœ bœ bœ nœ œ œœ bœ nœ
œ #œ œ
#œ #œ
α (8-12) β (6-1) α (8-12)
the F-natural leading note. The prolongation of the opening motif is therefore
a combination of vertical (pitch) and horizontal (voice-leading) elements.
The successive appearances of the opening motif (α) delineate the phrase
structure (Example 3.11). This becomes successively extended and exploits
progressively wider octatonic collections. Each phrase prolongs motif α by a
greater distance.
Unlike my earlier analysis of the 1922 Violin Sonata fragment
(Example 3.1), it is not practical to annotate the complete score of op. 25/1.
Therefore, the following analyses are displayed in synoptic tables, which show
pitch segmentation alongside motivic and overall structure. While Hindemith’s
metre is free, the presence of bar lines indicates the phrasing structure.25 This
serves as both a performing aid and a guide to pitch segmentation. This leads
to the conclusion that Hindemith demonstrates a preference for octatonic
collections in the majority of bars in this movement (see Table 3.1).
There are nine different types of octatonic collection in this movement,
delineated by bar structures. For so many bars to include exclusive octatonic
collections indicates the possibility that this was a conscious compositional
process. Moreover, that there is such a high figure is testament to Hindemith’s
exhaustive handling of pitch materials. It is also possible that the process of
exploring the different octatonic collections is to be understood as a way of
developing the octatonic material of opening motif in bar 1, where the pc-set
8-12 is reserved only for the appearance of this motif. Phrase X3, demonstrated
in Example 3.12, is a strong example of Hindemith composing with octatonic,
in addition to septatonic and nonatonic sets. This shows that not only did
Hindemith write with a majority of octatonic collections, he also favoured sets
with high cardinalities in each bar.
25
As Forte has stated, ‘A particular composer’s way of composing […] provides
guides for segment determination’. Forte, Allen, The Structure of Atonal Music (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1973) p. 91.
Example 3.11 Op. 25/1, first movement, phrase structure.
Phrase X1 Phrase X2
1
b œ≤ ≥ 2 ≥ bœ 3
- - 4 -
œ -œ b-œ bœ -œ nœ b-œ bœ n-œ œ-
B #œœœ bœ nœœ B #œœœ bœ nœœ œ
#œ #œ
f
Phrase X3
bœ nœ œ n œ b œ b œœ œœ #œ n œœ
5 6 7 8
B 43 œœœ bœ nœœ œ
œ œ bœ
œœ œœ œ #œ œ #œ#nœœœ bœ
# #œ # œ œ œ bœ œ
p cresc. 3
b œ œ
n œ b œ œ œ #œ n œœ
10
#œ œ nœ
#œ œ #œ nœœ bœ œ œ bœ bœ œ nœ nœ bœ œ œœ #œ #œ & #œ œ nœ
9 11 12
B œ #œ œœ
3
œ # œ # œ
œ bœ 3
œ œ bœ #œ 3
f
13 14
#œ nœ œbœ œ#œ
& #œ #œ nœ œbœ œ œ#œ nœ
Phrase X4
15
bœ 16 cresc. e accel.
17 18 œ œ œb œ œ#œ #œ
B 43 œœ bœ nœœ nœ bœ nœ #œ œ œ J œ
#œ # œ œ # œ # œ œ n œ nœ nœ #œ bœ œ œ #œ œ
œ#œ œ œ ™ nœ œ#œ ™ œ œ#œ ™ nœ

3 3
fp
œ œ œb œœ œ#œ #œ 20nœ œ #œ#œ œ nœ œ
#œ#œ ™ œ œ
19 21
scharf
B œ œ œ œ
œ J & nœ œ nœ œ
B
œœ™™ œ # œ # œ ™ œ œ œœ œœ™™ œ # œ # œ ™ œ œ b œ ™ œ bœ œ ™ #œ nœ œ œ #œ nœ bœ œ
ff
œ
22 beruhigen 23 24
B bœœ bœ
œ
25 26
B #œ œ œ#œ œ œ#œ œbœ œ#œ œ#œ œ nœbœ nœ #œ œ#œ œ œbœ nœ#œ œ#œ œ œ œ
œ #œ œ #œ œ
mf
27
cresc.
B
œ œ # œ œ # œ œ œn œ # œ œ # œ œ
Table 3.1 Hindemith op. 25/1: first movement synopsis.
Pitch
Phrase Bars Collection Motifs Subsets Comments
X1 1 8-12 α
X2 2 8-12 α
3–4 6-1 Chromatic wedge. Dissonant prolongation. Emphasises F leading
note.
β
X3 5–7 8-12 α 7-8

8 9-3
9 7-26
10 9-3
11 8-26
12 8-7
13–14 8-28 6-z13
X4 15 8-12 α
16–17 8-4 5-3, 6-z4
18–19 8-20/8-8 Segmentation discrepancy – see below. The pc-set 8-8
assumes two passing notes; 8-20 assumes two pedal notes.
20 6-2 4-10 4-21 Octatonic and whole-tone subsets.
21 8-3
22–23 5-3 See bar 16.
24 8-2
Table 3.1 (continued)
Pitch
Phrase Bars Collection Motifs Subsets Comments
25 chrom. The only fully chromatic bar.
26–27 – 6-1 Outlines pitch collections with voice leading.
X2 28 8-12 α
29–30 6-1 Chromatic wedge. Dissonant prolongation.
α
β
X3 31 8-12
32 8-12
33 7-19 Similar to bar 8, pc-set 8-17. Altered to emphasise F leading note.
34 8-12 α
35 4-2
36 8-12 α
37–38 4-2
39–40 6-21
41 4-4 Cadence on the ‘dominant’.
Residues of motif α. Bar repeated.
Note: Dotted lines differentiate between phrases. Appearances of the main motif, α, are marked in bold.
Example 3.12 Op. 25/1, first movement, bb. 5–14, pitch class
segmentation.
7-8, subset of 8-12

n œ b œ b œœ œ #œ n œœ 9-3
8-12 8-12
5
bœ nœ œ œ
B œœ bœ nœœ œ
œ œ bœœœ œ #œ œ #œ nœœ bœ
œ œ bœœ
#œ œ #œ œ
#œ #œ 3
7-26
n œ b œ b œœ œ #œ n œœ 9-3 8-26 8-7
œ #œ œ #œ nœœ bœ œ 3 bœ œ nœ nœ bœ œ œ #œ #œ ##œœ œœ nœ nœ
9
B œ #œ œœ œ # œ œ œ œ bœ bœ #œ œ &
œ bœ 3
#œ 3
f
8-28 6-z13, subset of 8-28

13
#œ nœ œ bœ œ #œ
& #œ #œ nœ œ bœ œ œ #œ nœ
In bars 25–7 there are two possible interpretations of the voice leading,
illustrated in Example 3.13, where collections are observed from either the
beginning or the end of slur markings. The upper beam outlines notes from
the C major scale, taken from the final pitch of each slur, while the lower beam
outlines notes from A-flat major, taken from the beginning of each slur. This
is a rare instance of Hindemith going against the phrasing provided by the bar
lines, and it is also the most chromatic point of the movement.
This single movement, of forty-one bars in duration, is therefore quite
remarkable. It presents nine out of a total of twenty-nine octatonic collections,
averaging a new collection almost every four bars. This is quite an achievement
in the concise exposition of pitch materials, particularly when at least seven
bars form an exact recapitulation of the opening material. It surely relates to
Hindemith’s intuitive compositional technique, given that this was one of the
two movements composed entirely on a single train journey.
The second movement of op. 25/1 focuses on the rhythm and pitch
variations of four motifs, derived from the initial two bars. It communicates
an extraordinary sense of musical exploration and hypnotic, seamless melodic
writing. Similar to the opening movement, Hindemith weaves a wealth of
possible harmonic relationships, for which the term ‘chromatic’ does not do
justice. He performs four primary operations on his motivic material, listed
below and illustrated in Example 3.14:
1. Approximate, but not literal transposition;

2. Ornamentation;
3. Fragmentation;
4. Motivic inversion.
Example 3.13 Op. 25/1, first movement, bb. 24–7, voice-leading analysis.
5-27, subset of the major scale, 7-35
b œ ™ œ bœ œ ™ #œ nœ œ #œ nœ bœ
24
B œ œ #œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ #œ œ bœ œ #œ œ #œ œ nœ bœ nœ
26
B #œ œ #œ œ œ bœ nœ #œ œ #œ œ œ œ
œ #œ œ #œ œ œ œ #œ œ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ #œ œ
mf
cresc.
5-24, subset of the major scale, 7-35
Example 3.14 Op. 25/1, second movement, different appearances of the

opening phrase.
Original motif α
nœ > > >
j œ œ #œ nœj nœ bœj
3
œ #œ nnœœbbœœ œ bnœœ
b. 1
B
# œ- ™H œ œ
f
Derivative 1
Approximate, but not literal transposition
œ œ nœ bœ nœ
3
j nœ b œ œ bœ j
œ œ#œ œ nœ œj
3
œ #œ nnœœbbœœ œ bœ J J
b. 3
B
# œ- ™H
& œ
œ œ > > > œ > > >
Derivative 2
Ornamentation
nœ > > > >
j œ œ #œ nœj nœ œ œ#œnœj nœ bœ œ
3 3
œ #œ nnœœbbœœ œ bnœœ nœ
b. 14
B #œ œ b œœ
# œ- ™H œ œ cresc.
p
Derivative 3
Fragmentation
j bœ nœ bœ nœ œ nœ > >>
œ #œ nnœœb œ œ #œ nnœœ b œ œ #œ nnœœ œ œ
b. 17
bœ ™ œ œ
B j ‰
# œ- ™H œ #œ œ
f ff
Derivative 4
>œ >œ
nœ ™
Inversion
#œ b œ œ #œ #œ b œ œ #œ #œ
œ B #œ nnœœ bnœœ œ
b. 49
œœ J J œœ J J
3 3
& J œ œnœ œ nœ
ff 3 3
In addition to these operations, Hindemith treats certain intervals with

motivic qualities. Describing a single interval as ‘motivic’ within a piece can be
risky; it can lead to all manner of relationships devoid of meaning. However,
within the second movement of op. 25/1 the intervals of a perfect fifth and
minor seventh receive special treatment which can only be described as
motivic (Example 3.15). Their treatment includes not only the reappearance
of the intervals on the same pitches, but other operations that are associated
with motifs, such as fragmentation and sequential repetition. As a result, they
are the most regular intervals found in the double stopping of this movement.
In the first bar, it is also possible to arrange all of the pitches from the four
consecutive fifths to create the quartal trichords [D G A] and [C-sharp
D-sharp G-sharp] – a forerunner of things to come.
The motivic ‘development’ of the seventh is substantial, ranging from
simultaneous triads (triple-stopped) to compound melody, to rhythmically
displaced pitches (bar 13). Bars 9, 48 and 52 combine both the seventh interval
and the octatonic scale as shown in Example 3.16. There is also a strong
reference to the whole-tone scale from bars 53–4 in a pseudo re-transition to
the opening phrase.
As in the first movement, bar lines delineate pitch collections of high
cardinal values. The middle section contains predominantly octatonic
collections, which contrasts with the hexatonic collections of the outer
sections. It is possible that the beginning of the first phrase of this section,
from bars 193 –21, is a deliberate reference to the opening motif of the
first movement, consisting as it does of the pitches from set 8-12. The
chromatic progression from bars 22–3 warrants close inspection, shown
in Example 3.17. The compound melody constitutes an implied triadic
progression, descending chromatically from C to G. All parts move by
semitone, apart from the two inner pitches, labelled at bars 223 and 232. Why
do these pitches not move by semitone? One possible answer may be that
Hindemith wanted to create contrary motion between the inner parts of the
compound triads, which is also combined with the contrary motion of the
original melody. Three of the compound beats in this example also comprise
variants of the quartal trichord.
There is regular reference to the octatonic scale in this movement: so
much so that many of the motivic manipulations may be seen as a play on the
possibilities inherent in the collection. Within the octatonic scale, one is able
to construct both minor sevenths and perfect fifths. Example 3.18 provides
two examples where the seventh is given musical prominence.
The third movement showcases an extraordinary command of variation
technique within a post-tonal musical language. Bars 1–3 comprise
the opening theme, which forms the basis of the entire movement; it is
monothematic. The opening bars undergo a variety of operations which are
demonstrated in Example 3.19. These include three forms of transposition:
Example 3.15 Op. 25/1, second movement, bb. 1–2, prominence of perfect fifths
and minor sevenths in opening motifs.
Minor seventh
nœœ nœ œ 3 >j > >j

Perfect fifths
B j nœ b œ bœ œ #œ nœ nœ bœ
# œ- ™H
œ #œ n œb œ
œ œ
f
Example 3.16 Op. 25/1, second movement, b. 9, b. 48 and b. 52.
8-28 subset
bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
9, 48 52
œ œ œ bœ œ bœ nœ#œ nœb œ œ nœ
& nœJ œ
J
œ
J & œJ bœ
J
nœ
J
bœ
J
b œœ œœ bbœœ nn œœ bnœœ
& œ & œ bœ nœ bœ
Seventh chords without thirds
Example 3.17 Op. 25/1, second movement, bb. 22–3, linear reduction.
22
& œ œ œ œ #œ# œ n œ bœ bœ œ nœ bœ œ
nœ bœ œ
22 x x
& œœœ #œœ < bbœœ > œ bœ œ

# œ nœ n œœ < b œœ >
Example 3.18 Op. 25/1, second movement, bb. 12–13, octatonic scales.
5-31, subset of 8-28 8-28
#œ#œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œbœ œ
#œ#œ nœnœ œœ œ œ
12 13
& œ nnœœ œ œ œ œ & œ
& œ œ œ œ#œ & #œ œ œ

œ œ #œ œ #œ
t s t s t s t s t s t s
& ##œœœ œ & b#œœœ n #œœœ

nn œœ œ nœ
Example 3.19 Op. 25/1, third movement, motif transformations.
U
B 43 œ œ ™ œJ
Original theme
œ œ #œ nœ œ ˙˙
1
œ
U
Derivative 1
B 43 œ œ™ œJ
Partial Transposition
4
œ œ #œ nœ œ ˙
˙
bœ ™ œJ œ ™
Derivative 2
#œ ™
Tonal Transformation
B 43 œ j
#œ œ œ
œ
7
# œ nœ ™
Derivative 3
Mixed Transformation
B 43 #œœ #œ nœ #œ #œ œ #œ
J
12
B 43 n œ bœ ™ œJ bœ œ nœ
Derivative 3
nœ
Mixed Transformation
#œ œ
14
nœ
Derivative 4
nœ
œ™ œ
#œ j j
B 43
Inversion
bœ œ bœ œ
œ bœ ™
œ
37
the first is partial, which literally transposes a section of the motif. The
second is a tonal transformation whereby the contours of the motif are
transformed into one more resembling a tonal triad. The third is a mixed
transformation which includes the introduction of new voices and an
altering of the direction of the melody. Hindemith also inverts the general
contours of the motif. This motif demonstrates all of the characteristics of a
Sarabande, which is also found in the fifth movement.
Unlike the previous movements, there are several areas that can be
convincingly defined as chromatic, particularly bars 29–32 in Example 3.20a,
which fills out the interval of a fourth with semitones. It therefore forms the
most unstable and irregular pitch collections of the sonata. There is also less
of a pattern in the pitch collections when one compares the segmentation in
each bar, which contrasts with my findings in the previous two movements.
As a result, there are only four occurrences of the quartal trichord, in bar 41
shown in Example 3.20b, and in the transpositions of the opening bar found
in bars 4, 16 and 63. The bar-delineated pitch collections have significantly
lower cardinalities compared to the first two movements. This is a result of the
slower pacing of the music, and of the longer phrase structures. Similar to the
second movement, it is saturated with motivic developments, specifically, of
the three motivic cells of the opening three-bar theme.
Bar 66 presents a challenge to successful segmentation and interpretation,
as shown in Example 3.21. The compound melody clearly refers to two separate
voices. The upper voice could be described as 7-z38 and the lower as 6-22 –
however, this masks the possibility of a diatonic interplay. The first three notes
of the upper ‘voice’ are part of the C major scale, while the final four notes are
part of the A-flat major scale. In the lower ‘voice’ the first three notes outlined
could refer to D major, while the last three notes could be understood within
the context of A-flat major. A modal understanding of this passage is also
possible. It is potentially misleading, therefore, to label the entire pc-set in
this instance, as it is better understood as a deliberately ambiguous interplay
between diatonic scales and modes.
The pauses are structurally significant in this movement. They land on the
following bars:
3 6 18 34 36 59 62 65 71
Example 3.20 (a) Op. 25/1, third movement, bb. 29–33.
bœ ™
rising fourth rising fourth
nœ œ #œ #œ œ#œ œ ™ œ#œ #œ œ#œ œ ™

29
rising fourth
3 3
œ#œ
œ # œ œ#œ ™
3
& J œ œ bœ œ
- - #œ œ #œ
(b) Op. 25/1, third movement, bb. 40–41, instance of 3-9 quartal trichord.
œ
3-9
B #œ œ ™ œ œ
j j bœ b œ
40
œ #œ œ ™
œ bœ
Example 3.21 Op. 25/1, third movement, b. 66.

66
B œ #œ œ nœ nœ œ bœ
œ œ bœ œ œ b œ
B œ #œ œ nœ nœ œ bœ œ œ
bœ œ œ b œ
The first three pauses suggest a sequence.26 The fifth pause also follows this
plan if one omits pause four, although a scheme for the remaining pauses is
unclear. While all pauses land on either an E, which is the pitch centre, or a
B, which is the secondary pitch centre, the material immediately preceding
them outlines a different scheme. Following the beginning of a contrasting
section from bar 19, this motif appears in bar 33 on a B-flat, which is a tritone
away from the pitch centre. This is immediately followed in bar 34 by the
same motif on an E-flat. This fifth relationship creates a large-scale pitch and
proportional design outlined in Example 3.22.
The fourth movement is the most regularly cited in secondary literature.
Its rhythmic intensity is striking, and though the outer movements demand
a great deal of virtuosity from the performer, this movement provides it
in a direct, striking and obvious form. Hindemith bases the movement on
a C pedal, over which he weaves a variety of intervallic patterns combined
with a constantly changing compound metre. The intervallic patters are
predominately chromatic, such as bars 40–52 and 71–6, in combination with a
double stopping motif which descends by semitone. These patterns form large
scale pitch structures. It is also possible to trace several pitch structures based
on the octatonic scale in the middle section, when the ‘melody’ is heard over
G-sharp and A-sharp pedals.
The overall movement holds a sense of gravity whereby the progression of
a section ends with a descent towards C. The main structural areas shown in
Example 3.23 include the four open strings of the viola [C G D A]. While
this work is striking for the way it avoids theory (one could describe it as anti-
theoretical), the fourth movement it is still based on a background structure of
Example 3.22 Op. 25/1, third movement, pitch centre plan.
& ˙ bœ bœ
n œ n˙
Example 3.23 Op. 25/1, fourth movement, ‘pedal’ points.
1- 7- 13- 20- 30- 33- 37- 40- 44- 48- 52- 71- 74- 76- 78- 83- 90-92
& ˙ œ œ ˙
˙ œ œ ˙ bœœ
œ œ œ
˙ ˙ ˙ bœ ˙
4-23/ viola open strings
26
The sequence suggested by the first three pauses is = .
the quartal tetrachord 4-23. It foreshadows the quartal background structures

of much of Hindemith’s post-Unterweisung music.
Though the movement was written at great speed, we can suggest a pre-
determined formal plan. It is possible that Hindemith used the Fibonacci
Sequence, a series of numbers where each successive term is found by the sum
of the previous two:
= +
Table 3.2 shows the proportional design of the complete movement. If we

zoom out from the rhythmic structures of each bar, to the larger structure, which
is a standard rounded binary, we still find a relatively irregular plan whereby
the number of bars per section follows the pattern 19–32–41. However, if we
count the number of crotchet beats in each of these section we are provided
with a very different picture. Section A, with its irregular number of nineteen
bars, has 132 crotchets. Section B with thirty-two bars has 268 beats, while
section A1 with forty bars (excluding the final bar, as it is not possible to specify
the precise number of beats of the paused breve), has 576 beats. If we add
these beats together, there are a total of 976, excluding the repeat of the first
section and the final note. Perhaps more than coincidentally, the seventeenth
member of the Fibonacci Sequence is 987: if we add the value in crotchets
of a paused breve to our earlier figure of 976, this becomes exceedingly close
to the figure. One may also wonder if the extraordinary tempo marking,
crotchet = 600–640, is also related to the sixteenth member of the Fibonacci
Sequence, which is 610. Perhaps this link is a red herring, but it is potentially
a way in which Hindemith tried to systematise his compositional process,
within the short timeframe of the train journey from Frankfurt to Cologne.
In the fifth movement, the slow tempo and emphasis on the second
beat of the bar indicates a reference to a Sarabande, which may be traced to
Hindemith’s affinity for the music of J. S. Bach, and performing knowledge of
Table 3.2 Hindemith op. 25/1: fourth movement, proportional design.
Exposition (A) Development (B) Reprise (A 1)
Bars: 1–19 20–51 52–92
Total bars: 19 32 41
Total beats: 132 268 576
Subsection: X Y O P P1 X Y Z
Bars: 1–12 13–19 20–29 30–36 37–51 52–63 64–70 71–92
Total bars: 12 7 10 7 15 12 7 22
his solo string music.27 The complexities of this movement lie in its reference to
material from the previous four movements: as cited previously, it was written
alongside the first movement on the day of the premiere on 18 May 1922,
after the completion of the inner movements. There are also considerably more
expressive performance markings than the other movements. It may have been
the case that Hindemith felt the expressive character of the music was less
explicit in this movement; although it is notable that Černý’s performing
edition includes a considerable amount of additional markings.
Unlike the first and second movements, the pitch collections are formed
over the course of several bars within slightly longer phrases. The majority
of these phrases can be deconstructed into two-bar cells, with only three
exceptions. It is possible, however, to view the phrase structure in a slightly
different way, shown in Example 3.24, whereby the opening bar is treated
as an anacrusis. However, I avoid this interpretation due to the caesura in
bar 4, therefore understanding each phrase as two bars in length. There are
intermittent octatonic scales in this movement, although they overlap within
the phrase structure, such as bars 4–5, shown in Example 3.25. Given the
seamless pitch structure of the movement as a whole, it is unsurprising that
the pitch structures also interlink.
So far I have examined each movement in relative isolation, but viewed as
a whole, in Example 3.26, it is possible to identify two structures. Neumeyer
(1986) has noted the significance that Hindemith must have allocated to
formal proportions, and finds that some of his works from this period – such
as the Sonata for Viola and Piano op. 25/4 and the Passion songs from Das
Marienleben – ‘combine pure form with intensity in much the same way as the
early Bauhaus paintings of Klee and Kandinsky’.28 In op. 25/1, the size (in bar
numbers) of each movement increases until the final movement. There appears
to be a rough pattern whereby the difference between the bar numbers in each
movement is 20–10–20–10. As the pitch of the final movement ends on a C,
as with the fourth movement, it can be perceived as an extended coda. There is
also a tritone relationship between the outer movements, which is a common
structural force in Hindemith’s large-scale pitch strategies. Finally, it is
fascinating to observe that the four pitches comprising the pitch arrangement
of this sonata conform to the octatonic scale. That there are only four pitches,
however, means that one must be cautious in drawing too many conclusions
from it, but I find it captivating that a movement which includes significant
reference to the octatonic scale on a foreground level also has it potentially
lurking in the background.
27
Hindemith published a short monograph on Bach entitled Johann Sebastian Bach:
Heritage and Obligation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952b).
28
Neumeyer (1986) p. 13.
Example 3.24 Op. 25/1, fifth movement, bb. 1–8, possible phrase interpretations.
B ‰#œ œ#œ œœœ œ ™ œj bœ œ ™ œj ˙ #œ œ #œ œ œnœ & bœ#œ#œ ##œœ ™™ œ œ ™ nœbœbœ œ n˙ #œ

œ
J bœ ˙™ œJ J œ ™ J 3 n# ˙˙
3 3
Example 3.25 Op. 25/1, fifth movement, bb. 3–6, octatonic pitch collections.
4-13 5-31 4-17

œ
B bœ œ ™ œ ˙ #œ ##œœ ™™
j nœ #œ#œ
(Octatonic Scale 2) (Octatonic Scale 1) (Octatonic Scale 2)
œœ #œ œ œ
3
bœ & bœ
˙™ J 3 3
Example 3.26 Op. 25/1, overall reduction of pitch and proportion.
I II III IV V
w
41 60 71 92 80
& #w #w nw nw
String Quartet op. 22
A study of op. 25/1 has demonstrated the way in which pitch collections
may be identified using salient features within a predominately monophonic
composition. Hindemith’s String Quartet op. 22 presents the opportunity to
examine similar procedures in a four-voice, contrapuntal setting. Catalogued
as Hindemith’s fourth string quartet, op. 22 is the only quartet to appear in
the Unterweisung appendix.29 The work was premiered on 4 November 1922
29
Kube, Michael, Hindemiths frühe Streichquartette (1915–1923): Studien zu Form,
Faktur und Harmonik (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1997) p. 182. It is worthy of note that
Kube provides us with small fragments of Hindemith’s corrections to op. 22. Of the
fragments provided, the small alterations made by Hindemith demonstrate simple
modifications of melody which, most probably, have more to do with aesthetic than
theoretical reasons. They can therefore be discounted in this thesis as they do not have
the same implications as other more substantial revisions, such as Das Marienleben. The
date that Hindemith provides in the appendix (1922) also differs from that given in the
New Grove list of his works, where op. 22 is stated as being written in 1921.
in Donaueschingen by the Amar Quartet and was for long known as the third
quartet. The performance directions for each movement are worth citing here,
as they are typically detailed for works of this period: Fugato. Sehr langsame
Viertel (crotchet = 58–69) – Schnelle Achtel. Sehr energisch (quaver = 176–184)
– Ruhige Viertel. Stets fließend (crotchet = 100–108) – Mäßig schnelle Viertel
(crotchet = 80–88) – Rondo. Gemächlich und mit Grazie (crotchet = 92–100).
These contrast with the relatively conservative directions in Hindemith’s final
quartets, which are far more concise and direct, such as the Seventh String
Quartet (1945): Schnell – Ruhig, scherzando – Langsam – Kanon, mäßig schnell,
heiter. It was written at a time when Hindemith’s newest compositions were
still reviewed favourably in Germany, such as the claim by Weismann in Die
Musik that op. 22 is ‘a step further in the realm of the quartet’.30 Before he was
to take against Hindemith, Adorno also praised the quartet as ‘a surprisingly
secure synthesis of fugato and three-part Lied form … he moves it to the level
of playfulness, provides it with the appeal of uniqueness and practices clever
self-modesty’.31
Op. 22 has many similar features to op. 25/1, such as a use of octatonic
collections and both vertical and horizontal constructions comprising
quartal collections. This is exemplified by the opening of the first movement
(Example 3.27), which starts by outlining the quartal hexachord 6-32, which
may be split into two quartal 3-9 trichords. Bar 3 forms 5-10, which is a subset
of the octatonic scale. Bars 2 to 4 may also be understood as a play between the
scales of D major and C-sharp minor, forming a tension between G-natural /
G-sharp and D-natural / D-sharp.
However, with the introduction of counterpoint in more than two
parts, which sets it apart from op. 25/1, it becomes less practical, and less
informative, to segment pitch collections based on each individual bar, as
many of the collections include upwards of ten pitches. This is particularly
true in the fugue exposition at the beginning of the first movement. While
each voice conforms to an inner logic of voice leading and pitch cohesion,
when they overlap, in more than two parts, they do not conform to the logic
of each other. The previous example showed some of the pitch characteristics
of the fugue subject. When accompanied by the first countersubject in bar 5,
Hindemith writes with octatonic and septatonic collections. But following
the double (and unexpected, in the standard fugue exposition) entry of both
the third and fourth voices in bar 12, the collections enlarge to encompass
ten pitches, and then all twelve pitches by bar 14. This serves to build a
30
Weismann, ‘Review: Hindemith’s Op. 22’ Die Musik, No. 16 (1924) pp. 579–87.
31
Translation by Daniela Fountain, from Adorno’s ‘Ad Vocem Hindemith’
Impromptus: Zweite Folge neu gedruckter musikalischer Aufsätze (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp,
1968).
climax in the musical tension, which becomes ever more dissonant as each
bar becomes saturated with all available notes in the chromatic scale. As
before, each line maintains a clear internal logic, but their contrapuntal
combination creates dense, genuine chromaticism.
Another example of the internal logic of a single voice is the ’cello bass line
in the first movement. The voice leading can be explained almost entirely as
interlocking fifths, fourths and semitones, although a hierarchy amongst these
pitches is difficult to detect. This is shown in Example 3.28, where dotted slurs
indicate fourths and fifths, and black slurs indicate semitones.
This bass line appears from bar 49, combined with a recapitulation of
the opening fugue subject in the first violin. It begins by forming octatonic
and septatonic collections in counterpoint, until the entry of the subject in
the third voice at bar 53, as was the case with the two-part counterpoint at
the beginning of the movement. After this point, the pitch collections again
become increasingly dense, until bar 63 which is fully chromatic.
The fourth movement contains concise pitch collections which are devised
in a similar manner to op. 25/1, and the ’cello part is strongly reminiscent of the
Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3, with regard to its angular, yet coherent, voice
leading. Within the opening three bars, which contain two septachords, there
is a descending pattern outlining 4-26, a subset of the pentatonic scale and an
Example 3.27 Op. 22, first movement, fugue subject, bb. 1–4, first violin solo.
œ #œ
6-32 5-10, subset of 8-28
œ #œ œ #œ œ œ #œ #œ #œ #˙
œ œJ œ œJ ˙ ‰ J œ™ J
& ˙
3
œœ ##œœ
& œœ œœ
œ J J
œ
D Major C-Sharp Minor
Example 3.28 Op. 22, first movement, ’cello part, bb. 49–56. It shows interval
relations of fourths, fifths and semitones, within the proximity of
two to four pitches to each other (with the exception of the clear
descending fifth at the end of the passage spanning five notes).
? Œ œ œ nœ bœ bœ bœ œ
49
œ œ nœ œ bœ
œ bœ bœ œ
?
53
bœ b œ œ n œ nœ bœ œ bœ œ bœ œ
#œ œ nœ œ bœ œ
incomplete quartal tetrachord. The salient features of the double stopping also
create a hierarchy between the fifth, C/G, and passing fifths D/A and G/D
(Example 3.29).
One of Hindemith’s contrapuntal methods in this movement is to
overlap motifs. This includes a transposition of the second bar of the opening
’cello solo to the second violin and viola parts, and its placement within
a transposition of the third bar of the work in the outer parts in bar 20
(Example 3.30). Identifying that this bar comprises pc-set 9-5 does not do
justice to this contrapuntal procedure, nor to the fact that it is the pitch
collections of the individual lines, rather than their sum, that contain the
most revealing elements. Viewed in isolation, bar 2 comprises a collection
containing a high number of fifths, while the second violin motif in bar 3
comprises part of the melodic minor scale on C or the major scale on E-flat.
Op. 22 has similarities to op. 25/1 in terms of character and rhythm, which
may relate to the affinity Hindemith had for several works by Stravinsky.
Indeed, the Stravinskian aspect of Hindemith’s rhythmic metre is alluded to
in an analysis of the quartet by Kube (1997). He traces the 3–2–2 metre of the
second movement of op. 22 to Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet
(1914, rev. 1918). While Hindemith is only documented to have played
Stravinsky’s Three Pieces on two occasions with the Amar Quartet – the first
in Frankfurt on 27 September 1923 and the second on 3 January 1929 – the
connection made by Kube is provocative.
The overall formal designs in op. 22 show an exploitation of existing
techniques. In the first movement, Hindemith engages with a fugato structure,
which could be described as neo-Baroque. It is relevant to observe that this is a
fugato and not a fully formed fugue. This is corroborated by the absence of the
returning countersubjects that one would associate with mature fugue writing
in the eighteenth century (a technique Hindemith was to use twenty years later
in his Ludus Tonalis), discounting the simple repetition of the counterpoint
in the viola entry after figure D. The formal technique in this movement
is therefore a reference to either the imitative fugato of the Renaissance
polyphonists, or to the fugato one would associate with the Classical style.
Table 3.3 is a synopsis of Hindemith’s fugal design in this movement. It shows
that there are frequent appearances of the subject, many of which are subject
to transpositions and rhythmic and intervallic transformations. He does not
use conventional devices such as stretto or augmentation, but focuses on the
incomplete presentation of the subject.
These techniques define a specifically Hindemithian fugato – intervals and
harmony aside – which sets him apart from other twentieth-century fugue
composers. Whittall (1999) believes op. 22 to be the most highly regarded
of Hindemith’s quartets, and briefly alludes to the possibility of a Bartókian
Example 3.29 Op. 22, fourth movement, ’cello solo, bb. 1–3.
7-19 7-22
#œ #œ œ nœ bœ nœ œ
œœ ™™
?
bœ n œ œ bœ b œ nnœœ œœ ˙˙
bœ
? bœ 4-26, subset of 5-35

bœ bœ bœ b œ bœ
? nnœœ
œœ nnœœ œœ
Example 3.30 Op. 22, fourth movement, bb. 2–3 compared with b. 20.
9-5
œ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ
° œœ ™™™™ œœ ™™™™ °
2 20
& ∑ &
œ œ
nœœ œœ bœ nœœ œœ
6
& ∑
œ œ bœ œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & nœ œ bœ
œ œ
B ∑ œœ ™™ œ ™™ B nœ nœ œ bœ œ nœœ œœ
™™ œ œ ™™ œ bœ
? bœnnœœ œœ & œ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ
¢ bœb œ nnœœ œœb œ ˙˙ ¢
6
influence without pursuing the matter further.32 Hindemith’s Frankfurt

composition tutors Bernhard Sekles and Arnold Mendelssohn provided him
with a thorough grounding in conventional fugue writing, beginning with
two-voice fugues for piano.33 Hindemith then exploited this and other forms
by continually toying with conventions. In the fugal synopsis below, note how,
in the fugue exposition, the ’cello and viola enter together for what should
be the entrance of the subject for the third time in bar 12. This entry is also
incomplete, thus deforming the expected shape of a fugue exposition.
32
Whittall, Arnold, Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999) pp. 136–9. He refers to op. 22 as the third quartet, rather than
the fourth.
33
Press, 1995) p. 5.
Table 3.3 Fugal synopsis of Hindemith’s Third String Quartet op. 22.
Bars 1–4 5–8 9–11 12–14 15–16 17–19 20–22 23–26 27–29 30–31 32–33
SEQ
Violin 1 S (G) CS1 TR CS2 CS1 CS2 – FC Trills Trills Trills
Violin 2 – – – FC IE (G-sharp) CH IE (F-sharp) FC IE (A) CS2 Trills
SEQ
Viola – A (F) TR CS2 FC CH FC FC CH FC CS2
’Cello – – – IE (A-flat) CS2 CH CS2 FC CH (C pedal) FC CS2, CH
Bars 34–42 43–45 46–48 49–52 53–56 57–59 60–62 64–66 67–69 70–72 73–77
Violin 1 S (G) CS1 TR IE (D) FC IE (E) IE (C-sharp) IE (G-sharp)
Violin 2 – – – FC FC CH IE (A) CH
Episode
Viola – A (F) TR FC IE (F-sharp) CH CH CH
’Cello FC FC TR FC CH CH CH CH
S Subject FC Free Counterpoint CH Chordal emphasis

SEQ
A Answer TR Transition Treated sequentially
CS Countersubject IE Incomplete Entry
Bitonality, Atonality and Political Influences
The music discussed here falls into a grey area between extended tonality and
atonality. Several of Hindemith’s early works, particularly his Sonata for Solo
’Cello op. 25/3, veer towards a style similar to Schoenberg’s pre-dodecaphonic
music. They suggest a modernist trajectory that Hindemith was to largely
abandon in later works. In the Unterweisung Hindemith was keen to distance
himself from any affiliation with atonality; indeed, he denied that it could
exist when stating that ‘there can be no such thing as atonal music in which
the existence of tone-relationships is denied’.34 At face value, Hindemith’s
problems with atonality are foremost connected with the ambiguity of the
word itself. He expresses this in his chapter on harmony, under the subheading
of ‘Atonality and Polytonality’:
The concept of atonality arose around the end of the First World War. At
that time there appeared, among much other propaganda material, a periodical
which proposed to examine “atonal and antitonal” formations. The difference
between the two forms of nontonal music was never established, because no
one could conceive of what was represented by “antitonality”. So atonality was
left, but no one ever established exactly what that concept represented either.
Today we know that there can be no such thing as atonality, unless we apply
that term to harmonic disorder.35
Consequentially, Hindemith’s use of atonality in his early works depends

on how the term is to be understood. In a recent study by Paul Lansky
& George Perle (2016), there are three possible applications of the word
‘atonality’, to describe:
1. all music which is not tonal;

2. all music which is neither tonal nor serial;
3. the post-tonal and pre-twelve-note music of Berg, Webern and
Schoenberg.36
Lansky and Perle offer a further subdivision of atonality into music that has no
reference to triads or diatonicism, and yet in which hierarchical relationships
exist, and into music where ‘such hierarchical distinctions are not so explicit,
34
Craft (1942) p. 155.
35
Ibid., p. 155.
36
Paul Lansky & George Perle, ‘Atonality’ New Grove Online, accessed 21 December
2016.
though sometimes present’.37 This covers a large spectrum of compositions

with increasingly diminished senses of hierarchies, implying that one can
discuss the degree of atonality within a piece, based on the quantity of
hierarchical material. Atonality is etymologically a misleading term.
We may be certain that Hindemith vehemently rejected the third
interpretation of ‘atonality’: the twelve-tone techniques of the Second
Viennese School. This is apparent in several of his published writings, and in
various reports from his colleagues and students. His position is epitomised by
a sober account in A Composer’s World:
It ignores the validity of harmonic and melodic values derived from

mathematical, physical, or psychological experience; it does not take into
account the differences in intervallic tensions, the physical relationship of
tones, the degree of ease in vocal production, and many other facts of either
natural permanence or proven usefulness.38
Hindemith’s understanding of ‘atonality’ relates to his inclusion of Schoenberg’s

op. 33a in his seven Unterweisung analyses. It surely applies specifically to
serialism, rather than to music that is not tonal.
The relationship of Hindemith’s early music to Lansky & Perle’s first two
definitions of ‘atonality’ is less clear. Though not serial, compositions that go
furthest along the spectrum towards atonality include the central songs to
Das Marienleben (‘Vor der Passion’ and ‘Pietà’) and the Sonata for Solo ’Cello
op. 25/3. The following extract is taken from the third movement of op. 25/3,
which is the closest Hindemith ever came to early Schoenberg, and which
contains some of Hindemith’s most complex pitch collections. Example 3.31,
taken from the end of the third movement, is based on a descending linear
pattern in the lowest voice over the four bars, from E-flat to C. The metrical
salience of C at the end of the pattern, and its longer duration within a paused
diad, places it hierarchically above the previous pitches of E-flat, D and D-flat.
The consistent movement of A-flat down to G in each bar in the upper voice
creates a sensation of dissonance and resolution, which is resolved on the final
diad of the piece.
Hindemith’s views on polytonality contradict his early practice more
explicitly; there are several examples in his music, such as the Kammermusik I
(1922), Tanzstücke op. 19 (1920) and the two string trios from 1924 and 1933.
The opening to the third movement of the Fourth String Quartet explicitly
accompanies a C major melody in the second violin with A major harmonies
in the viola and ’cello. Perhaps one might argue that the difference is only
37
Ibid.
38
Hindemith (1952a) p. 121.
subtly audible, given that the lower parts are pianississimo and pizzicato; the
effect is predominately timbral. And yet the harmonic strategy is undeniably
polytonal (Example 3.32).
Once Hindemith had emigrated to the United States he distanced himself
from polytonality. Boatwright recalls that Hindemith’s views corresponded to
his Unterweisung writing:
In April 1940, Hindemith’s appointment to Yale as a visiting lecturer was

announced, and a year later he was made a professor. Richard Donovan (now
professor emeritus) was Acting Dean at the time Hindemith was appointed.
Donovan figured in an amusing incident at one of Hindemith’s early lectures.
Hindemith had stated his views on polytonality, as expressed in the Craft of
Musical Composition (I, 156): The game of letting two or more tonalities run
along side by side and so achieving new harmonic effects is, to be sure, very
Example 3.31 Hindemith’s op. 25/3, third movement, bb. 33–6.
U U
33 ritard.
bbœœ œœ ™™ #œ œbœ œ nœ bœœ œœ™™ #œ œbœ œ nœ bbœ̇ œ œbœnœbœ œ œ œnœ b˙w ™™ ˙™

? j j
3 3
f
ff mf p pp
Example 3.32 Op. 22, third movement, bb. 1–6.
Ruhige Viertel. Stets fließend (q=100-108)
° 6
(mit Dämpfer)
&4 ∑ ∑ ∑
6
mit wenig Ausdruck
œ œ œ œ œ™
&4 Ó Œ ‰ œ j ˙ œ œ ˙™
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
B 46
pizz.
#œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ #œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ # œ œ œ
ppp
? 46 œ œ œ œ
¢
œœ œœ œœ œœ #œ
pizz.
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ
ppp #œ œ œ œ #n œœ œœ œœ # œ œ œ
°
4
& ∑ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ™ #œj #œ œ #˙ ™ ˙ œœ
pp
œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ™
& ‰ œ j œ j
œ œœ œœœ œœ˙ œœ
B
#œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ #œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
?
¢ nœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ##œœ œœ œœ #œœ œœ œœ
entertaining for the composer, but the listener cannot follow the separate
tonalities, for he relates every simultaneous combination of sounds to a root-
and thus we see the futility of the game. Donovan challenged the statement,
let Hindemith prepare a polytonal example, and then, with his back turned,
easily identified the keys. Hindemith took this rebuff in good spirit, and he and
Donovan remained good friends until the end.39
Apart from aesthetic reasons, and a growing distain for the Schoenberg
circle, we must question whether Hindemith’s distancing from atonality and
polytonality was to some degree politically influenced. Depending on whether
atonality is defined as serialism, or simply as music that avoids tonality, it can
describe several of Hindemith’s early works. Polytonality, even more so, may
be found widely through Hindemith’s compositions. The music seems at odds
with Hindemith’s written views from 1937, which suggests that he wanted to
disassociate himself from any connections he may have had with music that
had been considered degenerate.
In order to appreciate the complexities of Hindemith’s views on atonality
and polytonality, we must examine his increasingly strained relationship
with the German political authorities through the 1930s. Following his
appointment to teach composition in Berlin in 1927, Hindemith had
enjoyed a satisfying period of pedagogy, performance, composition and
theoretical experimentation. However, his agreeable situation transformed
irrevocably following Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the fall of the
Weimar Republic. The director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik from
1932–1933, Georg Schünemann (1884–1945), was immediately replaced by
Fritz Stein (1879–1961), who facilitated the implementation of Nazi ideology
at the conservatoire.40 From this moment on, Hindemith’s position became
increasingly tenuous.
At the time, Hindemith was a prized faculty member, renowned
composer, teacher, festival administrator and performer in German musical
culture. His influence upon the approach and style on a generation of young
composers studying in Germany cannot be underestimated. However, it is not
unsurprising, given the controversial nature of much of his music and subject
matter in the 1920s, that he had divided critics. This was not only due to his
early one-act operas, particularly Sancta Susanna (1921) which tells the tale of
a nun sexually assaulting a holy relic, but also regarding the artistic value of
39
Boatwright, Howard, ‘Paul Hindemith as a Teacher’ The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 50,
No. 3 ( July, 1964) p. 283.
40
Fritz Stein applied for membership of the National Socialist Party in 1933,
although did not receive it until 1940. His efforts in the Berlin Hochschule für Musik
relate to his mission for acceptance.
his Gebrauchsmusik. On the one hand, his influence and profound musical
competency made him an artistic figure worth retaining. This is evident in
the efforts of Gustav Havemann, a Nazi activist and leading member of the
Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (Fighting League for German Culture), who
worked with Hindemith to submit plans for the restructuring of the German
music profession.41 On the other hand, his music was banned in the province
of Thuringia by the province’s Ministry for Education, instigated by Wilhelm
Frick in 1930.
Following the ascendency to power of the Third Reich, Hindemith was
given his first major opportunity by the new regime in the ‘First Concert of
the Reich’ in February 1934. In addition to a programme of works by Pfitzner,
Hausegger and Georg Schumann, the concert included Hindemith conducting
his own Concert Music for Strings and Brass op. 50.42 Levi (1994) documents
the mixed reception of Hindemith’s composition, with the notable example of
Fritz Stege, who, in the Zeitschrift für Musik, spoke out against the modernistic
aspects of Hindemith’s work, demanding that Hindemith purge himself of
the ‘ugly stains of the past’.43 The incentive for Hindemith to distance himself
from the pluralistic borrowing of his earlier music could not have been clearer.
Many such opinions were reconciled, however, by the premiere of the Mathis
der Maler Symphony on 12 March 1934, given by the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler. Hindemith first encountered the great
German conductor, Wilhelm Furtwängler, in 1919, aged twenty-four. He was
honoured by the conductor with a commission from the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra for their 1932 Golden Jubilee concert, as the sole representative
of contemporary music, which he fulfilled with the Philharmonic Concerto.44
Crucially, while the Mathis story would have invoked artistic sympathy from
Hindemith, the Mathis Symphony has been perceived as conforming to the
expectations of the Third Reich.45 The hero of the plot, Matthis Nithart,
also known as Matthias Grünewald, is found by Michael Kater (2000) to
have been ‘much beloved’ by Nazi artists and historians.46 The premiere was
41
Levi, Eric, Music in the Third Reich (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1994) p. 108.
42
Ibid., p. 109.
43
Ibid., pp. 109–110.
44
Hinton, Stephen, ‘Paul Hindemith, Orchesterwerke 1932–1934’, Paul Hindemith:
Sämtliche Werke, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1991) p. ix.
45
Claudia Maurer Zenck, Boykott, p. 119 ‘[the Mathis Symphony] conformed very
precisely to the official expectations for modern German music in the Third Reich’,
cited in Kater, Michael, Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (New York and
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) p. 33.
46
Kater (2000) p. 33. Admirers of Nithart included the Nazi art historian Wilhelm
Pinder and expressionist artist Emil Nolde.
reviewed by Stege, who revised his opinion of Hindemith’s music stating that
‘It is a great joy to me, who has never been a friend of Hindemith’s music,
to acknowledge without reservation the artistic value of this symphony. This
work will be greatly admired during the triumphal series of performances
throughout Germany, which will assuredly follow’.47 Such performances did
indeed follow, in Duisburg, Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig and Cologne, in
addition to the Telefunken recording of the work with Hindemith conducting
the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.48
Despite the favourable reception of the premiere of the Mathis Symphony,
and the restrained advocacy of Hindemith by Joseph Goebbels, the negative
impact of Alfred Rosenberg, using the appointment of Friedrich Herzog to
the newly-formed National Socialist Kulturgemeinde (National Socialist
Cultural Community) resulted in the withdrawal of scheduled performances
of the Mathis Symphony by the Leipzig Radio and Gewandhaus Orchestra
in October 1934.49 These events coincided with a renewed decline in the
popularity of Hindemith’s music, which prompted Furtwängler to publish
‘The Hindemith Case’, an article which appeared in the Deutsche Allgemeine
Zeitung on 25 November 1934. The article was intended to defend Hindemith
from his critics, to permit a performance of Hindemith’s full Mathis opera.
Unfortunately, the tone of the article offended the Nazi regime, resulting in
heightened aggression towards Hindemith’s music. Furtwängler was forced
to resign from his positions in the Reichsmusikkammer, Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra and Berlin Staatsoper.
Despite the damaging effects of ‘The Hindemith Case’, Hindemith
retained his membership of the Reichsmusikkammer, and enjoyed the support
of Gustav Havemann and Fritz Stein. Hindemith was not rejected outright
by the cultural ministry. It is perhaps for this reason that he believed that it
would be possible to improve his position in Germany by travelling to Ankara,
Turkey, to help to form a music school. On face value, it was a promotion of
German culture, although more importantly it preserved his ability to travel.
These events culminated when Hindemith signed an oath to Adolf Hitler
and the Third Reich on 17 January 1936; an attempt to keep Hindemith
under the employ of the conservatoire. He did not have a great deal of choice
for the sake of his career and the welfare of his students. Moreover, Phyllis
Bauer reveals that the Nazis attempted to have Hindemith divorce his wife,
Gertrud, who was half Jewish.50 Stein, while an advocate of the music of
Handel and Bach, petitioned to keep Hindemith and surely understood that
47
Translation taken from Levi (1994) p. 110.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid., p. 112.
50
Phyllis Bauer (OHAM, 7 May 1975).
while he was a controversial figure, he was also a seminal figure in German

music. Moreover, Stein helped to provide Hindemith’s students with draft
copies of the Unterweisung to proof while Hindemith was abroad in Turkey.
Hindemith’s efforts to create a new, rational order of music were appealing.
Entartete Musik Exhibition
Hindemith had his enemies in the National Socialist Party. An oft-cited

example includes the presentation of his work in the Entartete Musik
exhibition of 1938 in Düsseldorf. However, the exhibition was curated by
Hans Severus Ziegler, who did so without the full backing of his party. It was
therefore more to do with Ziegler’s personal vendetta against modernism than
an exhaustive statement on all degenerate art by the Reichsmusikkammer. In
the theoretical section of the exhibition, labelled ‘Theoreticians of Atonality’,
Hindemith’s Unterweisung im Tonsatz was displayed alongside Schoenberg’s
Harmonielehre and Hermann Erpf ’s Studien zur Harmonie und Klangtechnik
der neuen Musik.51 The composition section included music by the composers
Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Weill, Krenek, Schreker, Eisler, Berg, Rathaus,
Hauer, Toch, Sekles and Reutter. The following Hindemith compositions
were also included:
Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen op. 12 (1919)

Das Nusch-Nuschi op. 20 (1920, rev. 1924)
Sancta Susanna op. 21 (1922)
Piano Suite (1922)
Die Junge Magd op. 23/2 (1922)
Cardillac op. 39 (1926)
Neues vom Tage (1929)
Lehrstück (1929)
Das Unaufhörliche (1931)
Der Schwanendreher (1935, rev. 1936)52
51
Levi (1994) pp. 95, 251–2.
52
Ibid., p. 252 lists this work as Hindemith’s ‘viola concerto’. By 1938, Hindemith
had actually written four works which could be described as a viola concerto, including
the Kammermusik No. 5 op. 36/4, Konzertmusik op. 48, Der Schwanendreher and
Trauermusik – although the collected edition groups only the latter three together as
solo concerti. See ‘Bratschenkonzerte’, Paul Hindemith: Sämtliche Werke, Vol. 3, No. 4
(Mainz: Schott & Co., 1997). Given the stylistic approach of op. 36/4, I believe that
this would have been the most likely work of the four to be included.
This list focuses on Hindemith’s dramatic music, which contained the most
overtly offensive material to the Nazi regime. Hindemith’s music theory
predominately concerns his approach to instrumental composition. Of
Ziegler’s ten works, only three (marked in bold) are included in Hindemith’s
appendix. This correlation is unlikely to be a coincidence. The very works
which were considered ‘degenerate’ by Ziegler were also many of the works
Hindemith had clairvoyantly chosen to omit in the Unterweisung the previous
year. While the Unterweisung itself was included in the list of theoretical works
– which cannot be overlooked – it appears that several of the compositions
which offended the suppressive aesthetic of the Third Reich were also those
which Hindemith felt did not best represent his theory.
Whether Hindemith minded that the Entartete Musik exhibition took
place without the full backing of the Reichsmusikkammer, it is evident that
he wished to distance himself from any label that could have been applied to
his earlier music. This is the likely purpose of the sections on polytonality and
atonality in the Unterweisung, the Schoenberg analysis, the content of the
1937 appendix and its subsequent removal.
Reflections
The music studied in this chapter is representative of Hindemith’s early published

compositions. The Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1 showcases Hindemith as
a virtuosic and provocative solo performer, composing for a performance at
breath-taking speed, while his String Quartet op. 22 demonstrates a far more
cerebral side to his compositional strategies. This is represented by his dense
counterpoint, motifs formed via ‘Hindemithian’ quartal pitch collections and
reference to older forms such as fugato and passacaglia. Hindemith’s more
intellectual approach was eventually to monopolise his output after the
formalisation of his compositional technique in the Unterweisung. Signs of
this attitude may also be found in the large-scale planning of op. 25/1, with
reference to the placement of pause chords in the third movement and the bar
structure of the fourth movement.
In this period of Hindemith’s music there are a multitude of compositional
devices and logical processes for which the terms ‘chromatic’ and ‘atonal’ are
insufficient. I believe that the use of these terms has effectively ‘dumbed down’
Hindemith’s complex musical syntax. He uses pitch collections, often with
high cardinalities, outlined by salient features such as bar lines and phrasing.
Within this, there are appearances of quartal chords as well as motivic patterns
and developments. Hindemith creates pitch hierarchies from both voice-
leading and salient characteristics, and these may be linked to large-scale pitch
and proportional designs.
A close reading of Hindemith’s early string works highlights stylistic

characteristics that are connected to his activities as a chamber musician.
In particular, these pre-Unterweisung compositions have strong connections
to the neo-Classicism of Stravinsky and pre-dodecaphony of Schoenberg,
and to pitch collections in Bartók and Debussy. Stravinsky had a notable
influence upon Hindemith’s concept of rhythm and metre, as is evident in
the second movement of his String Quartet op. 22 and the fourth movement
of op. 25/1. There can be little doubt that Hindemith’s prolific activities as a
performer had a direct influence on his early compositional techniques and
materials. It is primarily for this reason that Hindemith’s music from 1919–
1922 was strongly based on octatonic principles – which has not been fully
acknowledged in secondary literature – in addition to whole-tone scales and
more complex, and yet coherently conceived, pitch collections.
The String Quartet op. 22 demonstrates that in a contrapuntal context,
Hindemith’s pitch coherence applies to individual lines and to two-part
counterpoint, but then breaks down in three or more voices, becoming fully
chromatic when all parts are viewed collectively. The tools that I have developed
for analysing op. 25/1 are therefore primarily suited to horizontal, rather than
vertical phrases in Hindemith’s early string music of more than two parts, as
the dense chromaticism masks the more specific contrapuntal devices which
may be found by isolating each individual line. There may be potential in the
earlier method, however, for analysing phrases not for the pitches that they
contain, which often include cardinal values of ten to twelve pitches, but to
identify those pitches that have been omitted or postponed.
Many of the elements of Hindemith’s future compositional approach may
therefore be found in his early music, although the stylistic and technical
plurality, eccentric performance directions, and self-conscious references to
the potpourri of dance forms in the 1920s, such as foxtrots and shimmies,
were to become toned down in favour of a more systematic compositional
approach based on the ideas formalised in the Unterweisung. Quartal
collections consisting of fourths and fifths were, however, a major element
of his early style that remained, as did references to baroque forms such as
fugato and passacaglia. Hindemith became less active as a public performer
as he grew older, and demonstrated a growing impulse to be associated with
the performance of older music, such as his connection to the Yale Collegium
Musicum, which shows that he was subjected to fewer of the zeitgeist stylistic
influences from his early days in Germany. While Hindemith was an original
composer, his compositions were inherently affected by the music that he
experienced around him.
o
4
The Ludus Tonalis as

Quintessential Hindemith
As a member of his composition class I remember well how he used to

discuss with his advanced pupils certain acoustical phenomena about which
he was writing in his book, and their melodic and harmonic implications.
To corroborate further his theory of tonal organisation he composed the
monumental ‘Ludus Tonalis’ for piano which has become one of his most
famous works.1
—Franz Reizenstein, 1964
The Ludus Tonalis (‘Play of Tones’), written in 1942 and premiered by Willard
MacGregor in 1943, is the quintessential model of Hindemith’s music
theory in practice. It was written five years after the first published edition
of the Unterweisung, and shared proximity with Unterweisung II (1939), the
second edition of Unterweisung I (1940), Craft I (1942) and the preparatory
work towards Unterweisung III.2 Though Hindemith wrote many other
compositions during this time, such as three organ sonatas (1937–1940),
eleven instrumental sonatas and the ballet The Four Temperaments (1938),
none have the explicit reference to music theory found in the Ludus: where
all twelve of the starting pitches for the fugues correspond to the ordering of
Series 1. If Hindemith’s early works show the composer at his most pluralistic,
the Ludus presents the composer at his most cerebral. It provides the strongest
indication of how Hindemith’s music theory might be transferred into free
composition, and lends itself more suitably to a theoretical analysis than any
of his other compositions. Hindemith invites us to analyse his piano cycle
with his theory in mind.
1
Reizenstein, Franz, ‘Paul Hindemith’ Essays on Music: An Anthology from The Listener,
ed. Felix Aprahamian (London: Cassell, 1967) p. 133.
2
Walden, Daniel, K. S., ‘Noting Images: Understanding the Illustrated Manuscripts
of Mendelssohn’s Schilflied and Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis’ Music Theory Online,
Vol. 16, No. 3 (August 2010) and Delaere, Mark, ‘Analyzing Contrapuntal Music:
Some Remarks on the Fugues from Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis’ HJb, Vol. 24 (Mainz:
Schott & Co., 1995) pp. 66–86.
The Ludus was completed two years after Hindemith’s appointment at the
Yale School of Music, and four years before he received American citizenship.
It marked a watershed moment in Hindemith’s life – the closing of his
troubled chapter in Germany in the mid- to late 1930s, and the widespread
acceptance of the refined compositional style in the Ludus, brought about
by his intensive theoretical activity. The work is a unique example in the
history of Western Music of the relationship between music theory and
compositional practice. While for previous works, it is questionable whether
Hindemith’s theorising, or his composing, came first; with the Ludus it is
absolutely clear. The theory came first.
This was to be Hindemith’s last solo piano work, and one of his most
popular – indeed, it quickly sold out and needed reprinting.3 It culminated
his engagement with keyboard fugue practice which may be found in the
Sonata for Two Pianos, also composed in 1942, two unpublished fugues
written during classroom teaching at Buffalo (May, 1940) and Tanglewood
( July or August, 1940), and the Third Piano Sonata (1936).4 There are many
similarities to be found between the Ludus and these other fugues from this
period, including quartal pitch collections and three-part textures. The Ludus
was therefore the culmination of an engagement with fugue practice that
peaked at the same time as his emigration to North America. It is his magnum
opus in counterpoint.
The following analytical commentary poses questions to Hindemith’s
Ludus : what are the guiding strategies to his music which prevent it from being
freely chromatic, and how are these processes related to the Unterweisung?
It also asks how this differs from, or is similar to, the pluralistic strategies
of his earlier music. While it rests upon clear quartal collections legitimised
by his music theory, the Ludus still contains elements of the earlier style,
albeit in smaller measure, including a restrained use of the octatonic scale
in Fugue 10 in D-flat, where the collection is utilised for its inversional
properties.5 There are also references to some of the pluralistic characteristics
found in Hindemith’s 1920s music, such as ragtime (Interludium 3), gigue
(Fugue 5), pastorale (Interludium 2), march (Interludium 6) and waltz
3
Press, 1989) p. 118. The Ludus was one of Hindemith’s best and quickest selling works,
shifting 1200 copies in the first three months of its release. See Skelton, Geoffrey,
Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995) p. 187.
4
Only the very opening of the Buffalo fugue survives. It was copied down from the
blackboard in haste by one of Hindemith’s students in the early 1940s.
5
Neumeyer, David, ‘The Genesis and Structure of Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis’ HJb,
THE LUDUS TONALIS AS QUINTESSENTIAL HINDEMITH 133
(Interludium 11).6 However, the harmonic character within these pieces is

distinctly more conservative; they are but echoes of the enfant terrible.
Previous scholarship tended to assume that there is a strong relationship
between Hindemith’s Unterweisung and the Ludus based on only two premises:
the starting pitches for each fugue follows the ordering of Series 1; and the
work was written in close proximity to Hindemith’s main theory publications.
There are, however, many more affinities to be found. This chapter performs a
close examination of the ‘Praeludium’, ‘Postludium’, and several fugues from
the Ludus, to demonstrate in greater detail the extent to which Hindemith’s
theory can be found in the music. It also questions the extent to which
Hindemith’s compositional style in this middle period is different to the
earlier music of the 1920s.
The sketches for the Ludus are referred to throughout this chapter, as
they contain important information pertaining to Hindemith’s compositional
process.7 The ninety-one pages are noteworthy for how they contain, in
the majority of cases, no differences at all from the published version.8
Accidentals are often spelt differently, however, which can result in the
published edition – which contains those accidentals that make it easiest to
perform from – partly obscuring Hindemith’s concept of tonal relationships.
The most significant deviations from the published score include a draft
for the fourth fugue which was jettisoned entirely, and the eleventh fugue,
which was drafted as a standard fugue before being rewritten as a two-part
canon with accompaniment. The sketches also demonstrate that Hindemith
generally worked from a basic compositional skeleton, which he would
subsequently elaborate upon. In other words, Hindemith worked initially
from a background structure in his music. A reductive analysis can therefore
tell us much about the sort of structures Hindemith may have composed
from during this stage in his compositional process.
6
Goebels, Franzpeter, ‘Interpretationsaspekte zum Ludus Tonalis’ HJb, Vol. 2
(Mainz: Schott & Co., 1972) pp. 156–7. Goebels provides a character for each of the
Interludiums as follows: 1. Improvisation; 2. Pastorale; 3. Moment Musical; 4. Etüde;
5. Intermezzo; 6. Marcia; 7. Trauermarsch; 8. Capriccio; 9. Elegie; 10. Ostinato; 11.
Valse. In addition to these characterisations, Goebels also draws attention to the
similarities between Interludium 3 and Schubert’s Moment Musical in F Minor,
Interludium 7 and Chopin’s Sonata in B Minor, third movement, and Interludium 9
and Bach’s Prelude in E Minor from Well-Tempered Clavier I.
7
This chapter builds on Neumeyer’s important work on the Ludus sketches, published
in 1978 and 1986.
8
The original sketches are held in Frankfurt by the HI. A copy was also sent by David
Neumeyer to the YHC in November 1975.
The ordering of sketches implies that Hindemith originally conceived

solely of a selection of three-part fugues, and that the idea of writing a large
work which included interludes came later. In his autograph catalogue,
Hindemith describes the work as Kleine dreistimmige Fugen für Klavier, and
he had written to his publisher on 9 September 1942 stating ‘In addition
there is a volume of light, genial and enjoyable three-part piano fugues’. That
Hindemith’s fugues start in the order of Series 1 was not always the case,
as he had at one stage planned to write them in ascending chromatic pitch
order, which he subsequently crossed out, as demonstrated in Figure 4.1. He
also added short descriptions against several of the fugues, which denote the
central concepts and techniques for each work:
Fugue 1 in C: 3 Themen [3 themes]

Fugue 2 in G: Engführung [stretto]
Fugue 3 in F: Engführung Umkehrung [stretto inversion]
Fugue 4 in A: 2 Themen [2 themes]
Fugue 5 in E: Umkehrung [inversion]
Fugue 6 in E-flat: Umkehrung [inversion]
Fugue 9 in B-flat: Umkehrung Spiegelung, Spiegel, Umkehrung Vergrößerung
[inversion, augmentation, mirroring]
Fugue 10 in D-flat: Engführung Umkehrung [stretto inversion]
Fugue 11 in B: Quintkanon [canon at the fifth]
Fugue 12 in F-sharp: Engführung [stretto]
Exposition Structures and Overall Form
For someone who composed a significant number of works that included

fugal techniques, it may come as a surprise that Hindemith abhorred the
conventional fugue layout, derived from the mature Baroque fugues of
Bach and Handel, and the traditional school fugue that is taught today at
undergraduate level.9 His enjoyment of fugue technique was related not to
a disposition of exposition, episode, middle entry and coda, but rather to the
way in which fugue presented an opportunity to rigorously engage with the
inventive possibilities of a small phrase of musical material. This attitude is
epitomised in the Ludus, where Hindemith abstains from any overt reference
9
One of Hindemith’s strongest statements against the school fugue is as follows:
‘These few examples cannot of course clear away the whole miserable collection of
unmusical formulas the dreary and lifeless pasting together of “expositions” and
“episodes” of which the usual instruction in fugue consists’. Traditional Harmony, Vol. 2
(1953) p. 54.
Figure 4.1 Hindemith’s first sketch for the chromatic order of fugues in
the Ludus.
to a standard fugue form, choosing instead to focus on the contrapuntal

potential of his material. He realises it with two types of device: those that
may be heard by the listener, including stretto, and those that are unlikely to be
heard by anyone apart from the most expert of listeners, including retrograde
and inversion, and which are found by analysing the score. Hindemith’s use of
these ‘visual’ contrapuntal techniques, while he may not have approved, invites
comparison between the Ludus and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of Fugue.
The visual dimension is further emphasised by the 1950 copy of the
Ludus, presented by Hindemith to his wife Gertrud on her fiftieth birthday,
which contains the addition of amusing cartoon sketches of animals. In
particular, these include cartoons of a lion – Gertrud was born under the
astrological sign Leo – at the entry of each fugue subject (Figure 4.2).10
Emphasis on visual compositional techniques, such as retrogrades and
inversions, contrasts with Hindemith’s early music, which was written to
communicate more directly with his listeners, without requiring theoretical
knowledge of contrapuntal procedures. However, one cannot discount the
possibility that Hindemith hoped his listeners would pick out some of his
architectural procedures, particularly given his fearsome technique and
expectations in aural training.11
Hindemith’s attitude towards the starting pitch of the fugue answer
was governed not by the tonic–dominant–tonic template of the Baroque,
but by experimenting with the subject and its contrapuntal potential (which,
when using quartal pitch collections, can be considerable). This is recalled by
J. R. Cowell:
In viewing all 12 fugues as a body, they represent to me and my student

colleagues at Yale in those glorious years 1945–1948, the great professor
demonstrating masterfully with his own product the great range of possibilities
of contrapuntal writing and the fugue as a form. Hindemith taught the
following things: the subject determines within itself what can be accomplished
in a given fugue. Before proceeding past the subject, one must ‘test’ the subject
to learn its possibilities for every kind of treatment: inversion, retrogression,
stretto, what best interval is best for the answer, what kind of counterpoint
will work best, etc. Hindemith said: “build up a fugue”. An open possibility to
Hindemith that was rarely considered possible by Bach and his contemporaries
was the necessity of discovering the best possible interval of answer for the
given subject, while, in his diatonic major-minor style, the 5th was the interval
of answer for Bach 99% of the time. Hindemith’s mixed-modal thematics call
for other intervals of answer.12
10
Walden (2010).
11
See Chapter 7, ‘The Hindemith Legacy’, for further details of Hindemith’s aural
examinations.
12
Lee, Dong-Seon, A Structural Analysis and Performance Guideline of Ludus Tonalis
by Paul Hindemith (University of Washington, DMA, 1994) pp. 31–2.
Figure 4.2 Illustration of triple fugue cartoon from 1950s Ludus.
Hindemith includes fugue answers in his expositions at the major third (once)
perfect fourth (five times), perfect fifth (five times) and major sixth (once).13
It is unlikely to be coincidental that these pitches are found at the beginning
of Series 1 and Series 2.14 Hindemith also pioneers the stretto exposition. This
occurs in an exposition where the answer appears before the initial subject has
finished, in a manner similar to a stretto that one would expect later in the
fugue, and examples include Ludus fugues 2 and 12.
Despite these innovative approaches to form, and Hindemith’s disregard
for the ‘school fugue’, there are conventional trends to be found in his writing.
These include the presence of a final entry in the bass line in fugues 1, 2,
and 7, as one would expect in the stereotypical fugue exercise. He also writes
short transitional passages between the answer and the subsequent entry of
the subject, which would normally be required to modulate from the key of
the answer – usually in the dominant – and the third subject entry in the tonic.
While the primary function of this transition is to modulate between keys,
Hindemith uses a transition in seven of the twelve fugues from the Ludus, of
13
These are judged from the interval above the subject. Therefore, if the answer
occurs a minor third below the subject, it is described here as a major sixth.
14
In Series 1, these are the first five pitches, whereas a minor sixth exists before the
major sixth in Series 2 – this may be understood as a conflicting element between the
two hierarchies.
either one or two complete bars in duration.15 This implies that Hindemith
still enjoyed the gesture of the transition within his expositions, even when,
harmonically, it was not required to modulate from dominant back to tonic.
He also alternates between what is understood in conventional diatonic terms
as a real (AR) and tonal (AT) answer.
In the first fugue, we may understand a structural relationship to Series 1
based on the pitch centres implied by each subject entry. Table 4.1 shows
that the fugue moves progressively further along Series 1, away from the
fundamental pitch of C, towards a climax at bar 24. It then travels in the
opposite direction back to C. Series 1 therefore operates at a further structural
level, as may be found in subsequent fugues in the cycle. For example, in
Fugue 5, eighty-two bars long, the points of furthest distance from the pitch
centre [E] are found in bars 52–60 [F and D-sharp], approximately two thirds
through the work. Given Hindemith’s meticulous attention to the large-scale
planning of musical works, we can assume that these structures are intentional.
Series 1 provides a rationale for Hindemith’s structural plans; Series 2
provides us with a rationale for chord grouping. The latter affords an
interpretation of Harmonic Fluctuation, which is a key layer in Hindemith’s
own music analyses included at the end of the Unterweisung. Hindemith’s
labelling of Harmonic Fluctuation is detailed, and yet also takes into
consideration the prolongation of structural harmonies. In his second volume
of Traditional Harmony (1949, trans. 1953), Hindemith sketches a harmonic
fluctuation plan for a compositional exercise, shown in Figure 4.3.
While the size of the peaks and troughs in the plan are approximate, they
show an aspect of how Hindemith’s music theory relates to compositional
practice. The chord ‘values’, derived from the interval hierarchy of Series 2,
are used strategically within a composition. Hindemith instructs an approach
to this:
In determining the fluctuation value of chords, one simply disregards the non-
chord tones. Acquire the habit of carefully calculating harmonic fluctuation.
Table 4.1 Subject pitch centres of Ludus, Fugue 1 in C.
Bar 1 4 8 11 13 16 21 24 27 35
Pitch Centre C F C C C A E-flat A-flat F C
Series 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 5 6 2 0
15
Transitions may be found in fugues 1 (1 bar), 4 (2 bars), 5 (1 bar), 6 (1 bar), 7 (1
bar), 9 (2 bars) and 10 (1 bar).
Figure 4.3 Hindemith’s harmonic fluctuation diagram from Traditional

Harmony, Vol. 2 (1949/1953) p. 42.
Chords of high tension should not occur merely as the result of following
the path of least resistance in the voice-leading; and a sudden relaxation of
tension after progressions of chords of high tension is advisable only when one
considers the resulting harmonic shock aesthetically justified.16
An analysis of the presence of chord fluctuation in Hindemith’s Ludus is of

limited value, given the imprecision of such diagrams. It is also unclear how
best to apply harmonic fluctuation in the three-voice contrapuntal setting of
the twelve fugues, as Hindemith’s guidelines published in Unterweisung III
do not necessarily represent his final views on the matter.17 However, there
is a notable doubling of root pitches at structural points, which is related to
Hindemith’s derivation of chord roots via difference tones.18 In Fugue 1, for
example, there are eight bars that include pitch doubling on a strong beat,
seven of which include the bass voice.19 The pitches doubled are [C F B-flat
E-flat E G] – with the exception of the E in bar 42, these pitches are related
by the quartal set 5-35.
16
Traditional Harmony, Vol. 2 (1953) p. 42.
17
This is confirmed by Howard Boatwright in an unpublished text in the YHC
entitled Hindemith’s ‘Series’: A Critical Evaluation, and a New Formulation (1959).
18
The doubling of root pitches is observed in Delaere (1995).
19
Non-salient doublings are those found on quaver off-beats.
Pitch Collections and Transformational Counterpoint
By the time Hindemith began composing the Ludus in 1942, he had already
rationalised and refined his compositional style through the Unterweisung.
One consequence of this was an increase in the use of quartal pitch collections,
compared with fewer of his early, pluralistic collections such as the octatonic
and whole-tone scales, and jazz influences. Quartal pitch collections enabled
Hindemith to perform a wide variety of retrograde and inversion operations
on his material, offering a solution to writing counterpoint that was not strictly
tonal, nor freely chromatic. Every fugue from the Ludus is based on quartal
pitch collections at both foreground and background structural levels. All of
the fugue subjects from the Ludus, and many from his middle period more
generally (c. 1933–1948), adhere to three pitch paradigms.
Fugue Subject Paradigm 1
This type of subject begins with leaps that outline salient quartal pitch
collections, followed by a contrasting second section based on a predominantly
stepwise descent. This might also be the pitch-class complement of the
quartal pitch material. Other contrasting material in the second half can
include diminished sevenths and tritones, which destabilise the earlier quartal
collections. This may be found in the fugue subject from Hindemith’s Sonata
for Violin and Piano (1939) – see Example 4.1 – and in fugues 2, 3, 5, 6 and
9 from the Ludus. It is therefore Hindemith’s favoured approach to fugue
subject construction.
In this scenario Hindemith constructs a fugue subject entirely from a single

quartal collection, containing arguably no foreign passing notes and perhaps
formed from a combination of several quartal subsets. This can result in an
overarching pitch collection of high cardinality – and as we observed in
Chapter 2, this can be confused with diatonic scales. We may look to salience
Example 4.1 Sonata for Violin and Piano (1939), third movement,
bb. 1–4.
7-9, with chromatic implication
œ bœ bœ ™
5-35
3 j
&4 ™ œ œ œ
J
nœ œ #œ nœ œ bœ
œ
characteristics and voice-leading hierarchy to set these collections apart from

their diatonic equivalents.
While this type of subject may only be found in Fugue 8 from the Ludus,
it is used in other works of this period in Hindemith’s output, including the
fourth movement of the Third Piano Sonata (1936) and the fifth movement
of the Sonata for Two Pianos (1942), below. Its voice-leading outlines salient
collections which, while potentially implying a diatonic scale such as G-flat
major (Example 4.2) or D-flat major (Example 4.3), give a strong quartal
flavour. In particular, the quartal character is invoked by consecutive perfect-
fourth intervals, such as E-flat–A-flat–D-flat. The conflict between the pitch
centre of each subject and any implied diatonic scale further reinforces a
quartal reading of these subjects; though the Third Piano Sonata implies a
diatonic scale of G-flat major, its pitch centre is more likely B-flat; though the
Sonata for Two Pianos implies a diatonic scale of D-flat major, its pitch centre
is more likely C. Finally, from a theoretical perspective it may be observed that
for Paradigm 2 subjects, the pitch complement is quartal, providing further,
broad contrapuntal opportunities.20
Some of Hindemith’s subjects make salient reference to quartal collections,

and yet include a variety of ‘foreign’ notes, such as passing notes, which fill out
the melody. Examples include fugues 1, 4, 7 and 10 in the Ludus. Notice four
semitonal relationships highlighted in Example 4.4, which colour a quartal
background relating to E-flat major.
Example 4.2 Hindemith’s Third Piano Sonata, fourth movement, opening

fugue subject.
8-23
b œ b œ bœ b˙ bœb œ b œ bœ b˙ bœb œ b œ bœ nœ
? 23 b˙ ˙™ bœ ˙ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ
Example 4.3 Sonata for Two Pianos, fifth movement, opening fugue subject.
b˙ ™
9-9
3 b˙ bœ œ bœ
&2 ˙ ˙ n œ œ bœ b œ œ bœ bœ b œ b˙ ˙ ˙
3-9 3-9 3-9
20
See also quartal set complements from Chapter 3.
Example 4.4 Ludus, Fugue 7, first subject, bb. 1–5.
œ ™ bœ bœ ™ bœ œ ™ œ ™ bœ ™ nœJ œ
œ bœ
& 4 bœ ™ œ bœ œ ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ ™ œ bœ
3
3 bœ bœ œ bœ
& 4 bœ bœ œ bœ
3-9 4-23
3 bœ bœ
&4 œ bœ
E-flat major triad
In addition to quartal structures, we may explore the nature of each subject

according to Series 1. As we have seen, Series 1 is a hierarchy of pitches
relative to a fundamental, generating pitch. Each further pitch along the
series, from left to right, possesses a progressively distant relationship to the
fundamental. It is a normative model, which may be transposed to any of
the twelve pitches of the chromatic scale, such as within one of Hindemith’s
‘modulations’. The concepts of pitch ‘distance’ and Harmonic Fluctuation are
central to Hindemith’s theory.
Imagine that each pitch of Hindemith’s Series 1 is numbered, starting
with C=0, G=1 and so forth. When applied to the subject of the first fugue,
the pitch distances may be measured as C: [1 0 8 6 e 2 9].21 An inclusion
of only the salient first beats of each bar provides C: [1 8 2]. This summary
shows that the start and end points are nearest to the generating pitch (C),
with a significant excursion away in the middle of the subject (Example 4.5).
These results corroborate the approach of Hindemith’s ‘Practical Application’
in Unterweisung I.22 Furthermore, this application of Series 1 can relate to all
twelve pitches, which affords a more detailed analysis of chromatic movement
within a linear hierarchy than tonal analysis. The structural pitches of G, B-flat
and F in this example, when combined with the pitch centre of C in the first bar,
form the Hindemithian pc-set 4-23. This shows that quartal pitch collections
may be observed not only at the surface level, but at a deeper structural level.
Countersubjects
On the third page of Hindemith’s sketchbook he describes his first fugue in

C as containing three themes (which he beautifully illustrated for Getrud
21
The letter ‘e’ is used here to represent eleven, in order to avoid confusion with
single-digit numbers. The letter ‘t’ is also used in subsequent examples to represent ten.
22
Craft (1942) p. 158.
in 1950). This makes it a ‘triple fugue’, which is not to be confused with

some fugue definitions that label a triple fugue as one which includes three
voices. It has parallels in his other works: Hindemith writes a triple fugue
in the opening of the first movement of the String Quartet op. 32 (1923)
and the finale of the Septet (1948).23 As Hindemith avoids the standard,
recurring fugue countersubject, a triple fugue offers the opportunity to still
have material other than the initial subject that re-appears. The exposition
to Fugue 1 in C implies a baroque model, although rather than following a
tonic–dominant–tonic procedure, Hindemith implies tonic–subdominant–
tonic (Example 4.6).
The free counterpoint that accompanies the answer may be understood as
deriving from the intervals of the subject.24 This includes the opening fifth,
Example 4.5 Ludus, Fugue 1 in C, first subject, bb. 1–3.
& ˙™ b˙ ™ bœ bœ ˙
œ b˙
1 0 8 6 e 2 9
4-23
& ˙ œ bw w
1 0 8 2
Example 4.6 Ludus, Fugue 1 in C, bb. 1–6.
{
& 4 ˙™ b˙ ™
Subject (C) Answer (F)
4 bœ bœ ˙ ˙™ ˙™ bœ bœ b˙
b˙ œ b˙
œ
p b œ bœ bœ ™ œ b œ bœ bœ ™ bœ b œ bœ
? 44 J Œ J Œ bœ bœ
{
∑ ∑ ∑ Œ
Free Counterpoint
j œ™ bœj bœ œ bœ œ
7 Free Counterpoint
& œ bœ b˙ œ œ nn œœ™ nœ œœ œ œJ bbœ™

œJ ™
œ œ
bœ œ bœ œ œ œ
? nœ ™ b˙ ™
˙ ˙™ bœ bœ ˙ b˙ bœ œ
œ œ b˙ œ
J
'Transition' Subject (C)
23
Discussed in Dorfman, Joseph, ‘Hindemith’s Fourth Quartet’ HJb, Vol. 7 (Mainz:
Schott & Co., 1978) p. 54.
24
Walden (2010).
the seventh (inverted to a second) followed by another second. Hindemith’s

free counterpoint therefore retains many motivic similarities to his subject
material, and yet does not return in the same manner as a standard fugue
countersubject. He continually reinvents and explores his material.
Fugues 5 and 8 contain notable strategies for fugue composition that do
not involve countersubjects. In the fifth fugue, the free counterpoint that
accompanies each subject entry is of a distinctive and sequential character,
which would often be associated with a standard baroque countersubject.
Hindemith’s intellectual feat is to write sequences against nearly every
appearance of the subject, whilst ensuring that none of them are exactly the
same. In other words, Hindemith seems to deliberately imply the character
of a countersubject, without ever writing one. This approach may also be
paired with Fugue 8 which, perhaps due to the brevity of the subject, has
an exceptionally high number of subject entries. Again, there are no regular
countersubjects, and so Hindemith must write a tremendous amount of free
counterpoint to go with each subject entry. The intellectual feat is one of
inventing a large quantity of small phrases of unique counterpoint.
Modulation
In Unterweisung I, Hindemith describes modulation as ‘when we allow one

tone to usurp the place of another as tonal centre of a degree-progression’.25
To analyse modulation in Hindemith’s counterpoint, we therefore need to
use his theory of chord roots to enable the analysis of a degree progression.
It provides us with a method of establishing the pitch centre of the fugue
subject, and subsequent zones within the piece, such as middle subject entries.
Modulations occur within the piece not by means of diatonic cadences, but
by the creation of a new fundamental pitch using three main devices: voice-
leading, salience, and the entry of a subject.
As Hindemith’s approach to modulation is not strictly diatonic, it can be
hard to hear when a pitch centre changes, particularly within quartal pitch
collections. A major strength of these collections is their rotational qualities,
which allow all manner of inversions, retrogrades and strettos. However, this
has the undesirable side effect of making the entire work settle in a similar
harmonic area. In Example 4.7, taken from Fugue 1, while the cadence
clearly outlines a move to a pitch centre of E-flat, the aural impression of
the counterpoint is one of sameness with the material before and after. The
25
Translation taken from Craft I (1942) p. 149. This contradicts the observations
of Vignal, Marc, ‘Hindemith, 2nd Sonata & Ludus Tonalis’ [accompanying booklet to
CD]; Richter, Sviatoslav (Pyramid Records, B000009IK2, 1995), which states that the
Ludus does not use the practice of modulation.
piece also remains in C for long periods, which protracts the impression of
harmonic stasis. Fugue 1 is further notable for the lack of sequences, which
are a strong feature of many of the later fugues in the cycle. The texture is full
and relentless; after the introduction of the three voices in the exposition, none
are dropped throughout the work (unlike many standard fugue models which
alter the number of voices for the sake of variety).
Sequential Patterns
Hindemith’s counterpoint from this period is neither tonal nor atonal. It

does, however, weave lines that invoke a sense of harmonic and linear tension,
and which function with goal-directed movement. These lines occasionally
create sequences which are generally formed in two parts within his three-
part fugue textures. They may be identified using Hindemith’s Two-Voice
Framework and create identifiable linear intervallic patterns and compound
melodies. The governing gesture of these sequences is similar to that found in
diatonic counterpoint, and yet it does not have the same harmonic impulse.
Note the passage shown in Example 4.8, which acts as an episode in between
two middle entries during Fugue 5. The statement lasts for twelve quavers
and in isolation it implies a tonality of E minor. However, it recurs in bar 25
Example 4.7 Ludus, Fugue 1 in C, bb. 19–22.

Modulation
j j
19 E-flat
& bœ™ bœ bnœ™ j œ bœ™ œj b b˙ ˙ œ bœ ∫œœ n œ bbœœ bœ

œ œ œ œ n œ ™
{
bœ œ n œ œ œ b œ̇ b œ bœ œ b˙
? ‰ j bœ ‰ œj nœ ‰ bœj nœ ‰ œj
w n˙ ™ œ bœ œ
Example 4.8 Ludus, Fugue 5 in E, bb. 23–8.
6
& 8 œ œ œ œ™
œ œ™ #œ#œ#œ #œ ™
23
#œ ™ œ™ #œ#œ #œ ™ œ™
{ ? 68 Œ ™ ‰ #œ
œ œ œn œ œ # œ # œ Œ ™
‰ #œ
œ# œ œ œ # œ # œ # œ
Œ™
#˙ ™
6 #œ ™ #œ ™ #œ ™ Œ ™
& 8 œ™ œ™ #œ ™ œ™ œ™ #œ ™ œ™
{ ? 68 ∑ #œ ™
3
œ™
5
œ™
2
Œ™ #œ ™
3
#œ ™
5
#œ ™
2
Œ™
#˙ ™
5
as a literal transposition at the interval of a major second, which distorts the

tonality. Furthermore, if we examine the middleground structure (shown on
the staves below) we may observe a rising quartal pattern in the left hand.
Quartal Pitch Collections
The use of quartal pitch collections may be observed on many levels in the
Ludus, as demonstrated in the following analysis of Fugues 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12.
These collections give the cycle its distinctly Hindemithian sound, in addition
to linking the use of pitch to Series 1.
Fugue 5 uses a Paradigm 1 subject in two sections (Example 4.9). The
opening four bars explicitly outline a chain of 4-23 tetrachords, which descend
over the span of a tritone. This chain includes ten of the twelve pitches in
the chromatic scale, omitting G-flat and D-flat. In the second half of the
subject, these missing pitches are provided at the beginning of a chromatic
passage which, in contrast to the opening half of the subject, omits D and
G. This second section may be considered to be based on further quartal
harmony, as the pitches create pc-set 6-32 with the omission of the C in bar 5.
However, this is more likely to be a version of the E-flat minor scale, with the
exception of the final two pitches in the subject that end the subject back in
the tonic pitch centre of E. The subject is structured on quartal harmony on a
foreground level – in the immediately audible sequence of 4-23 tetrachords in
the first section – and on a background level, where the missing pitches of the
first section [D-flat G-flat] contrast with the missing pitches of the second
section [D G]. It is therefore one of the most strongly representative fugues
of Hindemith’s post-Unterweisung musical language. Perhaps consequentially,
only the subject itself may be found in the first book of sketches. It appears
in a nearly final form in the second sketchbook, where there is only a small
adjustment in the top voice of bar 16.
Similar to Fugue 5 in E, the sixth subject is Paradigm 1 and consists of two
sections (Example 4.10). The first section is characterised by explicit quartal
Example 4.9 Ludus, Fugue 5, subject analysis.
Chomatic, apart from D-flat and G-flat Chomatic, apart from D and G
J bœ œ™ ™ œ
6 œ j bœ œ bœ bœbœ j nœ
& 8 ‰ ‰ J œ œj œ œJ œ œj œ bœJ œ œj œ™ bœ œ bœ bœ J
bœ
6 œœ œœ bœœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ
&8 œœ œœ œœ bbbœœœ bœ bœ
œ 6-32
4-23
harmony and a reference to bells, conjured by its distinctive rhythm and the
use of the quartal trichord. Church bells have notably audible overtones,
and it is appropriate that the theme consists of fourths and fifths – the most
immediately audible area of the overtone spectrum. The second section
consists of stepwise motion resembling the F-flat minor scale (rather than a
quartal pitch structure).
The bass progression from bars 26–7, which accompanies part of the
subject, both comprises the quartal pc-set 5-35 and implies a diatonic cycle
of fifths. The counterpoint therefore exploits the ambiguity between the
Unterweisung, quartal pitch collections, and the way in which the Western ear
is conditioned to pick up on fifth bass progressions (Example 4.11).
The seventh fugue is the simplest of the collection, and judging by the
lack of notable alterations from his sketchbook to publication, it did not
seem to give Hindemith many compositional problems. As we have seen, the
subject is Paradigm 3, and implies B-flat minor for the first two bars, while the
descending fifth in bar 3 from D to G destabilises any sense of diatonicism.
There are several structural components to the subject: on a background level,
it is based on the E-flat major triad. On a middle level, it is formed from a
quartal trichord followed by a quartal tetrachord. The episodic material from
bars 14–22 is inverted to form the episode at bars 33–41. This operation is
made possible by the high concentration of both minor triads, and the quartal
pitch collections 3-9 and 4-23 within the voice-leading. In bar 16 the bass
forms a quartal tetrachord, while again feigning, as in Fugue 6, a cycle of fifths
(Example 4.12).
The eighth fugue subject is Paradigm 2: it is short in length, and every
pitch conforms to the quartal pc-set 5-35. If the Ludus is the quintessential

7-32 [F-flat Minor]
3-9
& 8 bœ ™ bœ œ œ bœ bœ ™ bœ œ œ bœ
3 3
4 œ bœ
nœ nœ bœ bœ bœ
{
Example 4.11 Ludus, Fugue 6, bb. 26–7.
26
& œœ œ bœœ œ œ
nœ œœ œœ bbœœ œ œ
? œ œ œ œ œ
5-35
{
n b
bœ bœ bœ b œ bœ n œ nœ#œ œ œ œ Ÿ Ÿ
3
& 4 nœbœ œbœbœbœ œbœ #œ#œ œ œ
14
bœ bœ œ œ œ nœ #œ œ œ œ#œ#œ œ
j
bœ bœ bœ bœ
{
bœ nœ n ˙ ™ #œ œ̇ #œ nœœ ‰
? 43 bœ #œ #œ
3 bbœœ #œ
&4 bœ nœ #œ #œ
3-9 3-9
? 43 #œ #œ #œ œ
4-23
example of Hindemith’s post-Unterweisung style, then the subject from the

eighth fugue, shown in Example 4.13, is Hindemith’s quintessential fugue
subject. It avoids any conventional cadence that might imply diatonicism;
it is based entirely on quartal material; and it contains a distinctive ninth
interval to disrupt conventional voice-leading. As every note is included in
the collection 5-35, Hindemith could conceivably perform any operation of
stretto, retrograde or inversion with similar harmonic results.
Owing to the brevity of the eighth subject, there is little opportunity
for Hindemith to compose accompanying, sequential counterpoint. This is
compensated by the interspersing episodes, which form sequences that outline
the pentatonic and hexatonic pitch collection (5-35 and 6-32) related to the
subject, such as in bars 19–20 (Example 4.14).
Fugue 11 carries a misleading title; it is actually a canon. The canon is
constructed in two parts, found in the upper stave, accompanied by a third,
independent part in the bass. The canon restarts a semitone lower from bar 12
to create a second section. Hindemith selects the fifth interval between canon
entries – the most stable after the octave in Series 2. The canonic (or fugal)
subject is Paradigm 3, and consists of two 3-9 trichords a semitone apart. This
material contrasts with the final passing-note motion of the subject, which
destabilises the modality of the pitch centre; while the subject clearly starts
and ends in B, at no point is a major or minor modality established, owing to
the presence of both C-sharp and C-natural (see Example 4.15).
The final fugue uses a stretto exposition, similar to the approach that
Hindemith had pioneered in Fugue 2. It is the most distant point in the cycle,
owing to the starting pitch of F-sharp, and closing F-sharp major triad. The
Paradigm 3 subject is based on the quartal pentachord, apart from D and
A which serve to destabilise the modality of F-sharp, similar to the effect
of C-natural in the eleventh subject in B (Example 4.16). On a background
5-35
4
& 4 œj œ™™ œ œ œ œ œ
3
œ
œ
{
n#œœ nœ œj #œ œj œ j
‰ # œJ œ ‰ œœ #œœ
19
& #œ ‰ œ œ
J J
œ œ nœ œ
? ‰3 nœ œ#œ œ #œ œnœ œ #œ œ
3 3
#œ œ
n œ nœ#œ #œ œ 3 3
3 3
nœ œ œ#œ n œ œ
5-35
? nœ œ #œ
œ
n œ nœ#œ #œ œ
6-32
3-9
3-9
4
n˙ ™
&2 ˙ bw ˙ # œ #˙ œ nœ œ
4 bœœ œ œ# nœœ
&2
œ #œ
3-9 3-9
5-35 (without D and A)
#œ #œ nœ nœ # œ #œ ™ #œ ™
9 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ œ œ™
& 8 #œ ‰
9
& 8 #œ #œ #œ
level, however, the subject outlines the F-sharp major triad which makes it
unusually diatonic in comparison with Hindemith’s previous subjects.
Not all pitch collections in the Ludus cycle offer straightforward
segmentation; in other words, it is not always clear how we can group pitches
together to understand their character and compositional logic. By way of
example, the fourth fugue subject presents a problem for both pitch grouping,
and the definition of a pitch centre: a process which is necessary for a Series 1
analysis of the complete work. As the fugue is clearly in A (which Hindemith
tells us), the subject must surely be in A, which is confirmed by the final
entries from bars 73–6. However, the subject itself contains only an A on the
final beat, and comprises the pc-set 5-27, the normal form of which is [A
B-flat C D F] (Example 4.17). This implies a tonality closer to F than A, and
Hindemith toys with this idea in the beginning of the third fugue section at
bar 45, where the subject, in A, is accompanied by the fugue subject from the
second section beginning with a prominent F in the bass.
Defining a pitch centre is further problematised by the inversion of the
subject. It first appears in bar 9, over an A pedal in the bass voice – which
should make it clear that the inversion of the subject retains the pitch centre
of A (Example 4.18). However, the pitches that defined this centre in the
first version of the subject do not function in the same way. Thinking back
to the Unterweisung, Hindemith uses difference tones in Series 2 to ‘prove’
that intervals are invertible. On this basis, while the melodic contours of the
inverted subject obscure the pitch centre, his theory maintains the equivalent
pitch centre to its original inversion.
Hindemith combines the subjects from sections one and two to create
a third section of Fugue 4. Intriguingly, the subjects appear simultaneously,
yet with different pitch centres. This raises the question of whether this
section is bitonal – and thus a continuation of one of Hindemith’s earlier
compositional practices that we saw at the beginning of the third movement
to the Fourth String Quartet in Chapter 3. He also uses two pedal points at
bars 10–12 and at bars 53–5, which accompany a subject with a supposedly
different pitch centre.
Fugue 6 further complicates the issue of determining the pitch centre
of the subject when under inversion, as previously encountered in Fugue 4.
The voice-leading of the original subject shows the pitch centre of E-flat to
be at the bottom of the triplet fifth motif, and part of the quartal trichord.
When inverted, it is not clear whether the pitch centre should remain as the
root of this fifth motif, even though it is upside down. In this instance, the
root may be determined by observing that the three pitches can be arranged
into a single chain of ascending fourths. In the original version, the root of
the subject was in the centre of the two fourth intervals. Applying the same
operation to the inversion shows that, as indicated in Example 4.19, the root
is A-flat rather than D-flat.
Example 4.17 Ludus, Fugue 4 in A, bb. 1–2, subject analysis.
˙ œ œ ˙ bœ œ œ ˙
? 23 Œ œ
˙
3-9
? 23 ˙ œ œ bœ œ
œ œ ˙
? 23
Example 4.18 Ludus, Fugue 4 in A, bb. 9–10, subject inversion.

œ #œ œ
3˙ œ œ ˙ Œ œ ˙
&2
3-9
œ #œ
3˙ œ ˙ œ
&2
3 œ œ ˙
&2
Example 4.19 Ludus, Fugue 6, comparison between subject and inversion.
Original Inversion
3-9 3-9
& bœ ™
3 3
bœ
œ
œ bœ & bœ ™ bœ
œ
œ bœ
& bbbœœœ & bbbœœœ
Larger Structural Relationships
The architecture for each fugue follows explicit designs, particularly according
to Series 1 ‘distance’. For example, Fugue 4 consists of three separate fugue
sections; it is characterised by the interval of a major third, which defines
the subject, general counterpoint, sequences and structural relationships. The
three fugue sections follow the pattern [A C-sharp A], and the exposition to
the first fugue section also follows the pattern [A C-sharp A]. In Fugue 12, a
Series 1 analysis shows that in each of the three middle strettos, Hindemith
moves one step to the left of the Series. Unsurprisingly, several of the entries
are a considerable distance from the pitch centre [F-sharp], although not a
single entry, either here or in a previous fugue, occurs at the maximum distance
along Series 1.
In addition to the relationships that govern each fugue, the complete cycle
has a noteworthy structure. The twelve fugues, each separated by Interludiums,
are placed in between a Praeludium and Postludium. The Postludium is an
exact retrograde inversion of the Praeludium, as if it had been placed both
Praeludium
Postludium
Figure 4.4 The illustrated Praeludium/Postludium pair from the 1950 edition of
the Ludus.
upside down and in a mirror. Hindemith illustrates this effect in his 1950
edition of the Ludus, a birthday gift to his wife Gertrud (Figure 4.4).
Neumeyer (1986) has demonstrated Hindemith’s use of scales that allow
a retrograde inversion, and his analysis of the Ludus sketches concludes that
Hindemith experimented at length to find contrapuntal combinations that
would produce satisfying results when transformed at 180 degrees. Moreover,
he shows that Hindemith must have worked on the two pieces simultaneously,
rather than one followed by the other. He states that ‘it would be incorrect,
however, to regard the Praeludium as containing the Series 1 sequence in
microcosm’, referring to the move from C – F-sharp throughout the piece.
While there is no immediate ordering of Series 1 pitches as a structural force
in the movement, it is a missed opportunity not to observe the presence of
the Unterweisung on a foreground level. In particular, the very opening of
the Ludus is a ‘play’ on Series 1. The first three pitches consist of the first
three notes of the series, followed by a passage that runs through many of the
remaining pitches, saving the A [3] until the final beat. The tritone F-sharp [e]
is reserved for the final beat of bar 2, where it forms the beginning of a descent
back to the pitch centre of C (Example 4.20).
Holding such a close connection to Series 1, the pitches outline a number
of quartal collections, including the three quavers on the first beat. These
collections are ideal for inversion and retrograde, as the fourth and fifth, when
inverted, retain similar characters. These pitch collections therefore have the
double advantage of referring to Series 1 while creating a satisfying aural
outcome when rotated 180 degrees.
The inversional retrograde relationship between the Praeludium and
Postludium is one of the outstanding contrapuntal manipulations of
the twentieth century. It ‘works’ because the two pillars of Hindemith’s
contrapuntal theory – pitch collections and structural intervals – readily
invite retrogrades and inversions. It may be compared with an earlier
Example 4.20 Ludus, Praeludium analysis, bb. 1–3.
œ0 2 œ1 4 5 0 t 4 2 b œ8 œ1 b œ6 5 6 8 0 1 3 2
4 œ œbœ œnœnœ œ œ r ™ U
3
bœbœbœ œ nœ œ b œ bœ
&4 œ œ bbœœ bœbœ
œ œbbœœœ ‰ Œ ∑
3
6
Ÿ U
? 44 ∑ bbœœœ ‰ œj bbœœ ≈bœj
œ bœ œ œ ™
R bœ bœ bœ b œ b œ j
4 œ
&4 œ bœ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ
0 4 8 3 2 5 9 0
palindromic narrative in Hindemith’s 1927 one-act opera, Hin und zurück

(There and Back) whereby the opening half of the opera, ending in tragedy, is
played backwards in the second half, to produce a happy ending. Hindemith
was evidently predisposed towards inventive, palindromic structures. Below
is a brief summary of the opera, to demonstrate the action retrograde.
Action synopsis:
Aunt sits at a table, knitting.

Helene enters and joins her for breakfast.
Robert, her husband enters and wishes Helene happy birthday.
Maid enters with a note, which Robert discovers is evidence
of Helene having an affair.
Robert shoots Helene dead.
A bearded sage appears to reverse fate.
Helene gets up, Robert puts his pistol back in his pocket.
Maid enters with a note, which Robert discovers is evidence
of Helene having an affair.
Robert, her husband enters and wishes Helene happy birthday.
Helene enters and joins her for breakfast.
Aunt sits at a table, knitting.
Four Case Studies for Unterweisung-based Fugues
Fugue 2 in G
The following short case studies analyse in closer detail the Fugues 2, 3, 9 and
10 as particularly strong examples of Unterweisung practice, within the context
of the complete cycle.
Fugue 2 is one of the most rhythmically arresting and popular works
from the Ludus. It is the first to include the stretto exposition, which
immediately creates an uncertainty over the length of the subject, blurs the
boundaries of subject and countersubject, and destabilises the relationship
of subject and answer. The piece may be analysed at almost every level for
Series 1 relationships: the pitch collections of the fugue, the episodes, and
the structural architecture.
The fugue refers strongly to the quartal pitch collections 3-9 and 4-23.
In the exposition, the starting pitches are G, C and D, forming 3-9, which,
similar to the first fugue, runs contrary to conventional fugue exposition
form. The subject refers to quartal sets on several structural levels. Bars 1
and 2 form tetrachord 4-23, while a reductive analysis of salient pitches
shows the entire structure of the subject to be based on the ascending and
descending pentatonic scale, 5-35 (Example 4.21). As the subject begins
with clear quartal pitches, contrasted by a more chromatic second zone, it is
classed as Paradigm 1.
Unlike Fugue 1, much of the episodic material is based on sequences. This
may be one reason for the popularity of the work, as the sequences heighten
the sense of forward motion and expectation. These sequences are formed
through linear intervallic patterns, although Hindemith’s counterpoint often
gives the impression of a complete sequence, when he actually subtly alters the
progression, such as in bars 29–34 (Example 4.22).
The sequence reappears in a different disposition from bars 40–45, the
first half of which contains a two-part linear intervallic pattern around
a D-flat pedal. It is followed by a second section that continues the linear
descent, and yet does not provide a pure sequence. However, it shows a similar
approach towards inverting the counterpoint, shown by the arrow markings
(Example 4.23).
Example 4.21 Ludus, Fugue 2 in G, subject, bb. 1–5.

4-23
? 58 œ œ bœ œ œ j
œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ J œ™ bœ nœ bœ œ œ
0 2 1 0 2 8 6 1 8 2 5 7 9 2 0
? 58 œ œ œ œ
˙ nœ ˙
5-35
Example 4.22 Ludus, Fugue 2 in G, bb. 29–34.
# œj #œ œ j j
#œ œ œ#œ œ
œ™ #œ œœ #œ#œ œ #œ œ #œ ‰ œ ‰ œ #œ #œ#œ ‰ œ œ #œ#œ
29
& #œ ™ œ œ™ œ œ ™ #œ œ™ œ œ™
{& ‰# œ œ œ#œ œ ‰# œ #œ œ œ nœ ‰# œ #œ œ œ #œ ?
#œ œ œ#œ œ
#œ œ #œ#œ #œ #œ
œ
#œ œœ™™ #œœ œ™ #œ œ™ ‰ ‰ #œ ™ ‰ ‰ #œ ™ ‰ ‰ œ™
& #œ œ™ œ œ™ œ œ™ #œ œ™ œ œ™
{& ‰ ‰ œ™
#œ œ ™
4 7
‰ ‰ œ™
#œ
7
œ™
6
‰‰
#œ
6
œœ ™™
3
? #œ
7
œ™
9
#œ
8
œ™
8
#œ œ ™
10 7
4 4 4 4 4 7 3
Example 4.23 Ludus, Fugue 2 in G, bb. 40–45.
{
b œb œb œ
b œb œ b œn œb œ b œ b œb œb œ
b œb œ bœ œ™ b œ œ ™ b œ œ ™
40 bœ bœbœ bœbœ bœbœ bœbœ bœbœ bœ
& ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ J ‰ J ‰ J bœ
bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ bœ
& bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ
œ™ b œ œ™ bœ œ ™ bœ bœb œbœ b œ b œb œbœ bœ bœ œbœ
{
bœ ™ bœ ™ bœ bœ™ bœ œ ™ bœ œ™
‰ ‰ bœ
™ œ™ bœ ™ bœ ™
& ‰‰ ‰‰
‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰
bœ œ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ™
& bœ œ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ™ bœ œ™
7 7 8 8 9 9 4 4 5 5 7 7
4 4 4 2 1
A Series 1 structural analysis of each subject entry suggest that the points
of greatest tension (i.e. distance from the fundamental G) are stretto entries
three and four. The opening eighteen bars of the piece remain close to the
overall pitch centre (G), as the emphasis is on the rhythmic character of the
subject. This is outlined in the following synopsis given in Table 4.2.
Fugue 3 in F
The third fugue is unique in proceeding from an Interludium that does not
end on an implied dominant or tonic – as the previous movement both
begins and ends on G – which marks out the second Interludium as one
of the few stand-alone non-fugue works in the entire cycle. The subject is
distinguished by its use of eleven different pitches, excluding an E-natural.
While the pitch centre of F is explicit from the beginning and final notes
of the subject, Hindemith avoids any possible diatonic implication by
omitting the E-natural, which would otherwise be expected to function as a
leading note. The Fugue 3 subject belongs to Paradigm 1, due to the strong
reference to quartal pitch material in bar 2 (incomplete quartal tetrachord
4-26) followed by a predominately stepwise falling line from bars 3 to 7. The
descent outlines both a chromatic scale from E-flat in bar 2 to F in bar 7, and
a chain of three tritones in bars 3 to 5 (Example 4.24). The subject has been
subjected, by Morgan (1992), to one of the few voice-leading reductions
of the fugues from the Ludus.26 His analysis is included in Example 4.25
26
Morgan, Robert P., Anthology of Twentieth-Century Music (New York: W. W.
Norton & Co., 1992) p. 253.
Table 4.2 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 2 in G.
Stretto Exposition Stretto 2 Stretto 3
Bars: 1–11 12–18 19–23 24–28

– – S FC S ESEQ
S
– AR FC FC FC ESEQ S
S FC FC S FC ESEQ S
Pitch Centre: G C D C G E
F-sharp
A
Series 1 0 2 1 2 0 3-t-7
Distance (G):
Stretto 4
Bars: 29–35 36–39 40–46 47–53 54–65 66–75
ESEQ S ESEQ ESEQ S FC

ESEQ S ESEQ ESEQ S FC
ESEQ S ESEQ ESEQ S S
Pitch Centre: B-flat C G
C F
E-flat B-flat
C
D
Series 1 5-2-6 2-8-5-2-1 0
Distance (G):
S Subject E Episode
AR Real Answer
SEQ
Sequential Counterpoint
FC Free Counterpoint
for comparative purposes. He chooses to emphasise the chromatic descent,

rather than the tritone pattern in bars 3 to 5.
The character of the subject has been compared to the American Ragtime
or Cool Jazz, perhaps as a result of the salient E-flat in bar 2, which is both
syncopated and implies a seventh chord.27 It contains an inner symmetry which

is further represented by the inventive symmetry of the fugue as a whole.
Hindemith labels this fugue as ‘stretto inversion’ in his sketches. This does
not quite do justice to his remarkable compositional achievement in this
piece, as the complete fugue is symmetrical around bar 30 in the top voice. In
the bottom voice, the music is symmetrical from bars 7–53 and the middle
voice from bars 13–47 – the sum of both sets of bar numbers equals the total
length of the movement, creating perfect symmetry. This has the added effect
of creating an illusion of returning countersubjects (Example 4.26).
Hindemith has to plan the structure of his fugue subjects carefully to stay
sensitive to Series 1, as the retrograde structure reflects his pacing of tension.
For example, any distant subject entries along Series 1 would recur at the
equivalent point in the second section of the piece. Perhaps for this reason,
Example 4.24 Ludus, Fugue 3 in F, subject analysis.
7-35
bœ ™ œ œ #œ œ nœ œ #œ
4-26
4
&4 ˙ ˙ œ œ bœJ #œ nœ #œ nœ bœ b˙ b˙ œ
4 bœ
&4 ˙ œ nœ #œ nœ bœ bœ ˙
Example 4.25 Morgan’s 1992 analysis of the subject from Fugue 3.
m. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
bœ œ #œ œ nœ œ #œ nœ
& ˙ œ œ œ bœ #œ #œ nœ bœ bœ bœ ˙
Example 4.26 Ludus, Fugue 3 in F, bb. 28–32.
{
b˙ b˙ Œ Œ œ b˙ b˙
28
nœ
&b˙ n œ bœœ bœ b œœ œœ #nœœ œ œ n œ # œœ œœ b œœ bœœ bœ nœ ˙ b ˙
˙
? bœ œ nœ
nœ b˙ ˙ œ Œ Œ œ n˙ b˙ œ nœ œ bœ
27
Lee (1994) p. 51. This association is made in a quotation from John R. Cowell.
Hindemith remains conservative, relative to the other fugues, in the tension

of his subject entries. Synoptic Table 4.3 shows that the greatest distance is
a major third from the overall pitch centre, which occurs immediately before
and after the mirror at bar 30.
Hindemith adds new material to the lower two voices from bars 48 and
54 to sustain the texture. The counterpoint in the bass at bar 54 is strongly
reminiscent of the bass motif from the Praeludium (see Examples 4.27
and 4.28), and points to the possibility that other subtle references are made
throughout the fugues to the opening and closing Praeludium/Postludium
pair, adding further thematic cohesion to the cycle.
In his sketches, Hindemith experiments with different versions of
bars 19–22 and 38–41, in both prime and retrograde forms (Examples 4.29
and 4.30). In the draft of bars 19–22, he chooses to introduce the third voice
two crotchet beats earlier in a 3-10 trichord, which may be understood as
an incomplete seventh chord. And, in the final version, Hindemith replaces
this sonority with a 3-7 trichord, which is a closely related subset of the
quartal tetrachord. His amendment therefore provides further evidence of
Hindemith’s preference for quartal pitch collections.
Example 4.27 Ludus, Fugue 3 in F, bb. 54–5, bass motif.
? ˙™
54
bœ bœ bœ b˙
? bœ b œ b ˙
bœ
Implied E-flat Minor
Example 4.28 Ludus, Praeludium, bb. 33–6.
j
# œ ™ œœ
? 44 #œ ˙ ™ #œ œ œ œ#œ œ
33
& #œ#œ #œ#œ J‰Œ Ó
{ ? 44
#œ w
Ó ˙
Œ #˙ ™
w
w
œœj ‰ Œ Ó
œ
# œ ™ œJ œ
? 44 #œ Œ ∑ ∑
Bass Motif
Table 4.3 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 3 in F.
Exposition
Bars: 1–6 7–12 13–18 19–23 24–29 30 31–36 37–41 42–47 48–53 54–59
S FC FC E E FC FC S
- - S E E S FC FC
R
- A FC E S S E FC S Z
Pitch Centre: F D F F A A F F D F
Series 1
Distance (F): 0 3 0 0 4 4 0 0 3 0
S Subject E Episode
AR Real Answer Z Motif from Praeludium/Postludium
FC Free Counterpoint
Example 4.29 The final version of Fugue 3, bb. 19–22, followed by the draft. The
boxed section is nearly illegible in the sketch.
Final Version
œ œJ œ œ œ œ œJ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
nœ œ
19
& nœ J J Œ ˙™
{? œ Œ
œ
˙ œ œ ™ bœ œ
J œ œ ™ œ bœ
J
œ œ œ nœ
Draft
Entry of third voice
j œj b œ œ œ n œ œ b œ b œ œ œ n œ #œœ œœj bœ™ œj n œ ™ œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ b#œœ œ
& œ Œ œ œ nœ b˙
J œ™ Ó Œ
{? œ Œ Ó
œ
Ó Œ ‰ J
œ n˙ œ œ b˙ œ œ bœ
Example 4.30 The final version of Fugue 3, bb. 38–41 (a retrograde of bb. 19–22)
followed by the draft. The boxed section is nearly illegible in the
sketch.
Final Version
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ
& œ˙™ œ ˙ J J
38
œ œ œ
Œ J J
{? œ œ œ œ bœ nœ œ ™ œJ
œ bœ nœ ™ œ ˙
J Œ œ
œ
Draft
<n> œ™ œjbœ ™ j n œ œ œ b œ b œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ b œ œj œ œj œ
œ b˙ œ nœ
nœ œ # œ
& Œ Ó œ™ bœ œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ
J
{ œbœ ˙ œ nœ ˙ œ
? b œ œ
J ‰ Œ Ó
œ
The progression of the lowest voice in the final version has also been
adjusted to form a nearly-complete descending chromatic progression, from
F in bar 19 to A in bars 22–3. The only missing pitch is D-flat, which would
be expected in bar 21. In his earlier draft, Hindemith’s descending progression
begins later, in the third bar of the sketch (which one may assume corresponds
to bar 21 in the final version), and does not include the pitches D-flat, C or
B in the descent from F to A. Hindemith’s modification for the final version
creates a closer relationship between this voice and the subject, the second half
of which is also formed around a chromatic descent.
Fugue 9 in B-flat
The ninth fugue is remarkable, even within the context of the complete cycle,
and shows the full potential of Hindemith’s system. He includes perhaps the
most complicated fugue device in Western music: the retrograde inversion
stretto, shown in synoptic Table 4.4. It would be all but impossible to include
such a device in diatonic music, unless one was to use a rudimentary subject,
which would render the process superficial. Hindemith, perhaps deliberately,
writes a fugue subject that is angular and distinctive. The opening bar
contains the 4-23 tetrachord, which forms the subset 5-35 with the second
bar. As a Paradigm 1 subject, it begins with clear use of quartal pitch material,
contrasting with a scale descent in the second half (Example 4.31). It is the
properties of these pitch collections that opens up the array of transformational
operations to Hindemith.
Similar to the explicit bell reference in the sixth fugue, Hindemith refers
to pastoral, extra-musical material in the ninth fugue. The falling grace note
and demisemiquaver rhythm of the subject evokes this character, which is then
written with double octave displacements in the high register of the codetta,
suggestive of string writing, particularly when combined with legato-staccato
articulation (Example 4.32).
A Series 1 analysis shows that Hindemith was relatively conservative in
the ninth fugue, and remained close at all times to the pitch centre of B-flat.
This may have been to not detract from the focus of his complex contrapuntal
operations. Given that large sections of the fugue are in retrograde, as in
Example 4.31 Ludus, Fugue 9 in B-flat, subject analysis.
5-35
4-23
2 œ ≈ œj
bœ œbœ œ bœ. bœ œ
& 4 bœ œ ≈ œ œ™ . . bœ. nœ.
j
Table 4.4 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 9 in B-flat.
Exposition Stretto
Bars: 1–3 4–6 7–8 9–11 12–16 16–19 19–21 22–24 25–28 29–33 34–41
– AR TRSEQ FCSEQ E FC FC ESEQ S SRETRO S
S FC TR FC E – SINV ESEQ FC FC SRETRO
– – – S E SINV FC ESEQ SINV FC SRETRO
Pitch Centre: B-flat F B-Flat G C E-B-A-D
Series 1 Distance (B-flat): 0 1 0 3 7 e-9-t-4
Retrograde Augmentation and

Inversion Stretto Inversion Stretto
Bars: 42–45 46–54 55–65 66–68 69–71 72–73 74–77 78–82

SEQ RETROINV AUG SEQ
E S S – S FC FC Codetta
ESEQ SRETROINV S; SINV S – – Z Codetta; B-Flat ped.
ESEQ SRETROINV SAUG FC FC FCSEQ S Codetta
Pitch Centre: B-Flat F B-Flat B-Flat
Series 1 Distance (B-flat): 0 1 0 0
SEQ
S Subject TR Transition Sequential counterpoint
AR Real Answer E Episode ped. Pedal
FC Free Counterpoint Z Reference to Praeludium/Postludium
Example 4.32 Ludus, Fugue 9 in B-flat, codetta, bb. 78–82.
œ œ bœ œ bœ œ U
œ œ œ bœ ™
J ‰ Œ ‰ œ™
78
& j œbœ œ œ. œbœ œ bœ. œbœ œ bœ.
{
œ. . œ™
? b˙ j ‰ bœ œ œ œ œ ‰
‰ œ
b œJ œJ ‰ b œ̇J ‰ b œJ ‰ œ̇ ‰
J b œJ ‰ b œJ
Fugue 3, a conservative approach to structural pitch-planning is necessary, as

the alternative would mean a disproportionate section of the piece in a distant
relationship with B-flat.
In his sketches, Hindemith writes out one version of free counterpoint
underneath the first entry of the fugue, which is not used until bar 66 in the
final version. This suggests that Hindemith planned the relationship of the
fugue subject to this motif from the outset. The sketches are otherwise identical
to the final version apart from bars 43–4, which, cryptically, Hindemith leaves
blank in the top voice. I believe that this may have been to write in a reference
to the Praeludium/Postludium, which had not yet been written, as both
contain three notes forming the quartal trichord. Example 4.33 shows these
missing bars, and outlines their structural pattern: they are also closely related
to the material used in the codetta.
Fugue 10 in D-flat
As we have observed, the second half of Fugue 3 is a retrograde of the first.

Hindemith takes a similar tactic in Fugue 10, although writes the second
half as an inversion of the first, with the ‘flip’ occurring at the midway point
at bar 18. The complete subject conforms to a seemingly irregular collection
of pitches (pc-set 8-13) which emphasise thirds rather than fourths; it is
distinguishable by the avoidance of C, and a structural use of quartal set 5-35
(Example 4.34). It is therefore a Paradigm 3 subject. While the subject centres
on D-flat, the opening four pitches could also imply B-flat minor, making it
one of the most tonal of Hindemith’s fugue subjects – a similar ambiguity to
the subject from Fugue 7. Moreover, as the subject is harmonically simple
compared to most other fugues in the cycle, Hindemith explores distant pitch
relationships, including tritone intervals between successive stretto entries, for
the first time. At the point of inversion halfway through the fugue, Hindemith
chooses to switch to the enharmonic equivalent of C-sharp – this does not
assist the performer in any way (C-sharp is likely to incur more, rather than
fewer, accidentals) so one may assume Hindemith is unsubtly drawing our
attention to his inversion device.
Example 4.33 The missing bars from Hindemith’s sketch of Fugue 9.
{
Omitted from the sketch
œ œ œ œ
bœ œ
2‰ J ‰ Œ
42
&4 œ
œ . œ œ . œ
œ .
œœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ bœ
? 42 ˙ œj ‰ Œ
œJ ‰ b œ̇
œJ ‰ J ‰ bœJ ‰ œ̇ ‰ bœJ ‰ œ
J J
œ œ
bœ
2 œ œ
&4 œ œ
œ 3-9
4-23
Example 4.34 Ludus, Fugue 10 in D-flat, subject analysis.
8-13
4
&4 Œ ‰ bœJ bœ ‰ bœj œ ‰ jœ
œ bœ œ œ bœj
5-35
4 bœ bœ bœ œ
&4 bœ œ bœ
Apart from exploiting the inversional properties of 5-35 in Fugue 10,

Hindemith also refers to the octatonic scale. This scale appears much less
frequently in his music from this period, as it belongs more to the pluralistic
character of Hindemith’s early works. It is used here as its symmetrical
arrangement of tones and semitones makes it completely invertible around
any axis.28
For the first time in the Ludus cycle, Fugue 10 contains what appear to
be recurring countersubjects. As in Fugue 3, the repeat of the first half in the
second can give the implication of countersubjects. However, there is also a
regular countersubject that accompanies the exposition between the answer
and third subject entry. This may be observed in Table 4.5.
28
Discussed in Neumeyer (1976) p. 87.
Table 4.5 Fugal synopsis of Ludus, Fugue 10 in D-flat.
Exposition 1 Stretto Stretto
Bars: 1–2 3–4 5 6–7 8–10 11–12 12–14 15–17
– AR TR CS1 E CS3 S S
S CS1 TR CS2 E – S S
– – – S E S FC FC
Pitch Centre: D-flat A-flat D-flat B G-sharp D-flat

D A-flat
Series 1 Distance (D-flat): 0 1 0 8 1-9 0-1
Exposition 2 Stretto Stretto
Bars: 18–19 20–21 22 23–24 25–27 28–29 29–31 32–36

INV INV
– – – S E S FC Codetta
SINV CS1INV TRINV CS2INV EINV – S Codetta
– SINV TRINV CS1INV EINV CS3INV S Codetta
Pitch Centre: C-sharp F-sharp C-sharp D-sharp B-sharp C-natural

F-sharp D-flat
Series 1 Distance (D-flat): 0 2 0 7 t-2 t-0
S Subject CS Countersubject TR Transition

AR Real Answer FC Free Counterpoint E Episode
Fugue Compositional Process
The surviving Ludus sketchbook contains significant data pertaining to

Hindemith’s compositional practice, much of which may be related back to
the Unterweisung. Some fugues were written down nearly identically to their
published form, whereas others underwent significant revisions.
Fugue 1 in C appears in two pages, and has some of the fewest alterations
between the sketchbook and the published version. The only difference,
save a few re-spelt accidentals, is the bass line in bar 7. The two versions
of this bar are compared in Example 4.35. This presents a rare instance of
the sketch containing more notes than the published edition; generally, this
process took place in reverse, where Hindemith would progress from a basic
compositional skeleton to a more ‘fleshed out’ version. The comparison tells
us that Hindemith had initially planned to approach the middle C in bar 7
by descent from the D-flat. It is likely that he removed this because of the
similar motion produced with the top voice. His final version approaches the
C from below with a ‘strong’ leap of a perfect fifth. The alteration could also
have been made to avoid the tritone produced by the D to A-flat, which, as
the most unstable interval in Hindemith’s theory, is approached too suddenly,
and by a leap in the bass.
Fugue 4 in A is the most represented in the sketchbook. It evidently gave
Hindemith some problems, as it began life as an entirely different piece, based
on a different fugue subject. There must have been something intrinsically
wrong, therefore, with Hindemith’s first fugue, which meant that it had to
be jettisoned. In the unpublished work, Hindemith began with a subject
originally centring on the pitch of E, which was then inverted to form a new
fugue (Example 4.36).
We can make the following comparison between the published and
unpublished fugue versions:
Example 4.35 A comparison of Hindemith’s sketches for the Ludus,

Fugue 1, bb. 4–8.
4
b˙ ™ bœbœ b˙
& ˙™ œ b˙ œbœb˙ œ œ nn œœ™ nœ œœ œ œJ
{ b œ bœ ™ œ b œ œJ ™
bœ ˙
Published
? Œ bœ J Œ bœbœ ™ bœJ Œ bœbœ bœ nœ ™ œJ ˙™

Edition
œ
b˙ ™ bœbœ b˙
& ˙™ œ b˙ œbœb˙ œ œ nn œœ™ nœ œœ œ œJ
{ b œ bœ ™ œ b œ œJ ™
b œ b œ n œ
J Œ bœbœ ™ bœJ Œ bœbœ bœ nœ nœ œ œ
Sketchbook
Draft
? Œ bœ ˙™
œ
1. The first version had a regular countersubject

2. It existed in three parts, like the final version
3. It had the subject in inversion, like the final version
4. The subject is short, like the final version, although otherwise
completely different.
One possible conclusion is that, while writing the original fugue, Hindemith
arrived at a new subject, which was more aptly suited to the devices of inversion
and stretto. This is plausible given the position of the second fugue subject
within the sketches, which tells the story of a fugue emerging from an earlier
compositional process. In the majority of his other sketches, Hindemith starts
a new page for each new fugue. He also appears to run out of ideas for the
inversion of his first subject, and resorts to increasingly skeletal drafts towards
the end of page 15 in the sketches, which come closer to resembling a chorale
harmonisation exercise rather than a fugue.
Hindemith’s first fugue draft centred on the pitch of E. However, his
overall structure for the piece consisted of two halves, the second created using
an inversion of the original subject – an identical device is used in the published
fugue in A. This was the only composition of length in the sketches that was
not used in the final version, which shows that Hindemith’s compositional
technique was confident and refined. His substantial theoretical work on the
Unterweisung had meant that he had developed not only a consistent style,
but one that did not require substantial revisions.
The revisions to Fugue 6 in E-flat show, again, that Hindemith inserted
quartal pitch material. The main discrepancy between the two versions found
in his sketchbook is the bass line, where Hindemith chooses to replace the
chromatic descent in the draft with a compound melody outlining a linear
pattern of quartal trichords. Hindemith also chooses to enharmonically alter
the ending from E-flat major to D-sharp major, perhaps to make the pattern
of trichords more legible (Example 4.37). It could not have been for any
structural reasons, as the succeeding Interludium begins with an E-flat major
chord. The sketches also show a misprint in the published version at bar 40,
where the major third in the bass should be replaced by the ‘stronger’ interval
of a fifth.
Example 4.36 Hindemith’s omitted fugue in E from the Ludus.
Original Subject Ÿ
& Œ Œ ˙ #œ
# œ #œ œ œ
Inversion
& Œ œ œ #œ #œ Œ
#˙ #œ
It is possible that Hindemith intended Fugue 8 to begin the cycle, as it

was originally written in C. Unlike other examples, such as Johann Sebastian
Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, where it is possible that the composer originally
wrote a fugue in one key and then transposed it, to facilitate the composing
process, Hindemith did not need to transpose from a simple to a more complex
key signature (D major would not present a challenge in this respect). He must
therefore have originally intended the fugue to be in C. It was also originally
notated in compound metre rather than 4/4 – as shown in Example 4.38 – and
with a simpler rhythm.
‘Fugue’ 11, which is technically a double canon with accompaniment,
began life in Hindemith’s sketches as a standard fugue, the exposition for
which is shown in Example 4.39. It shows Hindemith working from a skeletal
framework, which he would have then attempted to ‘flesh out’. While the
subject remained essentially the same, Hindemith seems to have been struck
by the idea to turn it into a canon. This typifies his attempts to make the Ludus,
above all else, a cerebral composition, and the fact that he also changed the
time signature from 4/4 to 4/2 perhaps recognises the older, Alla Breve style
of composition.
Example 4.37 Comparison of bb. 45–50 of Fugue 6 in E-flat, between the

published version and sketchbook draft.
Final Version
4 œ™ œj œ
45
& 8 nœ nœ œ nœœ œ œ #œ œ œœ #œœ œj #œ # œj # œ # œ #œ #˙
{
Œ ‰ J # œ œ # œ #œ # œ ‹ ˙
? 48 bœ œ ‰ #œ #œ ‰ b œ ‰ œ Œ Œ
3
J #œ J œ #œ J œ œ #œ ™ # œ œ œ #˙
3-9 3-9 3-9
Draft
nœ
& nœ nœ nœ #œœJ n œ #œœ nnœœ œœ bœœ nœ bbœœ bw
{
Œ ‰ œJ b œ b œ
J 3 n˙
? bœ œ ‰ œ œ bœ ‰ j bœ nœ ‰ œj ‰ bœj ‰ j Œ
J bœ nœ bœ ™ b œ œ œ b˙
Example 4.38 Hindemith’s original fugue subject.
& œj œ œj œ œ œ œ™ j
œ
œ™
Example 4.39 Ludus, Fugue 11, unpublished draft.
#˙ #˙ ˙ #˙
& ˙ #˙ ˙ #˙ #˙ nœ n œ ‹˙™ #œ
{
#˙ ™ #œ ˙™ #œ n˙ #˙ ˙ #˙
? ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
8
˙
& #˙ nœ̇ nœ # ˙ #ẇ #˙ # n˙
# ẇ ẇ #˙ n˙˙ Œ
{
˙ # # ẇ ˙
? ˙ #˙ ˙ #˙ ˙
∑ ∑ #˙ ™ #œ #˙ nœ nœ ˙
Hindemith’s ‘Blackboard’ Fugue Strategies
Hindemith was reputed to have a formidable ability for improvising

compositions, particularly fugues, during class teaching. There are three
extant fugue sketches, which were notated by students, from classes at Yale,
Tanglewood and Buffalo, all of which date from approximately 1940.29 By
analysing his counterpoint and fugue subjects, it is possible to understand how
Hindemith was able to perform such quick compositions: by emphasising the
structural use of quartal pitch collections, which draws further connections
between the Ludus, the Unterweisung style, and Hindemith’s compositional
processes.
The fugues from Yale and Buffalo are merely brief sketches, copied down
hastily by students. However, they show Hindemith’s approach to writing
fugue subjects and answers at speed. In the Buffalo fugue fragment, seen in
Example 4.40, Hindemith’s subject can be understood as a Paradigm 2 subject,
comprising the large collection of pitches, 9-9.
Hindemith’s Yale fugue is of particular value, as it contains an original
subject written by a student. This is followed by a correction to the fugue
with the beginning of an answer, and then a ‘better’ version lasting six bars
(Example 4.41). The original subject is clearly influenced by Hindemith’s style,
although Hindemith’s first correction changes the opening interval to a fourth
rather than a fifth.30 He offers two possibilities for the entrance of the answer,
deciding in the end that an octave is best; although the different contours in
29
These have been made generously available by the Hindemith Collection at Yale
University Library, and the University of Buffalo Library.
30
This adds credence to the reputation that Hindemith’s strong personality and
international reputation meant that all of his students inevitably wrote in a similar
style.
the answer lead one to wonder whether the student copied the work down
from the board correctly.
The Tanglewood Fugue is a more substantial source, and includes an
entire work, written in six sessions of the academy. It has much in common
with Hindemith’s subsequent Ludus fugues, particularly as it was written
in three parts. It must be no coincidence that Hindemith never completed
his Unterweisung IV, and had therefore only formulated the Unterweisung
in up to three voices, and never wrote fugues in more than three parts. The
Tanglewood Fugue exposition entries are I–VII–I, which creates a more
distant relationship than any of the Ludus expositions. His fugue subject is a
combination of an ascending chromatic pattern within a quartal collection,
and is therefore a Paradigm 3 (Example 4.42). These pitch groupings are
Example 4.40 Hindemith’s Buffalo Fugue, written in 1940.
3 j bœ bœ bœ
& 4 œ œ bœ bœJ ‰ ‰ bœ œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ œ
Example 4.41 (a) Original subject by a student.
œ bœ œ #œ
& œ bœ bœ ˙ œ œ
(b) First correction to the subject.
œ bœ œ #˙ œ œ b œ bœ b˙ œ œ bœ bœ œ™ œ
& œ J
& Œ ∑ Ó Œ œ œ œ bœ b˙
(c) Second correction to the subject.

œ bœ œ #˙ œ œ b œ bœ b˙ bœ œ™
& œ œ™ J bœ
J
& Œ ∑ Ó Œ
œ #œ œ bœ ˙
œ œ b œ nœ
& bœ ™
Œ œ œ œœ™ œ bœ #˙
4
bœ œ nœ œ œ™ #œ
J J J
& œ #œ œ œ ˙ œ œ bœ œ b˙
œ œ
Example 4.42 Hindemith’s unpublished blackboard fugue from Tanglewood

(1940/1941).
Moderato
3
& 4 œ œ œ bœ œ nœ bœ nœ nœ œ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
bœ bœ bœ œ
Quartal, pc-set 7-35
3
& 4 œ œ œ bœ œ nœ bœ nœ nœ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
bœ bœ bœ bœ œ
Chromatic
created by the salience factors of repetition, metric position, and phrase

structure.
A study of these pedagogical fugues provides a further context for
Hindemith’s Ludus. His concern with the Unterweisung is reflected not only
by the quartal collections of the subjects, but by the very fact that he was
writing so many fugues around the early 1940s. Hindemith’s formulation
of music theory found an ideal outlet in fugue writing, as it was capable of
demonstrating all of the remarkable transformational operations available
to counterpoint written with quartal pitch collections – which, as we have
observed, are closely related to Series 1 and 2.
Reflections
The Ludus was written between 29 August and 9 October 1942, which,
given the contrapuntal complexity and length of the work, is a considerable
achievement. Hindemith’s awareness of the cyclic properties of Series 1 meant,
however, that it is likely he had been considering a composition that explored
the range of operations available to it for some time.
A divide exists between the audibility of devices used to construct these
fugues. Stretto and canon may be reasonably picked up by the competent
listener, whereas retrograde and inversion are much more difficult to hear.
These latter examples are ‘visual’ devices which may be more readily observed
on the page (which perhaps explains Hindemith’s enharmonic switch midway
through Fugue 10). This divide contrasts Hindemith’s post-Unterweisung
music with the early works, which were written more directly for the listener
and performer, and contained, by contrast, far more performance directions
and exaggerated expression and tempo markings. Hindemith’s Ludus offers
perhaps more generous rewards to the music analyst, who has the time to
filter through the unparalleled riches of transformational operations to be
found in the cycle, than the concert-going audience. It is unreasonable to

expect a modern listener to hear and appreciate Hindemith’s retrograde and
inversion devices without access to a score, despite Hindemith’s fearsome
expectations in aural skills. It is not coincidental that many performances
of the Ludus have been lecture recitals where Hindemith’s fugal techniques
may be brought to the fore.31
The use of quartal pitch collections is especially common in twentieth-
century fugue subjects, and Hindemith was not alone in recognising the large
array of transformational operations that this afforded. Bartók’s Concerto
for Orchestra (1943) contains quartal pitch collections used to construct a
fugue with inversion and stretto. Example 4.43 shows the powerful fughetta
formed between two trumpets. The opening five bars of the subject comprise
a quartal tetrachord. The ‘answer’ in the first trumpet is an inversion of the
subject, which is possible harmonically because of the quartal collection – the
accompaniment to the fugue remains the same for both entries. Example 4.44
shows the stretto found in the first movement, which again is accomplished
due to the quartal harmony implicit in the structure of the subject. The subject
overlaps in the trumpets and trombones in all six parts, which is a remarkable
compositional achievement enabled by quartal pitches, where any inversion or
overlap creates a harmonically similar result.
Some areas of the Ludus cycle, it might be argued, are not as strongly
connected to Unterweisung principles. Three more unrelated aspects include
the use of polytonality, ‘consecutive fifths’ in Fugue 5, and the overall design
and approach towards the tenth fugue. Polytonal references occur, in the
majority of instances, in the Interludiums rather than the Fugues, as a result of
Example 4.43 Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, fifth movement, bb. 201–21.
2 j bœ
& 4 b˙ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ ‰ bœ bœ bœ œ œ bœ œ ‰ bœ bœ bœ œ bœ
201 Tpt 2
bœ ™ bœ bœ . . . . . . . .
b˙
b œ ™ bœ bœ . . . . . . . .
3
Œ Œ
b ˙ b œ œ œ œ b œ œ œ œ
210 Tpt 1
& bœ bœ bœ œ œ bb˙˙
3
bœ bœ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ b ˙
& bœ bœ ‰ bœ œ œ bœ
216 3
‰ bœ bœ œ œ bœ bœ
J 3
31
Neumeyer gave a lecture recital on 24 October 1977, for example, entitled
‘Process and Product: The Genesis and Structure of Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis’ at
the University of Kansas School for Fine Arts.
the sparse textural density created by three parts in the fugues. The technique is
subtly implied in Fugue 4, however, when Hindemith combines fugue subjects
with different pitch centres. A further case may be argued for polytonality
in the twelfth fugue, in bars 15–18, shown in Example 4.45. Hindemith
creates a sort of ‘bi-modal’ effect by outlining both C-sharp major and minor
simultaneously. That Hindemith emphasises the E-natural by repeating the
accidental in bar 15 in the bass voice proves that the effect was intended.
With the exception of these examples, the relationship between
Hindemith’s Unterweisung-music theory and the Ludus is very strong,
as demonstrated by a survey of the background and foreground of the
composition. Series 1 states that the intervals of a fourth and fifth are of
the closest structural affinity to a fundamental pitch. This may be found
throughout the Ludus, in three primary ways: by regular use of quartal pitch
collections (3-9, 4-23, 5-53 and 6-32), by basing contrapuntal lines over a
background skeleton which emphasises quartal regions by salient factors,
and by planning the fugue subject entries, and their corresponding answers,
on their distance from a fundamental. The starting pitches of each fugue
{
Example 4.44 Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, first movement, bb. 363–71.
‰ bœ ™
j
363
I & ∑ ∑ œ bœ bœ œ bœ b œ bœ ™ bœ j
bœ b œj œ
‰ j
œ ‰ bœ ™ j ‰ œ bœ ™
f marc.
j
∑ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ ™ bœ j j
{
Tpt in C II & bœ bœ
& œ ‰ bœ ™ bœ ™
f marc.
j
III bœ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ ™ bœ j
bœ b œj œ
‰ j bœ b œ œ
bœ ™ b œ bœ œ b œ b œ b œ ™
f marc.
? œ bœ b œ
I ∑ ∑ ∑ ‰ J J
b œ ™ b œ œ b œ b œ bœ ™
f marc.
? ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ œ ‰ bœ
Tbn in C II J
œ ‰ bœ ™ bœ bœ œ b œ bœ
f marc.
III
? ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ J
f marc.
#œ #œ #œj œ #œj œ œ #œœ #œ#œ #œ #œ œ nœ ™nœ œ œ ™nœ j

15
& J #˙ ™ œ J #œ # œ n œ J #œ#œ œ nœ œ #œ # œ ™
{
J
# œ n œ œ n œ n œ n œ n œ # œ œj œ ™ ˙™
? ‰ ‰‰J J J J #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ œ œ#œ œœ ##œœ#œœ ##œ™
œ™
J J J
corresponding to Series 1 are an even deeper background level reference to

the Unterweisung.
Hindemith’s Series 2 approach is harder to quantify. It may include the
doubling of root pitches at structural points, ‘strong’ intervals immediately
following ‘weak’ ones to create phrasing, and sensitivity to harmonic
fluctuation. These areas help to build a coherent compositional technique that
is not tonal or freely chromatic. However, it is much harder to pinpoint exactly
how Hindemith put this into practice; indeed, he even broke some of his own
rules, such as consecutive fifths in Fugue 5.
Hindemith’s sketchbook and blackboard fugues provide valuable insights
into his compositional process. The blackboard fugues show the formidable
speed with which he could write music in a class situation, and that they
were written in a similar style to the Ludus. The sketchbook demonstrates
that Hindemith made the Ludus even more cerebral than his original
inclinations, such as the eleventh fugue which started life as a conventional
fugue structure before being changed into a canon with accompaniment. The
sketches show that, in many cases where Hindemith altered his drafts, he
did so to conform to compositional devices legitimised by the Unterweisung
– the most prominent being the use of quartal pitch collections. He often
worked from a skeletal structure resembling a chorale, which was elaborated
upon with greater rhythmic and harmonic interest.
The Praeludium/Postludium pair is one of the most remarkable structural
relationships ever written, and is one of the main reasons for the considerable
success and renown of the work. However, that a retrograde inversion
of a complete movement was possible may say more about the nature of
Hindemith’s compositional language – particularly concerning quartal
collections – than his prodigious technique.
o
5
Theory-based Revisions
Revision is an intrinsic stage of the compositional process. Aside from the

fortunate few who may write down a musical idea in polished form, composers
constantly rework, refine and hone their material during the process of
writing a new piece. This is not revelatory; and yet the status of a musical
work, once premiered or published, changes. The present chapter considers
two of Hindemith’s revised works through the lens of his compositional
development and theoretical re-workings, in addition to evaluating their
critical reception. Its investigation is made all the more enticing given the
timing and substance of Hindemith’s revisions. The two examples, Das
Marienleben for soprano and piano (1923 and 1948) and Lieder nach alten
Texten for SSATB choir (1923 and 1937–1938) were crucially written
before Hindemith devoted his time to writing the Unterweisung, and then
subsequently revised as a corollary of his theory. They therefore provide a
unique opportunity to analyse the relationship of Hindemith’s music theory
to his compositional practice, not just as a prescriptive device, but as a
corrective tool. Marienleben and Lieder are set apart from a composition
such as the Ludus Tonalis, which was written with fresh, theoretical ideas in
mind. The revisions may be understood as a comparison of instinctive versus
systematic musical composition. Along the way, we need to bear in mind
the fundamental distinction between revision as process, and the revision
of published scores to produce a simultaneously accessible second version.
A draft, and a publication, possess different statuses. The difference is key
to understanding the mixed, tangled and sometimes abrasive reception of
several of Hindemith’s revised scores.
Similar to the Ludus Tonalis, the Marienleben cycle is a composition of
noteworthy length and scope. That all of the songs in the cycle, which lasts
approximately sixty minutes in performance, underwent revision offers an
enormous array of musical data which can be analysed to further understand
the relationship of Hindemith’s music theory to his own compositional practice.
A comparison of the two versions also helps to quantify the stylistic difference
between Hindemith’s early and later styles. Lieder nach alten Texten, of smaller
design, is instructive as an unaccompanied choral work, which affords an
opportunity to engage with the revisions to Hindemith’s counterpoint, in a
way not found in a composition for soprano and piano. Hindemith’s treatment
of cadences, in particular, is noteworthy.
These two works were selected from the following list of Hindemith’s
compositions, which were written before the Unterweisung and subsequently
revised:
• Das Marienleben (first version 1923, second version 1948)

• Frau Musica (first version 1928–1929, second version 1943)
• Lieder nach alten Texten op. 33 (first version 1923, second version
1937–1938, entitled Five Songs on Old Texts)
• Cardillac (first version 1925–1926, second version 1952/1961)
• Neues vom Tage (first version 1928–1929, second version 1953–1954)
Hindemith’s revisions to Neues vom Tage (1953–1954), though occurring long

after the Unterweisung, are primarily related to the stage drama and therefore
not music-theory driven.1 Frau Musica belongs to his op. 45 collection Sing-
und Spielmusik für Liebhaber und Musikfreunde, which was written with
the needs of amateurs in mind and therefore does not reflect the complex
theoretical concerns found in the other revised works. The Cardillac versions
are significantly more sizeable in scope, involving a complex web of musical,
textual and dramaturgical revisions. Curiously, this list solely comprises vocal
works – none of Hindemith’s instrumental works were subjected to noteworthy
alterations either side of the Unterweisung publication. Though many revisions
result from Hindemith’s theory, several relate to vocal writing. Hindemith had
grown unhappy with his early treatment of the voice and desired to write for it
more idiomatically – in parallel with his practical approach towards the series
of instrumental sonatas.
The revised edition of Marienleben is preceded by a substantial foreword
of eight pages in length, in which Hindemith summarises his revisions and
motivations. It is unusual for composers to document the revision process
in this detailed manner, which is made even more significant given the
connection between Marienleben II and Hindemith’s music theory. A central
focus of the present chapter therefore explores the relationship between
theory and practice, as a consequence of the unique circumstances of the
Marienleben cycle.
1
See Skelton, Geoffrey, Paul Hindemith: The Man behind the Music (London:
Gollancz, 1975) p. 266: Hindemith’s ‘alterations to Neues vom Tage were simply efforts
to improve the stage-worthiness of a work which he once described to Cox as “a
harmless and funny comedy”’.
THEORY-BASED REVISIONS 179
In the following analysis of Hindemith’s revised music, the following areas

receive priority:
1. Rhythm and Metre

2. Tessitura
3. Voice-Leading and Melodic Shape
4. Dynamics
5. Character
6. Large-Scale Structural Planning
7. Harmonic Practice:
a. works that retain the background
b. works that alter the background
c. harmonic density/rhythm
Within these categories, we may relate five areas to Hindemith’s music

theory. The first concerns his use of Series 1. Similar to the Ludus,
Hindemith uses Series 1 on both foreground and background levels.
However, perhaps for the only time in Hindemith’s music, his order of
pitches carries extra-musical symbolism, similar to a leitmotif, relating to the
dramaturgy of the Marienleben cycle. The second category is Series 2, which
impacts upon harmonic practice, such as chord type and chord fluctuation.
As we have seen (particularly in relation to the Ludus cycle), while
Hindemith provides a detailed taxonomy for chord values and fluctuation,
the application of Series 2 to free composition is one of the least explicit
components of the Unterweisung. The third area relates to voice leading
within a two-voice framework, generally found by isolating the two outer
parts. This is also relevant for the fourth area, which concerns changes to the
soprano part. These changes are made primarily to form a more idiomatic
soprano part, but will also have been influenced by the agenda of two-voice
framework. Finally, the fifth area relating to the Unterweisung is the notable
change in character and expression markings. These become more explicit
and conservative in Hindemith’s post-Unterweisung style.
This chapter provides general examples of Hindemith’s revisions, before
three more detailed case studies which examine (1) a song with regular, yet
minor revisions, (2) a song with significant background revisions, and (3)
a new song, which holds no similarities with the original. It then analyses
four songs from Lieder nach alten Texten/Five Songs on Old Texts to provide
a more focused examination of the contrapuntal revisions afforded by the
Unterweisung.
Das Marienleben
Das Marienleben contains in microcosm the essence of Hindemith.2
The original Marienleben cycle was composed throughout 1922: a year of

prodigious and exuberant creativity that also gave birth to a song cycle, Die
junge Magd, Suite 1922, Kammermusik No. 1 for small orchestra, a ballet,
Der Dämon, a stage work for children, Tuttifäntchen, Sonata for Solo Viola
op. 25/1, Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3 and Sonata for Viola d’amore and
Piano op. 25/2.3 There is a notable stylistic pluralism between songs in the
Marienleben cycle, which is similar in approach to many of Hindemith’s
works from this period. His early fondness for Expressionism, which
relates strongly to his solo string music of 1922, shines most prominently.
Marienleben consists of fifteen songs, which set the poems of Rainer Maria
Rilke (1875–1926), and which depict the life of the Virgin Mary. The cycle
is divided into four parts: Mary’s life before Jesus, the birth of Christ and the
journey to Egypt, the death of Christ, and finally the death of Mary herself.4
Skelton (1975) notes that Hindemith likely chose the text for its rich subject
matter, rather than out of religious sympathy – at the time, Hindemith was
not demonstrably spiritual though a confirmed Protestant.5
The first version lasts a little over sixty minutes in performance.6 It was
premiered by soprano Beatrice Lauer-Kottlar and pianist Emma Lübbecke-
Job (who gave the first performances of many of Hindemith’s piano works).
Skelton (1975) documents correspondence from Hindemith to his publishers,
in which Hindemith declares, ‘I definitely think they [the Marienleben songs]
are the best things I have yet written’.7 It is surprising, therefore, that after
the first performance of Marienleben in 1923, Hindemith considered revising
2
Copland, Aaron, Aaron Copland: A Reader – Selected Writings 1923–1972, ed.
Kostelanetz, R. (New York: Routledge, 2003) p. 215.
3
Skelton (1975) pp. 66–7.
4
Hindemith, Paul, Das Marienleben: Introductory Remarks for the New Version of the
Song Cycle, trans. Mendel, Arthur (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1948) p. 5.
5
Ibid., p. 76. However, Hindemith did appear to become more spiritual towards the
end of his life, particularly given his Mass of 1963, which was part of an unfinished
cycle of mass settings, and as a result of his marriage to Gertrud, a practising Roman
Catholic.
6
Given the length of the cycle, performance timings vary. The timing is based on
Lenz-Kuhn & Kaiser (Thorofon) of 61:06.
7
Skelton (1975) p. 77.
it.8 The original cycle was written at a slightly slower pace compared to
other works from this period, in the eight months of June, July, November
and December 1922, and April to July 1923. Neumeyer however notes that
Hindemith’s Marienleben sketchbooks contained little rejected or reworked
material, similar to many of Hindemith’s works from the 1920s.9 At the time,
it does not appear as though revision (after a motif had been put to paper) was
a troublesome and laborious element of Hindemith’s compositional technique,
although one can never be sure how much, aurally, Hindemith had worked on
musical ideas before committing them to paper.
In stark contrast, there are many jettisoned revisions to the second
Marienleben version, acknowledged by Hindemith in his foreword.10 These
include songs with up to five wholly different versions, and songs with
up to twenty reworked passages. Noss (1987) finds that Hindemith ‘had
begun the revisions in 1936, intending to have it published along with
his Unterweisung im Tonsatz as a demonstration of how the theoretical
principles outlined in the book might be applied’.11 However, the majority
of Hindemith’s revisions were widely spaced and occurred from 1936–1937,
1941–1942 and finally from 1945–1948.12 This suggests that Hindemith,
though starting out with the intention of including the revisions as a further
example of his Unterweisung in practice, found it a significant challenge. For
the second version to have occupied him for a further decade implies that
the revision process presented further, unexpected, theoretical and musical
issues. It may also have been lowered in Hindemith’s priorities following
his emigration to Yale and immersion in teaching, textbook writing, and
his instrumental sonata series. Of further relevance is Hindemith’s failure
to publish his Unterweisung theory in more than two parts; though he had
begun the teaching of three-part composition in class, his lack of publication
suggests a curious disillusionment with the scope of his theory in dense
polyphonic textures.
Hindemith orchestrated six of the Marienleben songs. Numbers 1, 5, 7 and
8 were published in 1939, and numbers 10 and 15 were published in 1959.
8
Holl, Karl, ‘Musikleben: Frankfurt a. M’ Die Musik, Vol. 16 (1924) p. 297, writes
that ‘Hindemith will shortly undertake a review of the entire cycle’. This is cited in
Neumeyer (1986) p. 137.
9
Neumeyer (1986) p. 143.
10
Hindemith, Introductory Remarks (1948) p. 3; Neumeyer (1986) p. 137.
11
Press, 1989) p. 128. This is also confirmed by Skelton (1975) p. 134. Were these sketches
to surface, they would offer further insights into the temporal relationship between
Hindemith’s revisions and the Unterweisung.
12
Neumeyer (1986) p. 145.
They are now published together in the collected edition as Sechs Lieder aus
‘Das Marienleben’. It is unclear whether Hindemith intended to orchestrate
the complete cycle, although he embarked upon the orchestrations during
his theoretically-driven revision of the piano version.13 The collection of
six orchestrated songs also forms a musical and dramatic summary of the
complete cycle. ‘Geburt Mariä’ and ‘Vor der Passion’ are literal orchestrations
of the revised versions that were to appear in Marienleben II in 1948, with
only very small discrepancies. It is revealing that the opening bass motif from
‘Vor der Passion’ is given to the ’cello, which furthers the affinities between
the expressionistic pitch collections of this song and the character of the
Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3. The orchestrations of the remaining four
songs, while based on the 1948 cycle, contain more substantial elaboration.
The alterations fall into two categories: those that thicken the texture, using
rapid scale passages, such as ‘Argwohn Joseph’, bar 27; and those that add
a countermelody, such as the added first violin obbligato in ‘Vor dem Tode
Mariä III’, bars 80–83 and ‘Rast auf der Flucht in Ägypten’, bars 72–7 and
82–90. In addition to a thickening of the texture, the additional pitches
clarify the harmonic structure.
Marienleben II lasts longer than its predecessor, at over seventy minutes, as
a result of several rewritten songs and tempo marking changes.14 The theory-
driven revision process from the first to the second version is summarised
by Taruskin (2009a) as follows: ‘the cycle’s key sequence was reordered in
conformity with Series 1, its harmonies were clarified in conformity with
Series 2, and its melodic writing was tamed to make it more practical for the
singer’.15 Taruskin misses, however, the important foreground and background
voice-leading relationships within each song, which are aligned to follow
Series 1 hierarchies more closely. In greater detail, the revisions made to
Marienleben may be summarised in six areas:
1. An increased preference for quartal harmony;

2. In general, fewer, and more direct, performance directions and
expression markings;
13
Kaufmann, Henry W., Paul Hindemith: Sämtliche Werke (Mainz: Schott & Co.,
1982) p. xi.
14
Recordings of Marienleben II include Kupper & Seemann (Christophorus,
B002B3CH6O, 1990): 75:41, Meyer-Topsoe & Salo (Danacord Records,
B001QWFVGY, 2009): 70:58 and Isokoski & Viitasalo (Ondine, B002JP9I5M,
2009): 71:42.
15
Taruskin, Richard, The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 4: Music in the Early
Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009a) p. 769.
3. Cerebral proportional designs;

4. A more conventional approach to voice leading and counterpoint;
5. Clearer, more tonal harmonic progressions;
6. Greater sensitivity to harmonic tension, and the way that this is
structured throughout the composition.
These categories may be related to Hindemith’s analytical approach, which is

illustrated in the seven graphic analyses and commentaries at the end of the
Unterweisung. His self-analysis of the Mathis der Maler Symphony, the final
case study, contains six reductive and interpretative levels: melodic degree-
progression, step-progression, two-voice framework, fluctuation, harmonic
degree-progression and tonality. The melodic degree-progression and step
progression are governed by Series 1, and the two-voice framework by a
combination of Series 1 and 2. Throughout Hindemith’s Introductory Remarks,
he describes the ‘tonality’ of each song, to precipitate his description of
Series 1 and harmonic fluctuation relationships. This may also be found in
the lowest stave of his analyses. The term ‘tonality’, however, is potentially
misleading. As discussed in previous chapters, Hindemith’s music theory is not
strictly diatonic, but comprises of pitch relationships within an acoustically-
derived framework. Any system constructed with the use of overtones is
likely to contain inherent tonal characteristics; and yet Hindemith’s selective
manipulation of acoustic relationships favours the perfect fourth over the
major or minor third. The pitch or group of pitches defined by Hindemith as
‘tonality’ in his Unterweisung analyses are based on Series 1 and 2 distances, as
opposed to the tonic-dominant polarity epitomised by music of the diatonic,
Common-Practice era.
There are subtle, yet frequent changes of character between the two
Marienleben versions. The expression and dynamic markings are considerably
fewer in Marienleben II, and in general the counterpoint is simplified making it
more concise, direct and technically sound – by the ordered standards codified
in the Unterweisung. The Marienleben revisions, stemming from music-theory
construction, brought about a change in character in the music, as well as
technique; the implication being that systematic application of Hindemith’s
theoretical principles resulted in aesthetic conservatism. Parallels may be made
against Hindemith’s attitude towards performance. Danuser (1988) notes
from the recordings of Hindemith’s performances that he began with a direct,
non-expressive style towards his own works in the 1920s, before reverting to a
more expressive style from the 1930s.16
16
Danuser, Hermann, ‘Abschied vom Espressivo? Zu Paul Hindemiths Vortragsstil
in den zwanziger Jahren’ HJb, Vol. 17 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1988) pp. 26–40.
Hindemith’s Marienleben revisions have invited (often heated) critical

comparison. Many authors have concluded that the original was far
superior: Rudolf Stephan (1954) wrote that ‘in place of spontaneity one is
now faced with the concoctions of an unstable theory and with a handful
of practical formulae which are used by Hindemith and his imitators within
the confines of respectable academicism’.17 Hans Werner Henze (1949), too,
preferred the first version, as did Glenn Gould (1978) in his essay ‘A Tale
of Two Marienlebens’.18 Robin Holloway (2010) goes as far as to describe
Marienleben II as ‘the most extreme instance of self-correction in all music’,
before condemning the revisions as ‘a tale of genius defeated by pedantry’.19
Neumeyer, on the other hand, disagrees with Stephan on musical criteria; this
is perhaps not surprising given the former’s penchant for music theorising.20
Hindemith student, composer and pianist Franz Reizenstein also defends the
second version:
It is fascinating to read in his preface to the revised version of Marienleben (1948)

how he [Hindemith] takes the young Hindemith to task for unvocal writing,
lack of harmonic clarity and other faults. Early last year the BBC broadcast the
1924 version without giving listeners any subsequent opportunity of hearing
the revised version, thus ignoring the composer’s wishes. I would advocate that
first versions of revised works should only be given in programmes specially
devised for musicologists and students who are interested in the changes the
composer made.21
The simultaneous publication of both versions is partly responsible for these

notably polarised opinions. Had the first version been withdrawn after 1948,
Hindemith would have made a clearer statement about the status of each work.
If Das Marienleben is the work, then we should only perform its final version,
and use the first version in a similar archaeological context as one would a
17
Stephan, Rudolf, ‘Hindemith’s Marienleben (1922–1948): An Assessment of its
Two Versions’ The Music Review, Vol. 15 (1954) p. 287.
18
Henze, Hans Werner, ‘Das neue Marienleben’ Melos, Vol. 16, No. 3 (March, 1949)
pp. 75–6, and Gould, Glenn, ‘A Tale of Two Marienlebens’, Das Marienleben [CD
Liner Notes] (Sony BMG, B001UC189E, 1978, 1995) reprinted in The Glenn Gould
Reader (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985).
19
Holloway, Robin, ‘Corrective to a Fault’ The Spectator (27 March 2010).
20
Neumeyer (1986) p. 163. A large part of his monograph is dedicated to a new
theoretical understanding of Hindemith’s music, particularly in accordance with
Unterweisung III.
21
Reizenstein (1967) p. 134.
compositional sketch or historical curiosity.22 As it stands, both versions are

available separately, inviting critical opinion over which may be more valid,
technically assured or aesthetically pleasing. Also to blame is the perception of
revised works. In a sense, post-publication revision undermined Hindemith’s
craft. This may particularly relate to the vocal writing, which by Hindemith’s
own admission, was substandard and not idiomatic. There is also the divisive
matter of technical, systematic composition (i.e. by applying Unterweisung
concepts) versus abstract, spontaneous composition.
Hindemith’s technical clarification of harmony, melody and rhythm were
an attempt to elevate the status of his art. But for those listeners who prefer
Hindemith as the unpredictable, complex and provocative enfant terrible, his
temperate meddling reduces their enjoyment of the cycle. To counteract his
disbelievers, Hindemith argues in Introductory Remarks: ‘a theory that cannot
replace unnecessary and disproportionate difficulties with something easier is
worthless’.23 Whichever opinion one takes regarding these revisions, the debate
can never be elevated beyond the status of aesthetic and idealised subjectivity.
Unfortunately, as Skelton regretfully concludes, ‘only too often in such cases
the public, uncertain which of the two versions to accept as authentic, tends
to ignore both’.24 As will also become apparent in the following survey and
analysis, many of the revisions are not as significant as one might expect from
the substantial secondary literature. It is the principle of revision that has
provoked debate.
The 1948 Introductory Remarks
Hindemith wrote an eight-page foreword to Marienleben II.25 This document

summarised the changes between the two versions, and Hindemith’s
motivations for undertaking them. It is divided into seven sections, which may
be summarised as: (1) general intentions, (2) weaknesses of the first version, (3)
revised structural plan, (4) overview of the revisions in each song, (5) motivic
and thematic relationships, (6) revised tonal structure, and (7) concluding
22
Glenn Gould (1985, p. 155) disagrees, seeing the two Marienlebens as different
works: ‘the relationship of the two Marienlebens is emphatically not that of first
to second draft. Notwithstanding the vast amount of reprocessed material, the
reproduction intact of one song (“Stillung Mariä mit dem Auferstandenen”) and
the inclusion of another (“Pietà”) which boasts such minor alterations as to make no
matter, the two versions proceed from very different compositional concepts’.
23
Hindemith, Introductory Remarks (1948) p. 4.
24
Skelton (1975) p. 236.
25
There is a high word count for these eight pages, as the text is small and tightly
spaced.
remarks. The foreword may be interpreted in several ways: a simple map of

Hindemith’s revision process; an artistic confession; or a defensive document
that attempted to legitimise his alterations against potential critics. Hindemith
provides his own explanation thus: ‘what I have set down is intended to give
the reader subject matter for reflection rather than an exhaustive analysis’.26
His attitude could not form a greater contrast with his youthful statement
from 1922, quoted in Chapter 3, ‘I cannot give analyses of my new works
because I don’t know how to explain a piece of music in a few words (I would
rather write a new one in the time)’.27
Hindemith highlights the main problems in the first cycle as poor soprano
writing and lack of a structural plan. This includes both dynamic and expressive
designs, which he traces in the chart shown in Figure 5.1.
The dynamic climax (song 9), has the loudest dynamic markings (fff )
maintained for the longest time. The expressive climax (song 11) meditates
on the ‘Pietà’, and contains atmospheric writing: repetition, understated
dynamic range, avoidance of resolution and sparse textures. Hindemith’s chart
is therefore explicitly related to the revised score. However, without a precise
y axis, the reader is not offered the further information necessary to quantify
the tripartite relationship between the songs, tonal symbolism and Series 1.
This relationship is implied throughout the introductory text, however, where
Hindemith defines each tonal symbolism, and where it appears within the
music. We are left wishing for more information.
A simple distribution analysis of pitch centres for the revised cycle may be
constructed as follows, whereby each pitch represents a single song. As seen
in Table 5.1 and Example 5.1, the only pitches to be repeated are E (three
times), B (twice) A (three times) and D (twice). Together these structurally-
emphasised pitches form the quartal tetrachord 4-23.
These relationships represent an impulse to connect keys not only to
moods and atmospheres, but to topics. They indicate a further compositional
possibility inherent within Hindemith’s system of pitch hierarchy: that not
Figure 5.1 Hindemith’s revised climax diagram from Introductory Remarks

(1948) p. 6.
26
27
Kemp, Ian, Hindemith (London: Oxford University Press, 1970) p. 1, also cited in
Chapter 4.
Table 5.1 Tonal structure in Marienleben II.
Song Tonality Subtonalities
Complete Cycle E
1 Geburt Mariä B G-sharp, A
2 Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel C
3 Mariä Verkündigung A C-sharp, E-flat, G-sharp
4 Mariä Heimsuchung B E-flat
5 Argwohn Josephs F C-sharp, A
6 Verkündigung über den Hirten A D, G-sharp, B-flat, B
7 Geburt Christi E C, C-sharp, E-flat, G
8 Rast auf der Flucht in Ägypten D F-sharp, G-sharp, A
9 Von der Hochzeit zu Kana E E-flat, F, F-sharp, G-sharp, A
10 Vor der Passion F-sharp E-flat, E, G-sharp
11 Pietà B-flat E-flat
12 Stillung Mariä mit dem Auferstandenen E
13 Vom Tode Mariä I E-flat G, A, B-flat
14 Vom Tode Mariä II (Thema mit Variationen) D C-sharp, E-flat, A
15 Vom Tode Mariä III A C-sharp, E-flat, F-sharp, B
Example 5.1 Marienleben II pitch centres.
œ œ œ œ bœ bœ œ
& œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ
Tonic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
only can pitches relate to melodic distance, but they can infer extra-musical
meaning. This matter is emphasised within Hindemith’s Introductory Remarks
where Hindemith ascribes specific pitch centres to notable, recurring themes
in the text. His symbolisms for each pitch centre are listed in Table 5.2, in
order of increasing distance from the fundamental pitch for the cycle, E.
Table 5.2 Tonal symbolism in Marienleben II.
Tonality Series 1 Hindemith’s Description
E 0 ‘That for which gives [Mary] her existence its meaning, and without
which we should not be able to understand and revere the life of
Mary: the nature of her son’.
B 1 ‘Mary herself is represented by the tonality of B, which as the

dominant is dependent on E, and yet is indispensable to the
interpretation and determination of the latter – just as the earthly
existence of Christ is made possible through His mother’.
A 2 ‘Complementary to the dependence of B as the dominant of E is

the subdominant relation of A. If the B represented the earthly origin
of Jesus, A reminds us of the other side of His being: the celestial,
the divine’.
C-sharp 3 ‘the inevitable, the fixed, the unalterable’
G-sharp 4 ‘our inability to grasp things that lie outside our power of conception’
G 5 ‘the tonality of the idyllic’
C 6 ‘appears whenever the idea of infinity and the eternal is to enter

our imagination’
F-sharp 7 ‘The acknowledgement of the smallness that one feels in the face of
the exalted and the incomprehensible’.
D 8 ‘Trust and confidence’
F 9 A tritone from B (Mary), F ‘is connected with everything that moves

us by its mistakenness or short-sightedness to regret and pity’.
E-flat t ‘the greatest purity, the purity that is sublimated into lifelessness and
in the end becomes identical with death’.
B-flat e ‘everything in the domain of human feelings that at first opposes itself
to the believing acceptance of all the wondrous happenings’
To highlight the depth of key symbolisms in the revised cycle, Hindemith

provides the following commentary of song 14:
(‘Death of Mary’, II) The tonal contemplation of the death of Mary there
set down would lead us to approximately the following series of thoughts
and feelings: we are made aware of the entrance into infinity (C, measure 1),
which, with its utter inexorability (C-sharp, measures 2–3) but yet with its
infinite gentleness (diffuse G, measure 4) fills us with a feeling of our own
minuteness (F-sharp, measures 5–6). Although we trust fate (D, measure

7) we are nonetheless troubled by a slight feeling of lack of understanding
(B-flat, 8). The believer will recognize in the Redeemer (E, 9–10) and in
His once earthly mother (B, 11) his guides towards the final purity of death
(E-flat, 11–12).28
The foreword implies that Hindemith hoped his key symbolisms would
have an aural effect upon the listener – which became one of the main
areas of the Marienleben revisions to provoke critical backlash. However,
it is not his only objective. He parallels his intellectualised method of
musical construction with the fourteenth-century isorhythmic motet.29
As Hindemith’s fascination with music of the fourteenth century – and
early music more broadly – gathered momentum following his emigration
to the USA, Hindemith’s revisions to Marienleben were based not only
upon the technical concerns of the Unterweisung, but upon a potpourri of
musical fascinations that evolved independently of his music theory. It is
further plausible that Hindemith hoped his intellectualised approach to
composition and revision would facilitate a more lasting engagement with
his music, making it not only satisfying to listen to, but rewarding to study.
Unfortunately, this became a bone of contention with many critics of the
revised cycle, including a damning account by Gould:
For Marienleben, after all, is a cycle about a mystery, and to establish an a priori
network of finite tonal symbols to which the incomprehensible is directed to
conform (even when the incomprehensibility is itself a replete with its own
harmonic parallel) seems to me dramatically self-defeating.30
In addition to Hindemith’s ‘divine symbolism’ reworking, he introduces a

form of leitmotif. The most notable example is the opening six bars in the
piano part from the first song, which Neumeyer has found to resemble a
Mariensonate by the baroque composer, Heinrich Biber (1644–1704).31 The
material appears throughout the cycle, in a number of different characters.
Hindemith’s leitmotif treatment was a completely new addition to
Marienleben II; it did not occur at all in the first version. After the first song,
it appears in number 6, bar 203, and throughout number 7. Each occurrence
coincides with the theme of Mary in the text.
28
Hindemith, Introductory Remarks (1948) pp. 12–13.
29
Ibid., p. 13.
30
Gould (1985) p. 156.
31
Neumeyer (1986) pp. 146–9.
Hindemith was evidently pleased with the opening motif to the Marienleben
cycle, as he chose not to alter it in any way (Example 5.2).32 It comprises the
incomplete quartal collection 4-26: in the opening bar, an E is required to
‘complete’ pc-set 5-35. Both the vertical alignment of the first chord, and the
subsequent voice-leading in the right hand, suggest quartal pitch collections.
The only point where a single chord comprises a complete quartal
collection is the final beat of bar 2, pc-set 3-9. That this occurs on a weak
beat is surprising, as Hindemith generally uses quartal collections at structural
strong points. However, this lends the motif its character: one of unresolved
harmonic stasis.
A Critical Comparison of Marienleben 1923 and 1948
In both published versions, Hindemith’s titles and order of movements remains

unchanged, as does the text. Table 5.3 summarises the main differences
between each version.
Not all of the changes are acknowledged by Hindemith in his comments.
However, for those that he does acknowledge, he often gives a precise
justification for his revisions. Moreover, not all of his changes were directly
motivated by theoretical concerns. Some of the changes are explicitly related,
others are not. The following survey is predominately concerned with revisions
that are directly related to the Unterweisung.
Hindemith’s alterations may be further categorised as follows:
1. Songs that were completely unchanged, with the exception of very

small details;
2. Songs with voice-leading revisions, but holding similar character and
background structures to the original;
3. Songs that were entirely rewritten.
These three differences form the basis of my Marienleben revision case-studies.
Songs that were unchanged
Only the eleventh and twelfth songs, ‘Pietà’ and ‘Stillung Mariä mit dem
Auferstandenen’, remained untouched, save some very small exceptions. They
occur at the emotional climax of the cycle: one explanation for the absence
32
His metronome marking, while remaining the same between both versions, is
notated differently. In the 1923 version Hindemith writes crotchet = 120, whereas in
the 1948 version he writes dotted minim = 40–42. This shows that Hindemith wanted
the bar, rather than the crotchet beat, to be emphasised.
Example 5.2 The opening to Marienleben (both versions).
œ œ œ
3-9
3 ˙ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙˙ œœ ˙˙ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙˙ ™™
4-26
& 4 ˙˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙™
{ 3
& 4 #˙
˙ œœ ˙
#˙
œ #˙˙
œ
œœ ˙
˙
œ #˙
œ ˙
œœ ˙
#˙
œ #˙˙ ™™
œ
of revisions is therefore that Hindemith had infused the songs with so much
musical energy in the first version that he was reticent about changing them.
They are also some of the most motivically concise works in the cycle. The
Pietà chord (Example 5.3) also appears at the end of song 9, in bar 139, as a
prelude to number 11: in this way, it almost resembles the use of leitmotif that
Hindemith was to introduce in his revisions.
‘Pietà’ is largely unchanged between the two versions, with the exception
of some supporting piano material. This begs the question: what was
theoretically correct in the first version? The opening bar features as a
recurring motif throughout the song, implying a monothematic approach,
which is responsible for the stark, desolate atmosphere. The opening chord
is neither octatonic, nor based on quartal harmony. It contains two tritones,
and falls within Hindemith’s less stable group B chords. The fifth interval on
the fourth beat of the bar may be understood as a resolution to this chord,
although because of the omission of four of the parts this is incomplete.
Furthermore, this resolution offers a bitonal effect, as it implies a combination
of F major and B-flat major triads.
The opening soprano phrase gives the strongest indication as to why much
of the song was not revised. Each set of three notes comprises quartal trichord
3-9. Furthermore, the voice leading emphasises descending fourths and
ascending fifths. When this part does not feature, the two-voice framework
strongly emphasises the perfect fifth interval, [B-flat F].
The style of ‘Pietà’ I is strongly characteristic of Hindemith’s early,
expressionistic style. For it to remain almost unchanged in Marienleben II is
therefore surprising, as Hindemith did not write in this style again until the
end of his life, in works that include the Sonata for Tuba (1955) and the Mass
(1963). In Introductory Remarks, Hindemith writes of ‘Pietà’ that it ‘has not
been changed, except for a few tones added to support the voice’.33 This is
not an accurate summary. The opening five bars consist of two 3-9 trichords,
symmetrical around an E/F axis, shown in Example 5.3a. According to
Hindemith’s summary, the additional counterpoint in the right hand of the
33
Table 5.3 Marienleben revisions summary.
Song Revision Comments
1 Geburt Mariä Small differences, apart from two rewritten passages
2 Die Darstellung Mariä Entirely rewritten.

im Tempel Some general dynamic similarities.
Some small similarities between the backgrounds of the
bass line.
Basic rhythmic similarities in the soprano part.
3 Mariä Verkündigung Entirely rewritten.
4 Mariä Heimsuchung Small revisions.
5 Argwohn Josephs Small changes to voice-leading.
6 Verkündigung über Similar in character, but with regular significant structural

den Hirten revisions.
7 Geburt Christi Song replaced entirely with a new version.
8 Rast auf der Flucht Basic alterations to chord fluctuation and voice-leading.
in Ägypten Piano accompaniment is simplified.
9 Von der Hochzeit Major revisions to accommodate a more effective dynamic

zu Kana plan. This includes replacing the opening fugato section. The
new composition has also more than doubled, from 82 to
166 bars.
10 Vor der Passion Small melodic alterations, with an extended piano postlude.
11 Pietà Almost identical, with additional pitches in the piano to

support the vocal part. The dynamics have been altered to
conform with the overall dynamic plan for the cycle.
12 Stillung Mariä mit The only unchanged song.

dem Auferstandenen
13 Vom Tode Mariä I Harmonically and melodically ‘cleaned up’: regular

changes to the voice-leading of the soprano part. Piano
accompaniment unchanged in character, with only minor
adjustments of voice-leading. Some piano textures in the
latter half of the song are reduced from four to three parts.
14 Vom Tode Mariä II Revisions treated in the same manner as song 13.
(Thema mit Variationen)
15 Vom Tode Mariä III Revisions treated in the same manner as song 13.
piano from bars 3 to 4 (Example 5.3b) was included to support the vocal
part. However, it has another function, which Hindemith does not mention.
It introduces a new pitch on the final quaver beat of bar 4 – a G – which
completes a new quartal tetrachord, 4-23, using the remaining pitches in the
phrase. The opening five bars become entirely quartal with the addition of this
pitch, whereas in ‘Pietà’ I, they were not (Example 5.3c).
As we can see, there is a point of symmetry between the [E-flat B-flat F]
and [E B F-sharp] trichords. Neumeyer (1976) moreover demonstrates the
Example 5.3 (a) Marienleben I (1923) no. 11, ‘Pietà’, bb. 1–5.
Sehr langsam. Mit schmerzlichem Ausdruck

3-9 3-9
b˙
(q = )
& ∑ ∑ bœ œ nœ #˙ ™ Œ
n˙
Jetzt wird mein E - lend voll,
p
Œ Œ œ Œ Ó ∑ Œ
f
& b˙˙ œ b˙˙ œ b˙˙ œ
{
˙ ˙ ˙
p f
? b˙˙ Œ ˙ Œ Œ Ó ∑ ˙ Œ
b˙ bœ bb˙˙ bœ œ bb˙˙ bœ
(b) Marienleben II (1948) no. 11, bb. 1–5.

3
Sehr langsam (q etwa 38) 4
mf
b˙
& ∑ ∑ bœ œ nœ #˙ ™ Œ
{
n˙
Jetzt wird mein E - lend voll,
3
œ Œ Œ™
Œ œ Œ œ j j
4 j Œ œ
& b˙˙ b˙˙ œ œ œ b˙˙
˙ ˙ #œ œ ˙
mf p mf
? ˙ Œ
bb˙˙ b˙˙ Œ Œ Ó ∑ ˙
bb˙˙
Œ
bœ b ˙ bœ œ bœ
(c) Marienleben II (1948) no. 11, bb. 1–5, pitch analysis.

3-9
bœ bœ
point of symmetry 4-23
œ œ
3-9
& œ nœ n œ œ œ
#œ
symmetrical form of the complete ‘Pietà’.34 The work revolves about a central
point between bars 14 and 15, surrounded by concentric relationships such
that bars 1–5 map to 28–32; 6–8 to 25–7 and 9–11 to 19–24. Hindemith’s
penchant for mirror devices is nowhere more apparent than in the Ludus Tonalis
– which, as I have mentioned several times, is the quintessential expression of
his theory and practice. Therefore, the presence of a symmetrical structure in
the 1923 ‘Pietà’ is a further reason why he did not feel the need to revise it.
The only song without a single alteration in the cycle is number 12,
‘Stillung Mariä mit dem Auferstandenen’. Unfortunate to this investigation,
Hindemith does not provide an explanation: his rationale for leaving a song
unrevised could have been at least as informative as those songs that have
been revised. It is possible to observe several characteristic Unterweisung
traits in this piece, however, which can lead to an understanding of why it
was unrevised. The song is concise, lasting only forty-six bars in duration, with
only a single motif which dominates the piece. This central idea, of four bars
in duration, is shown in Example 5.4.
The first chord is bimodal, implying both E major and E minor. The
superimposition of major and minor thirds is a device also found in Fugue 12
from the Ludus. The second chord, on the third beat of bar 1, is the quartal
collection 4-23, although the pitches are arranged to emphasise the two
available minor seventh intervals of the set. This interval, together with its
inversion as a major second, characterises the rest of the song.
Viewed in isolation, the soprano writing is diatonic, implying E minor, with
occasional quartal voice-leading, shown in Example 5.5. The 4-23 tetrachord
is identified by the avoidance of diatonic features, such as a sharpened leading
note (D-sharp) or minor third (G), and emphasis on salient fourths and fifths.
Example 5.4 Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 12, ‘Stillung Mariä’,
bb. 1–6.
Sehr leise, sanft und zart. Leicht bewegte Viertel (100-108)

pj j
& ∑ ∑ ∑ Œ œ œj œ™ œ œj œj œ œ ∑
{
<n> œœ ™™ œœ #œ œœ™™ œ œ œ ™ œJ œ œ <n> œœ ™™ œœ #œ ˙˙™™ œœ™™ #œœ <n> œœ ™™ œœ #œœ
œ œ
Was sie da - mals emp - fan - den:
˙˙
& J≈ J≈ J≈ J ≈ J≈
? #œœ ™™ ≈ œœ œ #œœ ™™ ≈ œ# œ œ™ œJ œ #œœ ™™ ≈ œœ œ #˙˙ ™™ œœ™™ ≈ œ #œœ ™™ ≈ œœ œ

p pp
œ ˙˙
J œ J J œ J œ J œ
4-23
34
Neumeyer (1976) p. 86. It should be noted, however, that the symmetry applies
only to the motivic layout, not the precise number of bars.
The soprano writing in this song is some of the most idiomatic in the cycle,
particularly as the piece centres on the same pitch region, which, as a B, sits
comfortably in the middle of the soprano voice.
The two-voice framework, and the associated harmonic fluctuation,
strongly represents the Unterweisung spirit with which Hindemith revised
other songs in the cycle. A Hindemithian analysis of Example 5.6, faithful
to Hindemith’s own analyses, is revealing in two ways. Firstly, the bimodal
harmony of the first beat of bar 1 and the quartal, 4-23 pitch collection
of bar 1 beat 3 may both be categorised as chord group A/III.1, showing
that Hindemith provides them with equivalent harmonic value (which
is seemingly at odds with their harmonic effect). Secondly, that there is
very little harmonic fluctuation at all in the extract. This may have been
understood by Hindemith as an appropriate response to the text of the song,
‘Consolation of Mary with Christ Arisen’: the music is static, tranquil and
calm. The passing augmented fourth on the fourth quaver beat of bar 2 is the
furthest point of departure, although this has little background significance
as the point of least metrical salience.
As in ‘Pietà’ – and given that Hindemith did not significantly change the
song – the expression markings remain unchanged. This includes the lack
of a time signature, which Hindemith would likely have added in a revised
version of the song. In the previous example (Example 5.6), Hindemith would
have notated four different time signatures had it been written in a post-
Unterweisung approach. The constantly changing metre, which characterises
Example 5.5 Marienleben II (1948) no. 12, bb. 16–20, soprano voice-leading
and pitch implications. The time signatures are not included in
the published score.
E minor 4-23
3 4 3 2
4 4 4 4
j œj œ œ œj œ™
& ‰ œj œ ™ j ‰ œJ j
16
œ ˙ œ #œ œ œ J œ œ œ
an al - len Stel - len er - stan - den. O zu ihr zu - erst.
Example 5.6 Marienleben II (1948) no. 12, bb. 1–6, two-voice framework and
harmonic fluctuation.
œ™ œ œ œ™ œ œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ ˙™ ˙ œ™ œ œ™ œ œ
& J ≈ J ≈ J ≈ J ≈ J ≈
{ ? œ™ ≈ œ œ
J
III.1
J
#œ œ
œ™ ≈ œ œ™ œ œ œ™ ≈ œ œ
J
III.1
˙™ ˙ œ™ ≈ œ
J
œ™ ≈ œ œ
J
this song, bears similarities with Hindemith’s early 1920s compositions, such
as the fourth movement of the Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1. In this sense, it
is surprising that Hindemith did not revise the metric structure to conform to
a more regular pattern. The background Series 1 distribution is also clear. The
work is a simple ternary form (ABA1), beginning with a pitch centre of E, with
a contrasting middle section in E-flat, before returning to E. These centres
correspond to Hindemith’s overall leitmotif design, whereby E refers to Jesus
and E-flat refers to purity (see Table 5.2).
Songs with voice-leading revisions
Hindemith’s most common form of Marienleben revision was to retain

the essence of each song, while changing various aspects of voice-leading,
soprano writing, pitch symbolism and harmonic fluctuation. Example 5.7 is
a comparative examination of a passage within song 8, ‘Rast auf der Flucht in
Ägypten’, to highlight a common contrapuntal revision.
Apart from subtle changes to voice-leading and word setting, and fewer
expression and performance markings, the most notable change in this
example is the piano chord progression. Why would Hindemith need to lower
the second line in the right hand by a minor third? The left hand remains
unchanged, and the aural impression of the two versions is very similar.
Possible rationales are (1) voice-leading, and (2) harmonic clarity, both of
which are related to Unterweisung practice. In the first instance, Hindemith’s
detailed work on voice-leading, found in both the codification of ‘two-voice
Example 5.7 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 8, ‘Rast auf der
Flucht in Ägypten’, bb. 4–9.
3 f™ j œ œbœ œ œj œj œj œj œ ™
4
œ œ bœ œ œj œ œbœ œ œ
cresc.
&4 Œ œ œ
f
#œ
mf
{
1923 R R J J J
& 4 ˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™
3
Die- se, die noche - ben a - tem-los flo - hen mit-ten aus dem Kin - der
˙ ™™
Œ Œ Œ
bb˙˙ nn˙˙ b˙˙
mp mf
˙˙ ™
? 43 Œ b˙ Œ nn˙˙ Œ ˙ f
™ ˙˙ ™™
bb ˙˙ b˙˙
n˙
˙™
3 f j j bœ j bœ j bœ j j nœj œ œ œ
&4 Œ ˙ œ ‰ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ
{
1948 œ œ J J
& 4 ˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™ ˙˙ ™
3
Die - se, die noch e - ben a - tem - los flo - hen mit-ten aus dem Kin -
™ ˙ ™™
Œ Œ Œ ˙˙
bb˙˙ nn ˙˙
˙˙ ™ ˙˙ ™
? 43 Œ bbb˙˙˙ Œ nn˙˙ Œ b˙˙˙
™ ™ n˙ ˙˙ ™™
˙™
framework’ in Unterweisung I (1937), and then throughout Unterweisung II

(1939), precipitated (or was precipitated by) a greater concern for voice-
leading which conformed to many of the strict rules of species counterpoint.
These voices are isolated in Example 5.8, which illustrates how, in the 1923
version, the D minor chord at bar 8/9 is reached by similar motion between
the left hand and the second line in the right hand. In the revised version, this
is altered to form greater contrary motion.
Hindemith’s motivation could also be harmonic. In both versions,
the chords comprise Hindemith’s favoured 3-9 trichord – which should
supposedly need no harmonic revision. However, the first version is arranged
so that it is based on consecutive sevenths, which Hindemith categorises as
group A/V, whereas the second group falls into his category of A/III. In other
words, Hindemith’s revisions to these chords change them from a less stable
chord category, described as ‘indeterminate’, to a more stable category. This
‘improves’ harmonic clarity by adherence to his categorisation.
With a similar agenda, Hindemith alters the voice-leading design of
passages from the first song, ‘Geburt Maria’. In both versions, Hindemith sets
contrasting harmonic and motivic material from bar 21 to accompany the text,
‘in dieser Nacht wird dem Knaben’. In the first version, there is a combination
of pitch collections of high cardinality and quartal voice-leading typical of
Hindemith’s music from the early 1920s. The first bar contains all twelve
pitches, with a doubling of F-sharp on the first beat. However, these notes are
written in such a way as to imply quartal harmony: one interpretation of the
right hand, for example, is three successive quartal trichords. Hindemith also
Example 5.8 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 8, piano

part, bb. 4–9.
5/6 Upper Voice Removed Neighbour Note
& Œ b˙
Œ
n˙
Œ b˙ ˙˙ ™
{
˙ ™™
? Œ b˙˙˙
1923
bbb˙˙˙ Œ nnn˙˙˙ Œ
Similar Motion
˙˙ ™™
Upper Voice Removed
˙™
& Œ Œ Œ ˙˙ ™
{
b˙ n˙ ˙ ˙ ™™
? Œ b˙˙˙
1948
bbb˙˙˙ Œ nnn˙˙˙ Œ
Contrary Motion
˙˙ ™™
˙™
appears to be exploiting the ‘black note’ pentatonic scale, a device also found
in the Suite 1922, ‘Ragtime’ bars 46 and 88.
It is therefore difficult to account for the alterations that Hindemith
made to this passage in Marienleben II, as it is characteristic of the early
compositions that he included in the Unterweisung appendix. In the second
version (Example 5.9) Hindemith writes a clearer ascending and descending
melody in the right hand of the piano, which could be one explanation. There
is also a greater harmonic journey, afforded by the second crotchet beat of bar
24. This is characteristic of Hindemith’s Unterweisung-style phrases that begin
with harmonic stability, move to a point of greater dissonance – judged by
Series 1 and 2 criteria – and then return to relative consonance.
The phrase structure is more theory-based, and less abstract than
Marienleben I. However, the element most retained from the early to post-
Unterweisung music is the use of quartal pitch collections. These are present in
the right hand of the piano in bars 22 and 24 of ‘Geburt Mariä’ II. Hindemith
uses them with greater restraint, however, than in the first version. Furthermore,
quartal chords are integrated more significantly into the background structure
of the song, as opposed to the foreground decoration of ‘Geburt Mariä’ I.
This includes changing the pitches of bar 22, second beat, to the pentatonic
collection 5-35.
These revisions imply a surprising element: polytonality, which as we know
was refuted in the Unterweisung.35 The left hand of bar 24 in ‘Geburt Mariä’ II
implies an incomplete F-seventh chord. However, the pitches around it imply
the scale of E major/C-sharp minor. The next bars complicate this relationship
further, as the left hand begins with an A-major triad, to accompany a scale
implying F major/D minor. This is followed by a B-minor triad in the left
hand against an implied scale of B-flat major.
Case Study 1: A full song with regular, yet

minor revisions – ‘Mariä Heimsuchung’
The fourth song of the cycle, ‘Mariä Heimsuchung’, was revised thoroughly,
although it maintained its character and background structure. Hindemith’s
relevant Introductory Remarks are as follows:
The only changes in the next two songs, the “Visitation of Mary” (No. 4), and
“Joseph’s Doubt” (No. 5), are slight shifts in individual tones or groups of tones,
and other minor alterations, in the interest of clearing up the harmonic and
melodic texture, but without touching the substance of the songs.36
35
See Craft (1942) pp. 152–6.
36
Example 5.9 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 1, ‘Geburt

Mariä’, bb. 21–5.
#˙ ™
21 dolce
& Œ #˙ #˙ #œ #œ #œ #œ ˙ #œ
{
in die - ser Nacht wird dem Kna - ben
3-9 3-9 3-9
#œ #œ #œ œ œ #œ œ œ
#œ #œ œ œ œ œnœnœ #œ œ#œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œnœ#œ œ œ œ #œ œ œnœnœ #œ œ œ #œ #œ œ œnœ œ
&
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
1923 3 3 3
& ###˙˙˙ ###œœœ œœ ###˙˙˙ ###˙˙˙ ###œœœ œœœ ##˙˙ ###˙˙˙ ###œœœ
œ #˙
& Œ Œ #œ #˙ #œ #˙ ™ œ #œ #œ œ #œ œ
{
“”
in die - ser Nacht wird dem Kna - ben die
nœ œ
# œ # œ œ n œ# œ# œ œ# œ œ#œ # œ # œ n œ# œ œ# œ œ# œ
#œ #œ # œ# œ #œ #œ # œ# œ ‰ nœbœ œ œ œ #œ
&
#n˙˙˙ ™™™
3 3 3 3
& ###˙˙˙ ™™™ ###˙˙˙ ™™™

1948 pp p 3
œœœ nbn˙˙˙
mp
œœœ #˙˙
#˙
The pitch centre of the work was altered from F to B to coincide with the
overall scheme for the cycle. Hindemith also clarified the tonality, including
more root progression triads. For example, the opening two-bar piano
introduction is transposed, with a few alterations, up a tone. The transposed
version outlines a clear triad in B, whereas the first version plays on an almost
bitonal ambiguity, which ends on a diad of [B-flat D] in the right hand and
[E G-sharp] in the left hand.
Despite the transposition of the piano introduction, the soprano entry
in bar 3 is at the same pitch in both versions. This seems at odds with
Hindemith’s transposition of the piano part, and his pitch symbolism. In
the Introductory Remarks, Hindemith writes that B is associated with Mary,
and as the fourth song is concerned with the ‘visitation’, he has transposed
the opening accordingly.37 However, the original soprano line outlines more
closely the pitches of A, E and D. One possible reason why Hindemith did not
change this soprano passage is that these central pitches may function within
a quartal collection containing B, to form quartal tetrachord 4-23. Though not
symbolic, it is nonetheless stylistic.
We have now come across one of the peculiarities of Hindemith’s revisions:
that he can alter the piano or soprano line, without altering the other part.
‘Mariä Heimsuchung’ contains many revisions to the soprano line, and yet
37
Ibid., p. 11.
with the same accompaniment, an operation which is occasionally possible

within Hindemith’s musical language (Example 5.10).
While the general contour of the soprano line in the first bar of the example
(corresponding to bar 8 in 1923 and bar 9 in 1948) is similar, outlining a
B-minor triad, its horizontal placement is shifted. The fourth dotted crotchet
beat in the first version starts with a D, while in the second version it contains
a B. The original D forms the fourth note of quartal tetrachord 4-23 with the
piano accompaniment. In the second version, the B is a simple doubling of the
lowest voice, which simplifies the harmony.
A comparison of these versions shows that the second version is simplified
and more direct, despite being of identical length. In bars 1–4 Hindemith has
added two pedal points in the piano left hand, to clarify the central pitch of
each phrase. There is also a more direct counterpoint between the two upper
voices of the piano part, which traces a stronger descending chromatic pattern
and harmonic fluctuation (Example 5.11).
Hindemith adjusts the melodic shape of the soprano part throughout
the song to make it more idiomatic. During Introductory Remarks, he
offers a detailed discussion of the problems with the soprano writing in
Marienleben I, and how he went about solving them in Marienleben II.
Hindemith begins by stating that ‘one of the most conspicuous weaknesses
of the old version was the slight attention it paid to the possibilities and
requirements of the singing voice’. He also admits that ‘the path of the vocal
Example 5.10 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 4, ‘Mariä

Heimsuchung’, bb. 8–11.
œ™ œ j Œ™ œ #œ ™ œ
œ Œ™
j j j
8
1923 & œ #œ œ ‰ œ #œ œ œJ #œ #œ
J
{
und dann stand sie, at - mend, aufden hohn Ju - den - ber - gen.
j ‰ œ œ œj ≈ ™œ ™œ ™#œ ™ œ™ #œ œj ‰ œ œ œj ≈ ™ œ ™œ ™#œ ™ œ™ #œ œ#œ œ œ

5
5 4
œ
n#œœ ™ œ œ™œ œ ™ œ™ œ ™ œ™œ œ ™ œ™
& J Œ™ œ
œ™ œ
œ # œmf™ œ™
œ™ œ™
œ ™ œ™ #œ ™ œœ™™ œ™
œ ™ œ™ œœ™™
? J #œ ™ œ™ #œ ™ œ™ Œ™
Œ ™ nœ œ œ #œJ œ ™
j
Œ™ œ #œ œ ™ œ œ#œ ™ œ j
9 p mf
& œ #œ J #œ
{
1948 J J
œ j ‰ œ œ œœ œj ≈ ™œ ™œ ™#œ ™ œ™ #œœ œj ‰ œ œ œœ œj ≈ ™ œ ™œ ™#œ ™ œ™ #œ œ ≈ ™œ ™ œ ™œ ™œ™ œ œ #œ œ

und dann stand sie, at - mend, auf den hohn Ju - den-
5 5
œ
n#œ ™ œ œ™ ™ œ™ ™ œ™ ™ œ™
5
& J J
œ™
# œ ™ œ™ œ ™ œ™
œ™ #œ ™ œ™ œ ™ œ™
œ™ #œ ™
4
#œ ™ #œ ™ œ™ #œ ™
™
? œ™ œ™
&
##˙˙ ™
Example 5.11 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 4, bb. 1–4.
j j œ œ™
œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œbœ œ J
p
& ∑ ∑ ∑
{
1923
Noch erging sie's leicht im An - be - gin - ne,
œ#œ œ™ œ#œ œ œbœ œ œ œ œ bœœ ™ bœœ ™™ ‰ nœnœ#œ œ#œ œ™ œ#œ œ œbœ œ bœ œ œ bœœ ™ bœœ j
& #œ œ œ œ ™ œ œ œ ™ bœ
œ œbœ œ ™ œ œbœ œ ™
p zart
? nœ ™ œ œœ œ œœ œ œœ bbœœ œœ #œ ™ œ™ œ œœ œ œœ œ œœbbœœ œœ #œ j
pp
J ™ Œ™
nœ n œ bœ
J b œJ
œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œJ œ œJ œ ™
j j
& ∑ ∑ ∑
{
1948
œ#œ #œ ™ œ#œ œ œnœ œ œ œ œ œ œ™ œ™

Noch erging sie's leicht im An - be - gin - ne,
œ#œ œ™
ŒJ ™ œ
œ#œ œ œbœ œ bœ œ œ œ™bœ œœ j
& #œ œ ‰ œ#œ
Œ J bœ
p p
œ
Œ™
j
œ #œ nœ #œ ™ nœ ™
j j j
œ™ œœ™™
&
Œ j
#œ™
Œ
j œ#œ nœ #œ™ nœ™ nœ ™ œ ‰ ?
œ™ # œ n œ
w™ œ ™ œ n œ̇ ™ œ™ ˙™
line was in very many instances dictated by other than vocal considerations’,
and then outlines these problems more specifically stating that the vocal
line ‘included progressions difficult (and sometimes almost impossible) to
encompass, unassimilated chromaticisms, awkward intervals, and elements
tonally incommensurable’.38 For Hindemith to write with these concerns
shows how far, aesthetically, he had come since his provocative and pluralistic
works of the early 1920s which were often characterised by an ostensible
disregard for comfortable performance.
Despite a focus on improved vocal writing, the pitch alterations also
affect the soprano’s counterpoint with the piano, a fact that Hindemith
would certainly have been aware. Example 5.12 shows an instance where the
soprano part was changed to make it more singable: the descending sixth
has been removed, in favour of a more conjunct melody line. That the piano
counterpoint remains the same results in greater harmonic clarity, where the
sixth of the triad is removed. This has the effect of making the passage sound
far more tonal than the original version.
38
Ibid., p. 4.
Example 5.12 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 4, bb. 5–8.
j œ™ œ
5
& ‰ œ bœ œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œJ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œJ œ œ nœ
J
J J J J J J
{
J
dochimStei - gen manchmalwardsie schonihr∑res wunder - ba - ren Lei - bes in - ne,
bœ œ œ œ
œ bœ œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ bœ ™ œ œ œ œ œ bœ ™
j j j
& bœ œ œ œ œ œ bœ
pp
bœ œ œ œ
? bœj œ bœœ œj œ nœ œ bœ
1923
œ™ œ œ œ œ
b œJ œ™ bœ™bœ ˙™
œ™ œ™ bœ™ bœ ˙™
œ™ œ™ bœ™ œ
™ œ bœ bœ ™
‰ œj œ bœ œj œ bœ œ œ œ œ nœJ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ bœ ™ Œ™
mf
& J J J J J J J J
{
dochimStei - gen manchmalwardsie schon ih - reswun - der∑ba - ren Lei - bes in - ne,
œ
b œ™bœ œœ ™™ œ™ œ ™ mfœ œœ™œ œ bœœ ™™ b œœ™
j j Œ j j œ œ œnœ bœ bœœ
& bœ œ œ œœ™ œ œœ ™ œ œ bbœ™ œ bœ™ œ œ‰ ‰
J
j ‰ ‰ Œ™
p mp
œœ ™
1948
? œ bœ œ j œbœ œ j
™
‰ bœ œ œ™ nœ œ œ™ bœ œ œ™ bœ œ œ™ œ™
J œ™ œ™ J œ™ œ™ œ™ œœJ
Case Study 2: Similar basic outline, yet significant

background revisions – ‘Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel’
and ‘Verkündigung über den Hirten’
Three songs in Marienleben II underwent significant revisions, and yet

retained similar outlines, including number 2, ‘Die Darstellung Mariä im
Tempel’, number 6, ‘Verkündigung über den Hirten, and number 9, ‘Von der
Hochzeit zu Kana’. A study of significant background revisions shows the
presence of Series 1 relationships, key symbolisms, and a clearer approach to
harmonic fluctuation.
‘Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel’ I is a passacaglia, a form that
Hindemith also used as the basis to the fourth movement from the Fifth
String Quartet op. 32 (1923) and Nobilissima Visione (1938). The revised
version retains the character of the passacaglia bass line, compared in
Example 5.13, which Schubert interprets to represent the grand structure
of the temple.39 However, the voice leading is changed substantially. In
‘Tempel’ I, the soprano part and the bass part each cover all twelve pitches
of the chromatic scale. Given that this is found within a single phrase, it is
likely to have been a deliberate compositional device. The revised version has
ten different pitches in the bass line, by removing D and F. The soprano part
has nine different pitches, omitting the quartal trichord made from E-flat,
39
Schubert, Giselher, ‘Paul Hindemith’ New Grove Online, accessed 21 December
2016.
F and B-flat. Similar to the soprano writing in song 12, ‘Stillung Mariä mit
dem Auferstandenen’, the melody is tonal, and yet ends with reference to
quartal pitch material.
The original passacaglia bass line comprises of four adjacent fifths in the
voice-leading, within a chromatic context, which was typical in Hindemith’s
1920s approach. That Hindemith chose to rework this passage parallels his
revision of ‘Geburt Mariä’, bars 21–6 (Example 5.9), whereby the prominent
foreground quartal collections were replaced in favour of a clearer background
scheme. The revised passacaglia bass line possesses a clear theoretical structure.
An analysis of the bass-line pitches according to Series 1 distance shows that
Hindemith typically begins and ends with stability, with harmonic tension in
between. The salience afforded by the beginning of each phrase confirms this
on a background level. As the tempo of the second version is notably faster,
this background design is more audible (Example 5.13).
Again, the revisions make the song more tonal. For example, the final chord
consisted of a C, with three octaves doubling. In the revision, Hindemith
adds an E to the chord, which emphasises not only the pitch centre of C, but
the tonality of C major. The revision to the harmonic fluctuation simplifies
the final progression, by lowering the value of the penultimate chord from
group IV to group I. This is particularly significant in Hindemith’s theory,
as the new chord does not contain a tritone, which distinguishes between
groups A and B (Example 5.14).
In Introductory Remarks, Hindemith writes the following concerning the
revisions to ‘Verkündigung über den Hirten’:
The musical substance is approximately the same in both versions, and yet this
is the song that has been subjected to more changes in its inner structure than
any other. It will always be a compositional problem of the first order to set
so many significant words to an equivalent music, especially when the means
of expression are confined to a soprano voice with piano accompaniment.
Nevertheless, the original version of this composition seemed to me so
convincing that I sought by every means to work the text into the form I had
originally imagined. Here too, it appears to me unnecessary to describe every
detail of the changes made. A comparison of the two versions will show the
first and the final stages in the technical evolution of the song, from which an
approximate picture of that process may be inferred.
These comments invite a comparative study of the two versions, although

it is infuriating that Hindemith does not elaborate more precisely on the
nature of his revisions. It is also relevant that the revisions to this song are
perhaps the most stylistically different. Hindemith’s approach to revision
in ‘Verkündigung’ prioritises key symbolism, soprano voice-leading and
a simplified, more tonal, piano part. The revised song is also a substantial
Example 5.13 Comparison of the passacaglia bass line from Marienleben (1923
and 1948) no. 2, ‘Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel’.
1923
Passacaglia. Ziemlich langsame Viertel (40-46)
œ œ œ bœ ™
p j j j bœ
nœ ™
3 ‰ œ bœ œJ œ™ j j j j j j j œ
{
&4 Œ œ #œ œ bœ bœ œ bœ J
3
Um zu be - grei - fen, wie sie da - mals war, mußt du dich erst an ei - ne
&4 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
5 5 5
œ
5
? 43 ˙ #˙ œ œ b˙ bœ
œ bœ bœ ˙
6
& œ œ œj j j j j j
J œ œ œ ‰ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ Œ
{
œ œ
œ œ bœ ™
Stel le ru fen, wo Säu len in dir wir ken,
j œj
- - - -
‰ bbœœ œ œ̇ œ bœ œ
n˙ ™
& ∑ ∑
J
? œ™ j p sempre legato
œ #˙
œ œ œ b˙ œ
bœ ˙
tritone
1948
Ziemlich langsam (q etwa 66)
& 4 Œ œ œj œj œ ™ œj œ œj#œ œ ™ œ œ œ ™ œJ œ œ ™
j j
3 j œ j jœ j j
p
{
œ œ œ œ #œ
3
Um zu be - grei - fen, wie sie da - mals war,mußt du dich erst an ei - ne Stel - le
&4 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
? 43 ˙
p
œ b˙ œ
œ œ #œ b˙ œ #˙ #œ #œ ™
j
#œ œ œ
7 mp
œ™ #œ #œ #œj
& #œ œ œ ™ j œ œ
{
œ œ J J œ
‰ œ #œ œj œ œ œ #œ #œ ™
ru - fen, wo Säu - - len in dir wir - ken,
∑ j ‰ j
& œ #œ nœ# œ œ œ
b˙
p
? œ #œ œ
œ œ
#˙ #œ n˙
eighty-seven bars longer, albeit at a slightly faster tempo marking. Though

the general pitch centre of A remains throughout both songs, Hindemith
transposes the first piano introduction up a fifth in his revision – which is
at odds with the soprano part, which is transposed up a tone. The (curious)
Example 5.14 The final three bars of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 2.
140 Ritenuto
˙™ ∑ ∑
{
&
bb˙˙˙ ™™ n ˙˙˙ ™™™ ˙™
b˙ ™™
U
n˙ ™
Haus.
& ? ˙™
mf pp
U
1923
?
b˙ nœ b˙™ ˙™
b˙ nœ b˙™ ˙™
A/III.1 B/IV.2
™
U̇
134
pp
& ˙™ ˙™
{
U̇
als das Haus.
˙ ˙ ˙
& #n˙˙ ™™ n˙˙˙ ™™ ˙™
Œ Œ Œ
n˙ ™ ™ n ˙ ™™ u
1948
u̇
U
pp
?
#˙ ™ b˙™ ˙™
#˙ ™ b˙™ ˙™
A/III.2 A/I.2
discrepancy between the transposition of the soprano and the piano part
parallels that found in ‘Mariä Heimsuchung’ (Example 5.12).
The piano part is greatly simplified by the revision process. The following
comparison in Example 5.15 shows that Hindemith even introduces a
period of silence in the piano part in bars 27–8, to break the otherwise
relentless quaver motion in the original. Hindemith also uses bass pedals,
similar to his revision of ‘Mariä Heimsuchung’, in bars 25–6, 28–9 and
30–31, which clarify the harmonic progression. To allow for these changes,
the passage is also lengthened. The bass part to the first version consists of
regular foreground quartal patterns in the voice-leading, similar to songs 1
and 2. These are revised with a clearer background structure, achieved by
pedal points and simple voice-leading patterns.
Hindemith introduces a substantial amount of new material to the song.
Most notable is a passage from bars 158–74, which is built on an ascending
sequence, and shown in Example 5.16a. Sequences were rare in the more
abstract and less regular early music: Hindemith subverted expectations.
In these revisions, he does the opposite. The structure of the sequence is
based around an ascending scale pattern of 3-9 trichords, which is shown
in the reductive analysis of Example 5.16b. The voice-leading between the
four-part texture in bars 166 and 169 is typical of Hindemith’s theoretical
style. The third beat of bar 169 consists of a quartal tetrachord, 4-23, which
Example 5.15 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 6,

‘Verkündigung über den Hirten’, bb. 18–27/23–32.
Von hier an sehr bewegt (h=84-88)
œ ™ œJ œ œ #œ œ
18
& b˙
mf
œ bœ œ ˙ œ #œ ˙ Œ nœ
œ
{
Seht, ich bin ein neu - - er stei - gen - der Stern. Mein
& Ó ‰ œ nœnœ œ œ#œ œ œ œ #œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ #œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

œ. bœ.bœ. œbœbœ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ nœ
1923
?
p sempre staccato
b˙ Œ bœ bœ bœbœ nœ nœ
b >˙ . bœ. œ. œ œ
5-35 4-23
œ ™ œJ œ œ #œ œ
23 Lebhaft (h=100)
{
˙ œ #œ
f
& b˙ œ bœ œ ˙ Œ nœ
œ
Seht, ich bin ein neu - - er stei - gen - der Stern. Mein
& ‰ nœ œ œbœbœ bœ œ œ ™
j
œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ#œ œ œ œ œ
n œ œ œœ œ œ
mf
> bœ œ œ œ œ bœ
1948
œ bœ nœ œ œ nŒw nœ
? bœ w œ #œ œœ nœ œ œ
bœ nœ œ œ
œ b˙ œ œ b˙ ™ ˙
23
& ˙™ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ
> > >
bœ œ œ bœ œ œ™ b œ
J œ œ œ œœbœ œ œ œ œbœ ˙œ ™ œ
gan - zes We - sen brennt und strahlt so stark und ist so
& #œ œ œ œ<n>œ œ œ œ œbœœœ œ Œ œ
{
1923 > > >
? bœ bœ œ œ œ b œ œ b œ œ ˙™
bœ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
4-23 4-23 4-23
<n>œ b˙
28
œ œ b˙ ™ ˙
& ˙™ œ œ bœ ˙ Ó
gan - zes We - sen brennt und strahlt so stark
bœ œ œ bœ j
& #œœ Œ œœ œ œ œ bœ œ œœ Œ œbœ œbœ bœ bœœ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œœ œœ
1948
{
? œ ˙™
œ
Œ œ bœ bœ̇ œ œ
™ œ Œ œ bœ bœ œ œ bœ
w ˙™ œ œ œœ œœ œ
œ
Example 5.16 (a) Marienleben II (1948) no. 6, bb. 158–74, sequence.
158 Breiter (h 88-92) p mp

∑ ∑ œ b˙ ˙ Ó Ó
& ˙ œ œ œ
˙ œ œ œ œ
{
Und wenn ein Dorn - ge - sträuch auf - flamm - te plötz -
œ b ˙˙ œ ˙
? Ó ˙ ˙ œw b˙ #˙ #œ œ Ów œ œ œw
œ œ Ó
p mp
? Ó Ó
˙ ˙ w ˙ #˙ #œ œ w w˙
˙ œ œœ ˙ w ˙ #˙ œ w w ˙
165 mf
& w #w
{
∑ Ó #˙ #œ #œ œ #œ
™ œj #˙ ™
# ˙™
j
? Ó #˙ #œ #œ œ˙
lich, dürf - te noch aus ihm
Œ Ó & #˙ œ™ œ
#œ #œ ˙
˙
mf
#˙ #œ #œ
## ˙˙ ™™
? Ó Œ Ó n˙
#˙ ˙
# œ #œ n ˙
170 Sehr breit
ff
#œ #˙ ˙ 3 2 w
& Œ #œ ˙ #œ #œ œ 2 ∑ 2
{
& ##˙˙ ™™ nœ 22 #˙˙˙ ™™™
der E - wi - ge euch ru - fen, Che -
3
˙™
Œ ∑ Ó ˙ 2 œ œ ˙™
#˙
? ##˙˙ ™™ Œ ∑ Ó #˙˙ 3˙
2 ˙˙ n˙˙ b˙˙ 2 ˙™
2 ˙™
˙™
˙ n˙ b˙
(b) Marienleben II (1948) no. 6, bb. 158–74, sequence, voice-leading
{
reduction.
158 162 165 173 174
˙˙ ˙˙ w
& b˙˙
˙ ###˙˙˙ ˙ #w
w
w
˙
3-9 3-9 3-9 3-9
˙˙
bb ˙˙˙ ˙
? ˙
˙ ##˙˙ ##˙˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ w
w
˙ ˙ b˙ w
x2
resolves in contrary motion to a bare fourth: this relates it to Hindemith’s

concept of two-voice framework and harmonic fluctuation.
Case Study 3: A fully reworked song, bearing no

similarities to the original: ‘Geburt Christi’
The seventh song, ‘Geburt Christi’ (‘Nativity of Christ’), was completely

revised between the two versions. There are no similarities between motif, text
setting, or structural planning. In the 1948 foreword, Hindemith describes
‘Geburt Christi’ as the weakest song from the original cycle.40 He writes:
Not only was its melodic material of slighter value than that of the other songs,
but it was harmonically unclear, in that neither the fluctuation nor the density,
and in the sphere of tonality neither the tonal design of the whole nor the
amplitude of tonal deflection, was carefully enough calculated. In addition,
it was wide of the mark as regards expression, since its scherzando character
conflicted disturbingly with the contemplative, somewhat resigned bearing of
the text. The song that replaces it in the new version seeks to avoid all these
weaknesses.
This self-critical attitude shows that Hindemith was actively concerned with
the ordering of harmonic fluctuation and tonal amplitude: both of which are
directly connected to the Unterweisung. Tonal amplitude may be arranged
according to Hindemith’s hierarchy of pitches in Series 1, while harmonic
fluctuation is based on chord value, which is based directly on the interval
hierarchies of Series 2. He also mentions expression and character in the above
extract – while these aspects are harder to connect to the more scientifically-
based theories in the Unterweisung, they are nevertheless symptomatic of
Hindemith’s post-Neue Sachlichkeit style, which included more conservative,
clearer expression markings and performance directions, and a more direct
compositional style. Time signature changes are notated, rather than
implied, such as the change from 3/4 to 2/4 in bar 29 of ‘Geburt Christi’
from Marienleben I. Hindemith’s orchestration of this song further clarifies
the tonality. The opening elaborates on the original piano chords using scales,
which create a stronger opening gesture. These scales define E more clearly, as
they include an F-sharp not found in Marienleben II.
The first setting of the ‘Geburt Christi’ text was characterised by an
uplifting tempo (crotchet = 108–112) and performance direction (Freudig
bewegt – joyfully moving). The positive and celebratory character of
Hindemith’s setting was likely inspired by the ninth line of the text, ‘Look
40
at yonder, see! these kings are great’. Before this line, however, the emphasis
of the text is one of mildness and humility, whereas afterwards it switches to
greatness – Hindemith’s setting does not replicate this narrative but, rather,
amplifies the overall sentiment. The general character of the original musical
setting, as Hindemith states in his 1948 foreword, was scherzando, becoming
far more contemplative in the revised version. Marienleben II sets the text at a
more stately tempo (crotchet = 72), although the music is notably less heavy,
with the omission of the accented passage at bar 31, shown in Example 5.17.
Lines 3–4 of the text are more sombre within the music, compared with the
far more declamatory setting in Marienleben I. Hindemith also emphasises
different words in ‘Geburt’ II, including ‘Völkern grollte’ (bars 13–15) and
‘Aber du wirst sehen’ (bars 150–52).
During ‘Geburt Christi’, Hindemith refers to the opening motif of
the full cycle, described by Neumeyer (1986) as the ‘Surrexit Christus’
motif, which is shown to be based on a violin motif from Heinrich Biber’s
‘Die Auferstehung’ (‘The Resurrection’) sonata.41 The motif appears from
bar 13 of ‘Geburt’ II, albeit slightly modified from its original form, shown
in Example 5.18. The general character is unmistakeable, bearing such
similarities as triple metre, melodic contours, and a repeating, harmonically
static, two-bar bass line. The pitch collections, while not identical, also
follow a similar pattern. Bar 13 of ‘Geburt’ II forms pc-set 3-7, which is
an incomplete quartal collection, missing an A, which would complete
the quartal tetrachord 4-23. The final beat of the second bar of the motif,
similar to the opening of the complete cycle, creates the quartal trichord 3-9.
However, the approach to pitch collections differs in the fourth bar, where
the complete quartal tetrachord 4-23 is formed.
The use of the ‘Surrexit Christus’ motif in ‘Geburt’ II suggests that
Hindemith was thinking much more in terms of leitmotif, or unifying
structural ideas, than in the first cycle. It further implies that, on lines 3 and
4 in the text, he wanted the listener to be reminded of birth: the first song
of the cycle is about the birth of Mary, the seventh about the birth of Jesus.
This treatment of motif is yet another example of how Hindemith’s style had
become more direct and conventional by earlier traditions.
‘Geburt’ II is a more conservative, rational and method-based work
than its predecessor. The revised song was more theory-minded and less
instinctively written by comparison with Hindemith’s 1920s approach.
Moreover, the different sections of the song are explicitly differentiated.
In ‘Geburt’ I, the character changes more seamlessly: the composition
41
Neumeyer (1986) pp. 146–7. His comparison between the melodic contours of
‘Surrexit Christus’ and Marienleben is convincing, whether Hindemith intended the
similarity or not.
Example 5.17 Comparison of Marienleben (1923 and 1948) no. 7, ‘Geburt

Christi’, bb. 26–33 and bb. 11–24.
1923
3rd line
œ™
j
œ #œj #œ #œ ™
j
26
f
œ œ #œ j œ œ œ œ #œ
&
{
œ™ œ™
Sieh, der Gott, der ü - ber Völ - kern groll - te,
œj œ̇ œj ##œœ #œœ œœ œœ œœ #œœ nœœ

#˙™™
nœ̇ œœ
& ##˙ ™™
? bœ œ œ
bœ œ œ œ œ bœ œ n#œœ #œœ #œœ #œœ œœ
n˙
4th line
> >
Breit
30
ff > > > >
& nœ bœ œ œ œ ‰ œj œ œ ˙ œ Œ
{
˙
macht sich mild und kommt in dir zur Welt.
#œ œœ nœœ b œœ œœ #œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
n#nnœœœœ ™™™™
j
& œ ‰ œj œ œ œ œ œ
? œœ bœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ bœœ œœ œœ
ff
‰ œj bœ bœ b˙ bœ
œ bœ bœ bœ bœ
b˙ bœ
1948
œ œ™ œ 42 œ ™ œ 83 œ ™ œ™
Leicht bewegt (q. bis 72)
j mf j p
& œ™
j
11
œ œ œj œ œ
2
{
Sieh, der Gott, der ü - ber Völ - kern groll - te, macht sich
Marienleben motif
& ˙™ œœ™™
Œ 2 ∑ 3 j
2
œ œ
˙™ œ™
4 8œ œ œ œ œ
? ˙™ 3 œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™
p
8 œ™ œ™
2
˙™
Œ 4 ∑
œ™
œ œ™ œ™
17
œ2 œ œ2 œ œ™ œ j ∑
&
{
mild und kommt in dir zur Welt.
j j œ œ œj œ j
& œœ™ œ œ œœ ™™ œ œ œœ ™ œ™
j
œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ
? œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™
œ™ œ™ œ™ œ™
Example 5.18 Comparison of Marienleben I, no. 1, bb. 1–7 with Marienleben II,
no. 7, bb. 13–24.
1923
œ œ œ
3-9
3 ˙ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙˙ œœ ˙˙ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙˙ ™™
4-26
& 4 ˙˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙™
{ 3
& 4 #˙
˙
œœ ˙
#˙
œ #˙˙
œ
œœ ˙
˙
œ #˙
œ ˙
œœ ˙
#˙
œ #˙˙ ™™
œ
1948
{
3-7 4-23
j
œœ™™
13 3-9
3
& 8 œ œj œ œ œ œ œœ™œ œ œ ™ j jœ œ œ j
œ œ œ œj œ œ
2
œ œ™ œ™ œ œ œœ ™ œ™ œ™ œ
? 38 œ ™ œ ™ œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™ œ™ œœ ™™ œ ™™ œœ ™™ œ ™™ œœ ™™
œ™ œ™ œ™ œ™ œ™ œ œ
is abstract and asymmetrical. In the revised version, the structure and

general characteristics are comparatively formalised – indeed, they may be
represented in Table 5.4.
The pitch centres of each section are clear, and create a Series 1 order of
0-1-6-0 in relation to the tonic pitch centre E. Unsurprisingly, the zone of
greatest distance (C) takes place approximately three quarters of the way
through the piece, before a return to the original pitch centre at the end
(albeit in the major mode). The strongest Unterweisung example of this
structural concept may be found in Hindemith’s ‘Practical Application’,
where, in a passage of nine chords, he describes a ‘harmonic crescendo’ to
chord five, followed by a ‘harmonic diminuendo’ to chord nine.42 In the first
song, such an explicit structure is absent.
Lieder nach alten Texten/Five Songs on Old Texts
The Marienleben revisions have understandably commanded scholarly

attention due to the length of the work, the proximity of the revisions to the
Unterweisung, and the revealing foreword to Marienleben II. However, there is
an opportunity to contextualise them against another composition, which was
revised at a similar time, and which was also included in the 1937 Unterweisung
42
Craft (1942) p. 158.
Table 5.4 Structural synopsis of Marienleben II, no. 7, ‘Geburt Christi’.
Time Pitch Lines of

Bars Signature Performance Direction Centre text
A 1–12 3/4 Crotchet = c. 72, Breit E 1–3
B 13–92 3/8 Dotted Crotchet = 72, Leicht bewegt B 4–12
C 93–149 2/4 Crotchet = 126, Ruhig bewegt C 13–19
A1 150 3/4 Crotchet = c. 72, Wie am Anfang E 20
appendix: Lieder nach alten Texten op. 33 (1923), revised as Five Songs on Old
Texts (1937–1938). This is particularly insightful for a study of Hindemith’s
revisions to counterpoint. The cycle has received scant attention in even the
most seminal studies of Hindemith’s music in the English language, such as
Skelton (1975), Neumeyer (1986), and Noss (1989).
The revised Four Songs on Old Texts first appeared in concert in Washington,
USA on 9 April 1937, sung by the Madrigal Singers and directed by Paul
Boepple.43 Other items in the programme included Hindemith’s Sonata
for Solo Viola op. 25/1, the Third Piano Sonata and four of the Hölderlin
poems from Six Songs for Tenor and Piano (1933–1935). Following the
success of the premiere, a fifth song was added at the request of Hindemith’s
publishers, which was to become the first song, ‘True Love’ of the final cycle
Five Songs on Old Texts. The English translations were made by W. Strunk, Jr,
with the exception of the new song, which was translated by Arthur Mendel.
This is ironic, as Strunk, one of the founders of American musicology and
a student of Johannes Wolf and Robert Kahn in Berlin, was failed by
Hindemith when he took an exam in composition for entrance to the Berlin
Musikhochschule.44
Apart from the Hölderlin settings, all of the works from Hindemith’s
Washington concert programme were included in the Unterweisung appendix
of 1937, which is unlikely to have been a coincidence. They appear to be some
of his favourite concert pieces. The revisions to the four songs from Lieder
op. 33 took place in 1936, which coincided precisely with the completion of
the first version of the Unterweisung, and so the revisions were saturated with
Hindemith’s musico-theoretical concerns. In general, apart from alterations
necessary to change the word setting from German to English, Hindemith
43
Press, 1995) p. 100.
44
Ibid. Today, Strunk is more widely known by his other first name, Oliver.
Table 5.5 Comparison of Lieder op. 33 and Five Songs.
Lieder nach alten Texten op. 33 (1923) Five Songs on Old Texts (1937–1938)
True Love
Frauenklage (Burggraf zu Regensburg) Lady’s Lament
Vom Hausregiment (Martin Luther) Of Household Rule
Art läßt nicht von Art (Spervogel) The Devil a Monk would be!
Der Liebe Schrein (Heinrich von Morungen)
Heimliches Glück (Reinmar)
Landsknechtstrinklied Trooper’s Drinking Song
made only small adjustments. That being said, they provide rare insights into
Hindemith’s approach to five-part composition.
Hindemith’s Lieder op. 33 contains six songs, listed in Table 5.5. Three
were revised for Five Songs on Old Texts, and the order of the final two songs
was switched, to provide a different ending to the cycle. The relevant questions
raised by Hindemith’s revisions are: (1) why did he keep three songs, and not
the others? (2) Why, and how, were these songs revised? And (3) how were
these revisions theory-motivated?
‘Frauenklage’ (Lady’s Lament)
Unlike Marienleben II, there is no helpful foreword explaining Hindemith’s

revisions; he likely did not see the need given that the cycle is more modest
in scope, lasting approximately eight minutes in performance, and the
revisions themselves are less substantial. The small adjustments in the
opening phrase indicate that Hindemith was thinking within a tonal or
modal framework. In both settings the phrase ends on an A major triad.
However, in the revised version, the B-flat is removed from bar 2, and the F
and C pitches are sharpened. In the first version, a false relation is created
by the B-flat in the alto clashing with the B-natural in the soprano in bar
2. While the A major triad in bar 3 is a clear destination for the opening
phrase, it is destabilised by the G-natural in the second soprano part,
creating a modal effect. In the revised version, modal ambiguity remains
throughout bar 2, but the cadence in A major in bar 3 is tonal, without any
destabilisation. This can be related to Hindemith’s Marienleben revisions:
the music is more direct, particularly at cadences, and the voice-leading is
altered to make it more idiomatic. We may observe these concerns in the
second phrase, from bars 3 to 5, where the stretto voice entries are revised
to provide a clearer, more tonal framework.
The change in expression markings further the notion that Hindemith
composed more sensitively for the voice from the Unterweisung years onwards.
The addition of crescendos and diminuendos, seen in Example 5.19, are
written in a way that makes the parts easier and more instinctive to sing, by
increasing dynamic levels with higher tessitura.
‘Art läßt nicht von Art’ (The Devil a Monk would be!)
Hindemith rewrote much of his setting of ‘Art läßt nicht von Art’ when
translating it to English. There are vague similarities, such as the emphasis on
B-flat from the opening, and the final pitch of G. Hindemith also retained
some of the accented quavers, such as the setting of the text ‘Er biß die
Schaf ’. However, the song is notable for the substance of its revisions. They
Example 5.19 Comparison of ‘Frauenklage’, bb. 1–5.
First Version, Lieder op. 33
° Œ - - - - - œœ œ œ œ œ 3œ #œ Œ j jœ
Ruhige Viertel
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ3 ™
p mf 3
S1 & œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ œ
Nunhei∑ßensiemich mei - - den ei∑nenRit - ter, den ich mag.
œœœœjœj œ œœœj œ
p mf
&Ó Ó Œ œœ œ œ œ
œ œœœœœ Œ Ó Œ j jœ
3 3 3
S2 œ œ œ œœ
Nun hei - ßen sie mich mei - den ei∑nen Rit - ter, den ich mag.
¢&
p mf
œ œ ™ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œœ œ ™
Ó Ó Œ œ j Œ j ‰ Œ Œ Œ
3
j j
œ œ ˙ œ bœ
A
˙
Nun hei - ßensie mich mei - den ei∑nen Rit - ter, den ich mag.
Second Version, Five Songs
In quiet and steadily flowing quarters
° j j
p
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ #œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ
3 3
S1 & œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œ™
They say I mustbe part - - ed Fromthe knight who is my joy.
p
Œ j j œ™ j j
S2 & Œ Ó Œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ
œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ
They say I must be part - ed Fromthe knight who is my joy.
¢& œ œ œ ™ #œ ˙
p
œ œ œ™ œ œ œ œ™
Œ Ó Œ j j Œ Œ
3
j j j
A
œ œ œ œ# œ œ œ
They say I must be part - ed Frommy lov - er, all my joy.
{
Example 5.20 Comparison of the final cadence from ‘Art läßt nicht von Art’.
j j j
bœ bœ bœœ bnœœ nœœ œ j
35
& œ b œJ œ œ ‰ Œ
bœ œ bœ nœ
? œ nœœ œœ
1923
œb œ œ œ ‰ Œ
{
J J J J J
3-9
j
& ˙ œœJ œœ #œœ œœ
29
œ̇œ œœ œ œ œ œœ ‰
J J J J œJ œJ
4
œœ b œœ # œœ
1938
? œœ œœ bœœ #œ œ œœ
J J J J J J œJ œ J ‰
3
include a simplification of the counterpoint, and the removal of semiquaver

passages that are demanding for the singer, such as the tenor line from bars
13–16. Hindemith also changed much of the voice leading, and increased the
number of parts from four to five, which allowed pedal points to be added
to four-part texture for harmonic clarity. Example 5.20 compares the final
cadence, which is preceded by a progression of quavers. In the first version,
the voice-leading is acceptable by Hindemith’s theoretical standards: there is
plenty of contrary motion between parts, and the lines move in small steps.
In the main, they are not hard to sing. However, the consecutive fourths and
thirds in the revision create a clear pattern, which forms a sequence. This
sequence is derived from only one chord type, represented by pc-set 4-22:
one of Hindemith’s incomplete quartal sets. The original was less ordered,
and more abstract.
The English-language setting is far more tonal, although despite the
clear definition of B-flat major, Hindemith does not use a key signature. The
opening section, from bars 1–11, while containing advanced harmonies within
each phrase, is characterised by clear, tonal, background harmony. This may be
expressed in the graphic analysis in Example 5.21, which draws attention to
contrary motion between parts and smooth voice-leading.
‘Landsknechtstrinklied’ (Trooper’s Drinking Song)
Hindemith’s second version of ‘Landsknechtstrinklied’ contains only minor

foreground revisions. The general texture is similar between both versions,
where the soprano voice carries the motivic material. Unlike ‘Art läßt nicht
von Art’, Hindemith reduced the number of voices in his revision. The
tenor counter-melody is removed, presumably as it originally formed strong
dissonances with the soprano part, which in turn may have made it challenging
to sing. Much of the semiquaver detail is also omitted. The time signature is
revised, so that the repeating pattern of 2/8–3/8–3/8 becomes 8/8.
Hindemith changes the harmony at the beginning of the song to sound
more tonal, and less quartal. The cadence again provides a focal point for an
examination of Hindemith’s revision process. He replaces the quartal chord
4-23 with a bare fifth, [B-flat F]. The previous chord is an incomplete quartal
chord, pc-set 4-26, which is followed by a bass progression of a fifth, implying
an altered plagal cadence (Example 5.22). This section is also preceded by a
B-flat pedal, which was not present in the original.
Example 5.21 ‘Art läßt nicht von Art’, bb. 1–11, voice-leading reduction.
{
3 6 9 11
& bœœ bbœœ bœœ

bbœœ bœ bbœœ bœœ
bœ bœ
? b˙ bb œœ bbœœ bb œœ nœ bœ b œ bn œœ
b˙
Example 5.22 Comparison of the final cadence from ‘Landsknechtstrinklied’.
bœj
4-23
bœ œ
& b œ bœ œœ œ bœ œ b œ bœ œœ
65
{
j
1923 & bbœœ œ bœœ ™ œ œ bbœœ œ bœœ
bœ
? bbœœ bœ œœ œ bœ œ bbœœ bœ œœ
J
œj bbœœ ™™ œj b˙
& ‰ bœ ∫bœJ bœ™ ∫bœJ bb ˙˙
36
b˙˙
1938
{? ‰bb œœ bœœj b œ ™ ∫œj b˙

chromatic
J bœ ™ œJ b ˙
b˙
The soprano line was altered by Hindemith’s revisions, although

maintained similar melodic contours. In addition to the change of time
signature, Hindemith deleted bars 9–10 of the original, which set the text
‘Tummel dich, guts Weinlein’. These originally outlined a G major/E minor
tonal area, which places it three Series-1 degrees along from its pitch centre.
Presumably Hindemith felt that this was too melodically distant for this
passage, and focused the subsequent section, which sets the text ‘Das Gläslein
soll nicht stille stahn’, on E-flat, two Series-1 degrees from its pitch centre.
His revisions slightly simplify the melody of the song, on his theoretical terms
(Example 5.23).
‘True Love’
Hindemith added a new song, ‘True Love’ to the revised cycle. This short
composition merits close attention; it was written during the time that
Hindemith was completing the Unterweisung, and was placed at the
beginning of a cycle that was both included in the Unterwieusng appendix
and the revision of earlier music. Three main approaches to composition
make this a quintessential Unterweisung composition: the regular appearance
of quartal harmony; sensitivity to idiomatic vocal writing; and unambiguous,
tonal cadences.
The piano reduction and reductive analysis in Example 5.24 highlights
Unterweisung-influenced approaches to harmony.
The song begins with salient reference to the quartal trichord 3-9 in bar 1,
which is extended in bar 2 to form quartal tetrachord 4-23. These two bars
Example 5.23 Comparison of the soprano parts from Lieder no. 6 and Five
Songs no. 4. The German translation for Five Songs is used for
this purpose.
& ‰ bœ œ œ bœ œ œJ œJ œ œ bœ ™ r r j j
3
1923 J J œ œ œ œ nœJ œ œj
Frisch auf, gut G'sell, laß rum - mer gahn. Tum - mel dich, guts Wein - lein.
j œ™ œ bœJ œ œ œ™ bœ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ œ bœ
11
& ‰ œ J J J bœ
J
œ
Das Gläs - lein soll nicht stil - - - - - le stahn.
& ‰ bœ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ bœ ™ œ™ œ œ™ œ ‰
1938 J J J J
Frisch auf, gut G'sell, lass rum - mer gahn,
j bœ bœ bœJ
5
œ bœ bœ œ™ œ œ œ
& ‰ bœ J J J J Œ Ó
das Gläs - lein soll nicht stil - le stahn.
imply a D minor modality, which is identifiable by voice-leading in the solo

tenor line, and salient chords on the second beats of bars 1 and 2. However,
bar 3 moves abruptly away from this centre. This is achieved by implying a
modulation to a flatter key, with the introduction of E-flat and D-flat, although
without the intervening A-flat. Having started this progression, Hindemith
interrupts it with a D-natural in the bass of bar 4.
The implied modulation in bar 3 may be understood using an Unterweisung
analysis. Taking D as the generating pitch, the numbers above the tenor solo
line in Example 5.24 show the varying distances within Series 1 (whereby
the pitch centre is 0, A is 1, G is 2 and so forth). The third bar – consisting
of 9-t-8-6 – is the most distant area, from the pitch centre of D, in the first
phrase. A background analysis of the section highlights this change more
clearly. There is no dominant chord, although the voice-leading of the phrase
emphasises the dominant note, A, in bar 4. The approach to counterpoint is
conventional, which emphasises contrary motion and the structural use of
dominant and tonic pitches, and yet the harmony is not diatonic. This is a
common characteristic of Hindemith’s Unterweisung-infused compositions.
Bar 3, identified with a horizontal bracket, is the most distant area of the
phrase, according to Series 1, before it then returns to the pitch centre of D
in bar 6 (Example 5.25).
Hindemith revised Marienleben and Lieder because much of their original
material anticipated his Unterweisung style. If there were no stylistic affinities,
Hindemith need not have bothered; he could have written new music.
Table 5.3, listing which songs were retained, altered or omitted is therefore
a crucial yardstick for judging which movements Hindemith already felt best
represented his theory in practice. We can further assume that the brand new
versions of the Marienleben songs 2, 3 and 7 – like the Ludus Tonalis – are
strong examples of Unterweisung practice in free composition.
It is important to note that the impulse to revise the cycle was not
originally motivated by musical-theoretical concerns, but by aesthetics. In his
Introductory Remarks (1948), Hindemith recalls that he considered revising
the cycle soon after its premiere, as ‘although in the Marienleben I had given
the best that was in me, this best, despite all my good intentions, was not
good enough to be laid aside once and for all as successfully completed’.45 It
was only during his Berlin years, from 1927–1937, that Hindemith would
have realised the potential for the revisions to showcase his music theory, and
therefore to include the work in the Unterweisung appendix. With this in
mind, one must question the relationships between technical craftsmanship,
emerging from systematic coherence, idiomatic vocal writing, and musical
sentiment. Technique and aesthetic do not always go hand-in-hand, which,
45
Neumeyer (1986) p. 137.
Example 5.24 Five Songs, ‘True Love’, bb. 1–5, keyboard reduction, omitting
{
the text.
Tranquillo
j j
3-9 4-23 *
4 œ œœ ‰ œœ œœ œœ œ œ œœ Œ œ œ œ œ œ 43 4
& 4 Œ œœ œœœœ Œ œ œJ œ b œœ bœ œ
bœœ ‰ Œ Ó Œ œœ œœ œœ #œœ œ #œœ œ œ̇ œ 4
œJ œ ˙
7 5j
j
œj œ bœ œ œ™ œ œ™ ≈b œ œ b œ œ ™ bœ n œ ™ œ
0 0 8 6 8 0 9 t 8 6 0 8 1
Solo œ™
? 44 œ œ œ
Œ ‰ œ œJ œ œ œ œ J J˙ 3 œ 4
4 J‰Œ Œ 4
{
Œ bœ
J
6
4 j j 3
œ œœ œ œ
& 4 œj ‰ œœ œœœœ Œ ‰ œœ œœ œœœ œœ bœœ bœœ bœœ ‰ Œ Ó Œ œœ œœ œœ #bœœ œ
œ œœ œœ 4 œœ œ œ
œJ J œ b œ bœ œJ œ œ̇˙
œ™ œ œ bœ œ œ™ œ œ™ b œ œ b œ œ ™ bœ n œ ™ œj j
? 44 J JJ ≈ 3œ‰Œ Œ
J Œ bœ œ̇ œ œnœ 4 œ œn˙
Example 5.25 Five Songs, ‘True Love’, bb. 1–6, voice-leading reduction.
{
Point of furthest Series 1 distance
œœœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ 43 #œ œ œ 44
œ
& œœ̇œ œ œ œœ bbœœœœ 5 ˙
bœ œ nœ ˙
5
? ˙ 3 4˙
œ bœ 4 œ 4
alongside the thorny issue of two concurrently published versions, has invited
the heated polemics of musicians such as Gould, Henze and Holloway.
The most strongly retained characteristic between the two cycles is the use
of quartal pitch collections. However, the manner in which they are applied
differs: they come to have greater control, restraint and melodic emphasis,
such as shown in Example 5.9, from ‘Geburt Mariä’. Quartal pitch collections,
while prevalent in much of Marienleben I, were to be afforded a greater
background prominence. In bars 21–6 of my analysis of ‘Geburt Mariä’, for
example, the regular appearances of foreground quartal trichords 3-9 were
replaced by a more lyrical line in the right hand of the piano. In addition
to quartal harmony, many of the most theoretically revealing extracts from
Hindemith’s music have come from his cadences. This is not surprising, given
that the cadence, of all areas of Western art music, is one of the most theorised
areas. This has been accompanied by pedal points, which make harmonic
progressions more transparent, such as songs 4 and 6.
Several aspects of Hindemith’s revisions are not directly related to the
Unterweisung, but simply to a change in sensibility. These revisions are also
perhaps the most controversial, as they significantly simplify the work, and
add more predictable counterpoint in the form of pedal points and sequences.
The revisions remove some, but not all, of the elements of stylistic disparity,
and many recitative sections are reduced, making the work less dramatic
and more homogeneous. This may be one of the reasons why song 3, ‘Mariä
Verkündigung’, was entirely rewritten. However, Hindemith refers to the
fourth and final set of songs as the point of highest abstraction: this concept
parallels the compositional approach of his early years, and shows that he
retained some expressionistic and dramatic elements, albeit within a larger
and more deliberate structural design.46
The revisions to Lieder nach alten Texten strengthen the notion that
Hindemith’s Unterweisung revisions prioritised a combination of voice-
leading – ‘two-voice framework’ – and quartal pitch collections. This effects
Hindemith’s treatment of cadences, similar to Marienleben. One consequence
is the removal of dramatic elements, such as the unexpected final chord of
‘Landsknechtstrinklied’. The revised songs are much easier to sing, and the
lines are more idiomatically vocal, rather than instrumentally conceived.
One may look to several examples of Hindemith’s early vocal writing, such
as the Eight Songs for Soprano and Piano op. 18 (1920), for instances of
writing that is harmonically driven, without full consideration for the needs
of the singer. His revisions include clearer cues for the entry of the voice,
doubling with the accompaniment, occasional pedal points, and sequences,
all of which make life easier in performance. This is an approach specific
to Hindemith’s vocal music; he does not apply the same leniency towards
his early instrumental works. One may wonder whether this is due to his
personal expertise as an instrumentalist, rather than a singer. Or, perhaps,
the quartal style is more comfortably performed by instruments than singers,
particularly within a choral idiom.
If the Ludus Tonalis was the ultimate application of the Unterweisung to
free composition, then the Marienleben and Lieder nach alten Texten revisions
show the theory at its most clinical. It puts into practice not the theory in
free composition, but the theory as a diagnostic and corrective tool. This
raises the question that Hindemith never explicitly posed in his writings: as
he applied his own theory to ‘improve’, technically, his own compositions,
is it not implied that the Unterweisung could be somehow used to improve
other works, particularly those written in a post-tonal idiom? This is evident
in the tone of his analysis of Wagner’s Tristan Prelude: ‘Here melody yields
first place to harmony. It confines itself for the most part to steps of a second
and broken-chord formations. Thus nothing remarkable in the way of either
46
melodic [sic] degree-progression or step-progression can arise’.47 Hindemith,

it seems, thought that all composers could benefit from thinking more
theoretically.
47
Craft (1942) p. 215.
6
Practical Music and Practical Textbooks
By the time of Hindemith’s final work catalogued with an opus number –

the Concert Music for Strings and Brass (1929–1930) – we have seen that
he was writing in a defined, consistent style. He had largely left behind the
quasi-expressionistic language of the solo string music and Sancta Susanna,
and the Neue Sachlichkeit of the Kammermusiken. Works such as Mathis der
Maler and the piano sonatas contrast sharply in style and rhetoric with the
earlier provocative and pluralistic works such as the Suite 1922 and op. 11
and op. 25 sonatas. The composer of the nonchalant Ragtime (Well Tempered)
became the austere craftsman of the chamber sonatas, the Octet and the
American symphonies. A further marked change in emphasis included
Hindemith’s community music-making, epitomised by Sing- und Spielmusik
(Music for Singing and Playing) which began with a work for strings, flutes
and oboes for the student orchestra of the Bieberstein boarding school in
1926, and culminated in Plöner Musiktag (1932). It was a prototype for music
we now associate with valuable and sustainable education and outreach
work. While Hindemith’s early career married notable performance activity
with compositions that were designed to shock and provoke, his career
from 1927 became increasingly concerned with the challenges of teaching,
conducting, and composing for the enthusiastic amateur or the marginalised
instrumentalist. On the one hand this made him less appealing to the avant
garde and yet, on the whole, many works written during the latter period
became his most enduring and widely disseminated.1
This change in attitude is inextricably linked to Hindemith’s interest in
music theory. Before arriving in Berlin, Hindemith appeared to have little
interest in writing textbooks, whether of a deeply theoretical focus – aimed at
the trained musician – or of a comprehensive and practical nature for use by
musicians of a wider spectrum of knowledge and ability. He appeared, in print
at least, to favour playing and composing music, rather than writing about
it. His first publishing arrangement in 1933 shows that his intentions were
to write a series of primers (presumably for twentieth-century composition)
1
An exception needs to be made for Hindemith’s compositions for viola, all of which
are central to the current repertoire. Violists are just as likely (if not more) to know
Hindemith from his early sonatas such as op. 11 and op. 25 as they are from his 1939
Sonata for Viola and Piano.
which ultimately grew into the ambitious and speculative Unterweisung.2

It was only after working in the United States that he resolved to write
books of a less theoretical and more practical nature to address what he
felt were deficiencies in musical competency among his new students –
although one may argue that Hindemith should have made allowances for
the differences between conservatoire and university teaching expectations.3
While he could rely on his Berlin students to have the initial technical
training to engage with the Unterweisung series, in the United States he
felt compelled to publish textbooks to address earlier stages in musical
training. Though he evidently still taught aspects of the Unterweisung in
class, particularly after settling in Yale, it seems that the writing of more
practical textbooks appealed to Hindemith over the completion of the
Unterweisung four-volume set. Circumstances required it. We may therefore
draw a sharp contrast between the Unterweisung (particularly Volume I) and
Elementary Training for Musicians and Traditional Harmony I & II, which are
conspicuously intended for the classroom and leave little need for theoretical
interpretation.4 They read as pedagogy textbooks, which may be adopted by
any competent music instructor, rather than the Unterweisung which was
perhaps only suitably taught by Hindemith himself.
By the time Hindemith had published the Unterweisung in 1937, he had
written five instrumental sonatas from a sequence begun in 1935: violin,
flute, and three for piano. All were included as representative examples of his
theory in practice in the Unterweisung appendix – intuition assumes that this
close theoretical basis applies to the subsequent sonatas, too. As we found
with his Ludus Tonalis and Marienleben revision, we may gain a heightened
understanding of Hindemith’s style and approach by considering how these
works reflect Hindemith’s theoretical concerns. This approach in retained
throughout the following study of his instrumental sonatas and durable,
practically-oriented textbooks.
2
Neumeyer (1986) pp. 24–5.
3
See Peles, Stephen, Dembski, Stephen and Straus, Joseph N. (eds), The Collected
Essays of Milton Babbitt (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003) p. 439: ‘But
almost all these composers [Schoenberg, Krenek, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Milhaud,
Bartók] became college and university teachers, whereas in Europe they had taught, if
at all, only in conservatoires’.
4
Unterweisung II falls into a grey area. It has step-by-step rules to assist student
progress in two-voice composition, although the manner with which they are
introduced can be confusing.
PRACTICAL MUSIC AND PRACTICAL TEXTBOOKS 225
The Sonatas
Hindemith’s sequence of instrumental sonatas must be counted as one of the

most important sets of twentieth-century chamber music. Since the 1930s, they
have received an immeasurable number of performances – I shall whimsically
suggest that during the reading of this chapter, somebody across the globe is
either practicing or performing a Hindemith sonata. They are predominately
the domain of recitals (particularly student recitals and examinations) and
technical auditions for orchestras and conservatoires. The high frequency
of performances should not indicate, however, that all of the sonatas are
aesthetically popular; they polarise opinion. For example, Hindemith’s sonatas
have come to be particularly prized by violists, and yet many pianists struggle
to banish memories as student accompanists when faced with Hindemith’s
severe demands during the seminal days of their musical and technical
development. Conversely, wind and brass instrumentalists value Hindemith
as one of their great composers owing to his vital contribution to their (often)
limited repertoire.
Though stylistically the sonatas relate to a comparatively consistent period
in Hindemith’s life, we may trace his curiosity for performing instruments
from a wide variety of families to his service in World War I. On the one hand,
he was active in string quartet music, owing to his superior’s penchant for the
genre. On the other he developed a taste for learning various instruments to
a practical standard for use in army scenarios, including playing bass drum in
the military band. George Jacobson recalls:
There was a question: where did you ever play the baritone horn? Well, he’d
been in the German Army in World War I, and he joked frequently about it.
But, somehow, when he’d been brought in, the commanding officer liked string
quartet music. So, that was his complete job: to compose during the trip. But,
among other things, he learned these other instruments.5
Hindemith’s hands-on approach to music-making in many forms, and

fascination for both modern and historical instruments, was an enduring
characteristic. Above all, this attitude is epitomised by the sonatas. Overall,
one may reasonably suggest that they are taxing yet not beyond the reach of
the competent amateur or aspiring young professional. Rarely do they break
technical ground; they do not use revolutionary extended techniques nor do
they push the performer to the outer limits of range (aside from moments
in the Sonata for Double Bass) by comparison with many other twentieth-
century instrumental works. This approach also contrasts with Hindemith’s
5
George Jacobson (OHAM, 19 April 1973).
early works; as we saw in Chapter 3, the Viola Sonata op. 25/1 pushes the
boundaries of what is physically possible, particularly in the tempo marking
and approach of the fourth movement. The sonatas have established a lasting
place in instrument repertoires due to being substantial works by a prominent
twentieth-century composer. For many instruments, Hindemith did not
compose the first recital work – but what he did offer was a full-length sonata
that could form the foundation of a complete programme. Typical durations
for Hindemith sonatas vary from roughly eight-and-a-half minutes (the
unusually short Sonata for Bassoon) to twenty-two minutes (Sonata for Horn),
depending on tempo interpretation. Importantly, they contrast in scope and
duration with one of the other seminal collections of mid-twentieth-century
chamber music: the numerous concert pieces commissioned for the Paris
Conservatoire Concours, which instigated the modern recital repertoire for
many instruments. Many of its works were of pragmatically short duration
and showcased dazzling solo virtuosity. Indeed, many a student recital has
been constructed from the contrasting combination of a Hindemith sonata
and shorter Concours work.
Apart from addressing a conspicuous lack of modern recital repertoire,
Hindemith wrote his sonatas to serve as technical exercises in the preparation
of Die Harmonie der Welt (although the opera was not completed until many
years later).6 He orchestrated the 1951 symphonic version for flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoons, contrabassoon, horns, trumpet, trombone,
tuba, timpani and percussion. Within this set, he had written a sonata for
every instrument apart from bass clarinet, contrabassoon and percussion
(he completed the Tuba Sonata shortly afterwards in 1955). Many of the
duo sonatas also preceded concertos, including those for viola (1935), violin
(1939), piano (1945), clarinet (1947), horn (1949), woodwind and harp
(1949), bassoon and trumpet (1949–1952) and organ (1962–1963). In a
1939 letter to his publisher, Hindemith wrote:
You will be astonished that I am besonata-ing the entire range of wind

instruments. I always intended to do a whole series of these pieces. In the first
place, there’s nothing decent available for these instruments, with the exception
of a few Classical things, and so it’s a meritorious deed – admittedly not in an
immediate business perspective, but in the long run – to enrich this literature.
Secondly, now that I’m taking such a great interest in wind instruments, I’m
really enjoying these pieces; and finally, they are serving me as a technical
6
Skelton (1975) p. 164: ‘Hindemith’s reply shows that there was nothing artificial in
his project of writing solo pieces for all the instruments of the orchestra in turn. Not
only did they fill a gap in existing literature, “they also serve as a technical exercise for
the great coup which I hope to bring off next Spring: Die Harmonie der Welt”’.
exercise for the big push with which I hope Harmonie der Welt can be begun
in the spring.7
If we exclude earlier compositions that did not belong to his sonata project
(particularly owing to stylistic and conceptual factors), Hindemith’s sequence
lasted twenty years and began with the Sonata for Violin and Piano in 1935
and ended with the Sonata for Bass Tuba in 1955. Assuming one counts the
solo viola, piano and organ sonatas, it comprises 27 works, written alongside
several other characterful pieces such as ‘A Frog He Went A-Courting’:
Variations on an Old-English Nursery Song for Violoncello and Piano (1941);
‘Little’ Sonata for ’Cello and Piano (1942) and ‘Ludus Minor’ for ’Cello and
Clarinet (1944). Table 6.1 lists the sonatas in order – note how the premiere
performances for many are unknown. It is indicative that unknown premieres
predominately relate to the brass and wind sonatas, suggesting that they were
initially of a lower status.
Hindemith appeared to consider his set to be complete, even though we
may suggest missing sonatas for piccolo flute, contrabassoon, bass clarinet
and bass trombone (instruments used prominently in Hindemith’s orchestral
scores, including Die Harmonie der Welt).8 He was also rumoured to have been
considering writing a sonata for Heckelphone, having already included the
esoteric instrument in his Trio op. 47 (1928). Such is the technical importance
of Hindemith’s work that other instrumentalists have absorbed it into their
repertoire: bass clarinet and tuba players have taken on his bassoon sonata
while bass trombone and euphonium performers have adopted his Three Easy
Pieces for ’Cello (1938), Tuba Sonata and Althorn Sonata. Hindemith would
have been happy to hear his sonatas on instruments for which they were not
originally conceived; as a case in point, the Althorn Sonata score specifies
that it could be played on saxophone. Indeed Hindemith’s tempered approach
towards instrument-specific idiosyncrasies, extremities of range and technique
often invite performance of his sonatas on other instruments.
Hindemith believed in composing music one could play oneself: there are
several accounts testifying that Hindemith could play all of the solo parts to
his instrumental sonatas.9 This attitude was carried through in his notorious
orchestration classes in Berlin, which consisted of students familiarising
7
Translation by Charles Johnston in the sleeve notes to ‘Paul Hindemith. Sonatas
for…’ (Harmonia Mundi, HMC905271, 2015).
8
Prominent Hindemith author David Neumeyer composed a sonata for
contrabassoon ‘after Hindemith’.
9
According to Willie Ruff (OHAM, 27 January 1975), Hindemith could play the
solo parts to all his instrumental sonatas. There are conflicting reports, however, as to
the technical level of these ‘performances’.
Table 6.1 Hindemith’s instrumental sonatas 1935–1955.
Date Location Title Premiere details

May–Aug 1935 Frankfurt Sonata for Violin and Piano 18 Feb 1936, Geneva, Stefan Frenkel (violin), Madame Orloff
in E (piano).
29 June 1936 Ankara & Berlin First Sonata for Piano Unknown.
July 1936 Berlin Second Sonata for Piano Unknown.
July–Aug 1936 Berlin & Third Sonata for Piano 10 Apr 1937, Jesús Mariá Sanromá (piano).
Frankfurt
Dec 1936 Berlin Sonata for Flute and Piano 10 Apr 1937, Washington, DC, Georges Barrère (flute), Jesús
Maria Sanromá (piano).
18–21 Apr 1937 Chicago Sonata for Solo Viola 21 Apr 1937, Chicago, Paul Hindemith (viola).
June 1937 Berlin First Sonata for Organ 18 Jan 1938, London, Ralph Downes.
June–July 1937 Berlin Second Sonata for Organ 18 Jan 1938, London, Ralph Downes.
Jan–June 1938 Chandolin Sonata for Bassoon and Piano 6 Nov 1938, Zurich, Gustav Steidl (bassoon), Walter Frey (piano).
June 1938 Chandolin Sonata for Oboe and Piano 20 July 1938, London, Léon Goossens (oboe), Harriet Cohen
(piano).
Aug–Sept 1938 Blusch Sonata for Piano (four hands) 6 Nov 1938, Zurich, Walter Frey (piano), Paul Hindemith (piano).
July 1938– Switzerland & Sonata for Viola and Piano 23 Apr 1939, New York, Paul Hindemith (viola), Jesús Mariá
Apr 1939 US Sanromá (piano).
Sept 1939 Blusch Sonata for Violin and Piano 5 May 1944, Lisbon, Silva Pereira (violin), Santiago Kastner
in C (piano).
Sept 1939 Blusch Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Unknown.
Sept 1939 Blusch Sonata for Harp Unknown.
Oct–Nov 1939 Blusch Sonata for Horn and Piano Unknown.
Nov 1939 Blusch Sonata for Trumpet and Piano Unknown.
Table 6.1 (continued)
Date Location Title Premiere details

May–June 1940 Buffalo Third Sonata for Organ ‘nach 31 July 1940, Tanglewood, E. Power Biggs.
alten Volksliedern’
27 Aug 1941 Richmond (USA) Sonata for English Horn and Jan 1942, New York, Louis Speyer (English horn), Jesús Mariá
Piano Sanromá (piano).a
Sept–Oct 1941 New Haven Sonata for Trombone and Piano Unknown.
24–28 Aug 1942 New Haven Sonata for Piano (two pianos, 20 Nov 1942, New York, Celius Dougherty, Vincenz Ruzicka
four hands) (pianos).
Sept 1943 South Egremont Sonata for Althorn (or Alto Unknown.
(USA) Saxophone) and Piano
8 Mar 1948 New Haven Sonata for Violoncello and 1 Nov 1948, BBC Broadcast, Zara Nelsova (’cello), Wilfrid Parry
Piano (piano).b
Aug 1949 Taos Sonata for Double Bass and 26 Apr 1950 Vienna, Austria, Konzerthaus. Otto Rühm (double
Piano Bass), Gerhard Rühm (piano).
29 Oct 1952 New Haven Sonata for Four Horns June 1953, Vienna, members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Jan 1955 Blonay Sonata for Bass Tuba and Piano Unknown.
Notes:
a
An earlier, unconfirmed performance may have taken place on 23 November 1941 with New York, Louis Speyer (English horn), Jesús Mariá
Sanromá (piano).
b
This is the first documented performance, although the first performance may have taken place during August 1948 in New York with cellist
Gregor Piatigorsky.
themselves first-hand with almost every instrument in the orchestra. John

Colman, one of Hindemith’s students at Yale, recalls that all of his class had
to learn French horn at one point, and to only compose for it what one could
play.10 Another report suggests that Hindemith wanted all of his students to
learn a wind instrument – particularly first-study pianists, requesting them to
‘study a living instrument’.11 There is a common misapprehension, however,
that Hindemith could perform all instruments of the symphony orchestra
to concerto standard. From the various recollections in the OHAM this
appears to be an exaggeration.12 Hindemith could allegedly play all of them
to a moderate standard, and some – such as upper strings and piano – to the
level of soloist.
Hindemith’s piano writing in the duo sonatas is demanding. The oft-used
title of ‘accompanist’ is unfair as the piano score can exceed the technical
demands of the duo instrument. Moreover, and unlike his solo piano works,
the piano parts are often found to be curiously awkward. This is due to the
nature of quartal harmony; chords often span large stretches and may be
found in disjunct sequences, such as chromatic consecutive fourths requiring
the hand to regularly re-adjust. These are not commonly found in pedagogical
routines for pianists. In the brass sonatas, there is regular octave doubling
to provide acoustic balancing in addition to the introduction of extra voice
parts, creating dense, physically demanding textures. His voice-leading is
10
John Colman (OHAM, 21 November 1976): ‘So what he had made [his Berlin
students] do in those years was learn the French horn for a month or two and practice
and then when they could play a few notes, write a composition for French horn. But
then he liked to make a rule: never write anything that you can’t play. So he could do
all that, you see, and they learned quite a few instruments that way and wrote for them
which I don’t think any other composition teacher has ever done with his students. It
has been that exigent and he had the fellow – not the janitor but some sort of assistant
there in the school bring down instrument after – a trumpet, a trombone, a horn, all the
brass ones, even an oboe and he played every one of them for us. Moved just for this
Spanish fellow and myself, not the whole class. He said, “Now you see this and this;” he
was showing us the whole thing. We were just there with our jaws dropping. He could
play anything on them. I don’t say he could play anything on them but he could play
them. He could make sounds on them’.
11
Keith Wilson (OHAM, 20 March 1975), ‘The idea of creating the sound,
[Hindemith] felt, was essential to a composer’. By ‘wind’ instrument it is likely that
Hindemith was also referring to brass.
12
In an interview held by the Oral History of American Music in Yale University
(1976), Arthur Mendel recalls, ‘[Hindemith] could play all [his] sonatas on the
instrument they were written for. Probably not for public consumption, but he could
play them enough’.
also surprisingly unpredictable, despite being theoretically conceived. The

following passage from the Sonata for Double Bass contains a simple melodic
contour over a rising two-voice pattern in the piano (Example 6.1). Though
there are discernible patterns within the line, they do not relate to a standard
diatonic framework and so each one needs to be worked out. Sight-reading
this passage would be very demanding. There are, however, many pianistic
gestures within the piano parts and prominent pianist Glenn Gould was so
enthralled as to record the complete set.
Owing to the technical characteristics of Hindemith’s sonatas – technically
challenging, but not unrealistic for the hard-working student, and revealing of
stamina, sound and articulation – they have become core works for accredited
music examinations, such as the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of
Music (ABRSM); audition requirements for conservatoires and orchestras;
and international competitions. On the ABRSM Diploma syllabuses we may
find 33 options to play Hindemith’s music across all instruments, making
him one of the most frequently performed twentieth-century composers
under exam conditions. His music provides technical contrasts with earlier
repertoires and fits suitably into a programme that progresses chronologically
through Western music (as many programmes do) while providing suitable,
complementary technical challenges.
The metronome markings to Hindemith’s sonatas are a matter of
dispute. Performances vary in duration considerably. For example, recorded
performances of the Sonata for Althorn range from at least 10:32 to 14:14.13
This wide disparity highlights different practices of interpreting Hindemith’s
music of this period; he included relatively few tempo and performance
Example 6.1 Double Bass Sonata, first movement, bb. 17–19.
17 Allegretto (h=96)
3 ˙ ˙ b˙ ™ œ
& 2 b˙ bœ œ w ˙
. . . n œ. n œ. œ. n œ. œ. œ. œ.
.œ#œ. œ. b œ. #œ. #œ. n œ. b œ. b œ. b œ. n œ. # œ. # œ. # œ. # œ. # œ b œ b œ
f
3 J‰ ‰J
&2 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ Ó
{ 3 bœ. œ
cresc.
œ b œ
& 2 . #œ. #œ. nœ. nœ . . œ. nœ. #œ. .
.
b œ n œ. œ. . . #œ. nœ. #œ. nœ. #œ. nœ. nœ. œ. bœ. b œ. bœ. œ. œ. œ. œ.
n œ œ
mf
Ó
13
Barry Tuckwell (horn) and Daniel Blumenthal (piano) (ABC Classics
ABC4765254) perform the Sonata for Althorn over 10:32, while Mason Jones (horn)
and Glenn Gould (piano) (Sony Classical 888880284433) last 15:21. The Althorn
dialogue (01:07) has been subtracted for fair comparison.
directions compared with his earlier works, and compared with the works of
many of his contemporaries. Some performers choose to follow Hindemith’s
marking absolutely; others use them as a general guide. We may learn crucial
contextual information from clarinettist Keith Wilson, who was appointed
to Yale in 1946, and at the time was the only professor of wind. He worked
alongside Hindemith for several years and recalls insightful information about
Hindemith’s approach to score interpretation and various discussions of his
sonatas and orchestral works.14 During a demonstration of Hindemith’s brass
quartet from the Plöner Musiktag (1932) Wilson was surprised by how freely
Hindemith would ask for the music to be interpreted, despite the lack of
directions in the score. He also remembers how little Hindemith adhered to
his metronome markings:
We decided we wanted to perform [Hindemith’s Septet (1948)] at a concert

in Branford College … If a note had a staccato on it, I had them play it short;
if it didn’t, they played it long. At notes at the end of slurs we held on until
full value. It seemed to me there were some inconsistencies in Hindemith’s
markings, but I was going to be true to the composer, not knowing at that
time that if he marks a thing once this way, he sort of expected you to know
that you’d do it that way again … Then also, he had the tempo marking. Well
during rehearsals – this particular first movement, I think, is marked either
108 or 112 – every once in a while somebody would stop me, and they’d say,
“Are you sure you’re only going 108 and 112?” I’d turn on the metronome
and I’d be up around 126. So I worked very, very hard to control myself so
that I was playing that at exactly the tempo marking he had. We observed
everything. And then I said, “We’re ready for you to hear it, Mr. Hindemith,”
… So we played it … we played the first movement, and I thought it was just
perfect. I couldn’t have been happier. They played it exactly the way I wanted
it. Then I turned around, and here was Hindemith walking, storming, down
the aisle … and he came up and he said, “Sounds like dull music that way!
Do you mind if I take it?” … So he got up there and started conducting, and
Mel Powell was in the class at that time, and he clocked him at 144 at one
point! So afterwards I said, “Mr. Hindemith, I’m sorry, but I was trying to do
all these things as I thought they were marked and I was always going too
fast according–” “Oh, that doesn’t make any difference,” he says. “That’s just
the indication,” he says, “of how it’s supposed to go. You’ve got to play it like
music!” Well, I found from then on, whenever I did the music more the way
I felt it – naturally I would start with his tempo marks. That usually is right.
14
Keith Wilson (OHAM, 20 March 1975). See also Powell, Edwin C. ‘An Interview
with Keith Wilson on Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis’ Journal of Band Research,
Vol. 38, No. 1 (Fall, 2002) pp. 37–48.
You start with it. But his music is very free, it’s very romantic, and this is the
way he wants you to play.15
Wilson proceeds to note another of Hindemith’s comments, relating to a

rehearsal of the Concerto for Bassoon and Trumpet:
Hindemith came to some rehearsals [of the Bassoon and Trumpet Concerto],
and again it was the idea, especially in the slow movements, of just taking all
kinds of time and cadences and shaping the phrases. Not at all metronomic!16
Conversely, Willie Ruff remembers that Hindemith recalled the first recording
of the Horn Concerto for not following the metric pulse of his intended text.17
Perhaps this peculiar difference in fidelity to the score owes to the nature
of orchestral versus chamber performance, and to the specific relationship
of text to melody. Ultimately, Hindemith’s tempos should be governed by
the practical and musical considerations of the performers, which may not
necessarily adhere to the notated score.
1935–1938
Hindemith’s sonatas form perhaps the first comprehensive approach to

creating a recital repertoire for all instrument groups. In this sense we may
view them as a set, distinct from his other works; they were written after
Hindemith’s Berlin appointment, and contain striking stylistic similarities. It
is helpful to read them in three further subgroups: those written in Germany
and Ankara (1935–1938); those written in Swiss exile (1938–1939); and those
written following his emigration to the US (1940–1955). The majority were
written during a relatively short period between the Violin Sonata of 1935
and the Trombone Sonata of 1941, precipitated by Hindemith’s increasingly
precarious circumstances. The sonata sequence began after the infamous ‘Der
Fall Hindemith’ episode, which prompted Hindemith to react with renewed,
15
Keith Wilson (OHAM).
16
Ibid.
17
Willie Ruff (OHAM, 27 January 1975) ‘the [Horn Concerto] recording was
recalled, because Hindemith had a written text. I’m not sure whether he was the author
of it, or if it was Heine. He was very enraptured with the poetry of Heine. And he
intended for this text to be a metrical, or rhythmic guide for a recitative solo horn
passage. Instead of that, in the middle of the solo, this deep voice – German woman’s
voice – came on, and it sounded like the end of the world, with this horn playing this
long recitative business in the back. And he was very upset about that’.
and redirected, compositional energy. It is further noteworthy that during

this time Hindemith composed fewer orchestral works, owing to the growing
uncertainty of his position within Berlin. Compositions such as the Symphonic
Dances (1937) and Nobilissima Visione (1938) were performed overseas by
orchestras in London and Venice respectively. In this sense we may view the
instrumental sonatas as a practical solution to composing music that would
receive performances without requiring the resources of an orchestra, concert
hall or conductor, hence why so many premiere performances are unknown.
One may also wonder whether Hindemith’s sonatas would have been written
had the political climate remained calm through 1930s Germany. As it was,
he had little choice but to adjust the instrumental forces he was writing for.
His opportunity on 12 March 1934 to hear the Mathis der Maler Symphony
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was not likely to repeat itself;
Hindemith needed to write for forces that needed him. He was moreover
drawn to private performance and regularly used his sonatas for personal
consumption, particularly the Trumpet Sonata as illustrated by his letter to
Willy Strecker: ‘If you could make a photo of the Trumpet Sonata and send
me the manuscript, I would be grateful; the piece has become part of our daily
music-making, which is why we don’t want to be without it’.18 These unique
circumstances gave birth to Hindemith’s sonatas.
When Hindemith began his sonata sequence in 1935, Germany was
preparing to hold the 1936 Olympics while Adolf Hitler had made the
country open to foreigners; Hindemith signed a declaration to the Third
Reich alongside visits to Ankara, Turkey, in a final attempt to preserve his
national status; and he was revising the drafts to the first Unterweisung volume
with the help of his students. Hindemith was undoubtedly thinking about
the theoretical basis of music as he turned forty-one while riding the wave
of political uncertainty. Enforcing his endorsement in the Unterweisung
appendix, the Sonata for Violin in E is stylistically what we would expect
from his quartal style. It is worlds apart from the aggressive, unpredictable,
unaccompanied Violin Sonata op. 31/1 (1924). Hindemith wrote two violin
sonatas within the 1935–1955 sequence and, unusually, identified each with
a key: a sonata in E (1935) and in C (1939). It helps to catalogue them in
relation to his earlier works – one must wonder whether Hindemith would
have done the same if he had written two tuba sonatas, for example, although
he did use a numbering system for his piano and organ sonatas.
The piano writing does not challenge in the same way as the later works,
perhaps given that Hindemith did not need to balance with louder brass
instruments. It holds similarities with the Ludus Tonalis; the lilting compound
metre of the first movement invokes the pastoral imagery of the Interludium
18
Letter to Willy Strecker, December 1939.
in G. Sustained pedal points abound in the opening theme which alternate

three- and four-part counterpoint with passages in octave unison. The
harmonic scope, described in the title as E, is not as quartal as Hindemith
would later favour and contains more dissonance, although he avoids a key
signature and often circumvents conventional cadences (apart from the end
of the sonata). As would be expected from a string player, Hindemith writes
expertly with the violin in mind, although he does not push the upper limits of
range. Many of his themes are tonally closed – they begin and end on the same
pitch centre, rather than modulate. The beginning of the second movement
(Example 6.2) ornaments a distinctive falling bass progression with a strong
sense of gravity towards C-sharp. Within this progression, major thirds are
seldom used, which paints an uneasy and indeterminate harmonic foreground.
The next work of the sequence, Hindemith’s Sonata for Flute (1936) was
crucial to his fledgling relationship with the United States. It was included
within the opening night of his first tour to the United States, alongside
the Solo Viola Sonata op. 25/1 and coincided with the Eighth Washington
Festival of Contemporary Music.19 Hindemith was favourably impressed
by the technical level and work ethic of flautist Georges Barrère and pianist
Example 6.2 Hindemith’s Violin Sonata in E, second movement, bb. 1–9.
n-œ
Langsam (q=40)
2 œ #œ ™ #œ œ œ #œ j j œ™ J
& 4 #œ ™ J œ #œ
mf
#œ
3
? 42 ? ? ‰ #œ
# œœ # œœ # œœ
j
#œ & #œ & #œj #œ &#œj œ œ
{
#œ
## œœ
? 42 #œ j #œ j #œ j #œ
mf
œ œ œ #œ œ#œ #œ œ #œ #œ
#œ œ #œ #œ # œ
#œ œ™ œ # œ ™
#œ œ ™ œ œ œ #œ #œ#œ #œ # ˙
5
œ nœ J
&
p mf
3
#œ œ œ n‰œ ™#œ nœ œ œ #œ™

3
& #œ ™ œ œ œ™ nœ œ œ #œ ™ œ™
{
p
J
#œœ œœ ##œœ mf
? œ nœ
# œœ nnœœœ œœ œ
# œœ nœ ###œœœ
œ
19
Noteworthy here is the title ‘contemporary music’ applied to Hindemith.
Jesús Maria Sanromá in rehearsal – Hindemith subsequently used Sanromá

to premiere his viola, English horn and third piano sonatas.20 The Sonata
for Flute is far more quartal than the previous Sonata for Violin in E and
represents the harmonic approach Hindemith was to use in his subsequent
sonatas. It remains popular among flautists and is often partnered with other
supposedly ‘neo-classical’ works, such as Poulenc and Prokofiev.
Pianist and composer John Colman was one of Hindemith’s students in
Berlin at the time of the Flute Sonata.21 He recalls that Hindemith wrote
some of the first movement within the classroom, likely during the month of
December, and would demonstrate sketches as the work progressed, inviting
a flautist to come and perform with him. Hindemith took this approach
to the United States, where he wrote more nonchalant works for flute and
piano within the classroom environment including Enthusiasm (1941) and
Echo (1942). The four movements of the Flute Sonata defy conventional
characteristics. As we heard from Colman in Chapter 2, form – which
Hindemith would relate under the broader subject of rhythm – was an area of
musical composition that had yet to be mastered and ‘you couldn’t talk about
it’ in Hindemith’s class.22 The final movement, a March, has generated two
conflicting interpretations. In Hindemith’s words, it is a representation of the
Nazi military marches he could hear from his office window. Alternatively, one
could hear it as a derogatory parody.
If we are uncertain about the meaning of the concluding March of the
Sonata for Flute, the three piano sonatas (1936) have a clearer sentiment of
isolation, nostalgia and looming exile. Gone was the composer who had written
the character pieces In Einer Nacht and Suite 1922. A modernist subversion of
the Romantic fantasy piece was replaced in favour of older formal titles. The
First Sonata for Piano is based explicitly on the Friedrich Hölderlin poem
‘Der Main’ which depicts a homeless minstrel on the banks of the river Main.
Hindemith chose not to include the complete poem in publication, requesting
instead that it be referenced at the beginning of the score. His feelings of
isolation were well-founded: the work was removed from performance by the
German authorities during the ban on his music in 1936.23
The First Sonata for Piano is often described as ‘in A’. Its tonality is
straightforward to identify judging by the start-end tonalities of each
movement, and various tonal centres found within which form the
overarching scheme of two interlinked triads, A major and B-flat major.
20
Skelton (1995) p. 100.
21
According to his obituary in The New York Times (11 March 1995), John Colman
was in the process of translating the Unterweisung into English.
22
John Colman (OHAM, 21 November 1976).
23
Skelton (1975) p. 134.
The work may therefore be read as a play on semitones, both on foreground

and background levels.24 Hindemith’s cadences in this work are particularly
notable for their distinctiveness, originality and relation to the voice-leading
principles of Craft II (see exercise 2.10 for the end of the first movement).
The first movement does not adhere to a standard Sonata Form model, and
avoids lengthy development of material. However, we may observe the return
of various motifs over the course of the full five movements.
Hindemith thought of his Second Piano Sonata as a smaller companion to
the first: ‘I’m enclosing another smaller brother … It is the lighter counterpart
of the rather weighty first’.25 The work is much less ambitious in scope and
relates to the neo-Classical approach of his subsequent Sonata for Oboe,
where familiar ostinato patterns and rhythmic figurations are embedded
with Hindemith’s distinctive harmonic language. Harmonically the sonata
references the Dorian and pentatonic modes, which relates to the adaptation of
the opening melody from the Sing- und Spielmusik work, Frau Musica (1928).
These modal collections are delivered in a manner reminiscent of Debussy and
only rarely as salient stacked fourths, giving the work a lighter character than
the other sonatas. The Third Piano Sonata relates to the technical and musical
demands of the first. It is one of Hindemith’s most powerful contrapuntal works,
showcasing the full potential of his developing system. The final movement –
an extensive fugue in three parts – shows the myriad of possibilities generated
by quartal material. The virtuosic demands of the sonata have placed it on the
highest ABRSM diploma syllabus, where it can provide characterful contrast
with a classical piano sonata or nineteenth-century fantasy piece. Despite its
fiendish technical challenges the work remains idiomatically pianistic – unlike
many areas of the piano parts in Hindemith’s duo sonatas.
Hindemith formally resigned from his position at the Berlin Hochschule
für Musik in March 1937 and travelled extensively for two years. Much of
the music written during this time was composed with speed, and on the
move – epitomised by his Sonata for Solo Viola (1937) which was composed
on the train to Chicago from 17–21 April and performed immediately by
Hindemith in concert. He needed new performance outlets for his music after
the deterioration of his reputation in Germany, which in part led him to start
composing for the organ. His three organ sonatas are some of Hindemith’s
most highly regarded from the sonata sequence, and are considered by many
organists to be among the finest solo organ works of the twentieth century.
Hindemith’s contrapuntal language lends itself particularly well to the
sustaining qualities of the organ, and its ability to vividly distinguish voice
parts with the creative use of organ stops.
24
This reading is held by Neumeyer (1986) pp. 199–206.
25
Skelton (1975) p. 134.
The First Sonata for Organ was completed swiftly from 18–21 June 1937
in Berlin, followed by the Second Sonata for Organ from 26 June–4 July.
Both were premiered in London by British organist Ralph William Downes
at the West London Reform Synagogue, Seymour Place, on 18 January 1938,
although Hindemith was not able to attend. The instrument used was a 1908
four-manual, electric action Harrison & Harrison organ.26 Hindemith was
not an organ specialist, which in some respects counted to his advantage;
he was able to envisage original music which lay outside of the traditions of
the German baroque and the Romantic organ symphony. His sonatas also
avoided sacred themes. The Second Sonata for Organ is more intimate than
the first, and infers the formal and motivic characteristics of the baroque
concerto. The second movement is based on the familiar siciliano character
invoked by dotted compound rhythms. Given the heritage of the organ and
Hindemith’s penchant for counterpoint it is unsurprising that he took the
opportunity to write a fugue, which forms the basis of the final movement.
Unusually, Hindemith writes a subject containing all pitches of the chromatic
scale, and in four parts. Similar to Hindemith’s other fugue strategies there is
no discernible countersubject; rather, Hindemith reimagines the subject each
time it appears with free counterpoint.
1938–1939
The Second Organ Sonata was Hindemith’s final work of the sequence to be
written in Germany. He returned to the woodwinds with sonatas for oboe
(1938) and bassoon (1938). Still on the move, these were his first works
written in Switzerland. Both have found their way into the core repertoire
and are held in high regard by their performers. This partly owes to the nature
of Hindemith’s style which complements well with the oboe’s rich baroque
repertoires. Leading exponent Edwin Roxburgh relates:
The traditional title of the work belies its essential novelty. The vestiges of
sonata form are present in the motivic elements, but they are rearranged
structurally, even with the second subject being absent in the recapitulation.
The piano part is by no means an accompaniment in that the integration of the

material for both instruments creates a skilful duologue of independent ‘voices’.
The rhythmic conflict between the two instruments becomes a wonderful
journey of contrasts and polyphonic ingenuity. Even when using a formulaic
device such as the fugue in the second movement there is a fresh, chromatic
26
I am grateful to John Scott Whiteley for generously sharing this information.
vocabulary at work which makes the music distinctive. Hindemith re-invents

the form by combining the slow movement with the last in an ABAB structure
in one movement. The cadence bars are indebted to Chopin whose B-flat
minor Scherzo ends with triadic progressions from F major to D-flat major,
while Hindemith follows a similar route from B major to G major.
Performing the work is a delight in that the oboe part is not difficult and it
surveys so many of the essential characteristics of the instrument; one moment
coquettish, another languidly beautiful, then rhythmically assertive. It is
amongst the most important works of the period for oboists.27
Hindemith holds stylistic associations with instruments. In his Sonata for

Oboe he links back to the Classical Style, particularly in his use of ostinato
patterns which are reminiscent of the early Viennese School. This is apparent
in the motivic re-contextualisation of the ending of the first movement, where,
similar to the Clarinet Sonata, Hindemith briefly applies the use of canon (at
the octave). The music is in a sense neo-Classical, although the reimagining
of the Classical Style has more in common with Hindemith’s perception of
the oboe than his general musical approach. He constructs an uneven formal
structure, whereby the sonata comprises two movements, the second much
larger and segmented than the first. While it does not contain the conspicuous
narrative of other sonatas – particularly those for althorn and harp – the
musical journey of the second movement implies an extra-musical subtext.
Prior to its composition, John Colman recalls that Hindemith obtained an
oboe and practiced it for four months to ensure that he had a performer’s
knowledge of the instrument.28
The Sonata for Bassoon recalls its role in Mussorgsky’s ‘Il Vecchio Castello’
from Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Ravel. Hindemith’s use of
compound rhythm invokes the pastoral connotations of the bassoon combined
with the desolate impact of bare fifth intervals at strategic points. His use
of quartal collections, though still a technique throughout, is more moderate
compared with other works from the period. Hindemith chooses to avoid the
often humoresque depiction of the bassoon, choosing instead to focus on its
more inward, melodic qualities. The first performance was given in November
1938 at the Zurich Stadttheatre. English bassoonist and musicologist William
Waterhouse describes an amusing turn of events:
27
Correspondence between the author and Edwin Roxburgh during May 2016.
28
Had Hindemith access to competent piccolo trumpet players, one may wonder
whether he would have been comfortably hearing them perform his Sonata for
Oboe, particularly given their similar timbres (only a few small passages would need
an octave displacement).
The bassoonist Gustav Steidl, turning up late for the final rehearsal, was amazed
to hear the piece being performed very credibly on stage by another bassoonist.
It turned out to be the composer himself whiling away the time with pianist
Walter Frey, with whom in the same programme he was premiering his sonata
for four hands. Hindemith, who was proficient on many different instruments,
possessed an excellent bassoon given to him in 1928 by the manufacturer
Heckel in return for having written a work for heckelphone.29
In the first movement, Hindemith subjects the opening theme to

fragmentation, although it does not enjoy a substantial development section.
Modulation, further, does not feature prominently, although there is a strong
impression of increasing chromaticism and use of melodic tritones leading up
to structural points, which is then met with the harmonically secure fourth
and fifth intervals. Example 6.3 is taken from the end of the first theme, bars
11–16. The bass line reduction shows the structural tritones on each compound
beat, followed by descending chromatic thirds. The instability created by this
material is answered emphatically by the piano at bar 16, which repeats the
material of the opening motif; an ideal example of Hindemith’s harmonic
fluctuation in practice.
Hindemith premiered his Sonata for Piano (Four Hands) (1938) in the
same concert, and performed the second part alongside Walter Frey. It is
one of Hindemith’s most contrapuntally ambitious and complex works. It
remains true to his Unterweisung style yet veers frequently into textures of
Example 6.3 Sonata for Bassoon, first movement, bb. 11–16.
>œ ™
œ œ œ œ nœ œ ™ œœj #œ ™ œ œj b˙ ™
11
? #œ ™ ˙™
J
b œœ ™™
&‰ b œ bœnœ#œnœ #œ nœ bœ œ #œ œ œ bnœœ nœ œ nœœ‰ Œ ™ bbœœnœœ bœœ ™™
b œ nœ
{
n œb œb œ
n œ# œ n œ bœ œ # œ œ œ bn œœ n œ œ nœ bœb œ
? ‰nœ bœ bœbœ nœbœnœ#œ œ‰ Œ ™ bbœœ ™™ œ
bœ J ‰
bœ
bn œœ # œœ bœ
? #œ bn œœ nœœ bbœœ
bœ nœ bœœ
tritones chromatic thirds
29
William Waterhouse, liner notes to ‘20th Century Bassoon’ (Bongiovanni GB
5565-2).
more than four parts. This is often achieved by not exceeding two- or three-
part textures in any one piano part, which in itself makes contrapuntal sense,
and superimposing it upon the other to form a wider harmonic coherence.
In Example 6.4, the first piano part oscillates between C-G and C-sharp-G-
sharp, while the second piano part moves in ascending quartal trichords.
The Sonata for Viola (1939) comprises four movements, all written in
different locations: Chandolin, Los Angeles–Chicago, New York and Boston
respectively. It was the last work to be composed before September 1939, when
Hindemith settled in Bluche, Switzerland. At almost the same time, Germany
invaded Poland instigating the outbreak of World War II. Hindemith then
wrote five sonatas in swift succession: Sonata for Violin in C (3–9 September),
Sonata for Clarinet (21–28 September), Sonata for Harp (23–25 September),
Sonata for Horn (30 October–6 November) and Sonata for Trumpet (19–25
November). These works are brimming with mixed reflections on the futility
of conflict, and what must have been be a degree of relief that Hindemith
had by this time left Germany. Hindemith reflected on the fortuitous timing
of his escape from Germany in his private diary entry to Gertrud: ‘I always
see myself as the mouse who recklessly danced in front of the trap and even
ventured inside; quite by chance, when it happened to be outside, the trap
closed!’ 30 These diverse feelings might explain the curious juxtaposition of
movements in each work. In the Sonata for Clarinet, the music focuses on
three sombre, haunting movements which are rounded off by a short rondo
(which he also placed in the Sonata for Horn). The naïve brevity of the rondo
Example 6.4 Sonata for Piano (Four Hands), first movement, bb. 63–7.
{
œ œœ
œ œœ œ œ œ b œ œ # œœ œ̇ ™ œ # œœ # œ̇™ œ # œœ nn œœ™™
63
& J J
p
#œœ bœ
dim.
& bœ œœ œœ œ bœ œ #œœ ˙œ™ œ #œœ #˙œ œ #œœ nœœ ™

bœ œ œ #œ ˙ J #œ ˙ ™ J #œ œ ™
{
? bœ ‰ bœ bœ œ œ œj ‰ Œ ##œœ nnœœ ##œœ œœ ##œœ ##œœ #œœ nœ ™
J
p
?
œ œ ˙ j‰ Œ œœ ##œœ ##œœ ##œœ nœ ™
œ œ ˙ œ # œ n œ ## œœ nœ ™
30
Translation by Giselher Schubert. Hindemith, Paul, Das private Logbuch, ed.
Friederike Becker and Giselher Schubert (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1995) p. 357.
fails to supress the pervading mood of despondency invoked by the earlier

music; it comes across as futile optimism.
The Clarinet Sonata does not count among Hindemith’s most taxing.31
The piano part, too, does not rival the demands of the later Trumpet or
Tuba sonatas. Though there are often dense textures, the score tends towards
two- and three-part counterpoint in the piano, governed by the principles
of voice leading outlined in Craft II and including devices borrowed from
the baroque style, such as imitation and pedal points. Bar 66 from the first
movement begins with three-part imitative counterpoint based on quartal
pitch collections. Notice the salience of the rising fourth pattern, combined
with a triplet figure around the same pitches, in Example 6.5.
It ranks alongside the subsequent Sonata for Horn as one of Hindemith’s
most expansive and explores a wide but not technically unreasonable range
from the lowest pitch e in the chalumeau register to f ’’’ in the altissimo
register (for B-flat clarinet). For comparative purposes many works in the
clarinet repertoire before 1939 had ascended to the high c’’’’ – altissimo playing
was already integrated into clarinet technique. It has been described by Jo
Rees-Davies as ‘a great work which requires more musical intelligence than
technique, and is consequently not as popular as it deserves’.32 As the clarinet
is more blessed with repertoire than several other instruments in Hindemith’s
sonata sequence, it was in lesser need for new material that did not break
technical ground.
Hindemith wrote his Sonata for Harp (1939) with the help of Clelia
Gatti-Aldrovandi, to whom the work is dedicated.33 Unlike the majority
of other sonatas during this time, the Sonata for Harp does not include a
piano part likely owing to its ability to play polyphonically and the potential
acoustic imbalance. It was also written for an instrument that had an existing
body of attractive recital repertoire, although Hindemith’s style was suitably
distinctive. Though Hindemith had previously sought to restrain the explicit
connections between music and text in his First Sonata for Piano, he now
31
The second movement may be found on the Grade 7 ABRSM syllabus, and the
complete work is placed within the DipABRSM category. See ABRSM Clarinet
syllabus 2014–2017 and 2015 diploma syllabus reprint.
32
Rees-Davies, Jo, ‘The Development of the Clarinet Repertoire’, in The Cambridge
Companion to the Clarinet, ed. Colin Lawson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1995) p. 86.
33
The genesis of the Sonata for Harp, and the various exchanges of letters between
Clelia Gatti-Aldrovandi and Gertrud Hindemith, are analysed in Plank, Elisabeth,
‘… Sie möge auf ihr Privat-fortissimo verzichten … Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen
Paul Hindemith und Clelia Gatti Aldrovandi bei der Sonate für Harfe (1939)’ HJb,
began to quote whole poems in published scores. The third movement of the
sonata is based on the German poem ‘Lied’ by Ludwig Christoph Heinrich
Hölty (1748–1776) – one may hear the words of the poem within the
melody ‘Ihr Freunde, häuget, wannich gestorben bin’ (‘O my friends, when
I am dead and gone’). The line is harmonised with Hindemith’s distinctive
quartal harmony in contrary motion (Example 6.6).
From these tumultuous months two of the most important brass recital
works from the early twentieth century were composed, for trumpet and
French horn. Hindemith’s quartal style is particularly well suited to the
acoustic properties of brass instruments owing to their intonation and timbre.
Many brass players, given the popularity of these sonatas for examinations and
auditions, owe a major advancement in their careers to a performance of one
of Hindemith’s sonatas.
Hindemith chose his Trumpet Sonata to project his most heartfelt sadness
at the tragedy of war. Unlike other works from the sequence, Hindemith did
not compose the sonata in chronological movement order. He chose instead to
begin with the second movement, followed by the third, followed by the first.
The tempo markings, typically, are a matter for debate. The first movement, in
particular, has been performed across a wide range; Hindemith’s written tempo
feels slow to many performers, and yet the projection of the line stems from
Example 6.5 Sonata for Clarinet, first movement, bb. 66–9.
bœ ™ œœ
5-35
œ- ™
66
-
œ™ bœ œ™ œ bœ œ œ
& Œ™ œ™ -œ
™ J
-
b -œ ™ œ™ œ
mf
b-œ ™
5-35
& ‰ ‰ Œ™ ?
bœ- ™ bœ- ™ J
œ b œ œ bœ œ œ
{?
3-9
∑
œ
‰
œ b œ œb œ œ œ œ
3-9
œ
bœ
‰ ‰ œ bœ œ bœ œ œ ‰ J
{
3-9
Example 6.6 Sonata for Harp, third movement, bb. 1–3.
4
& 4 bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ
bœ b œœœ bbœœ bbœœ bbœœ bb œœ bbœœ bbœœ bnbb˙˙˙˙
mf
bœ bœ
? 44 bœ bœbœœ bbœœ bœœ bbbœœœ bœ bbœœ bbœœ b n˙˙
b œ bœ b œ b˙
fabf fa§f
sustaining of tone and articulation. The final movement ends with a chorale
setting of ‘Alle Menschen müssen sterben’ (all people must die), previously
used by J. S. Bach in BWV 643. It is one of the most poignant moments in the
history of trumpet writing.
Hindemith was very pleased with his trumpet sonata, as evidenced by the
following letter to his publisher:
it is maybe the best thing I have succeeded in doing in recent times, and that
is quite a good sign, since I do not regard any of my newest productions as of
little value.34
This is unsurprising given the broad range of emotions expressed over its
four movements, from the powerful, sustained opening, through a jaunty
pastoral to a funeral movement and chorale. Few works for trumpet have
since been able to match Hindemith’s combination of idiomatic writing and
drama. This is all the more remarkable as the concept of a solo trumpeter
was in its infancy in the 1930s, despite the Paris Conservatoire Concours
(including George Enescu’s Légende, 1906). As a curious result, technically
demanding works may still have been played on the more agile clarinet,
including the premiere of a contemporary work: Halsey Steven’s Sonata
for Trumpet (1956).35 On the title page to the first edition of Hindemith’s
trumpet sonata, he entertains the possibility that it, too, could be performed
on a clarinet, for want of a technically proficient trumpeter (Figure 6.1). In
an amusing anecdote, Thomas Frost recalls a conversation with Hindemith
regarding a performance of the work:
One of the students performed his trumpet sonata at a concert in Sprague Hall
… but he made a few little slips. Afterwards I was walking with Hindemith
through the hallway and this fellow came up and apologized and said, “Mr.
Hindemith, I’m sorry I ruined your trumpet sonata,” and Hindemith looked
at him and rather quickly he said, “You didn’t ruin it, other people can still
play it”.36
The Sonata for Horn (not to be confused with the Althorn Sonata, written
four years later) was written in a similar style to the Trumpet Sonata, with
long, sustained melody lines in the solo part – which tests the endurance,
stamina, articulation and tone of the performer – combined with a
notoriously challenging piano accompaniment. It showcases Unterweisung
34
Letter to Willy Strecker, Schott & Co., 29 November 1939.
35
Thomas Stevens was originally asked to premiere Halsey Stevens’ Sonata.
36
Thomas Frost (OHAM, 12 April 1976).
technique: abundant in fourths and fifths, not only at key structural points,
but throughout general melodic shapes. Hindemith’s Berlin student,
Bernhard Heiden, emulated this work strongly in his own Horn Sonata,
written the same year.
Figure 6.1 The front page to Hindemith’s autograph of the Sonata for
Trumpet (1939).
It parallels the Trumpet Sonata in many ways. The opening movement

is powerful and broad, exploring the large pitch and dynamic ranges of the
French horn. The second is generally lighter, and sparser in texture, providing
the performer with some rest. The third movement alludes to a rondo, which
highlights Hindemith’s penchant for classical forms. While undertones of
melancholy pervade the sonata, it does not end with the same resignation
found in the Trumpet Sonata, and is more representative of Hindemith’s
positive outlook from Switzerland.
The Third Sonata for Organ (1940) was written as Hindemith’s
circumstances were growing in security. He continued to integrate texts
into his music, represented here by fifteenth-century German melodies
which underpin each movement. The folksongs may be traced to the 1925
Altdeutsches Liederbuch edited by Franz Böhme and are related through a
theme of love and longing; Hindemith had to leave Gertrud in Europe for a
spell to go to the United States. The first movement places the melody ‘Ach
Gott, wem soll ich’s klagen’ (‘Ah Lord, to whom should I direct my weeping’)
in the pedal part, above which Hindemith weaves his familiar siciliano style.
The second movement moves the melody ‘Wach auf, mein Hort’ (‘Awake, my
heart’) to the tenor line, played in the left hand and the third places it back in
the pedals using ‘So wünsch ich ihr gute Nacht’ (‘I bid her then Good Night’).
Importantly, the pedal line in the third movement is not always the lowest
voice – an advanced organ practice at this stage in music history. He also
delegates considerable freedom to the organist in his preface stating, ‘Those
playing organs with a crescendo pedal and swell box are at liberty to use richer
colouration and dynamic transitions to raise the dynamic level of the phrase
above that which is indicated’.37 The sonata appears to have been conceived
for a classical instrument, as implied by the compositional style and in a letter
from Hindemith to the organ builder Weigle, ‘I have a particular conception
of the organ. I hate those gigantic organs that sound soft and bloated, I love
clear, rational specifications, pure and cleanly articulated voices’.38
The organ presented Hindemith – as it has done with generations of
composers before him – with the ideal opportunity to sustain a simple melody
in the pedal part. Hindemith held these German folk melodies in high
regard, and included them as exercises in Craft II. There are several motivic
similarities between the Third Organ Sonata and the Sonata for Trumpet of
the previous year, and numerous rhythmic similarities (particularly in 12/8
time). Note the motif in bars 2 and 3 of the third movement of the Third
Organ Sonata, compared with bars 18 and 19 of the third movement to the
Trumpet Sonata (Example 6.7). Though the organ segment is in four parts
37
Translation by Susan Baxter (Naxos, 8.573194, 2014).
38
Ibid.
and the piano in three, they are both characterised by successive quartal
collections which bring out the rising minor third [C E-flat] followed by the
major third [E-flat C-flat] resolving by semitone to a B-flat, underpinned
by fourths.
1940–1955
Hindemith wrote six instrumental sonatas in the 1940s during his time in the
United States. These include compositions for English Horn (1941), Trombone
(1941), Two Pianos (1942), Althorn or Alto Saxophone (1943), Violoncello
(1948) and Double Bass (1949). By this stage, he had found a niche at writing
sonatas for marginalised instruments. It is further noteworthy that these pieces
were less driven by the acute political environment Hindemith found himself
in during the 1930s, although many listeners find that they may still detect the
echoes of war and exile in the musical background.
Hindemith wrote the sonatas for Trombone (1941) and Althorn (1943)
during a time of professional change.39 He substantially reduced his activities
as a performer and concentrated largely on his new teaching work at Yale.
Acclimatising to his new environment and professional commitments
also impacted on Hindemith’s compositional productivity, which included
only the aforementioned two sonatas and ‘A Frog He Went A-Courting’ for
Example 6.7 Comparison of Hindemith’s Third Organ Sonata, third

movement, bb. 2–3 (left), with his Trumpet Sonata, third
{ {
movement, bb. 18–19 (right).
2
bœ œœ bœ bœ bœ
18
j bœ̇ j
& b œ œnœœ œ™œ
œ™ ® ‰ bœœ ™™ œ nœ & œ n œj nœ œ ™ bœ bœ ™ nœœ™nœœ
R œn œJ œ ™
j .
? œœ ‰œ nŒœ bœ bbœœ ‰ ? nœ œ œJ bœ ™ bœ
œ J œ™
J J nœ
. . . . nœ œ
{ {
bœœ bœ bœœ bœ bœ bœ
& œ & œ œ
bbœœ
? ? bœ
bœœ œ
39
Skelton (1975) p. 201.
’cello and piano during the year 1941; a stark contrast with the phenomenal
compositional output of his brief spell in Switzerland.
Though Hindemith did not manage to write for doubling instruments
such as bass clarinet, contrabassoon and piccolo flute, he decided to write a
Sonata for English Horn. By this point in music history, the English horn
had added sonorous depth to many orchestral textures by nineteenth-century
composers such as Berlioz, Debussy, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky. It had been
severely marginalised in solo repertoire, however, and Hindemith’s sonata
represents one of the first recital works not moulded from a transcription. The
same may be said of the trombone, which enjoyed many prominent orchestral
solos, such as Mozart’s Requiem and Ravel’s Bolero and yet which had very
little recital repertoire with piano. Hindemith’s sonata has since become one
of the most frequently performed twentieth-century works for the trombone
owing to ‘its presence in the curriculum of conservatoires and in its being
championed by exemplar performers’.40 Matthew Gee, current principal
trombone of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, provides some reasons for
the popularity of the work:
Hindemith’s trombone sonata encapsulates the character of the instrument

perfectly without asking too many technical questions of the player, making
it one of our finest and most approachable pieces for both performers and
audiences alike. The work is an invaluable teaching resource.41
As with so many of the earlier sonatas, Hindemith was guided by his own
experience of learning, and in some cases performing the solo instrument
which accounts for their technical level. He could play the trombone to at least
a competent standard according to Kurt Stone, who recalls an entertaining
anecdote relating to a performance of Apparebit Repentina Dies:
And they played too loudly, and he told them that they should play softer. One
of the trombone players said, “You cannot play a trombone softer than this.”
And Hindemith ran up to the balcony, grabbed the trombone and played it
softly. And from then on they did! They did play softly.42
The dotted rhythms of the opening motif are reminiscent of the arresting
opening motif of the Concert Music for Strings and Brass, which contrasts
with the jaunty allegretto, whimsical ‘Swashbuckler’s Song’ and a final, broader
maestoso which ends by referring back to the original theme. The trombone
40
Herbert, Trevor, The Trombone (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006) p. 288.
41
Correspondence between the author and Matthew Gee, May 2016.
42
Kurt Stone (OHAM, 4 June 1975).
has often been associated with judgement, death and the supernatural; for
Hindemith to avoid this subtext in favour of a nonchalant Swashbuckler
movement shows how far he had come since the despair of the Sonata for
Trumpet.
Hindemith’s Sonata for Two Pianos (Four Hands) brings together many
of the strategies he had been developing over the previous works: the first
movement, ‘Chimes’ is based on an inherent idiomatic possibility from using
two pianos; the second, fast movement continues his development of the
Alla Breve style; the third is based on a canon; the fourth is a recitative based
on his growing penchant for basing sonata movements on literary texts and
the fifth is a fugue based on salient quartal counterpoint. Hindemith had
developed such fluent technique that it was written in only four days, from
24–28 August, a single day before Hindemith immediately started work on
his Ludus Tonalis.
Hindemith’s decision to write an Althorn Sonata (somewhat confusingly,
also known as the alto horn in US-English and the tenor horn in British
English) stems from his early experiences with the German Symphonic
Band where it would feature regularly, and in all likelihood, from his service
during WWI. The possibilities for althorn are evident in his Konzertmusik
für Blasorchester op. 41 (1926). The instrument carries a strong heritage and
performing tradition – at the time of WWI there were 550 active bands in
Germany.43 Though Hindemith wrote his Althorn Sonata in America, where
wind bands favoured the French horn, the instrument carried a great deal of
symbolism from the German band. Hindemith set his own poem – a ‘posthorn
dialogue’ – to music in the sonata, which is often recited between the third and
fourth movements. It relates to the use of the posthorn in the rural villages of
early-twentieth-century Germany, where it would announce the arrival of mail
which Hindemith compares to Morse code (‘lightning prisoned up in cables’).
The vivid imagery in the Althorn Sonata has led to a theory over the rhythm
found at bar 77 in the second movement, which has been argued to contain
Morse code on the initials N.K.A.W, corresponding to the Swiss Renaissance
painter Niklaus Manuel (1484–1530).44 In Morse code, the initials would be
communicated as dash-dot, dash-dot-dash, dot-dash, and dot-dash-dash,
where a dash is long and a dot is short (Example 6.8).45
The opening theme to the second movement is constructed with a
quintessential Unterweisung approach. It exists in predominately three parts,
43
Votta, Jr, Michael (ed.) The Wind Band and its Repertoire: Two Decades of Research as
Published in the CBDNA Journal (Alfred Music Publishing, 2003) p. 74.
44
Hemken, Jennifer Ann, The Mystery of the Althorn (Alto Horn) Sonata (1943) by
Paul Hindemith (University of North Texas, DMA, 2015) pp. 17–20.
45
Ibid., p. 16.
Example 6.8 Sonata for Althorn, second movement, bb. 71–9, Morse code.
71
Ó ∑ ∑ 5 ∑ 2 Œ
& #˙ 4 2
#˙ œ
pp
∑ ∑ ∑ 5 ∑ ?2
& 4 2 w
{
76
? Œ
pp
#˙ œ
Œ j
#œ ™ œ œ
Œ
#œ ˙
5
4‰ j
#œ ˙ ˙
2
2
#w
w
5 2
& Œ j Œ 4 ‰ j 2
#œ ™ œ œ #œ ˙ #œ ˙ ˙ w
? 5 2 Œ ##˙˙ œ
œ
w w 4 #˙ ™ ˙ 2
{?
<#> w
w #w
w
5
4
## ˙˙ ™
™ ˙˙
2
2 w
nw
and is constructed using Hindemith’s developed Alla Breve style, similar to

the previous Sonata for Two Pianos (Four Hands). Contrary motion and
individuality of voice is paramount, as is the gravitational pull towards fourth
and fifth intervals. Rhythm abides by basic contrapuntal principles – unless
for motivic purposes, such as the opening bar, longer note values are placed
on strong beats. Quavers are predominately placed on weak beats for melodic
propulsion (Example 6.9).
After his emigration to the United States, Hindemith grew to enjoy the
American Army Band, who premiered his Symphony in B-flat for Concert
Band (1951). In America, the althorn had been replaced in favour of the
French horn – an instrument capable of playing the same part. Despite the
obvious pictorial references in his sonata, Hindemith permitted the use of the
alto saxophone (which, in the key of E-flat, could play from the same part). His
student, Bernhard Heiden, had written the first major alto saxophone sonata
in 1937 and Hindemith would have likely been attentive to the possibilities
of the instrument.
The althorn was sorely in need of recital music by a leading Western
composer that was not originally conceived for French horn. Hindemith’s
Sonata for Althorn resides in ABRSM grades 6, 8, and all three ABRSM
Example 6.9 Sonata for Althorn, second movement, bb. 1–14, in alla
breve style.
#œ #˙ ™
œ #œ œ #œ
Lebhaft
2 >˙ . #˙
& 2 #œ œ #œ œ#œ#œ œ #œ œ
{
f
œ #œw ˙ #œ # œ œ œ#œ œ
?2 w ˙™
w #œ Œ nœnœ œ œ œ
2
f
?2 Œ ˙
2 œ œ #œ œ nœ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ w
#˙ ˙ w
6
œ #œ #œ œ œ ˙™ nœ œ œ œ
& œ œ œ œ #˙
{
œ #œ œ œ #œ œ bœ œ œ
? œ nœ œ bœ bœ œ nœ œ œ Œ nœ œ
˙™
?
œ #œ œ Œ bœ Œ
˙™
b˙ w
b˙ w œ œ
10
œ ˙ #˙ œ œ#œ#œ œ #˙
& <#>œ œ #œ #˙
#w
{
œ œ œ œ œœ
? œ œ ˙ Œ Œ&
#œ œ œ
œ œ Œ Ó œ
#œ œ #œ
? œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ Œ Œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ
Œ Ó œ
œ nœ #œ
diploma syllabuses.46 It has become one of the central works for the instrument.
Its technical demands for the alto saxophone are somewhat lower – in response
Jean-Marie Londeix published a new version (1984) which incorporated the
46
ABRSM Syllabus for Tenor Horn in E-flat (2013) and 2015 diploma syllabus
reprint.
alto saxophone from the outset of the final movement, accompanied by a

simplified piano part. She notes:
The following suggestion relates to performances of the work with alto

saxophone. Since only the horn is mentioned in the poem “Zwiegespräch”
(Dialogue), the text can be disregarded in the saxophone version. Instead, the
semiquaver passages should be played by the saxophone (as indicated) and
the accompanying parts by the piano. The final movement will then take on a
virtuoso character appropriate to the instrument.47
Hindemith’s final four sonatas for ’Cello (1948), Double Bass (1949), Four
Horns (1952) and Bass Tuba (1955) stand apart in time from the rapid
production of his previous sonatas. Since the Sonata for Althorn, Hindemith
had turned his attention to other musical genres and to writing textbooks.
Unfinished business and a commission from cellist Gregor Piatigorsky
brought him back, however, to his sonata sequence. The Sonata for ’Cello
is an expansive work which, similar to the other sonatas for viola and violin
in the sequence, is far removed from Hindemith’s early style. While the
Sonata for Solo ’Cello op. 25/3 owes its origins to the language of Reger
and Schoenberg, the sonata with piano fits neatly into the Unterweisung
approach. It is an expansive work formed over three movements, culminating
in one of Hindemith’s grandest passacaglias.
The following year, Hindemith wrote his Double Bass Sonata (1949)
over the space of five days while on holiday with Gertrud in New Mexico. It
was conceived at a similar time to the curious Double Concerto for Bassoon
and Trumpet (which, similar to the Bassoon and Violin Sonatas, consists of
only two movements). Unlike the majority of other sonatas, it is not suited
to orchestral auditions owing to its requirement for solo strings, which are
tuned a tone higher [A E B F-sharp] – many double bass players own solely
orchestral strings, making the sonata impractical. Unofficial transpositions
of the piano part have been made to permit orchestral tuning, although it
places even greater requirements on the pianist. Hindemith had to make a
choice when writing for the double bass; his decision to write for solo string
tuning implies that he conceived the work for solo recitals rather than for
orchestral auditions. Given the low register of the double bass, Hindemith
features extremities of range in the piano part, both above and below the bass
part. He does not shy from the low range of the double bass, making it into a
feature of the work.
47
Jean-Marie Londeix’s note to the 1984 edition of Hindemith’s Althorn Sonata
(Mainz: Schott & Co.).
Following his Sonata for Four Horns – a work which stands in the heritage
of Schumann’s popular Concert Piece for Four Horns and Orchestra op. 86
(1849) – Hindemith had one last surprise in store for the instruments of the
orchestral world. He composed the first ever duo Sonata for Tuba (1955).
It was written one year after the first tuba concerto, by Ralph Vaughan
Williams in 1954, at a time when other brass instruments were growing in
popularity among active composers. Similar to the Double Bass Sonata, it is
a complex work which is strongly based in his Unterweisung style, yet harks
back to the approach of his early years. It contains some of his most dissonant
writing, epitomised by the tuba melody, which outlines vague quartal (or
perhaps tonal) strategies, accompanied by four-part counterpoint. Observe
that within the piano counterpoint there are a number of patterns: the upper
voice consists of a two-bar cell, which is repeated down a minor third; the
middle voices descend chromatically, but at different rates; the bass voice
(yet still above the tuba line) creates contrary motion with the upper voice.
It is telling that during a passage of such interwoven chromaticism, the final
chord – perhaps an incomplete quartal trichord – sounds strongly consonant
by comparison (Example 6.10).
After his lifelong scorn for serialism, Hindemith ironically included a
twelve-note theme to the Sonata for Tuba. We should not hold the mistaken
view that Hindemith suddenly acquired a taste for serialism. In this instance,
the notion of a melody containing all pitches of the chromatic scale is a
whimsical gambit, nothing more. Hindemith does not proceed to apply
any serial techniques to his material, such as inversion and retrograde.
More importantly, though the melody may be described as chromatic, it
is accompanied by one of Hindemith’s most salient quartal patterns in the
piano.
Example 6.10 Tuba Sonata, second movement, bb. 27–32.
bœ. œ. #œ nœ œ Œ œ. #œ. nœ. œ. œ œ

27
? 22
œ. b œ. œ œ. bœ. . . . #œ. . .
{
œ. . # œ.
b˙
2 n˙ n˙ ˙ b˙ n˙
& 2b ˙ ˙ bẇ n˙ ˙ #˙ nnẇ b˙ n˙ b ˙ n˙˙
mp ẇ
? 22 b˙ # ẇ n ˙ bb ẇ ˙ bwœ œ b˙ b
ẇ
˙
nn˙˙
Practical Textbooks
While Hindemith’s early chamber sonatas from this sequence were written
with fresh ideas from writing the Unterweisung, such as the Flute, Horn and
Organ Sonatas, he was to drastically change his approach to the writing of
music theory following his Yale appointment. If his composition style can
be described in general chronological terms as evolving from pluralism to
uniformity, his music theory writing changed from speculative and ambitious
to established and pragmatic. His more practical textbooks written during
the 1940s include two volumes of Traditional Harmony (published 1943 and
1949) and Elementary Training for Musicians (1946). Both did not break new
theoretical ground, but presented common understandings of tonality and
musicianship in comprehensive form with a wide body of musical examples
tailored for his new American student audience.
Similar to Hindemith’s instrumental sonatas, Elementary Training has
somehow slipped under the musicological radar. It is in all likelihood his most
popular English-language textbook; since Schott’s records began on 1 January
2001, Elementary Training has sold over twice as many copies as both editions
of the Craft together.48 The public need for Hindemith’s musicianship training
currently outstrips interest in his theoretical work. We may add to this the
popular perception of Hindemith as a highly-skilled musician; many may
feel that if Hindemith wrote a textbook on musicianship, it is likely to be
well founded. The approach and success of Hindemith’s textbooks paved the
way for Schoenberg to write his Structural Functions of Harmony (completed
March 1948, ed. H. Searle [London: 1954, revised 1969 by L. Stein]) and
Fundamentals of Musical Composition (1937–1948, ed. G. Strang and L. Stein
[London, 1967]). Hindemith established the prototype for many pedagogical
textbooks of the second half of the twentieth century.
Elementary Training for Musicians
Hindemith wrote Elementary Training for a specific purpose – to raise the

standards of general musicianship amongst his Yale students.49 However,
it likely caused classroom tension given the defensive tone of Hindemith’s
textbook introduction. He writes as if to argue with an imagined critic, perhaps
an unenthusiastic student:
48
I am grateful to Lena Kleinschmidt of Schott & Co. for providing comparative
sales data.
49
The disappointment Hindemith felt toward the student response to his Yale
entrance examination – discussed in the following chapter – likely contributed towards
his mission to raise the standards of general musicianship.
No textbook, whatever the honest intentions of its author, and whatever the
quality of its plan and contents, will remain uncriticised. I can easily foresee
what the objections to the present book will be.50
Though Hindemith remained cryptic on the subject of these criticisms, we

can speculate what they might have been: perhaps the book became too
difficult too quickly for common technical standards of the day; perhaps it
did not address matters of harmony soon enough; or perhaps instrumentalists
resented having to sing in front of their peers. In any case, Hindemith took an
uncompromising stance on his approach to musicianship improvement.
Elementary Training is a broad textbook. It includes exercises on rhythm,
singing, interval recognition, conducting, clef reading, transposition, basic
harmony and scale construction. It emphasises coordination and regularly
requires the student to conduct several tasks simultaneously; particularly
singing while beating. It was Hindemith’s first attempt at writing down his
previously non-written and non-theoretical practices. The training begins
at a rudimentary level, progressing steadily to level of a skilled professional
musician. It has been constructed in such a way – unlike the Unterweisung – as
to allow for the moderate music teacher to lead students through the book.
Little interpretation is required.
Hindemith practiced Elementary Training in Yale during the mid-1940s.
He began with an experimental year in 1945 where the text was trialled on a
large body of students drawn from across the school. Lessons were conducted
in the top floor of Sprague Hall in a room and students would be seated
in alternate rows. Behind each row of students sat what Isabel DeWitt has
described as Hindemith’s ‘assistants’ who were presumably drawn from the
graduate school.51 Students were expected to work on the exercises and would
be selected to demonstrate – usually by singing and beating with a pencil – in
front of the whole class. Initially this created some anxiety among students
who were not trained singers, knowing that there were vocal students among
the cohort, although DeWitt recalls that singers were not always deemed to
be the most proficient at coordinating the various tasks Hindemith asked of
them. Hindemith administered examinations for this course personally, split
into groups of four students. These would include unseen singing, beating and
dictation exercises. Hindemith’s ‘assistants’ were also present, and if students
found dictation exercises to be too challenging they would repeat it behind the
50
Hindemith, Paul, Elementary Training for Musicians (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1946)
p. viii.
51
The report of Hindemith’s pilot scheme for Elementary Training in 1945 is taken
from Isabel DeWitt (OHAM, 21 January 1975).
ear of the student. Assistants would also point to any obvious mistakes in the
students’ work to give them the opportunity of correction.
Hindemith includes the following aspects of general musicianship in his
Elementary Training:
1. Pitch and rhythm dictation

2. Transposition
3. Principles of ornamentation
4. Coordination: singing while playing or beating/conducting
5. Clef reading
6. Knowledge of musical terms
These are divided into ‘action in time’ (solely rhythm and coordination) and
‘action in space’ (rhythm and coordination in addition to pitch variation).
Within these principle areas Hindemith offers small yet noteworthy references
to matters such as harmony, scale and mode construction, conducting and clef
reading. The order of the textbook begins with tapping, clapping and singing
rhythms followed by dictations. Chapter 5 introduces key signatures, scale
construction and enhances familiarity with ledger lines; subsequent chapters
introduce firstly tempo, then performance directions, clefs, stem notation,
singing intervals above chords, conducting, transposition, interval names,
singing over piano chords, the circle of fifths, church modes, ornaments and
finally, articulation.
One of Hindemith’s colleagues and former student Howard Boatwright
found Elementary Training to be too peculiarly ordered to prove useful in the
classroom (a criticism I have also aimed at Unterweisung I ):
I tried to use Hindemith’s elementary training book, but I couldn’t do it because

the layout of the material is pedagogically not workable. You go from a whole
note to a half note to a quarter note to an eighth note but when you pass from
the quarter note to the eighth note you also have to introduce without a word
being said cross rhythms, syncopations, all kinds of things. When you hit about
page thirteen or fourteen then you get into sixteenth notes, it’s not merely the
fact that a sixteenth note has been added and this is a division of an eighth note
which is a perfectly logical step and easily understood, suddenly the patterns
become enormously difficult to perform.52
Aside from arguably a confusing layout, Elementary Training had a reputation

for high difficulty during its time in the mid-twentieth-century United States.
John Colman recalls:
52
Howard Boatwright (OHAM, 16 December 1976)
Elementary Training is by no means elementary. I have some people who are

up on the eleventh chapter now and I tell you it would give Philharmonic men
pause.53 They would sweat if they had to do it. It’s not easy. 54
The most demanding exercises in Elementary Training are challenging indeed.

Hindemith had a particular obsession with fluent clef reading relating to his
adulation of J. S. Bach’s music – in the Gesellschaft edition, major choral
works such as Bach’s B Minor Mass are notated using a variety of clefs which
are no longer in common usage – and to earlier forms of polyphony. He also
used both alto and tenor clefs frequently in his compositions containing
instruments such as the viola, trombone and bassoon. For extension purposes,
Hindemith writes:
The now obsolete c’-clefs on the first and second staff-lines (soprano and
mezzo-soprano clef respectively) are for advanced students of the same
importance as alto and tenor clefs, since most of the pre-Classical music uses
them. Perfect ability to read them fluently (singing and in combination) is
essential! The same is true (though in a lesser degree) for other f- and g’-clefs,
such as: 55
?
?
&
Apart from the practical use of alto and tenor clefs in his orchestral scores,
Hindemith applied them inventively in his fanciful canons, which he would
regularly write as presents for friends and colleagues. In ‘Cum sit enim
proprium’, written for the seventieth birthday of Hans Scharouns, Hindemith
notates four different clefs to identify the starting pitches for each part
(Example 6.11).
High standards need to be aspired to in the training of a young musician.
And yet there is a case to be made for students not needing to practice
all of the skills Hindemith requires in Elementary Training. When might
a student, for example, need to transpose singing while playing the piano?
Hindemith appears to have felt duty-bound to preserve the technical
standards. One may wonder if occasionally these skills are the domain of the
53
John Colman was based in New York at the time of this interview – it is plausible
that he was referring to the New York Philharmonic in this reference, or to another
Philharmonic that Hindemith conducted. In any case, the implication is that it was an
elite professional orchestra.
54
John Colman (OHAM, 21 November 1976)
55
Elementary Training (1946) p. 160.
Example 6.11 Canon, ‘Cum sit enim proprium’.
1. 2. 3. 4.
œ œ œ œ œ™ œ ‰ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ
œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
6
B BBB 8 j
J J
œ™ œ™ œ™
Cum sit e - nim pro-pri-um vi - ro sa - pi - en - ti su-per pe - tram
J œ œ Œ™
œ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ
6
j
J œœœ œœ J J
œ œ œ œ™
po-ne-re se -dem fun - da-men - ti, mi - ser e - go com - pa - ror ﬂu - vi -
œ œ œ œ œ™ œ™ œ ‰ Œ ™ ™™
œœœ œœœ
12
œ™ ‰ œ œ j
œ
o la-ben - ti sub e - o - dem a - ë - re num quam per - ma - nen - ti.
conductor, rather than the instrumentalist. There is an issue of branding: I

wonder how many readers were aware that Hindemith taught conducting in
this textbook, in addition to aural training, transposition and clef reading?
Had Hindemith written a separate textbook clearly labelled ‘Conducting’,
it may have attracted greater readership just as if he had written a separate
book labelled ‘Orchestration’.
Harmony and Orchestration
Traditional Harmony is similar to Elementary Training given its emphasis

on general levels of musicianship. It was written to address deficiencies in
harmony and conspicuously avoids a theoretical approach, choosing instead to
focus on short, concise texts followed by numerous examples to test and expand
the knowledge of the student. The approach is epitomised by its full title: ‘A
Concentrated Course in Traditional Harmony with emphasis on exercises
and a minimum of rules’. With perhaps false modesty Hindemith describes
Traditional Harmony I as ‘only [coming] into being as a by-product of more
important labours’ in the revised version, after the first edition had sold well.
In fact, the first version was successful beyond Hindemith’s expectation and
went into a second edition after only one year.56 Sales alone indicate that there
was far greater interest in Hindemith’s teaching of basic musical training than
speculative music theory building.
56
Letter from Hindemith to Ludwig and Willy Strecker, 29 August 1945 (Skelton,
1995, p. 190): ‘Both are doing better than expected. The Ludus had to be reprinted in
the first months of its existence, and the “Traditional Harmony,” which is being used
for teaching all over the place, also went into a second edition after just a year’.
The first volume of Traditional Harmony is characterised by its sparse

text; the essence of the book is seventy exercises followed by supplementary
exercises which require the student to compose piano accompaniments to the
given melody line of a chamber Sonatina movement. It introduces the student
to the basics of diatonic tonality from the rudiments of the major and minor
triad. The psychoacoustic derivation material is omitted, however; according
to Hindemith’s introductory words, the study of harmony should be simple
and short.
Boatwright speaks highly of Traditional Harmony. He finds that the
second volume is a completely different subject to the first, which relates to
Hindemith’s predisposition for canons, love of contrapuntal invention and
application of harmonic fluctuation. It does not develop our study of harmony
as far as Schoenberg’s Structural Functions – more progressive harmonic
languages are ignored. Traditional Harmony II focuses on more challenging
and detailed assignments, discussing in brief seventh chords and chromatic
alterations. Hindemith was far more concerned with how to write for unusual
instrument combinations in unusual forms or circumstances, rather than
developing radical harmonic landscapes; an approach that mirrors challenges
he had set for himself in the instrumental sonatas.
Orchestration did not feature in Hindemith’s textbooks, and yet it remains
a crucial and defining aspect of his musical output, particularly relating to
his evergreen Mathis der Maler and Symphonic Metamorphosis (1943). By
the time of his 1939 trip to the US, Hindemith’s reputation for orchestral
composition was so high as to entice an approach from Walt Disney, although
a collaboration never materialised owing to a personality clash between the
two men (Hindemith found Disney to be ‘a very cocky guy’). It is unfortunate
that a central aspect students wanted to learn from Hindemith – his keen
skills as an orchestrator – was not something he wanted to teach. He did
not write an orchestration textbook to companion Elementary Training and
Traditional Harmony. It seems that Hindemith wanted students to teach
themselves to play each instrument, even if just to an elementary level, and to
use the acquired first-hand knowledge to guide their composition.
We may, however, look to his orchestral music to learn of his approach.
There is perhaps no better work that the Symphonic Metamorphosis (written
around the time of the Sonata for Althorn) to demonstrate Hindemith’s
command of orchestration, particularly given that much of the material was
pre-existing. It is as close to an orchestration exercise as we are likely to find
in Hindemith; one may also meditate on the curious notion that this must
be among Hindemith’s most popular works, and yet the musical material was
largely written by another composer. It was borrowed and embellished similar
to the practices of many early-eighteenth-century composers. Hindemith
chose a large symphony orchestra; it was originally conceived as a ballet score.
According to Boatwright:
Now if Hindemith did any textbook on orchestration, it’s that piece [Symphonic
Metamorphosis]. He wrote no book, but if you want to know how he did it, that
piece will show you his technique.57
Symphonic Metamorphosis is an extended orchestration and adaptation of

four piano duets by Weber, which Hindemith had enjoyed playing through
with Gertrud. The seeds for the work were sown during 1938, following
a conversation with Léonide Massine, for whom Nobilissima Visone was
written. At the request of Massine, Hindemith was to compose a new ballet
score and it was with this in mind that he suggested arrangements of the
Weber piano pieces. However, the project collapsed owing to artistic and
logistical differences.
Though the work is subtitled ‘of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber’,
Hindemith did not make the relationship to Weber sources explicit. The
first article to highlight the significant relationship between Symphonic
Metamorphosis and its Weber subject matter was not published until 1962,
by Wilfried Brennecke.58 With the exception of the second movement,
‘Turandot’, Hindemith does not veer from the form of the original score –
note the similarity of bar numbers in Table 6.2.
In his orchestration, Hindemith adds harmony – the original, tonal
language of Weber is transformed to include occasional flashes of quartal
collections. There is a feeling throughout that Hindemith’s Unterweisung style
is laying in the background, constantly trying to pull Weber towards it. In the
final movement, for example, notice the comparison of the opening fanfare
(Example 6.12). Weber’s original is entirely diatonic and alternates between
tonic, subdominant and dominant. Hindemith reworks the first bar by firstly
transposing the motif down a major third, then omitting the minor chord,
choosing instead to have the melody in unison. This leaves the harmonisation
of the motif ominously uncertain. The rising minor sixth which lands on bar 2
is re-harmonised – rather than becoming the minor third of the subdominant
(C minor) it becomes the major third of the sharpened supertonic (D major).
The most distinctive difference is the final chord, which Hindemith alters
to become a quartal tetrachord. As we have seen in works such as Apparebit
Repentina Dies, the quartal style can be particularly effective in brass chords.
After Hindemith, this approach was to become prevalent in the brass writing
of many film scores.
57
Howard Boatwright (OHAM, 16 December 1976).
58
Brennecke, Wilfried, ‘Die Metamorphosen-Werke von Richard Strauss und Paul
Hindemith’, in Hans Albrecht in Memoriam, ed. Wilfried Brennecke & Hans Haase
(Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1962) pp. 268–84.
Table 6.2 Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis source material.
Source
Hindemith Weber (opus)
1 Allegro (crotchet = 108) Allegro, tutto ben marcato 60/4

168 bars (NB: 2 second-time bars) 162 bars
2 Moderato (crotchet = 132) Allegro ‘Chinesische Melodie’ 37
304 bars 136 bars
3 Andantino (quaver = 126–132) Andantino con moto 10a/2
49 bars (NB: 1 second-time bar) 42 bars
4 March (minim = 80) Maestoso 60/7
144 bars (NB: 3 second-time bars) 141 bars
Example 6.12 Comparison of the opening to Weber’s op. 60/7 and Hindemith’s
Symphonic Metamorphosis, fourth movement.
œ ˙
b 2 œœ œ™
Maestoso
œ™ ˙ œœ œœ #˙
& b 4 œœ œJ ‰œ ˙˙ # œœ œœ ™™ ˙
{
> >
# ˙˙
f
œ œœœ ™™™ œœœ ˙˙ œœ œœ ™™ œœ
? bb 42 œœ ˙
˙˙
œ œ™ œ œ œ™ œ
œ™ œ ˙ ˙
œ
{
March (h=80) 4-23
2 Œ Ó ™ bœœj 23 bœœ Œ Ó
n˙ bœœ ™™ bœœ b œœœ
tpt tpt
& 2 b˙ œ™ b œj #bœw w
b œ b Ó
w
hrn # w J
œ ™ bœj ™
f
? 22 b˙
trbn
bœ Œ Ó
ww ™
3
w ™™
∑ & 2 bbw
trbn
hrn
Musically, one may suggest that Weber’s duets attracted Hindemith

firstly because of their obscurity – they did not include melodies that would
have been familiar to many – but also because the Chinese melody used
in Weber’s op. 37 is based on a quartal, pentatonic collection. Hindemith
would have been enthused by its contrapuntal potential, and rather than
remain faithful to Weber’s original form (as he had in the other three
movements) he completely reworked the piece to demonstrate a wealth
of motivic development. It is not only the masterful orchestration, but the
Example 6.13 Symphonic Metamorphosis, second movement, bb. 100–103.
{
5-35
œ œœ œœœœœ œœ œbœ œ œ
n œ œ #œ œ
str.
100
œ œ nœ œ œ nœ œ œ
&
œœ b œœ b œœœ #n œœ n œœ n œœ œœœ # œœ
? œœœ Œ #œ
trbn
œ Œ bœ Œ Œ Œ nœ Œ œ œ Œ
œ
œ œ bœ œ #œ #œ œ œ
tba
quartal character of the Chinese melody that marks this movement out
as distinctively Hindemithian. He also adds the driving, dotted rhythms
which proved so effective from the Concert Music for Strings and Brass,
and constructs a fugal entry from bar 160 based on a new theme, derived
from the first. Of Hindemith’s many harmonisations of the opening theme,
bars 100–103 stand out. Example 6.13 reduces the score down to strings,
trombones and tuba, omitting the more complex wind and horn parts.
Notice how there seem to be two processes, seemingly at odds with one
another yet each with their own internal logic – similar to the Sonata for
Piano (Four Hands) extract studied in Example 6.4. The lower parts are
reminiscent of Craft II: emphasis on contrary motion with a gravitational
pull towards quartal collections.
Hindemith’s tempo marking (see Table 6.2) deviates somewhat from
Weber’s original, presumably to cater for the impact of a symphony orchestra.
There are differences, too, between Hindemith’s expressive markings in the
full score and miniature score. Keith Wilson, who later arranged the work
for concert band at Hindemith’s request, recollects Hindemith’s rationale:
At one time I was a guest conductor of the New Haven Symphony and I
did the Metamorphosis on Weber Themes. There was a recording – so far as
I know, only one out at that time – by a very famous conductor, and I had
listened to that recording many times. So then before any of the rehearsals
with the Symphony, when I was studying the score, I asked to go over it with
Mr. Hindemith. I had, by this time, received the large rental score that the
publisher was sending out, and I brought this, of course, to him, and I asked
him how he liked this recording. “Oh, terrible!” he said. And I said, “What’s
the matter?” And he says, “Oh, it’s just so straightforward.” And so we were
going along, and he said, “See, he doesn’t do anything about this ritard.” And
I said, “Well, there’s no ritard there.” He said, “Well, any fool can feel that.”
Well, a few days later, I found in the miniature score which I had at home,
my own, that there were at least a dozen places where tempo changes were
indicated. And they were not in this rental score! And so when I told Mr
Hindemith, I said, “Well, look, the reason it’s that way is that for some reason
or other none of these marks are in the big score.” He says, “Oh, I know. After
I heard how these conductors played my music without this thing, when we
did the miniature score I put these things in”.59
Similarly to the duo sonatas, Hindemith’s orchestral writing does not test the
competent amateur or student musician. Parts are written to avoid the need
for transposition and play to the idiomatic strengths of each instrument –
rarely are they awkward to play. Hindemith furthermore ensures that none of
his orchestra is idle, making sure that every instrument has an interesting part
to play. He has a penchant for woodwind trills as a textural device in addition
to sweeping scales in the strings that can almost sound like glissandos, to
propel the music forwards. The brass are used prominently, and to punctuate
structure, and awkward slurs are generally avoided. Perhaps some of the most
demanding writing may be found in the string section, which is unsurprising
given Hindemith’s performance background. Hindemith does not double parts
needlessly and maintains a lucid narrative of orchestral texture to emphasise
structural dynamics.
Reflections
Hindemith’s sonatas are one of the first instances of the ‘genre-sequence’.60

They became a template for other composers – such as his pupils Genzmer
and Heiden, musical admirer Niels Viggo Bentzon and Luciano Berio – to
write a collection of works for different instruments under the same genre
title. Many works were conceived within existing technical expectations,
although Berio’s Sequenzas differed by significantly pushing boundaries.
Frequently, the sonata genre-sequence paved the way for concertos.
Rather than let the instrument dictate musical form, Hindemith brought
a predetermined template (sonata) to the instrument. He chose to label
sections as movements, rather than character pieces (such as those found in
his early years, including In Einer Nacht), despite often being based on extra-
musical material, such as poems. Hindemith keenly felt his German heritage
of composers such as Beethoven, Brahms and Reger. Hindemith did not,
however, always adhere to the classical definition of sonata form and tended
to deconstruct formal expectations. Several of his sonata first movements
contain a rounded binary structure (ABA1). However, the middle section –
59
Keith Wilson (OHAM).
60
I first heard this phrase used by Professor Alastair Borthwick during a study day
on Berio’s Sequenzas during April 2016.
though contrasting – does not develop the opening material to the extent of
the classical tradition.
Ironically, Hindemith composed his sonatas for live performance in recitals
and in more casual chamber environments. Auditions and examinations did
not proliferate the early-twentieth-century music scene as they do today,
and yet his music was to become a universal tool for assessing technical
musicianship. Hindemith embarked on a project to perfect his craftsmanship
by dedicating a work to each orchestral instrument – I doubt he would have
imagined the significance this would have on the training of musicians over
the next seventy years.
Unlike orchestral scores available on rental, it is impossible to identify
how many performances Hindemith’s sonatas have enjoyed. However, the
data gathered in this chapter points towards an undeniable reality: Hindemith
is one of the most prominent and important composers of the twentieth
century for the training of orchestral musicians, for the pianist, and for the
organist. We may also consider the enduring popularity of his orchestral
music, particularly the Symphonic Metamorphosis, as templates for idiomatic
orchestration, and for his Elementary Training and Traditional Harmony as
core textbooks which remain in practice throughout tertiary musicianship
training. For many listeners, however, Hindemith’s sonatas are unfavourable.
Conversely, if Hindemith’s sonatas are workaday or ‘routine’, why do they
remain an active component of musical training? 61 Moreover, the breadth of
invention within Hindemith’s Unterweisung style is staggering, and deserves
wider appreciation; for him to have invented distinctive themes in twenty-
seven sonatas is an achievement in itself. For every critic who speaks out
against Hindemith’s music, there is an advocate who quietly supports him
by actively performing, practicing, teaching or listening. Unfortunately, cynics
often speak louder as we will find in the following chapter.
I have referenced ABRSM examination syllabuses, which I believe is
necessary for an appreciation of Hindemith’s sonatas. In 2014, the ABRSM
held 439,470 practical examinations worldwide.62 Their impact on the
dissemination of Hindemith’s chamber sonatas is not to be underestimated,
neither is the association of these works with the concept of critically evaluated
performance. The next generation of performers will base their musical
views and repertoire awareness on the material they have encountered while
learning their craft. For some, they will look back on their experiences with
scorn – for others, great affection. Crucially, whether one finds Hindemith’s
61
Mason, Colin, ‘Some Aspects of Hindemith’s Chamber Music’ Music & Letters,
Vol. 41, No. 2 (April, 1960), pp. 150–55.
62
2014 is the most recent year of statistics released by the ABRSM at the time
of print.
duo sonatas aesthetically satisfying, we all need to recognise the importance

of his contribution to twentieth-century chamber music and to international
standards of musicianship.
o
7
The Hindemith Legacy
All the young composers are writing like Hindemith.

—Copland, 1947 1
The present generation judges him harshly – is, in fact, downright unfriendly.
Hindemith is no longer cited among the top men of our time; it is undeniable
that a severe downgrading is in process.
—Copland, 1967 2
Music history has not been kind to Hindemith. Heralded by some in his own
lifetime as the future of German contemporary music, and later chosen as
one of the New Grove Dictionary’s ‘Modern Masters’, he has begun to drift
to the margins of music history. This is regrettable given both the quality of
his music and the significant number of performances he continues to receive
– particularly of his chamber works. He was never innovative enough for the
avant-garde, and yet for others he still falls into the category of a ‘contemporary’
composer. History, it seems, does not know quite how to remember him.
Relevantly, many twentieth-century composers and theorists were reliant
on their students to introduce and champion their work to a wider community.
Schenker and Schoenberg are notable examples, whose theoretical work was
posthumously disseminated and built up by faithful students Ernst Oster, Felix
Salzer and Oswald Jonas, and Leonard Stein and Gerald Strang respectively.3
1
This quotation is taken from an unpublished letter by Howard Boatwright in 1959,
where he remembers hearing Copland make this remark ‘without much pleasure’. The
remark is also printed in ‘The Editor’s Window’, Yale Alumni Magazine (December,
1964) p. 19.
2
Copland, Aaron, Aaron Copland: A Reader – Selected Writings 1923–1972, ed.
Kostelanetz, R. (New York: Routledge, 2003) p. 58.
3
Ernst Oster translated Schenker’s Der freie Satz (New York: Longman Inc., 1979),
Felix Salzer wrote the seminal exposition of Schenkerian theory in the English
language as Structural Hearing (New York: C. Boni, 1952) and Oswald Jonas founded
the Schenker Institut (1935). Among many projects, Leonard Stein worked on
Structural Functions of Harmony (New York: W. W. Norton, 1969), Preliminary Exercises
in Counterpoint (London: Faber and Faber, 1963) and joined forces with Gerald Strang
on Fundamentals of Musical Composition (London: Faber and Faber, 1967).
Their enthusiasm and dedication precipitated the international understanding

of Schenker’s and Schoenberg’s work in the second half of the twentieth
century. Hindemith was not as fortunate as either. For a time, America
brought him notable success, which reached its peak in the late 1940s. The
editor of Time magazine wrote in 1948 that ‘few living composers have ever
had so much of their music played in one week. Everyone seemed to burst out
playing the knotty dissonant music of Paul Hindemith’. Moreover, Hindemith
received fourteen commissions during his time in the USA, more than any
other composer during the same period.4 However a dramatic devaluation of
Hindemith’s music and theory occurred during the 1950s, provoking Copland
to reverse his implicit criticism of Hindemith’s music influence in the 1940s
to a defence of his worth.5 This chapter explores this general shift in attitude
and its consequences for the wider reception of Hindemith’s music and theory.
It begins by showing the strict influence of Hindemith as a teacher.
He taught widely throughout his career, including three appointments at
Berlin (1927–1937), Yale (1940–1953) and Zurich (1951–1954), and shorter
spells at Tanglewood (1940), Buffalo (1940) and Ankara (1935–1937). This
provided him with many opportunities to nurture relationships with faithful
students, who could then go on to disseminate and build upon his work.
For example, the impact of his Unterweisung principles may be found in
the music of his Berlin students, particularly Franz Reizenstein and Harald
Genzmer, the theorist Alfred Rubeli (Zurich), and across the Atlantic
in the music of Carl Miller and music theory of Vincent Persichetti and
Howard Boatwright. In Scandinavia, one may look to the Swedish Monday
Group, who studied the Unterweisung in depth, and to a prominent figure
in Danish musical life, Niels Viggo Benzton, who wrote music that bears
strong resemblances to Hindemith’s style, in addition to a hagiographic
monograph (1997) on Hindemith’s life and works. These were highly
respected musicians during their lifetimes, although none were to leave an
enduring musical legacy, compared with the internationally prominent Elliott
Carter and Leonard Bernstein, who studied under Walter Piston at Harvard
during a similar period. This is reflected in Taruskin’s The Oxford History of
Western Music, where not one of Hindemith’s most competent students or
imitators is mentioned. Carter, by contrast, has a full chapter to himself in
4
Press, 1989) p. 155.
5
Grout, Donald Jay & Palisca, Claude V., A History of Western Music (New York: W.
W. Norton & Co., 2001) p. 767: ‘The presence of Paul Hindemith at Yale between
1940 and 1953 turned its school of music for a time, even after he left for Zurich, into
a nest of his disciples’. This source is particularly informative, as Palisca was a long-
standing member of the Yale faculty (1959–1992).
THE HINDEMITH LEGACY 269
the final volume ‘Music in the Late Twentieth Century’, a feat not achieved
by Paganini, Liszt, Berlioz or Schumann in the third volume ‘Music in the
Nineteenth Century’.6 The difference between the influences of Hindemith’s
students versus Piston’s is therefore striking, and might well account for why
Hindemith’s musical and theoretical legacy waned in the second half of the
twentieth century.7
This chapter also examines the circumstances of Hindemith’s compositional
and theoretical legacy, showing how Hindemith was the victim of a cross-
road in music theory and compositional aesthetics from the 1950s, which
resulted in a sudden downgrading of his music and music theory. This junction
included the developments in musical set theory by Milton Babbitt, the
dissemination of Schenkerian theory in the English language, a succession of
damning articles in The Music Review, Adorno’s powerful polemic ‘Ad Vocem
Hindemith’ (1968) and the growing popularity of Piston’s practical manuals
on harmony, counterpoint and orchestration. Had these events not unfolded
almost precisely when Hindemith left Yale to live in Switzerland, it is possible
that his music and music theory would have been afforded more scholarly
attention today.
The unclear status of the Unterweisung is partly to blame for its lack
of attention. It is not an explicit exposition of his own musical language
(such as Messiaen’s Technique de mon langage musical or Carter’s Harmony
Book), despite containing many close connections to his work, nor is it a
wholly practical text based on the objective analysis of past music (such as
Piston’s Harmony or Schoenberg’s Fundamentals of Musical Composition).
The Unterweisung falls into a problematic grey area between the personal
and the observational. If Hindemith had claimed explicitly that it was
intended as an overview of the techniques of his musical language, then it
may have attained greater popularity. With the exception of the analyses
at the end of the first volume, all musical examples in Unterweisung I and
II, and Traditional Harmony I and II, were composed by Hindemith. But
6
These nineteenth-century composers had to share their chapters: Liszt with
Paganini and Berlioz with Schumann.
7
Forte, Allen, ‘Paul Hindemith’s Contribution to Music Theory in the United
States’ Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring, 1995) p. 7, also picks up on
this point, concerning Hindemith’s music theory students: ‘these modest numbers [of
theorists and composers who studied under Hindemith], which do not translate into a
significant number of academic or other positions of influence, reinforce my hypothesis
that in the United States Hindemith’s influence and reputation as a music theorist
must have derived mainly from dissemination of The Craft of Musical Composition’.
this is not acknowledged.8 By contrast, textbooks with a clearer status, such

as Piston’s Harmony and Schoenberg’s Fundamentals, are to be found in
university department course syllabuses throughout the world, and they hold
an enduring practical value to a diverse range of musical professions.
Example 7.1 shows one instance where Hindemith composes new
tasks, rather than takes them from existing compositions. It is chosen from
Traditional Harmony II, and comprises the theme from a set of variations
for string trio (violin, viola and ’cello), where the student is asked to fill in
the two remaining instruments. The melody line is stamped with the quartal
Unterweisung character, and lends itself well to a quartal harmonisation. It
cannot be understood as a purely practical exercise, as the student must first
negotiate Hindemith’s style.
Bars 2 and 14 are implicitly quartal, although the possibility for a diatonic
harmonisation is left open: bar 2 could be interpreted as a succession of
dissonances around an F minor triad; bar 14 around an A-flat minor triad.
While these harmonic possibilities are available, Hindemith implicitly
steers the student in his own harmonic direction by placing quartal voice
leading in the theme. Moreover, in a previous example for four-part chorus,
Hindemith states that the student must take care to avoid modulation, another
characteristic of quartal pitch collections.9
Hindemith the Strict Pedagogue
Hindemith was an exceedingly demanding teacher. Evidence of this may be

found in student reminiscences, in Hindemith’s letters regarding Tanglewood
Summer School and in his class reports from Yale. Describing his experiences
as a guest composition teacher (alongside Copland) at the 1940 Tanglewood
Summer School, Hindemith believed that his strict counterpoint and
orchestration methods were ‘absolutely necessary if one wants to get rid of all
8
Hindemith appeared to have heard criticisms to this effect according to
Unterweisung II (1939) p. viii: ‘He will notice that he retains complete freedom in the
forming of an independent style of writing (which is definitely not the case with older
methods); that he is in no way forced to move in a predetermined stylistic direction
– a concern of which I heard frequently after the publication of the theoretical part
(Volume I) of this work; but that, instead, he receives an aid which he can apply to the
solution of technical and stylistic problems of any kind whatever’.
9
Traditional Harmony II (1953) pp. 16–17: ‘In these pieces, as well as in the later
ones of this chapter and in those of Chapters IV and V, great care must be taken not to
modulate. Only by avoiding modulation can the tonal style aimed at in these exercises
be achieved’.
Example 7.1 Traditional Harmony, Vol. 2 (1949/1953) p. 18, ‘Theme and

Variations for String Trio’.
-· - œ ‚ j bœ b œ b œ bœ ™ b œ bœ œ œ ™
Andantino (h. 58) 4-23
6
& 4 œJ ˙ ‰ œJ b˙ ‰ œJ œ bœ ˙ ‰ œ- bœ œ bœ J ‰bœ bœ bœ œ bœ bœ bœ 49
mf
· ‚
pp
bœ œ b œ œ œ œ
6
9
& 4 bœ bœ œ œ ˙ n˙ ‰ œJ 46 ∑ ∑ b œ œ b œ bœ bœ ‰ œ
J
mf pp
bœ bœ œ bœ œ œ 49 bœ œ œ œ ˙ - - bœ
‰ œJ n˙
11
& nœ b˙ ˙ ‰ J 46 ‰ œJ bœ bœ b˙ ‰
mf
4-23
that more than monstrous sloppiness and ignorance prevailing in this country
in matters of composition and music theory’.10 As we saw in Chapter 6, three
of his textbooks from his time in the US, Traditional Harmony I & II (1943
and 1949) and Elementary Training (1946), were inspired by this desire to
increase the basic technical standard of music students.
Perhaps the most severe examples of Hindemith’s demanding pedagogical
attitude are found in his entrance exams to his Yale class. Example 7.2 is a
transcription of one such entrance exam, which consists of two parts: a
performance, combining vocal and keyboard skills, followed by a dictation.
The expectations of this test are unreasonably high. Hindemith requires a
fluent understanding of six different clefs, alternating in quick succession. He
expects the student to play (presumably the piano) and sing simultaneously, in
an unconventional clef. This is followed by a transposition exercise, not only
requiring that the student change the key of transposition quickly, but then
combining this with different clefs. There are also a variety of different traps
for the student, to make the test even harder: in the second exercise, where
the student must sing a melody in bass clef, there is an E-sharp followed
by an F-natural in bar 2; a C-flat followed by a B-natural in bar 3; and an
E-natural followed by an F-flat in bar 5. In each case, the product is simply a
repeated note. This is not something that a musician would have to deal with
in a professionally produced score, and would likely have come as a surprise to
even the most able students.
Hindemith’s reports on the students who sat this paper were not
favourable, and were severely lacking in compromise. Of one candidate he
10
Press, 1995) p. 167. Lukas Foss and Leonard Bernstein studied on this Tanglewood
course.
Example 7.2 An entrance exam to Hindemith’s Yale class.
{
1) Play upper part, sing lower part
4˙ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ #œ nœ bw
Œ bœ nœ w
B4
? 44 Œ œ #œ œ #œ œ w #œ #œ ˙ œ œ œ œ
œ œ ˙
˙
œ™
2) Sing
bœ ™
? 44 ˙ œ œ™ J #œ œ nœ œ b œ œJ bœ nœ œ œ bœ œ bœ n œ œ
œ ˙
J
3) Play
4 œ ™ bœ b œ bœ ™ œ œ™ bœ ™ bœ œ
in A
œ™ œ
in F
œ œ
in D
&8 bœ œ nœ ™ œ
& bœ œ &
™ œ œ™ œ œ œ ™ œ œ™ œ œ bœ ™ œ bœ ™ œ œ nœ ™ œ &
5 in Bb
& œ™ œ œ œ B B
B
œ™ #œ #œ œ ™
9 in Eb œ (in C)
& œ œ bœ
Dictation
4a)
#w w
w w ?
& & bw w
w w bw
4b)
& 4 œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œbœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œbœ œ œ œ bœ ™bœ œ™bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœbœ œ œ œ œbœbœnœ

3 3
2
3
{
4c)
bœ
& ˙˙ bœ̇ ™ bœ bw ˙ ˙ bn˙˙ bœ̇ œ b˙ ™ b˙ œœ n˙
n˙ n˙˙
J
b˙
? œ̇ ™ œ b˙ œ̇ bœ œ̇ b œ ˙˙ ™ ˙ œ b˙
b ˙˙ wœ bœ bœ ˙
J bb b˙
wrote, ‘Very poor. Playing bad, reading very bad. Reaction very slow. Seems
rather hopeless’. In contradiction to this damning verdict, Hindemith wrote
a brief note (see Figure 7.1) to Richard Donovan stating that, despite all
twelve candidates auditioning that year being poor, they should be allowed
to pass! 11 Hindemith’s condemnation is all the more remarkable, as one of
the students in this group was Mel Powell – a highly regarded composer
and performer, who later gained Hindemith’s chair in composition at Yale,
won a Pulitzer Prize for composition (1990) and became the first dean
of the California Institute of the Arts.12 One can conclude from the Yale
entrance exam that Hindemith’s expectation for general musicianship was
unreasonable; Hindemith was hyper-critical of even the most promising
students. While, for some, this attitude may bring out the best in their
abilities (certainly, for those with a competitive streak) for others Hindemith
may have bred resentment. Hindemith’s Elementary Training, published
approximately four years after Powell’s entrance exam, represents a slight
softening in approach although remains a notoriously challenging text.
Following his student years, Powell served on the board for the Journal of
Music Theory and Perspectives of New Music, which highlights the diversity of
Figure 7.1 Hindemith’s memo to Richard Donovan, YHC.
11
Richard Donovan was acting dean at Yale from 1940–1941, and was responsible,
in part, for recruiting Hindemith.
12
It should be noted, however, that while Mel Powell was included in this group, his
comments are less damning than some of his peers. Hindemith wrote of him: ‘gifted,
very modern, without any experience, could become a decent musician, needs proper
training. Reading good, reaction fast, transposing not bad, although very slow, singing
decent’. The fact remains, however, that he was bracketed with the less competent
candidates in Hindemith’s summary.
his musico-theoretical affinities; JMT was based at Yale and initially focused
on Schenkerian analysis, while the contrasting PNM was based at Princeton
and grew out of Babbitt’s interest in serialism and set theory.13 Despite the
friction between the aesthetics of Babbitt’s serialism and Hindemith’s (relative)
conservatism, and perhaps due in part to Powell’s editorial presence, PNM
published a Hindemith obituary in 1964. This included entries by Powell,
Lukas Foss and Easley Blackwood. Powell must have thought favourably of
his time at Yale with Hindemith, despite the trials of his entrance examination,
judging by the following remark:
Those of us who have first-hand knowledge of Hindemith’s skills in these

domains know that among the major composers of the period none could be
ranked a more complete musician.14
Foss studied with Hindemith, albeit briefly, at Tanglewood (1940) alongside

Bernstein. As a child prodigy, Foss had a strong enough musical personality to
assimilate Hindemith’s teaching within his own original voice. His Capriccio
(1946), while containing the occasional quartal pitch collection, does not sound
in any way like Hindemith, despite being written a year before Copland’s
observation that ‘all the young composers are writing like Hindemith’.15
Similar to Powell, Foss had positive remarks to make about Hindemith in his
obituary, describing him as ‘Germany’s greatest and most performed living
composer’.16 However, Foss describes how he, and many other composers,
turned away from the Hindemith approach:
13
Kerman, Joseph, Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1985) p. 21, ‘With Roger Sessions, [Babbitt] was the
inspiration for a group of young composers and theorists at Princeton which would
later be associated with Perspectives of New Music, an American answer to Die Reihe’.
14
Powell, Mel, ‘In Memoriam: Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)’ Perspectives of New
Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring–Summer, 1964) p. 1.
15
Hindemith may have been disappointed by this: Foss was noted to have composed
in Hindemith’s style when a child prodigy: ‘Lukas Foss is, in a way, the Wunderkind
of this group of composers, and something of the aura of the Wunderkind still hangs
about him. Born in Berlin, where he had his first music lessons, he continued his
studies at the Conservatoire in Paris during the Hitler years, and finally arrived in New
York with his parents at the age of fifteen. At thirteen he had already composed piano
pieces (subsequently published by G. Shirmer) that are almost indistinguishable from
those of his later master, Hindemith’. Copland, Aaron, Copland on Music (New York:
Doubleday & Co., 1960) pp. 170–71.
16
Foss, Lukas, ‘In Memoriam: Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)’ Perspectives of New
Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring–Summer, 1964) p. 2.
My gradual discovery (“triggered off by a pedagogic experiment:

improvisation”) of what is loosely called “extreme music” was like a betrayal
to [Hindemith]. For all my love and respect for the master and his teachings,
his axioms of right and wrong seemed no longer applicable to me. Other
students of his music must have had a similar experience. Hindemith
continued to write his masterful music. He went his way. New music went
another.17
Continuing to strike a melancholy tone, Foss writes:
[Hindemith’s Unterweisung] vision of a sane and sober order did not succeed.
At least it failed to conquer us, perhaps because it was sane and sober, because
it lacked the irrational, an element which Schoenberg’s idea of order had to
such a full measure and without any notion of order in the arts is peculiarly
unattractive.18
The final 1964 obituary in PNM was written by Blackwood, who received his
degree in theory from Yale under Hindemith (1950–1954), and who is one
of the few musicians from Hindemith’s class to be listed in the New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musician. Blackwood considered himself removed
from the Hindemith style, and was a distinguished interpreter of Boulez’s
Second Piano Sonata.19 He also studied with Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger.
And yet, in his Fifth Symphony (1990), he quotes the ‘Dies Irae’ motif –
the first subject for analysis at the end of the Unterweisung – showing that
Hindemith’s influence remained, perhaps inadvertently. Blackwood wrote
uncompromisingly of the problems caused by Hindemith’s personality:
Among his colleagues and former students Hindemith leaves few friends;
indeed, some of his students feel that he ruined them creatively.20
Whether one agrees with his approach to pedagogy, these reminiscences

show that some students harboured striking resentment towards Hindemith
– indeed, for these remarks to surface in the context of an obituary is
telling. They disliked his method of teaching from the very beginning,
from the smallest building blocks, such as exercises in two-part writing
17
Ibid., p. 3.
18
Ibid., p. 2.
19
McKay, James R., ‘Easley Blackwood’ New Grove Online, accessed 21 December
2016.
20
Blackwood, Easley, ‘In Memoriam: Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)’ Perspectives of
New Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring–Summer, 1964) p. 4.
(Unterweisung II ), and the implicit way that this approach led them to
emulate his own style, rather than to develop their own voice. His entrance
exam to Yale, and severe comments on student’s work, also show him to have
expected unusually high standards. Ultimately, these factors contributed
towards the hindrance of the dissemination of his music and music theory:
Hindemith had damaged the future of his work in a way that Schenker and
Schoenberg had not.
Hindemith’s Imitators and Students
Not all of Hindemith’s students regretted their time with Hindemith, and
many went on to emulate his compositional style. This was particularly the
case in Berlin, where the students Reizenstein (1930–1934), Bernard Heiden
(1929–c. 1934), Ernst Pepping (c. 1927–1930), Harald Genzmer (1928–1934),
and British students Arnold Cooke (1929–1932) and Walter Leigh (1927–
1929) went on to pursue successful careers in composition at a national level.21
From this list, Heiden was a particularly strong advocate of Hindemith’s music
and theory, as shown in his summary article on the Unterweisung (1942) and
represented in many of his compositions which hold close stylistic affinities.22
Most notable is Reizenstein, who fled Germany in 1934 and emigrated to
the United Kingdom. As evidence for their mutual high regard, Hindemith
provided a reference for Reizenstein to enrol at the Royal Academy of Music,
London, with fond, kind words: not the same approach that Hindemith largely
took towards his Yale students.23 Reizenstein was one of Hindemith’s most
ardent defenders in print, represented by two noteworthy documents.24 The
first, a eulogy published in The Listener (from 19 March 1964), unswervingly
praises Hindemith:
21
In the various biographical notes concerning Ernst Pepping, it states that he
studied in Berlin from 1924 with Walter Gmeindl. However, Skelton (1975, p. 86)
writes that he studied with Hindemith, which must have occurred at some point from
1927–1930.
22
Heiden, Bernhard, ‘Hindemith’s System – A New Approach’ Modern Music,
Vol. 19, No. 2 ( January–February, 1942) pp. 102–7.
23
I am grateful to John Reizenstein, Franz’s son, for providing me with a copy of
Hindemith’s reference.
24
Reizenstein, Franz, ‘Paul Hindemith’ Essays on Music: An Anthology from The
Listener, ed. Felix Aprahamian (London: Cassell, 1967) pp. 132–6, and ‘Hindemith:
Some Aspersions Answered’ Composer: Journal of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain,
No. 15 (April, 1965) pp. 7–9. See also Leigh, Walter ‘The Music of Paul Hindemith’, in
Essays on Music (1967) pp. 127–31.
When Paul Hindemith died suddenly at the age of sixty-eight, only three
months ago, the world of music lost one of its greatest figures. He was a musician
of giant stature whose attainments as composer, viola player, conductor, teacher,
theorist, author and philosopher have rarely been equalled in the whole history
of music.25
Moreover, Reizenstein’s eulogy defends Hindemith from his critics:
Some irresponsible critics, over-anxious to jump on the ‘avant-garde’ band-

wagon, present a false picture of Hindemith’s position in present-day music;
but most musicians agree that his music will live for a long time to come.26
If Reizenstein’s texts seems curiously defensive, his tone relates to the climate
of Hans Ferdinand Redlich’s article, ‘Paul Hindemith: A Reassessment’
which appeared the same year in The Music Review (1964). Redlich takes
pleasure in stating that he ‘repeatedly met’ Hindemith between 1922 and
1930, which should have afforded him a close understanding of Hindemith’s
work. However, his article is notably flawed for two reasons. Firstly, he
misunderstands Hindemith’s concept of pitch centre in his music analyses, and
secondly he (damagingly) implies that Hindemith was a Nazi sympathiser,
without necessary evidence such as reference to recollections and documentary
evidence. Redlich was a staunch advocate of Schoenberg – we may therefore
read his polemic as an exemplar of antagonism between two strands of
twentieth-century musical thought and practice.
In the conclusion to Redlich’s article, he condemns both the Unterweisung
and post-1933 works for being compositionally sterile, likening them to
Mendelssohn’s oratorios. However, his comments never rise above the
subjective. And yet his concluding words, unforgivingly published the year
following Hindemith’s death, are wholeheartedly derogatory:
This music was stillborn in 1933, the year it was written. It is possible that
its sterility somehow reflects the traumatic shock experienced by its creator
at the advent of Hitler’s Third Reich … Posterity had spoken its verdict long
before Hindemith died. His fate was truly tragic: he lived on to watch how
his own concept of musical thought lost its meaning for a younger generation.
Safe middle courses in art are always doomed to failure … Perhaps the initial
stirrings of Paul Hindemith, the musical enfant terrible of 1921, will score
25
26
Ibid., p. 136.
some kind of precarious immortality when Unterweisung im Tonsatz and all its
practical demonstrations have sunk into limbo.27
Reizenstein’s second article, published in Composer (1965) is a passionately-

worded response to Redlich’s Hindemith critique. It dissects Redlich’s article,
by aiming to show that he has projected his own war trauma upon Hindemith’s
life and work. There are many compelling points:
Dr Redlich … poses the following question:
Is it possible that Hindemith’s increasingly precarious personal situation in

the years between 1933 and 1938 led to a stiffening of his attitude against
Schoenberg and his school, perhaps with an afterthought that this might lead
to his eventual vindication even in Hitler’s Germany?
The insinuation that political opportunism on Hindemith’s part led to a

stiffening of his attitude against Schoenberg in the Third Reich is monstrous.
As his attitude towards twelve-note composition had always been negative,
the question of stiffening could not arise … one cannot help wondering why
[Redlich’s] article on Hindemith did not appear during the composer’s lifetime.
It was published only a few months after Hindemith had died and could lead
to a falsification of an important chapter in recent musical history.28
Powerful and persuading as this may be, it is unfortunate that Reizenstein

chose not to publish his work in The Music Review, where Redlich’s article was
first published. His writing was not afforded the exposure necessary for it to
have an international impact, which is ill-fated given that Reizenstein was one
of the most stalwart, and notable, of Hindemith’s supportive former students.
Reizenstein’s compositional style holds close affinities to the Unterweisung,
and it is likely that many of Hindemith’s theoretical ideas would have been
introduced to him as a student in Berlin during the early 1930s. There is
evidence in the obituary writings of Alan Bush and David Wilde (1969) to
confirm that Reizenstein was closely acquainted with the Unterweisung.29
Bush recollects:
27
Redlich, Hans F., ‘Paul Hindemith: A Reassessment’ The Music Review, Vol. 25
(1964) p. 253.
28
29
See obituaries of Franz Reizenstein by Alan Bush and David Wilde in The Royal
Academy of Music Magazine, No. 196 (Midsummer, 1969) pp. 24–5 and pp. 25–9.
Reizenstein accepted Hindemith’s general theory of composition set forth

in the book, The Craft of Musical Composition, and I well remember that …
we spent three evenings going through this great treatise most carefully and
discussing its theoretical implications. It is very rare that composers get together
in this country [the UK] and discuss seriously the theory of composition; I
had studied Hindemith’s book carefully and had written voluminous notes
on it, which I discussed with him. He himself had never discussed it with
anyone before – no one else had seemed to want to do so – and he was very
pleased to find somebody who was prepared to spend adequate time to go
through it thoroughly. You could not have found anyone better informed or
with a profounder grasp of the implications of Hindemith’s theory than Franz
himself.30
Reizenstein’s compositions focus on those for the piano, and for chamber
groups, in a style that balances ‘the lyrical expansiveness of Vaughan Williams
and the English tradition’.31 His Twelve Preludes and Fugues op. 32 for piano
is one of his most widely-disseminated works. Completed in 1955, it was
dedicated to Paul Hindemith with ‘sincerest admiration’ and, in direct homage
to the Ludus Tonalis, orders the fugues in accordance with Series 1 (stated on
the inside cover to the score making the reference explicit).32 The opening of
the first prelude is also structured around Series 1; however, it is treated as a
dodecaphonic row, rather than the pitch hierarchy that Hindemith intended
(Example 7.3). With the exception of the C in bar 7, no pitches in the row
are repeated.
Example 7.3 Reizenstein, Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Prelude 1, bb. 1–7,
Series 1 arrangement.
{
?cw w >œ >
w ˙™ œ ˙ ˙ b˙ Ó ‰ nœ
˙™
&
˙ ˙ b˙ b˙ œ
f p f
#œ >
sf
˙™
?c w
molto legato
œ ˙ ˙ b˙ Ó bœ
œ ˙ ˙ ˙ b˙ b˙ > >
& #œ
w w
w
Copyright © by Alfred Lengnick & Co. Ltd.
Reprinted by kind permission of Hal Leonard MGB Srl.
30
Ibid., p. 25.
31
Cole, Hugh & Miller, Malcolm, ‘Franz Reizenstein’ New Grove Online, accessed
21 December 2016.
32
Wilde (1969) p. 29, recalls that Reizenstein referred to Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis
as ‘like a Credo to me’.
Example 7.4 Reizenstein, Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Prelude 1 in C,

bb. 16–17.
3-9 3-9 3-9 3-9
{
“”
3-7 3-7 3-7 3-7 3-9 3-9 3-9 3-9
œ nœ
œ b œ b œ b œ œ b œ œ bœ œ œ nœ nœ
œ bœ #œ
16
œ bœ œ
#œ#œ#œ œ
3
&
3 3 3 3 3 3 3
mf
œ™
j
b˙ ™
poco a poco accel.
? œ nœ
œ™
œ œ
b˙™
bœ bœ œ nœ
4-22

Bars 16–17 in Example 7.4 precede an appearance of the row in the bass.
They are accompanied in the right hand by quartal pitch collections. Using the
salience characteristic of metric groupings, each triplet forms pc-set 3-7: which
may be read as an incomplete quartal trichord. If this segmentation is moved
forwards by one triplet quaver, then each group of three forms a descending
pattern of fourths, quartal trichord 3-9. The bass line also forms the incomplete
tetrachord 4-22, missing a B-flat to complete a chain of fourths. It is strongly
reminiscent of the first song from Das Marienleben, ‘Geburt Mariä’ bars 21–4,
in both 1923 and 1948 versions (analysed in Chapter 5, Example 5.9).
Reizenstein’s fugues in this cycle range from two to five parts, which is
identical to the range of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; yet contrasting
with Hindemith’s preference for solely three-part fugue writing. In Twelve
Preludes and Fugues, Reizenstein’s technique is based on Hindemith’s
Unterweisung approach to harmony and counterpoint. His fugue subjects are
similar to the third paradigm from the Ludus Tonalis: salient quartal pitch
collections, covered by foreground ornamentation, such as passing notes.33
This may be said of fugues 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Similar to the Ludus, the
final fugue (in F-sharp) possesses the least quartal subject of the cycle. These
subjects also contain other curiosities, which echo Hindemith’s approach to
post-tonal fugue writing: the fourth subject includes eleven of the twelve
chromatic pitches, despite outlining a quartal pitch framework; the eighth has
the character of a gigue; and the ninth implies a cycle of fifths. Example 7.5
and Example 7.6 show the fourth and tenth fugue subjects, respectively, in
order to demonstrate Reizenstein’s reliance on quartal harmonic material.
33
See Chapter 4 where Hindemith’s fugue paradigms are described.
In Fugue 4, both the background structure and the majority of foreground

material is quartal. The tenth fugue subject ends with two salient 3-9 trichords.
Reizenstein builds on the concept of quartal pitch sequences, also found
in Marienleben II. The fourth prelude (in A) includes a passage built around a
Example 7.5 Reizenstein, Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Fugue 4 in A, subject

with a structural analysis.
9 œ. . j œ œ. bœ. j
& 8 œ œ œ#œ œ ‰ #œ œ.#œ. œ. œ. œ œ œ
f mf
œ
9 œ œ œ bœ œ
&8 ˙ œ
4-23 3-9

Example 7.6 Reizenstein, Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Fugue 10 in D-flat,

subject.
3-9
4 œnœ œ
& 4 ≈bœbœ œ bœ ≈bœ œ œbœ ≈bœnœ œ œ œ ≈ œbœ œ bœbœbœ œ bœbœbœnœ bœ œn œ œ œ

Example 7.7 Reizenstein, Twelve Preludes and Fugues, Prelude 4 in A,

bb. 27–30, quartal pitch sequence.
“” > >œ
œ# œ œ#œ œ >
b œ œœœœ 9 >
bœ œ œ
œœ œœb œ œœ œ nœ
6 ≈œ ≈bœbœbœœ b œœ
27
&8 œ œ ≈
#œ nœb œ œœ ≈
œœ8 bœbœ œœœ œnœœ
{
œ œœ
6 j ‰ j Œ™ 9 j j
& 8 nnœœ ‰ ‰ # œ œ#œœ œ nœ j ‰ œ#œœœ nœœ
œ 8 ‰ bœ œ nœ œ ‰ ‰
™ Œ™ œ nœ ™ ™ ‰ nœ n œ b œ ™ bœ œnn œœ™ œJ
œ #œœ bnœœ œœ bbœœ

6 œ œœ 9bbbœœœ œœ œœ
& 8 œœ # œœ œœ # œœ nœœ nn œœ 8 bœ nœ
#œ nœ bœ nœ œ
4-26 4-23 4-26 4-23 4-26 4-23 5-35 4-23

descending pattern of 4-23 tetrachords, which alternates with the incomplete

quartal tetrachord 4-26, and the quartal pentachord 5-35. It also contains
pitch centricity, beginning and ending on C (Example 7.7).
Reizenstein was a highly respected and influential figure at the Royal
Academy of Music in the second half of the twentieth century, whose support
for both Hindemith’s music and personality was unwavering. It is therefore
unfortunate that he did not publish more texts in defence of Hindemith,
particularly concerning the value and relationship of his music theory to
contemporary composition. It is doubly unfortunate that the material he
did publish was only available in secondary journals, rather than major
academic periodicals (one must wonder whether this was Reizenstein’s fault,
or whether the editors of prominent journals would not accept and publish
his views). Reizenstein died five years after Hindemith, in 1968. During
the 1960s, under attack from Darmstadt and moving increasingly out of
fashion, Hindemith sorely needed such a strong advocate to come forward
more prominently.
Another of Hindemith’s Berlin students to achieve some success as a
professional composer was Genzmer (1909–2007). Genzmer’s music holds
perhaps an even closer affinity to Hindemith’s Unterweisung style than
Reizenstein’s. Like Hindemith, Genzmer wrote for a wide variety of ‘practical’
instrument combinations, which were likely to receive regular performances,
such as numerous instrumental sonatas with piano for marginalised orchestral
instruments, including the bass tuba and double bass. He also reflected the
activities of the Berlin Rundfunkversuchsstelle and Trautwein by writing music
for the trautonium, including two concertos. Partly due to Genzmer’s long
lifespan (he lived to the age of ninety-eight) his output is large, encompassing
over 300 works.
Hindemith considered Genzmer, along with Reizenstein, to be a promising
student; an attitude that was harder to find towards his students from the
United States. He afforded both students opportunities to have their works
performed in his faculty concerts, and one such programme has been passed
down by Franz’s son, John Reizenstein, showing that these two composers
comprised the entire schedule (Figure 7.2).
Over ten years after Hindemith resigned from Berlin, Genzmer published
his Sonata for Two Pianos (1950). Similar to Reizenstein, this adapts the idea
of a quartal sequence, which was found in the revised Marienleben, published
two years earlier. The passage in Example 7.8 ornaments a background
structure of ascending fifths, which is given salience by metric position and
pitch duration.
The extract is based on a quadruple canon at the unison, where each
voice enters after four beats, accompanied by a bass ostinato. The use of
quartal harmony facilitates the composition of such canons, which occur in
Hindemith’s exercises in Traditional Harmony II, published during this time
Figure 7.2 A concert including the music of Genzmer and Reizenstein on

27 February 1933.
(1949/1953).34 The semiquaver runs in the right hand of piano 2, such as those
found in bars 52–3, also ornament quartal collections. Further aspects of this
passage that parallel Hindemith’s Unterweisung style include conservative
performance directions and clearly defined contrapuntal voices. However, while
the concept of quartal progressions may be connected to Hindemith’s post-
Unterweisung style, Genzmer’s foreground contains many more foreground
ornaments which do not directly belong to quartal collections. This includes
the prominent E-flat in the bass in the final chord of this passage, which
is harmonically destabilising given its prominence in the bass, and distance
from the rest of the 4-23 quartal tetrachord. This prevents it from sounding
identical to Hindemith.
Genzmer’s Second Piano Sonata was published in 1942, the same year
as the Ludus Tonalis. The fourth movement is a fugue of eighty-two bars in
34
Hindemith, Traditional Harmony II (1953) p. 3.
Example 7.8 Genzmer’s Sonata for Two Pianos (1950), third movement,
{
bb. 50–59.
50
& œ œ™ œœ
˙™
˙ œ
˙™
œ œ œ œ œ nœ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ nœ
? ‰
cresc.
{
œœ œœ œ. œ. œ. œ b œ œ. b œ. b œ. œ. b œ b œ œ. b œ. b œ. œ. œ
œ. œ. œ. œ. . . œ. œ. œ. œ. . . œ. b œ. œ.
“” .
. . . .
nœ œ b œ
œ œ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ œ j
& ∑ ∑ Œ bœ œ bœ œ œ ‰ Ó
˙™ œ œ œ œ œ œ
p
?
mp cresc.
∑ & ˙
™
{
˙˙ œ
& ˙™
54
˙
œœ œ #œœ™ #œ œ ˙ ™
œ œ ˙ œ
˙ ˙ œ #œ
?
œ œ œ. bœ
b œ. b œ. œ. œ. b œ. . œ n œ.
nœ
œ. b œ. œ. œ. . œ # œ # œ.
{
œ. œ. œ. œ. . . b œ.
“”
. . .
œ œ bœ
& ∑ ∑ Œ bœ œ nœ œ œ œj ‰
œ ˙™
mf
& œ œ œœ œ #œœ™ #œ
œ #œ™ ˙ œœ #œ œ
œ #œ œ œ nœ œ ˙
{
˙˙˙ ™™
added F-sharp
˙ ™™
œ #œ n˙˙˙ ẇw
˙w™™
57
& œ œ œ#œ ˙˙ œ Œ
f
?
˙™
Œ
œ. œ. œ. œ bb ˙˙ bœ ˙™
˙™ ˙™
{
“œ”
. bœ
œ b œ b œ œn œ œ œ b œ
∑ œ œnœ œ œ œ œ bœbœ œ#œ#œ œ œ œbœ bœ
& œnœ bœ œ œ
f nœ
f
n˙ œ
& ˙˙ ˙ œJ ‰ Œ Ó ∑
© Schott Music, Mainz. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.
length. The subject (Example 7.9) is Paradigm 3, with a quartal background

structure, similar to fugues from the Ludus and Reizenstein’s subsequent
Twelve Preludes and Fugues.
Scandinavia had a number of Hindemith supporters, including the
Swedish Monday Group and Danish composer Niels Viggo Benzton. The
Example 7.9 Genzmer’s Second Piano Sonata (1942), fourth movement,
{
bb. 50–59.
Ÿ
œ œbœ œbbœœ ™ bbœœ œ 44 bœbbœœ œ
j
& 4 Œ œ œ bœ œbœ bœ ™ œ œ bœ ‰bœ
4 œ bœ j3 œ bœ
œ œ bœ bœ ™ œ œ bœ œ œ œ™ nœ 2 œ œ bœ ™ œ
Ÿ
œ œ œœ œ œ ™ nœ 23 œ œ bœ
œ œ œ bœ œ
? 44 ˙ ™
ff
Œ Ó Œ bœ 4
˙™ œ™ ‰ Ó Ó 4
œ Œ Ó
˙™ œ™ œ
4-22
4 3 bœ 4
&4 ˙ bœ bœ
bœ œ 2 bœ 4 ˙
6-32
© Schott Music, Mainz. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.
Swedish Monday Group, formed in 1944, was led by Karl-Birger Blomdahl

(1916–1968) and met in his flat initially to discuss Hindemith’s Unterweisung.
The influence of Hindemith’s style is strongly pronounced in Blomdahl’s
music; one need look no further than the fugue subject to his First Concerto
Grosso to see the unmistakable transformative properties of quartal pitch
collections (Example 7.10).
Niels Viggo Benzton (1919–2000), though not a student of Hindemith,
was one of his most ardent supporters. He was strongly influenced by
Hindemith’s style, and his substantial list of compositions dwarfs even that
of Genzmer, numbering over 630 works, and including many uncommon
instrumental combinations. Benzton’s Hindemith monograph (1997) listed
numerous works, by other published composers, which bear the older master’s
influence.35 It includes a mixture of compositions by Hindemith’s students
35
Bentzon, Niels Viggo, Paul Hindemith (Copenhagen: Artia, 1997):
‘Humphrey Searle, Symphony No. 5 Op. 43
Ernst Toch, Erste Symphonie Op. 72
Elmut Degen, Kammersinfonie (II. Sinfonie)
Henk Badings, Sonate IV (1945, klaver)
Harald Genzmer, Second Sonate (klaver)
Ernst Pepping, First Sonata I (klaver)
Alan Rawsthorne, Tema, variationer og finale (ork.)
Kurt Weill, First Sinfonie (1924)
Lennox Berkeley, Guitar Concerto Op. 38
Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Sixth Symphonie
Conrad Beck, Hommage (ork.)
Willem Pijper, Symfoni nr. 3
Example 7.10 Blomdahl’s Concerto Grosso (1944), first movement, bb. 6–11.
Allegro moderato (q=c:a 96)

>
4 2 œ≈ œœœ 3 2 . b>œbœ œ œ œ
3
&4 œ œ> 4 œ œ. #œ. 4 œ œ œnœ œ œ. 4 œ #œ- œnœbœb œ

> >œ > > œ > œ. >#>œ >
f
3 2
4-23
4 œ
œ œœ 4
##œœ nbœœ
© Nordiska Musikförlaget/2007 Gehrmans Musikförlag AB. Printed with permission.
(Genzmer and Pepping), and works by other twentieth-century composers,

including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Klavierstück X, and Luigi Dallapiccola,
Musica per tre pianoforte.36
Bentzon’s Trumpet Sonata op. 73 (1951–1952) closely resembles the
Unterweisung style.37 Bars 21–5 of the first movement illustrate this in three
ways: the piano accompaniment includes explicit quartal pitch collections
(particularly bars 23–4); there is a priority for contrary motion between parts;
metric emphasis is paramount; and the performance directions are clear and
conservative (Example 7.11). Moreover, the quartal chords from bars 23–4
resemble Hindemith’s piano accompaniment to the second movement of the
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939), in Example 7.12.
It is no coincidence that many of the examples provided here of
Reizenstein, Genzmer and Bentzon are fugues, or that they are explicitly
Ernst Pepping, Symphonie

Slavko Osterc, Sonatine (2 klarinetter)
Roman Vlad, Griochi con Bach (sol. Clavicembalo)
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nr. 4 Klavierstück X
Erik Satie, Morceaux en forme de poire
Ingvar Lidholm, Poesis (orkester)
Sylvano Bussotti, Opus Cygne (orkester)
Luigi Dallapiccola, Musica per tre pianoforte ’.
36
The inclusion of a work by Dallapiccola is not surprising, given the high regard
with which the Italian composer held Hindemith. His letter to Gertrud Hindemith
on 30 December 1963 is both poignant and revealing of the wider regard with which
the composing community held Hindemith. This letter is reprinted in Briner, Andres
‘Zwei Hindemithiana’, in Neue Musik und Tradition, ed. Josef Kuckertz et al. (Laaber:
Laaber Verlag, 1990) pp. 535–6.
37
No date of composition appears to be available for this work, although Bentzon’s
preceding op. 71 was published in 1951, and succeeding op. 82 in 1952.
Example 7.11 Bentzon’s Trumpet Sonata op. 73 (1951–1952) bb. 21–5. The
trumpet part was originally written in B-flat, and has been
transposed to concert pitch for ease of use.
b>˙ ™
. . . nœ. nœ. nœ. œ. œ. bœ. 5 nœnœnœbœbœnœbœ
œ bœ ∫ œ œ
& 8 n˙ ™
21
6
{
8 bœ nœ œ
> 4
? 68 nœ ™
J bœ. œ. œ bbœœ- ™™ œœ œœ. bœœ. nnœœ- ™™ nnœœ ™™ nnnœœœ ™™™ nnnœœœ ™™™
œ& 5 nœ nœ bœ bœ bœ
8# œ
n œ- ™ #œ
bbbœœœ ™™™
nœ nœ
nnœœ ™™
p
-
? 68 n-œ ™ 5 bœ ™
nn œœ ™™
nœ nœnœ
J b œ. b œœ bb œœ ™™
œ
™ ™
nœ 8 b œ™
. œœ œœ. b œœ. nn œœ ™ ™ bœ™
-
© Copyright 1951 Ed Wilhelm Hansen. Chester Music Limited. All Rights Reserved.
International Copyright Secured. Use by Permission of Chester Music Limited.
Example 7.12 Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939), second
{
147
& nnœœ œœ œœ œœ #nœœ œœ Œ œœ œœ œœ œœ nœœ œœ Œ œ œ œ œ # œœ œ

nœ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œ # œœ œœ œœ œœ œ # œœ
? œ œ œ Œ bœ œ œ œ œ
œœ œœ œœ œœ bœ œœ bœ Œ œœ œœ œœ œœ nn œœ œœ
œ nb œœ œ b œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ b œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ
contrapuntal. Hindemith’s approach to quartal pitch collections, and

emphasis on voice-leading technique, lends itself well to these approaches.
It offers one solution to the problem of writing fugues in a post-tonal idiom:
quartal pitch collections are invertible, while still allowing for distinct
foreground ornamentation, such as passing notes. In particular, quartal pitch
collections have remained in prominent use for brass instruments, both in
chamber settings (particularly in the music of Hindemith, Genzmer and
Bentzon) and in choirs, such as Apparebit Repentina Dies. This relates to the
use of the harmonic series in Unterweisung theory, and its importance to the
acoustic properties of brass instruments.
Aside from the aforementioned, published composers, no student from
Yale, who wrote in the Unterweisung style, gained a lasting international career
in composition. Many students, however, wrote in this way. One example is
a student’s Clarinet Sonatina (1947), written in the year Copland made his
derogatory remark about composers writing like Hindemith. Bars 33–7
include incomplete quartal collections 3-7 and 4-22, and quartal tetrachords
on the downbeats of bars 36 and 37 (Example 7.13). Whatever the student’s
compositional personality may have been, it is only heard in his Yale music
work through the implicit agenda of Hindemith’s Unterweisung teaching.
Hindemith’s corrections to student assignments show that he actively
encouraged them to write in his own style. Figure 7.3 is taken from one
such trumpet and piano piece. Each of Hindemith’s three corrections to the
trumpet part aligns the melody more closely to quartal pitch collections.
The YHC includes many programmes to student concerts during the
1940s. These show the impact of Hindemith not only on the musical style of
his students, but in the very genres they wrote in. The following programme
took place in Sprague Memorial Hall on 2 May 1944, entitled ‘Concert of
Compositions by Students in the School of Music’:
Compositions in Strict Form:

Fugue in F Lilliam Clark
Loure, From a Suite Lee Goebel
Fugue in C Minor Jon Thorarinsson
Fugue in E-flat Elizabeth Baldwin
Intermezzo from Sonata for Violin and Piano Agostino Rosselli
Sonatina for Oboe and Harp Charles Shackford
Piece for Viola and Harp Shau-Kwong Tam

Three Piano Pieces
Sonatina for Piano Willson Osborne

Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Andante from Sonata for Violin and Piano Leonard Sarason
Three Pieces Charles Shackford

I. Quick movement, piano
II. Slow movement, clarinet and piano
III. Quick movement, trumpet and piano
Sonata for Double Bass and Piano Joseph Iadone

Allegro
Adagio
Scherzo: Presto
Example 7.13 A student composition, Clarinet Sonatina (1947), first movement,

bb. 33–7. The clarinet part was originally written in B-flat, and
has been transposed to concert pitch for ease of use.
a tempo
œbœ ™ bœJ bœ bœ œ
U b œ œœ œ œ#œnœ #œ œœ 3
‰ œJ
33
{
& ≈ ‰ œJbœ œbœbœœbœ ‰ œJnœ œ 4 œ œœ nœœ
& #œ ‰ Œ Œ nœ œ bœ ™ œ œ™ œ œ ‰ ‰ œœ #œœ ™™
lightly cresc.
j j j j j j j j 3
œ œ™ œœ nœœ ‰ œœ
œ 4 œœœ ‰ œj œ
#œ b bœ™ bœœj nœ™ œ œ™ œ bœ nnœœ ##œœ ™™ œœ n œ j
mp
? #œJ ‰ Œ nœ̇ œ™ œ œ
J œ™ œ bœ ™ œ œ‰ ‰ J J #œ ‰nœJ
3 œ ‰#œœ œœ
4
J J J J J J
3-7 3-7 3-7
4-22 4-23 4-23
This concert programme bears all the hallmarks of Hindemith’s approach

to eclectic compositional works, particularly towards marginalised (yet needed)
instrumental combinations. Notable on the programme is a piece for trumpet
and piano, presumably inspired by Hindemith’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano
(1939) and one for Double Bass and Piano, which precedes Hindemith’s own
work, which was to be published in 1949.
Cross-Roads in Music Theory and Aesthetics
Hindemith held the prominent Battell Chair in Music Theory (1947–1953),

the first endowed chair of music in the Yale School of Music (and in the
latter half of the twentieth century, the University), which was subsequently
held by Allen Forte and, currently, Richard Cohn.38 He received many
recognitions of merit while in the US, in addition to becoming an American
citizen on 11 January 1946; the Howland Memorial Prize Medal from
Yale University (1940); membership of the Institute of Arts and Letters
(1947); New York Music Critics Award and honorary doctorates in music
from the Philadelphia Academy of Music (1945) and Columbia University
(1948). During this time, he was one of America’s most revered composers
and musical thinkers. As we have seen, the music editor of Time magazine
wrote, in 1948, that ‘few living composers have ever had so much of their
music played in one week. Everyone seemed to burst out playing the
38
Forte’s seminal article (‘Paul Hindemith’s Contribution to Music Theory in the
United States’, 1995) on the influence of Hindemith in the United States was a starting
point for this chapter.
1 2 3
1 G quaver corrected to F-sharp quaver

2 F-sharp crotchet corrected to E crotchet
3 G-sharp crotchet corrected to F-sharp crotchet
Figure 7.3 Hindemith’s corrections to a student’s trumpet piece.
knotty dissonant music of Paul Hindemith’.39 Hindemith received fourteen

commissions during his time in the USA, more than any other composer.40
However, several events transpired that were to dramatically out-fashion
both Hindemith’s compositional style and his Unterweisung-based theoretical
approach. These included damning articles printed in The Music Review, the
evolution of Babbitt’s approach to twelve-tone theory, the dissemination of
Schenkerian theory in the English language, and the musical fashions of
the 1960s avant-garde, associated in part with the Darmstadt School and
epitomised by Adorno’s polemic ‘Ad Vocem Hindemith’. Hindemith was
programmed regularly at the first annual Darmstadt summer courses up
until the early 1950s, when the focus suddenly shifted to the advanced serial
techniques of Luigi Nono, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. As
an ardent opponent of serialism, Hindemith created enemies with precisely
the composers and composer-performers whom he needed as advocates.
Boulez, in particular, took an active dislike to Hindemith’s work, and refused
to conduct it.41
Forte (1995) traces the beginning of the demise of Hindemith’s influence
to Schoenberg’s Princeton lecture of 1934, ‘Composition with Twelve Tones’.
It began a trend in music theory and composition firstly based on serialism,
and secondly, on ways of identifying it and other ordered, yet non-tonal music.
Babbitt was the first to propose a musical set theory (1955), which was later
codified in Forte (1973). The exposition of Schenkerian theory in the English
language occurred with Salzer’s Structural Hearing (1952). Despite Forte’s
39
Noss (1989) p. 155.
40
Ibid.
41
Pierre Boulez, Boulez on Conducting (Faber: London, 2003) p. 32.
apologetic Hindemith article, his work was based heavily on the creation and
development of set theory and voice-leading reduction.
The manner of Hindemith’s departure from Yale is also partly responsible
for his dramatic fall from grace, particularly within the music theory
community. From the first term of 1948–1949, Hindemith was continually
away from his work at Yale. This began with a leave of absence to complete a
schedule of conducting in Europe (winter 1948), lectures in Germany (spring
1949), the Norton Lectureship at Harvard (1949–1950) and a professorship
at the University of Zurich (1951–1952). He resigned from Yale at the end of
June 1953.42 These engagements created discontinuity in his teaching. Given
the special dispensations afforded by Yale (and the Dean, Bruce Simmonds)
to allow Hindemith to be away from the department, it was particularly
damaging that he should resign without warning in 1953. This is summarised
by a concerned letter from Gertrud to Hindemith’s publisher, Willy Strecker,
where she writes ‘Please do not say anything about our moving back to
Europe. People are beginning to ask hard questions as to whether we are
leaving America forever, and are deeply disturbed, disappointed, bitter, etc.’43
History has shown Gertrud’s worries to have been justified. This is confirmed
by Alexander Main, whose speech on Hindemith in 1973 mentioned ‘Yale
University a decade ago felt that it had “outgrown Hindemith”, as a young
faculty member of that time put it’.44 Hindemith sorely needed the support of
the Yale theoretical community, which remains today one of the world leaders
in speculative music theory.
The first two journals to prioritise music theory and analysis in the
United States were JMT (1957) and PNM (1962). As mentioned previously,
they each lent upon one of the two pillars of Anglo-American music theory:
Schenkerian analysis at JMT and set theory at PNM. In Kerman’s 1985
survey of musicology, which includes a discussion of both journals and
their associated scholars and music faculties, Hindemith does not receive a
single mention. Further misfortune meant that in the same year as Salzer’s
Structural Hearing (1952), Mendel, the translator of the Unterweisung, was
appointed professor of music at Princeton: a key institution associated with
Hindemith’s demise.
The oldest journal of its kind in the USA, JMT was founded at Yale
by David Kraehenbuehl in 1957, who, along with Boatwright, was one of
four students who graduated in both music theory and composition under
Hindemith. Though Hindemith had left the US four years previously, the
42
Noss (1989) pp. 88–90.
43
Ibid., p. 91.
44
Main, Alexander, ‘Hindemith Tomorrow: A Dedicatory Address’ (delivered at
Ohio State University, 8 December 1973).
intellectual climate generated by his work in music theory likely acted as an

incentive to found the journal. Many former students are also to be found in
its articles and on the editorial boards. Particularly in the first few editions
of the journal, there was an interest in the general problems of music theory,
such as consonance and dissonance, and on some of the issues raised by
Hindemith’s theory including interval sizes. Throughout the 1960s there
were also several articles dedicated to Hindemith such as Shackford (1972),
Thomson (1965) and Briner (1961). That there was a strong affinity not only
for Hindemith, but for the presence of nature in music theory more generally
was felt in a short comment by Carter (1959).45 Directed at the editorship
of JMT, it indicatively requested: ‘You lean, editorially, rather too heavily on
the notion of the “physical” or “natural” basis of music theory as one would
expect from the followers of Hindemith. I would like to see other points
of view given a fair hearing’. One should not interpret this to suggest that
Carter disliked Hindemith, however, given his beautifully worded letter to
Getrud following Hindemith’s death in 1963, which included praise for his
contribution to American musical pedagogy.46 Whether Carter’s comment
was directly influential or not, past Shackford’s article in 1972 interest in
Hindemith’s theories in the JMT fell dramatically: there was not a single
major article until Forte (1995).
The attempts of Forte (1995) to demonstrate that Hindemith’s theories
had an unfortunate reception fell on deaf ears, is indicated by a study of Yosef
Goldenberg, ‘Journal of Music Theory over the Years: Content Analysis of
the Articles and Related Aspects’ (2006).47 Goldenberg lists the number of
journal articles, which he splits into different categories including Schenker,
set theory, rhetoric, Riemann and neo-Riemann amongst others. Hindemith
is conspicuously absent. Using his statistical data Goldenberg concludes that
‘The most common methods discussed in JMT are clearly Schenkerian theory
and set theory’.48 Hindemith is referenced only once, in passing, to debate
whether Forte’s 1995 article should appear in either the categories of set theory
or Schenker. Finally, the article points to the mention of Hindemith mainly as
45
Carter, Elliott, ‘On the Nature of Music Theory’ Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 3,
No. 1 (April, 1959) p. 170.
46
Letter dated 3 January 1964 and published in Neue Musik und Tradition (Laaber:
Laaber Verlag, 1990) p. 533.
47
Goldenberg, Yosef, ‘Journal of Music Theory Over the Years: Content Analysis
of the Articles and Related Aspects’ Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 50, No. 1, Fiftieth
Anniversary Issue (Spring 2006) pp. 25–63.
48
Ibid., p. 40.
a theorist in JMT, with the impression that this is somehow surprising, rather
than referring to him as a composer.49
Hindemith’s theories were a cause of widespread fascination in America
in the early 1940s, and led to two important invitations. The first resulted
in a lecture on ‘Music Theories’ for the New York Chapter of the American
Musicological Society on 24 May 1943. The second was an invitation from the
Musical Quarterly which culminated in his 1944 article, ‘Methods of Music
Theory’, providing information on Hindemith’s theoretical source material.50
Moreover, there are at least three significant dissertations written at the time
by Thomson, Halliday and Landau which remained unpublished.51 This small
juncture in Hindemith scholarship, from the early 1940s to 1970s, represented
academic investigation into his theories while interest was high – however,
they have disappeared into relative obscurity. None of these texts made it into
Neumeyer’s monograph (1986) apart from Landau’s article (1960), derived
from his dissertation.
Reception in The Music Review
The primary academic journal in the English language for publication on

Hindemith’s theories was The Music Review, published annually in Cambridge
from 1940–1994 (it was revived in 2004 as Nineteenth-Century Music Review).
It holds the most detailed discourse available on Hindemith’s theories,
including strongly worded and often provocative polemics by Norman Cazden
and Rudolf Stephan (1954), Victor Landau (1960 and 1961), Hans Redlich
(1964), Richard Bobbitt (1965) and Clifford Taylor (1983). Apart from a small
selection of English articles in the Hindemith Jahrbuch, Musical Quarterly and
Journal of Music Theory, other committed discussions of Hindemith’s theories
took place in German, and many were influenced by the pervasive environment
of Theodor Adorno and the Darmstadt School. Though relevant entries may
also be found in The Musical Times, they are generally of a journalistic and
brief nature and do not engage critically with the Unterweisung. A study
of articles in The Music Review is therefore representative of the English-
language reception of, and engagement with, Hindemith’s music theory. With
the exception of Taylor, these authors strongly criticise Hindemith, aiming to
show that he was, in summary:
49
Ibid., p. 54.
50
Noss (1989) p. 143.
51
To this one could also add Cazden, Norman, Consonance and Dissonance (Harvard
University, PhD, 1947).
A poor theory builder (Cazden and Bobbitt);

A poor and unnecessary reviser of his own music (Stephan);
An inconsistent follower of his own rules (Landau);
A Nazi sympathiser (Redlich);
A flawed and unoriginal mathematician (Bobbitt).
Given the importance of The Music Review to English-language Hindemith

discourse, and the timing of each article alongside Hindemith’s exit from
Yale (Cazden, Stephan and Landau) and shortly after his death (Redlich and
Bobbitt), these criticisms were especially damaging. Many aspects of these
articles are unfair, or inaccurate, as I shall now summarise.
Cazden’s background connects to the mid-twentieth-century fascination
with issues of consonance and dissonance in light of the varied and progressive
compositional styles of the first half of the twentieth century. His Unterweisung
critique ‘Hindemith and Nature’ (1954) is one of the most damaging accounts
of Hindemith’s theoretical writing. He writes:
By entering into problems of the theory of music, the composer Hindemith

sets forth also certain attitudes towards the philosophy of his art. We are
tempted in all charity to make a clear separation between Hindemith’s various
activities, on the reasonable ground that a good composer may be a poor
theorist, while a brilliant theorist may show little talent as a composer. But
Hindemith’s just renown as a composer brings about a widespread influence
and consideration of his views, and his words of wisdom or error alike are
taken most seriously. Thus he bears a heavy responsibility for sound thinking,
and if his statements and explanations are poorly founded, backed as they
are by his personal prestige, he is in a position to cause much mischief to the
understanding of music.52
Cazden’s aggressive position highlights apparent inconsistencies and

contradictions relating to Hindemith’s rules. However, each rule is stated in a
paraphrased form which distorts Hindemith’s original meaning. For example,
Cazden states:
52
Cazden, Norman, ‘Hindemith and Nature’ The Music Review, Vol. 15 (1954)
pp. 288–306. This article was presented as a paper related to the American
Musicological Society in Iowa City, 18 April 1953. The abridged abstract to this paper
also appears in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Summer,
1954) pp. 161–4.
(5) Lower tones, presumably whether primary or combination tones, have

greater weight (“klangliches Gewicht”) than higher ones, due to the
“weight of the vibrating material – the air masses” (Craft, p. 67).53
Cazden notably finds that this rule may ‘presumably’ apply to primary or
combination (difference) tones. If he is uncertain, why is it embedded in
a list of Hindemith’s rules? Hindemith’s reference to tiefen töne is made to
differentiate between the two pitches in each interval of Series 2. It includes
both the original notes and their associated difference tones as Cazden
presumes. A further factor needs to be taken into consideration; in the case of
a lower difference tone being of the second order, the higher difference tone
is seen to have greater intensity (Klangstärke). Cazden fails to pick up on this,
which leads to a misunderstanding in his sixth ‘rule’:
(6) In case [combination tone 1] does not coincide with the lowest sounding
tone, that is, when rules 4 and 5 conflict, the lowest sounding tone is still to
be taken for the interval root. However, the conflict results in a “clouding”
or “burdening” of the interval in question, which makes its rating inferior.
Hence the m6 is inferior to the M3 (Craft, p. 67).54
Hindemith demonstrates the ‘strength’ of the major third over the minor
sixth in a C major triad.55 This interval pair differs from the earlier fourths
and fifths pair in that the lower difference tone is not of the first order for
the inversion. Hindemith describes C as the root of the interval, given that E
has no doubling in either the first or second order of difference tones. In this
case, Hindemith states that the low C in the inversion ‘is only the weaker
combination tone of the second order, and is surpassed in intensity by the
combination tone of the first order, which lies above it’.56 This statement
directly conflicts with Cazden’s rule six, above. A further consequence of
Hindemith’s distinction between difference tone intensity is that Cazden’s
discussion of summation tones is largely irrelevant; they are acknowledged
to be weaker than difference tones, and given that Hindemith only considers
difference of tones of the first and second orders for reasons of intensity,
there is no need for the weaker summation tones.57
53
Cazden (1954) p. 294.
54
Ibid.
55
Craft (1942) p. 67.
56
Ibid.
57
Cahan, David (ed.), Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
In the same issue as Cazden’s article (1954), German musicologist Rudolf

Stephan published a short yet forceful polemic on Hindemith’s Marienleben
revisions. He attacks, in particular, the key symbolisms of the revised cycle:
‘What hearer without absolute pitch and without having memorised a
table of key interpretations is able, with the best will in the world, to feel
according to this prescription?’58 His objection ignores Hindemith’s goal,
which was to base a composition upon an ordered background structure;
whether immediately audible or not, it adds a cerebral plan that was absent
in the first version. Stephan moreover criticises Hindemith’s rejection of
bitonality and simplification of the harmonic structure in his revisions. The
position of Stephan’s polemic, however, fails to progress beyond the merely
subjective; while Stephan may not have enjoyed Hindemith’s alterations (he
is entitled to), he does not adequately provide reasons for why his conclusion
may apply to another listener. There is no objective reason why we should
take Stephan’s opinions over those of another critic, such as Harold Truscott
who, in his short review in The Musical Times (1969), takes a completely
opposite view: that the second, revised version is far superior.59
Victor Landau published two articles in The Music Review (1960 and
1961) entitled ‘Paul Hindemith: A Case Study in Theory and Practice’ and
‘Hindemith the System Builder: A Critique of his Theory of Harmony’
respectively, six years after the forceful polemic of Cazden and the subjective
criticism of Stephan.60 Landau writes that the publication of these articles,
several years after Hindemith left the US, allows for a degree of objectivity
that was not possible while Hindemith was at Yale.61 The nexus of his
first article is an exposition of his sample analysis of Hindemith’s works
using the principles of the Unterweisung, a procedure that was preceded by
Halliday’s dissertation (1941). A number of practical considerations were
taken into account in his analysis: firstly, Landau only evaluates Hindemith’s
chamber music for three to seven instruments, which he has divided into
seven ‘periods’ of Hindemith’s compositional output. Secondly, and most
significantly, he merely ‘samples’ each piece, by taking two movements from
each complete work, and three areas from each movement. Samples are
58
Stephan, Rudolf, ‘Hindemith’s Marienleben (1922–1948): An Assessment of its
Two Versions’ The Music Review, Vol. 15 (1954) p. 279.
59
Truscott, Harold, ‘Hindemith and “Das Marienleben”’ The Musical Times Vol. 110,
No. 1522 (December, 1969) pp. 1240–42.
60
These articles originate from Landau’s PhD dissertation, The Harmonic Theories of
Paul Hindemith in Relation to His Practice as a Composer of Chamber Music (New York
University, PhD, 1957).
61
Landau, Victor, ‘Hindemith the System Builder: A Critique of his Theory of
Harmony’ The Music Review, Vol. 22 (1961) p. 136.
selected from the first movement and ‘the nearest subsequent movement
in contrasting tempo’. Within each movement the samples consist of the
opening phrase, the phrase including the medial measure of bar line, and the
‘smallest natural division which contains the three final chords’.62 Landau
samples eighteen works, which amounts to 774 bars of analysis.
There is a problem with Landau’s investigation. While the analysis of every
one of Hindemith’s musical works is impractical, it is distortive to exclude
the majority of a composition. For example, in Hindemith’s String Trio No. 2
(1933) there are 1042 bars over the three movements: Mäßig schnell – Lebhaft
– Langsam. Of this total, Landau’s analysis would have evaluated 96 bars; 946
less than the total number and just under one tenth of the piece.63 Of the
first movement, which consists of a fast 4/8 time signature, this represents a
particularly small proportion. Conversely, for a movement with longer bars,
often with a slower tempo, this would represent a disproportionately large
percentage of the piece. While his sampling is consistently applied, there is
no way of knowing if the bars that he has missed out will provide conflicting
data. Structurally, and thematically, one may consider these three sections to
be representative of a complete movement. But not all of Hindemith’s music
unfolds in this way, and Landau’s study is severely limited by not analysing
complete compositions. Landau concludes that ‘from the evidence that has
been presented … the relationship of Hindemith’s harmonic theories to
his practice as a composer of chamber music is something less than may be
expected considering that the theorist and composer are the same person and
that the theories are intended to apply to all music including his own’.64 The
validity of this conclusion is based on a flawed sampling method.
Redlich’s derogatory text, ‘Paul Hindemith: A Reassessment’ (1964)
appears next, which as we have seen, provoked a counter article from
Reizenstein. Redlich condemns the Unterweisung and post-1933
compositions for being compositionally sterile and likens them (negatively)
to Mendelssohn’s oratorios. However, similar to Stephan’s article on the
revisions to Marienleben, his comments never rise above the subjective.
Little justification is offered for a number of scathing remarks. The most
condemning aspect of Redlich’s article is his general tone, which implies
that Hindemith was a Nazi sympathiser. However, these implications are
not substantiated by necessary reference to recollections and documentary
evidence, only that he ‘repeatedly met’ Hindemith between 1922 and 1930.
62
Landau (1957) p. 45.
63
Landau, Victor, ‘Paul Hindemith: A Case Study in Theory and Practice’ The Music
Review, Vol. 21 (1960) p. 45 states that he sampled phrase lengths. It is therefore not
possible to be entirely sure how long Landau understood each phrase to last for.
64
Landau (1957) p. x.
Redlich was a staunch supporter of Schoenberg – we may therefore read this

article as indicative of the animosity between the followers of Schoenberg
and Hindemith. The timing of the article, a year after Hindemith had died,
meant that Hindemith was not able to respond.
A year later, Richard Bobbitt published ‘Hindemith’s Twelve-tone
Scale’ (1965) – a rigorous examination of Series 1.65 Bobbitt observes that
Series 1 derives an identical temperament to a scale formulated by Alexander
Malcolm in 1721 (at the time, one of many attempts to address chromatic
temperament).66 Crucially however, the two orders are derived by different
methods. They also match Kepler’s second monochord, transposed down a
fifth (a further link between Series 1 and Hindemith’s opera Die Harmonie
der Welt), and scales constructed by Sylvestro Ganassi (1543) and Andreas
Reinhard (1604).67
Bobbitt asserts that Hindemith’s calculation for the Series-1 frequency
of B-flat (113.78 Hz) is an error; however, it results from a rounded
recurring decimal, not an incorrect calculation per se. Similar to a criticism
in Cazden’s article of Hindemith’s mislabelling of the term ‘overtone’ for
‘harmonic partial’, Bobbitt writes with a polemical tone that is unduly harsh
for matters of small detail. These authors appear to have a vendetta against
Hindemith and his theory building, grasping at fastidious matters on which
to base their polemics. One gets a sense that they are trying to catch him
out. Six years later, the first issue of the Hindemith Jahrbuch published a short
appendix article by Erich Altwein in Hindemith’s defence – it is telling that
such an article was needed.68
The final article on Hindemith’s theory in The Music Review, by Clifford
Taylor (1983), was unusually positive. Following a brief overview of previous
articles, Taylor counters the negative slant on Bobbitt’s Hindemith-Malcolm
parallel. He perceives it as a strength not a weakness. If a historical precedent
exists – and one of which Hindemith was likely not aware – it corroborates
65
Bobbitt, Richard, ‘Hindemith’s Twelve-tone Scale’ The Music Review, Vol. 26,
No. 2, pp. 104–117 chooses to focus exclusively on Series 1 and harmonic partials. He
does not bring Series 2 and combination tones into his discussion.
66
Malcolm, Alexander, A Treatise of Musick: Speculative, Practical and Historical
(Edinburgh, 1721), subsequently published abridged in 1779.
67
See: Barbour, James Murray, Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey (East
Lansing: Michigan State College, 1951) p. 100; Kepler, Harmonices Mundi (1619)
p. 163; Ganassi, Sylvestro, Regola Rubertina (1542) and Lettione Seconda (1543),
facsimile edition ed. Max Schneider (Leipzig, 1924), Chapter IV; Reinhard, Andreas,
Monochordum (Leipzig, 1604).
68
Altwein, Erich F. W., ‘Hindemith’s Calculation is Not in Error Here…’ HJb, Vol. 1
(Mainz: Schott & Co., 1971) pp. 195–6.
a viable solution to chromatic interval relationships. In other words, for two

theorists to arrive at identical conclusions independently, validates rather than
dismisses the outcome.
Taylor’s article, though not providing a sense of closure on the polemical
writings in The Music Review, at least attempted to place a degree of
historicity upon them. However the consolidation of available literature
was ultimately ineffective at spawning a renewed enquiry into Hindemith’s
theoretical writings. The publications of Cazden, Stephan, Landau and
Bobbitt (combined with the lack of material in other English language
journals) had become too sizeable to negate in a short article. Moreover, two
notable fragments, handwritten by Howard Boatwright in likely response to
Bobbitt’s Hindemith–Malcolm comparison, were never published.69
Curiously, despite the damage to Hindemith’s music theory caused by these
articles – which could not be undone by Taylor’s final article – no author was of
a world-leading standing within the musicological community.70 Many of the
major academic figures of the mid- to late twentieth century chose to ignore
Hindemith’s theories in print. Even the Journal of Music Theory, which was
strongly connected to Hindemith via his Yale students, and which was willing
at all times to continue an undertone of positivism towards Hindemith, did
not publish a significant article on his theory after Charles Shackford (1972)
until Allen Forte (1998).
Ad Vocem Hindemith
Adorno (1903–1969) was in many respects contemporary with Hindemith

and similarly studied under Sekles at the Frankfurt Hoch Conservatory.
Though they were never closely acquainted, their relationship appears to have
been initially cordial. Adorno recalls that Hindemith offered considerate
advice regarding his compositions, gave a private performance of one of
his string quartets with the Rebner Quartet (which Adorno subsequently
withdrew) and spent time conversing with him in the Bernhard Firnberg
music shop in Frankfurt. From 1923, however, Adorno appears to have
distanced himself from Hindemith to the point of antagonism by 1939.71
69
Held in the Hindemith Yale Collection. Boatwright did write an obituary article
for The Musical Quarterly in 1964, although it did not examine Hindemith’s music or
theory in critical depth.
70
The slight exception to this would be Rudolf Stephan, although he is not an Anglo-
American author, despite his text appearing in English.
71
The change in attitude is represented by the fourth essay in the ‘Ad Vocem
Hindemith’ collection.
While Copland felt that Hindemith’s devaluation in the US occurred rapidly

during the 1950s, Adorno reversed his positive outlook at least twenty years
earlier, owing to Hindemith’s theoretical work during the 1930s. We may
associate Adorno’s stance with the widening gap between Hindemith and
the Second Viennese School.
Adorno’s evolving position on Hindemith’s approach to theory and
composition is epitomised by a substantial polemic ‘Ad Vocem Hindemith –
Eine Dokumentation’ (1968), published within a collection of essays entitled
Impromptus and itself a collection of documents from 1922–1968. Adorno’s
essay is formed of seven parts, beginning with a ‘Preludium’, followed by five
essays written at various points in Hindemith’s time (and shortly after his death)
and a ‘Postludium’. The outer-pair titles clearly reference the first and final
sections of Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis. The work was initiated by a discussion
between Adorno and Stephan (author of the 1954 Marienleben polemic),
which took place on 26 March 1964 (the same year as Redlich’s reassessment),
and was broadcast eight months later on 16 November (on Hindemith’s
birthday). According to Adorno the broadcast caused a stir given that the
discussion took place in the University of Frankfurt, where Hindemith held
an honorary doctorate.72 Adorno’s intentions are clear: he supplants an early
essay from 1922, which included a politely critical but nonetheless positive
and encouraging tone towards Hindemith’s compositions, with a detailed and
forceful critique of Hindemith’s theoretical approach and aesthetics.
The first text, which Adorno later describes as a sin through ‘lack of
critical perspective’ centres on a review of Hindemith’s music up until 1922.
He focuses in particular on the one-act operas and string quartets. The first
quartet is described as ‘a neatly composed piece with academic appeal’;
Hindemith’s style is flatteringly referred to as ‘complex but not complicated’
and possessing a ‘core of deep artistry’. Adorno’s change of tone after this essay
is striking. The rot appeared to have set in by 1926, when Adorno took against
Hindemith’s increasingly consistent, and less pluralistic, Neue-Sachlichkeit
style. This approach was seen to be inhibiting and restrictive, invoking ‘hollow
feelings’ and tending towards a ‘classicistic music box’. By the time Hindemith
developed a theory of music in the 1930s, Adorno verged on the apoplectic.
How could the young talisman of German modernism and composer of Sancta
Susanna have reduced himself to systematically objectifying the elements
of composition and integrating them into stylistic consistency? Adorno’s
1939 essay fires relentless waves of objection towards the Unterweisung on
conceptual and moral grounds. Hindemith the system builder is labelled as
‘an aesthetic administrative technician’ and ‘angry rationalist’; his writing
72
Adorno claims to have been unaware of Hindemith’s honorary doctorate, stating
that if he was, he would have blocked it.
style is attacked: ‘nothing is explained apart from where nothing needs to be

explained’; his ideology is described derogatively as ‘moderate modernism’ and
a notably severe connection is made between Hindemith’s systematisation and
the Third Reich’s restriction of freedom.
As we have seen, the timing of articles by Redlich and Bobbitt
is distasteful. The same may be said of Adorno’s radio broadcast and
subsequent publication. The passing of a highly notable figure in twentieth-
century music understandably invited a revaluation, although the lack of
reservation from Hindemith’s critics is unusual. Adorno writes with a tone
that suggests almost a betrayal – he was taken in by the young Hindemith’s
scandalous 1920s music only to realise his true artistic intentions during the
Unterweisung years. Adorno trusted Hindemith to progress a certain form of
modernism, yet Hindemith chose to follow his own path.
The ‘Practical’ School
Contrary to Hindemith’s lifelong mantra, ‘playing, playing, always the

practical’ the Unterweisung is a largely speculative text.73 His development of
a new concept of tonality is unlike the observational, analytical approaches of
Piston and Schoenberg, and the stylistic description of Messiaen, all of whom
had highly successful schools in Harvard, California and Paris respectively.
Piston paralleled Hindemith closely: born in 1894, a year before Hindemith,
he spent much of his professional life teaching, composing, and writing music
theory. Piston nurtured a practical approach towards composition instruction
during his long tenure at Harvard (1926–1960). His manuals Harmony and
Orchestration (and to a lesser extent, Counterpoint) have retained their place
in pedagogy up to the present day. They emphasise an analytical approach,
based on the study of existing scores from the mainstream canon of Western
Classical Music. They are observational, rather than speculative. Piston’s
approach to teaching created the opposite effect to Hindemith’s; he had very
little stylistic influence upon his students. The following is taken from an
interview with Piston in the New York Times (1961):
Sometimes I had the impression that they wound up doing the teaching and
I was the student. I am very proud of the fact that none of my students writes
music like any other, and none writes music like me, grazia a Dio.74
73
Salzman, Eric, ‘Paul Hindemith, Master of Many Trades’ New York Times
(15 February 1959) p. x9.
74
Salzman, Eric, ‘Piston: Ex-Teacher’ New York Times (26 March 1961) p. x13.
By contrast, Messiaen’s Technique de mon Langage Musical is a personal and

systematic description of one approach to composition. It is of use to those
wishing to emulate Messiaen’s style, or to analyse his music based on his own
principles. Unlike the introduction to the Unterweisung, Messiaen makes his
intentions clear:
Aside from a few very rare exceptions pointed out in passing, all the examples
quoted here will be from my own works (past or future!) […] The Technique
of My Musical Language, language considered from the triple point of view,
rhythmic, melodic and harmonic. This work is not a treatise on composition.75
Both styles of text – observational (Piston) and personal (Messiaen) –

are explicit in their approach to theory and musical style. Their authors
furthermore instructed some of the major figures in late-twentieth-century
music, across a variety of styles. Messiaen inspired a legacy of composers,
more so than published theorists, including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis
Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, Quincy Jones and Oliver Knussen among others.
Piston’s Harvard students include the prominent composers and international
figures of Carter, Leroy Anderson and Bernstein.76 It is possible that such a
breadth of personalities – Carter as a pioneer of exhaustive pitch combination
methods, Bernstein as a man of broad musical talents, and Anderson of
popular idioms – could not have flourished under Hindemith’s strict regime.
Moreover, Carter and Bernstein achieved fame well beyond that of Piston,
in contrast to Hindemith’s Yale students who remained largely beneath his
international reputation. It is unlikely to be coincidental that Cazden, author
of the damning polemic on Hindemith in The Music Review, was also a
member of Piston’s class.
For comparison, the following lists comprise Hindemith’s students, which
are categorised by Berlin and Yale institutions. They include technically
accomplished musicians, theorists and pedagogues, but no single figure made
an impact on the music historiography of the twentieth century comparable to
the students of Piston, Schoenberg or Messiaen.
75
Messiaen, Olivier, Technique de mon Langage Musical (Paris: Alphonse Leduc,
1944) preface p. 1.
76
This list is taken from Harvard Composers: Walter Piston and his Students, from
Elliott Carter to Frederic Rzewski (London & Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press Inc.,
1992) pp. xiv–xv. Pollack states that the exact number of Piston’s Harvard students is
kept in secret in the Harvard archives. This is therefore only a selective list.
Paul Hindemith: Berlin77
Harold Genzmer Ludwig Grünbaum Ignaz Spiegel Paul Schoop

Siegfried Borris Arnold A. Cooke Franz Reizenstein Rudolf Wittelsbach
Oskar Sala Sidney Sukoenig Zoltán Gardónyi Paul Lamartine-Yates
Arno Erfurth Remi Gassmann Fritz Schäfer Willy Schuster
Kakuzo Shimofusa Hugo Fricke Hans Michelsen Walter Kraft
Konrad Noetel Alwin Gindele Felix Walther Gerhard Rößner
Rudolf Unkel Yoshitako Sakamono John Colman Ernst Pepping
Paul Weiß Walter Leigh Bernhard Heiden Fritz Stummel
Helmut Spittler Heinrich Jacoby
Paul Hindemith: Yale78
Anthony Barbieri Leonard Berkowitz Easley Blackwood Harold Blumenfeld

Howard Boatwright Martin Boykan Michael Brotman Joseph Carlucci
Walter S. Collins John Cowell John C. Crawford James Darling
Antonio de Almeida Sam Di Bonaventura Joseph Dunlap Charlotte Durkee
Philip Hwang Joseph Iadone Alvin King David Kraehenbuehl
George Lam Frank Lewin Donald Loach Carl S. Miller
Jean Todd Moran Franklin Morris Ben Quashen Peter Ré
William Rice Eckhart Richter Hans Rudas Leonard Sarason
Nicholas England Alvin Etler Thomas Goodman Robert Gottlieb
Robert Hickok Lee Howard George Hunter Ruth Schönthal
Charles Shackford Frank Smith John Strauss Jon Thorarinsson
Eugene Weigel Frank Widdis Yehudi Wyner
The Berlin and Yale lists may be reduced to further illustrate their presence
on the margins of music historiography. Of all the musicians who studied
under Hindemith, the only ones to receive a citation in either the New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians or the Oxford History of Western Music are:
77
I am grateful to Antje Kalcher of the Berlin Universität der Künste for helping
me to compile this list. It is not complete, as the conservatoire records do not
always show clearly which student was assigned to which class. The names are
taken from the entrance examination to Hindemith’s composition class from 1927–
1937, combined with the names of student compositions in Hindemith’s concert
evenings. There are likely to have been more, particularly those connected with the
Rundfunkversuchsstelle.
78
Noss (1989) p. 203, lists the 47 students who earned degrees in theory or
composition under Hindemith at Yale.
Berlin Yale
Siegfried Borris Howard Boatwright

Harald Genzmer Walter S. Collins
Konrad Noetel Antonio de Almeida
Franz Reizenstein Martin Boykan
Arnold A. Cooke Alvin Etler
Walter Leigh Frank Smith
Heinrich Jacoby Easley Blackwood
Bernhard Heiden Yehudi Wyner
Walter Kraft Harold Blumenfeld
Ernst Pepping Jon Thorarinsson
Hindemith therefore attracted and nurtured fewer prominent students

compared with Piston in Harvard and Messiaen in Paris, although he did
produce noteworthy music theorists such as Boatwright and Kraehenbuehl.
Unfortunately for Hindemith, while many of his theory students championed
the Unterweisung, they did not publish effectively. Kraehenbuehl, founding
editor of the Journal of Music Theory, was in an influential position to
encourage articles on Hindemith. He did not, however, attempt to comment
or build upon Unterweisung theory. Boatwright compiled a new work on
music theory as we will explore below; however, only unpublished fragments
in the YHC are extant.
Hindemith needed his students to revise and engage with the Unterweisung
to ensure its longevity. By contrast, the student-teacher dialectic is found
in the publications (and reworking) of Schenkerian theory in the English
language, Schoenberg’s textbooks Fundamentals of Musical Composition and
Structural Functions of Harmony with Leonard Stein, and in the revisions
made by Mark DeVoto to Piston’s Harmony, which continues to enjoy a
wide audience today.79 One of Piston’s Harvard students, DeVoto made such
extensive revisions and additions between the third and fourth versions of
Piston’s Harmony that the textbook may be considered a jointly-authored
work from that moment onwards. It is telling that DeVoto’s new section
on twentieth-century harmony entitled ‘after common practice’ contains
no examples of Hindemith’s music, despite detailed references to Ives,
Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Bartók. Moreover, Hindemith is not mentioned
79
The inside cover to the fourth edition of Piston’s Harmony states that it ‘is the
most widely used textbook in its field today’. The preface to the revised edition also
begins, ‘In the thirty-seven years since its first publication, Walter Piston’s Harmony has
become and remained the most widely-used harmony text in America’.
in the overview of pentatonic scales in the twentieth century, despite the

importance of the 5-35 quartal collection in his music.80 A further reason
for the success of Piston’s theoretical output is the clear division between
textbooks on counterpoint, on orchestration, and on harmony. It is also
much harder to revise a speculative treatise, compared with one that is more
practical and observational.
A further case study for the Harvard reception of Hindemith may be found
in a musical parody by Edward Ballantine (1886–1971). A Harvard faculty
lecturer in composition from 1912–1947, Ballantine taught Piston in advanced
harmony. His pastiche of Hindemith’s style is in one sense an accolade: the
first book of variations (1924) included witty imitations of composers from
Mozart and Beethoven to Debussy and Liszt, while the second book (1943),
where Hindemith was to be published, included more recent composers such
as Stravinsky and Gershwin.
The entertaining performance directions (including a variation entitled
‘Fugato der Wunderkinder’) are reminiscent of Hindemith’s pluralistic early
music, and Ballantine’s choice of pitch in the opening theme is close to
Hindemith’s Unterweisung style. The opening chord, arranged in salient fourths
and fifths, comprises the incomplete quartal collection 4-26 (Example 7.14).
The two hands move in contrary motion, in a similar manner to Hindemith’s
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939, Example 7.12).
Hindemith was far from pleased by Ballantine’s work. Ballantine had
written to Hindemith to ask for his permission to publish this variation.
The answer he received was a blunt refusal, which could only have fostered
the attitude among the Harvard elite that Hindemith was conservative and
old-fashioned:
As the sending of the piece could have only the purpose to know my opinion,
I can simply and frankly assure you that I don’t like it at all.81
The Theoretical Legacy
The Unterweisung needed to be a living theoretical work: to be altered,

adapted, and disseminated by his students. However, due to fashion,
coincidence, and (perhaps) Hindemith’s personality, this did not happen.
The Unterweisung need not have been a dead end, however. It has impacted
in some areas of modern musical thought, particularly in the United States,
80
Piston, Walter, Harmony, 4th edn (London: Gollancz, 1978) pp. 480–82.
81
Unpublished letter from Hindemith to Ballantine, dated 15 November 1941. Held
in the THC, within the YHC.
Example 7.14 Ballantine, unpublished theme from Mary Had a Little Lamb
Variations, in the style of Hindemith.
{
Andante
6 œ n˙˙ ™™ ###˙˙˙ nœ ˙
& 4 bb˙˙ œ nn˙˙ œœ ˙ ™
œ ˙ œ ˙ ?
b˙ œœ ˙ œœ n ˙ œœ n ˙œ œ œnn œœ ˙˙ nn ˙˙˙œ # œ œ ˙˙˙
˙
p mf p mf
? 46 ˙ œœ nn˙˙ œœ b˙˙ ™ ˙˙ nœœ nn˙˙

œ <n>b ˙ ™™
œœ #˙ bbbœœœ œœœ w
˙˙ œ n˙ œ ## ˙˙ ˙ œ n˙ nw
w œ nœ
{
w˙ ˙ œ˙ ˙ œ n# ˙˙ ™™ n# w˙ nœ b˙ ˙ œ n œw* ™# ˙ œ ˙
? w bœ ˙ ˙ œ #˙ ™
5
œ ˙ nw ˙ œ #˙ œ ˙
œ n˙ ™ w™
f poco rit. ff
? ˙ ˙ #˙
w™
bœ ˙ œ nœ b˙ œ
˙ bœ ˙ œ ˙ œ n˙ ™ #˙ nœ b˙ œ
“‘
* Tie this middle C (note of healthy normality) from r.h. to l.h.
although it is telling that this section is comparably brief. The published

work most indebted to Unterweisung theory, by some distance, is Persichetti’s
Twentieth-Century Harmony. There are also relevant student essays and
unpublished texts by Boatwright, and Lerdahl (1983 and 2001) is partially
indebted to Unterweisung concepts.
Many of Hindemith’s Yale students wrote essays that engaged with
the theoretical issues in the Unterweisung. Some texts have survived in the
YHC, including Harold Blumenfeld, ‘A Hypothetical System of Theory
which includes the Seventh Overtone as a part of its basic Melodic and
Harmonic Units’ (1948) and Kraehenbuehl, ‘Tonal Systems involving the
Seventh Overtone’ (1948).82 These brief assignments were inappropriate for
publication, although they provide insights into the direction Unterweisung
theory could have taken. Both discuss the use of the seventh overtone
in music theory, which is likely to have been encouraged by Hindemith.
Blumenfeld attempts to prove – using firstly melodic and secondly harmonic
criteria – that the seventh overtone is unusable for theory building, while
Kraehenbuehl considers the implications of Series 1 for tuning.
82
YHC Box 24, Folder 369, donated by Carl Miller.
Boatwright began his relationship with Hindemith as one of the few

students to major in both composition and theory, before assuming an
assistant professorship of theory in the Yale faculty. Perhaps more than
anyone else, he sought to expand Unterweisung theory, and we may compare
the relationship between Boatwright and Hindemith to DeVoto and Piston.
There are two key texts in the YHC concerning Boatwright’s Unterweisung
developments: a memoir dated January 1959 regarding Hindemith’s theory,
and the plans for a book entitled ‘Hindemith’s Series: A Critical Evaluation,
and a New Formulation’.
Boatwright finds that Hindemith’s Series outlines the ‘fundamental
situations’ whereby Series 1 describes melody and Series 2 describes harmony.
To this, however, he planned a third: tonality, through memory. This is similar
to both Schenker’s concept of prolongation and Hindemith’s own concept of
Tonalität from the Unterweisung graphic analyses. A fourth species was also
intended, which ‘combines the other [three] into a series of harmonic values
stability of root and pure consonance’.83 The treatise sought to build on the
speculative content of the Unterweisung, distancing it from a mere description
of Hindemith’s style.
Boatwright critically engaged with Hindemith’s work. He found that
Series 1 inadequately showed the melodic aspect of music, and that the position
of the major sixth should be moved in Series 2 (he does not expand on his
reasons for this). He also felt that Hindemith needed to extend his principals
of interval inversion to ninth chords. In his 1959 memoir, Boatwright reflects
on the Unterweisung reception. At the time of writing, he believed that
interest in Hindemith’s theories had subsided, because only Exercises in Two-
Part Writing had been published. He surmises:
The reaction of even the best-intentioned theory teacher was, ‘so far, so good,
but how can I take the eager student onward from these little exercises to
something that will come closer to fulfilling his ambition to write contemporary
music?’ The jump, which Hindemith so deplored, between the theory class and
composition was almost as great after his 2-part writing as after the typical
sixteenth-century counterpoint course, that for Hindemith such a problem
was there because he knew exactly how to lead his own pupils straight from
the 2-part exercises to composition in a well-regulated contemporary style
like his own. But for other teachers to have made successful use of his work,
the 3-part writing and other material was absolutely necessary, and this should
have been accessible by 1945, at the latest for his theoretical ideas to have had
a just trial on the present-day musical scene.
83
Formulation (unpublished, 1959) p. 2.
The third volume of the Unterweisung, on three-part writing, was not

published until 1970, after Hindemith had died in 1963. It remains available
only in German, and is not a true representation of Hindemith’s work. There
are English translations from the 1940s of the drafts for this volume, made by
various Yale students, although these have never been collected for publication.
Boatwright’s work would have begun a dialogue with the Unterweisung that
could well have kindled interest in extended tonal theory founded on acoustics.
His plan for a textbook both engages with, and builds upon Hindemith’s work.
However, his work remains unfinished and unpublished.
Hindemith was not the first to use overtones to justify, and generate, a
theory of music in relation to the chromatic scale – Schoenberg stated as
follows in his Harmonielehre (1911):
A triad […] d-g-c, or c-g-d, […] surely has natural justification; for c (the
root) has as its first overtone g, whose first overtone is, in turn, d […] I believe
an exploration [of quartal harmony], filling out the tertian system more or less
temporarily, ought to open up certain new prospects for the theorist.84
These words are taken from Schoenberg’s chapter ‘Chords Constructed in

Fourths’, which both defines quartal pitch collections for the first time, and
shows the potential for a link with the overtone series. This is the precise basis
of Hindemith’s Unterweisung. Crucially however, Schoenberg did not pursue
it as a theory of music, nor did he regularly use quartal harmony following its
appearance in the First Chamber Symphony (discussed in Chapter 2).
After Schoenberg’s Harmonielehre, Persichetti was one of the first theorists
to clarify the concept of quartal harmony in his 1961 textbook, Twentieth-
Century Harmony.85 Written while Hindemith was still alive, it is indebted
to many of Hindemith’s original theoretical concepts, and is similarly
divided into a theoretical part and practical part.86 Persichetti’s treatise
includes one of the first attempts to describe and define quartal harmony,
in addition to devoting a chapter to ‘key centres’, a chapter on harmonic
direction that is indebted to Hindemith’s harmonic fluctuation and chord
roots, and a chapter, ‘Embellishment and Transformation’, which is built
upon Hindemith’s theory of melody. His chapter, ‘Chords by Fourths’, uses
84
Schoenberg, Arnold, Theory of Harmony (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1911) [trans. Carter, Roy, 1978] p. 399.
85
Ibid., Chapter XXI, ‘Chords Constructed in Fourths’ pp. 399–410.
86
That being said, Persichetti was not necessarily a dedicated supporter of
Hindemith’s music; his 1951 review of Hindemith’s Clarinet Concerto is particularly
critical. Persichetti, Vincent, ‘Philadelphia’ The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 2
(April, 1951) pp. 260–64.
the term ‘quartal’ to describe twentieth-century harmony. Without reference

to pitch classes, Persichetti outlines quartal tetrachords, and observes that
adding another fourth creates the pentatonic scale.87 He aligns his quartal
interpretation with Hindemith’s chord group A/V by observing that ‘chords
by perfect fourths, are ambiguous in that, like all chords built by equidistant
intervals (diminished seventh chords or augmented triads), any member can
function as the root’.88
Persichetti implicitly refers to procedures used in Hindemith’s Marienleben
revisions. They include pedal points and quartal sequences, which are set as
exercises at the end of the chapter on ‘Chords by Fourths’:
1. Write sequential passages for flute, oboe and clarinet. Use chords by perfect
fourths exclusively.
[…]
3. Write an example of three-part quartal harmony for two violins and viola
over a cello pedal point. Ornament the pedal.89
Hindemith’s Marienleben foreword (1948) includes a diagram for expressive

and dynamic climaxes, which is strongly similar to Persichetti’s illustration of
melodic and harmonic tension.90 Persichetti’s calculation of chord roots is also
identical to Hindemith’s Series 2, and the term ‘tonal mass’ is found in the
Craft (1942, p. 56), regarding Series 1. Persichetti treats Hindemith’s music as
his main source of reference, alongside Stravinsky, Bartók and Honegger.91 It
is further notable that he includes music by Benzton and Heiden.
Despite these clear references to Hindemith’s music and Unterweisung
style, and the regular use of Hindemith’s music for examples, nowhere does
Persichetti acknowledge Hindemith the theorist. Like Hindemith, he does
not regularly reference other works of music theory in his writing. Perhaps
Persichetti felt the need to keep the Unterweisung at arm’s length during
the 1960s, despite its important connections to his own work. The success
of his text may also be related to the publisher Norton – the same company
87
Persichetti, Vincent, Twentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice
(New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1961) p. 94.
88
Ibid.
89
Ibid., p. 106. He also writes that a pedal point ‘lessens any dissonant tone’s need
for resolution’, p. 98.
90
See examples from Persichetti (1961) p. 183.
91
These composers receive the most citations in the treatise, including Stravinsky
(23), Bartók (21), Hindemith (20) and Honegger (19).
that owns Piston’s Harmony, Counterpoint, and Orchestration. It is also more

modest in scope than the Unterweisung, and appeals more considerately to
the student reader.
Similar to Persichetti, Luigi Nono did not mention the Unterweisung in
publication. However, in Guerrero’s ground-breaking article (2009), Nono’s
sketches are published for the first time, which refer to the Unterweisung.
The article places his sketchbooks into two categories: those that apply
Unterweisung theory and those that attempt to further it. The first category
includes an application of harmonic fluctuation and chord analysis to
dodecaphonic music, which, while convincing, is likely to have been an area
that Hindemith would have frowned upon given his dislike of serial music.92
Nono was a major figure associated with the Italian avant garde of the
1960s, which sat uncomfortably with Hindemith’s approach. Perhaps as a
consequence of the anti-Hindemith environment that permeated new music
in Darmstadt in the 1960s, Nono chose not to acknowledge in public his work
on the Unterweisung. The following is an extract from the Hindemith Forum,
providing an indication of how ground-breaking this discovery has been:
The essay by the American musicologist Jeannie Ma. Guerrero appears like
a bolt from the blue. The result of her archival studies, it presents Luigi
Nono’s utterly surprising confrontation with Hindemith’s theoretical ideas
as explained in Unterweisung im Tonsatz I. Nono’s diversity, according to the
author, is not least the result of his intensive preoccupation with Hindemith’s
principal theoretical reflections.93
Nono’s extensions to Hindemith’s theories included the building of melodic

and harmonic ‘wheels’ which contained pitch classes similar to Series 1 and 2.
To this he also added the interval of a ninth, which, coincidentally, coincides
with the revised Unterweisung theory in Boatwright’s unpublished treatise.
The Hindemith legacy is dominated by unfortunate coincidences and
missed opportunities. His public was not able to successfully reconcile his
portfolio of practical music making, composition, teaching and speculative
92
Hindemith’s distain towards serialism creates a small amount of tension with his
own work. The Ludus, for example, contains many of the processes one would normally
associate with serialism, and his Tuba Sonata contains a twelve-note row. A disregard
for tonality is at the root of Hindemith’s complaint against serialism, and yet many
dodecaphonic pieces have tonal references, such as Berg’s Violin Concerto.
93
Winkler, Heinz-Jürgen, ‘Hindemith-Jahrbuch/Annales Hindemith 2011/XL’
Hindemith Forum, Vol. 25 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 2012) pp. 15–16. He refers to a
version of Guerrero’s work published in HJb as ‘The Presence of Hindemith in Nono’s
Sketches: A New Context for Nono’s Music’ HJb, Vol. 35 (Mainz: Schott & Co., 2011).
theory building activity. Theorists and composers have been unsure where to
place him. His diverse professional activities, which would have appeared to be
a great virtue at the time, have disrupted the memory of his work. Hindemith
was a predominately practical musician, and it can be understood as divertive
that he should have spent so much time on the problems of music theory.
Hindemith enjoyed dialogue with students and colleagues, such as
Sala and Roth, on his early drafts for the Unterweisung. However, after his
immigration, he needed input, and acceptance, from the North American
theoretical community to progress further. An ideal time to have advanced
Hindemith’s musical and theoretical legacy would have been in 1964. A
prominent Hindemith commemoration event was organised to this effect,
on 7 and 8 November, which included an exhibit of correspondences,
autographs, personal memorabilia and concert programmes. The YHC,
which was inaugurated during this event, now holds the unpublished theory
work, such as Boatwright’s plan for a new theory textbook. However, this
collection has not been exhaustively studied for its theoretical riches. The
posthumous publication of Unterweisung III (1970) by Briner, Meier and
Rubeli has confused Unterweisung study, as it represented Hindemith’s
unfinished work on three-part writing. The timing was wrong: Boatwright
felt that this volume needed to have been released by 1945 to have made a
lasting impact upon music theory. It is telling that it has not been published
in an English translation.
Hindemith needed a staunch pupil-defender of his theory work, such as
Reizenstein or Boatwright, to collaborate with him on revisions. They could
have created a rich discourse to ultimately improve and further his work,
in a similar way to DeVoto’s revisions on Piston’s Harmony. Hindemith’s
uncompromising attitude towards his students may have resulted, short-
term, in their compositions sounding like his own; but in the longer-term, he
bred resentment from the very people that he needed to advocate his legacy.
Serialism and experimental music offered a more immediate compositional
strategy compared with Hindemith’s insistence upon a chromatic and
(implicitly) quartal approach to species counterpoint. Hindemith was not
helped by the lack of clarity in his own writing on the relationship between
his music theory and compositional practice. Hindemith’s emphasis on
counterpoint, contrary motion, an obligation to Bach and baroque genres, and
quartal pitch collections, was far removed from the Darmstadt avant-garde.
The following quotation has survived from John Cowell, a composition-
theory major under Hindemith at Yale (Bachelor of Music 1947, Master of
Music 1948), which offers one insight into Hindemith’s reputation among his
students:
Hindemith’s nature was too crustily Germanic for the American students
and leaving composers and opinion makers of the late ’40s, and for many
who survive to this day. He expressed himself in dangerously haughty and

superior ways, to his great detriment. The most damaging exposure leading
to the destruction of good will towards himself as a teacher and theorist was
the Summer of 1940 when Hindemith was on the faculty of the Boston
Philharmonic’s Tanglewood School and Festival in the western Massachusetts
Berkshires […] Hindemith openly expressed his shock at the poor training
of the young composition students assigned to his class. […] Hindemith
brought everyone down to his beginning level in “two part writing” and there
was both resentment and scorn. One promising composition student in his
class was found dead in a lake and there was a presumption of suicide. The
opinion was against Hindemith in that case compounded by the rigid regime
of his classes. I believe that at least partly because of such things, he fell
farther than is reasonable.94
Many of Hindemith’s ideas came close to popular theoretical trends today,

and may still be found to have potential. For example, his Marienleben II
(1948) foreword introduced concepts of expressive and dynamic structural
levels – one step further than Schenker who only entertained the possibility
of dynamic structural levels within his sketches.95 The Unterweisung is
also closely connected to energetic music theory, and with the exception
of Boatwright’s unpublished work, Persichetti’s Harmony comes closest
to developing it. That Persichetti’s treatise is not referenced once in the
Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (2002) goes some way to prove
how unfashionable this way of thinking has become.
By far Hindemith’s most popular textbook has been Elementary Training
for Musicians, which, given its emphasis on rigorous aural training, was
without serious competition for much of the twentieth century. Hindemith
possessed uncanny aural ability, and demanded similarly high levels from his
students. Whether one has a taste for his musical style, Hindemith’s command
of musical technique has been largely unquestioned. For this reason, it would
have perhaps been advantageous for Hindemith to have written a textbook
on orchestration, another of his widely-regarded strengths.96 Eric Salzman
wrote in the New York Times (1959) that ‘Hindemith has written a sonata for
94
Lee, Dong-Seon, A Structural Analysis and Performance Guideline of Ludus Tonalis
by Paul Hindemith (University of Washington, DMA, 1994) p. 13.
95
Schenker, Heinrich, The Art of Performance (New York: Oxford University Press,
2000) p. xv.
96
It has become an urban legend that Hindemith could play every instrument
of the orchestra, and that he similarly taught every instrument as part of his Berlin
orchestration class. Alan Bush (1969) recalls Franz Reizenstein referring to the
ensemble formed in Berlin through this practice as the ‘Brigands’ Band’.
virtually every instrument in the orchestra, and it is said that he can blow or
bow at least a scale on most of them’.97 This attitude to instrumental mastery
was also reported within the Yale Collegium Musicum. Hindemith ‘arranged
the music, taught it to the students, taught the old instruments, played himself,
brought the music alive as only a Medieval-Renaissance master can’.98
The Journal of Musicology has emerged as a recent international forum for
Hindemith research, replacing the Music Review. It engages more productively
with his work, in contrast to the one-sided tide of polemics from 1954–1965,
and includes Guerrero’s article on Luigi Nono (2009), and work by Hany
(2009) and Trippett (2007). It is augmented by the publications of the HI,
such as the Hindemith Jahrbuch, Hindemith Forum, and the growing Sämtliche
Werke (collected edition) all published by Schott & Co.
The defence of Hindemith’s legacy has been ineffective for three reasons:
firstly, some students, who owed a strong debt to Hindemith’s music and
teaching (Genzmer is a prime example), did not come forward to defend
Hindemith in the 1960s following his death. Secondly, those students who
felt strongly inclined to do so, such as Reizenstein, did not do so effectively, as
a consequence of using publishing locations of secondary significance. Thirdly,
new critiques and advances in music theory, such as Boatwright’s new ‘Series’
and Nono’s sketchbooks, were not even published.
97
Salzman (1959) p. x9.
98
Foss (1964) p. 3.
Postlude
Having explored Unterweisung principles within Hindemith’s music, we may

observe that works written from his Berlin appointment (1927) onwards
tend towards a greater conservatism. In the main, they use fewer and more
standardised performance and expression markings, contain more regular
and explicit quartal pitch collections, and are constructed with clearer
compositional strategies and pre-conceived formal structures. These features
may be further highlighted through comparison of his eclectic earlier style and
post-1927 compositions, and in the revisions to his music written before, and
yet revised after, the Unterweisung.
Such techniques are not wholly absent from Hindemith’s early music,
however. Even in his most dissonant and anti-structuralistic works, such as
the Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1, Hindemith shows a concern for voice-
leading. There are also explicit quartal pitch collections to be found, although
they feature less prominently than in his post-theory works. Hindemith’s early
music, while highly abstract, liberal and instinctive, still contained traces of
thought that could become the subject of theory. One could therefore suggest
that his early style lent itself well to theoretical refinement.
One area of his early style that was almost entirely jettisoned after the
Unterweisung was the octatonic scale. I find it surprising that Hindemith’s use
of this scale has not been fully investigated, given the interest it has generated
in relation to the music of other leading composers such as Stravinsky and
Bartók. Unlike Stravinsky, however, Hindemith does not draw upon a national
heritage for the modes of his composition; rather, the presence of the octatonic
scale in his early music is but one facet of his pluralistic borrowings.
Hindemith’s emphasis on quartal pitch collections relates to prolongational
characteristics that are neither tonal nor atonal, and which defy conventional
categorisation. These prolongations are also implicitly referred to in the
Unterweisung, particularly within the graphic analyses. Furthermore,
Hindemith’s quartal pitch collections, which are fully invertible, allowed
him to perform the myriad of contrapuntal operations in the Ludus Tonalis.
The potential of these collections may be related to his growing fondness for
writing musical canons from the 1940s onwards; he wrote only one canon
before the Unterweisung. However, the transparency of procedures that exploit
quartal collections (every pitch in a quartal collection may coincide with any
other, which is why many jazz musicians start improvisation training with
the pentatonic scale) discouraged many mainstream composers of the late-
316 POSTLUDE
twentieth century from pursuing it to a similar extent. A further problem is

the sense of harmonic stasis. While Hindemith describes modulation in the
Unterweisung, in reality, it is not a significant concept in quartal pitch space,
particularly compared with tonal music.
As we have seen, Hindemith added to his problems by pushing his
students towards his own manner. This bred resentment in some cases, and
hindered the dissemination of, and improvement to, his theories. He needed
a clearer agenda in his teaching: either to help students with practical,
technical and compositional issues (like Piston) or to provide the explicit
instruction of his personal style (like Messiaen). Hindemith also had a
peculiarly unfortunate reception in The Music Review, which may be traced
to the personal agenda and training of each author. Hindemith did not do
himself many favours in this regard, although he was also very unfortunate.
Schoenberg’s decision not to pursue the psychoacoustic basis for music-
theory construction appears, in hindsight, to have been wise. While serialism,
just as quartal harmony, has become outmoded, it enjoyed a far greater heyday.
Also successful was Schoenberg’s separation between the teaching of practical
technique and serialism, which, while disappointing some students who
travelled to learn with him in California, fostered more faithful students.
While a handful of recent composers are, or have been, published
theorists (notable examples include Lerdahl and Babbitt), the disparity
between composers with a theory, and composers without, remains strong.
Two primary motivations for a composer to write a theory include: firstly
to refine their own technique, both for their benefit and for the benefit of
others; secondly, as an aid for teaching composition. Given the significant
presence of composers within university music departments and the
demand that this places upon publication, one may posit that the impulse
– or pressure – to write a theory of music has never been higher. Indeed,
for one to achieve a notable position within the North American field of
music theory it is not enough to practice and teach existing methods; one
must develop one for oneself. Outlets for this work include the Society for
Music Theory (SMT), the periodicals Music Theory Spectrum and Journal of
Music Theory, in addition to the current Oxford Studies in Music Theory series,
edited by Richard Cohn. The Unterweisung may be read as a prototype for
speculative North American music theory.
Though Hindemith’s compositional style is currently out of fashion –
indicatively, not a single work was programmed in the 2013 BBC Promenade
Concerts, despite his fiftieth anniversary – he deserves greater recognition as a
historical precedent for popular theoretical ideas. For example, the Fux training
for Schenkerian analysis, represented in Salzer & Schachter, Counterpoint in
Composition (1969), published five years after Hindemith’s death, is similar to
the Unterweisung reductive process of two-voice framework. There are further
POSTLUDE 317
similarities between Schenker’s linear progressions and Hindemith’s melodic

degree-progression, particularly regarding hierarchy and structural levels.
Developments in contemporary music composition suggest renewed
interest in scale-building and harmonic fluctuation. Many innovations
associated with the 1960s avant garde have been exhausted, and composers
appear to be concerned in greater numbers with the old issues of consonance
and dissonance. New scale constructions are common – in the music of Arvo
Pärt and James MacMillan, for example – and while theory textbooks have yet
to be written about them, the fact that they could be is most relevant. The concept
of harmonic fluctuation is also very much alive and may be used to describe
the majority of contemporary music-making that involves ‘ebb-and-flow’ of
harmonic tension. Quartal pitch collections, while rarely used to the same
extent found in Hindemith’s music, are regaining some popularity, perhaps for
their motivic character, distinctiveness (such as use at climax points) and for
the way in which they lend themselves to contrapuntal manipulation.
By way of example, let us observe the prominent and strategic use of quartal
pitch collections by John McCabe – himself a student of Genzmer – in the
fourth song from his Irish Songbook, Part 1 (1994), ‘The Mother’ (Example P.1)
It would lend itself well to Hindemith’s harmonic fluctuation analysis: points
of stability (such as the entry of the voice in bar 4, underpinned in the piano
Example P.1 John McCabe, Irish Songbook, Part 1, Song no. 4 ‘The Mother’
(words by Patrick Henry Pearse) opening 10 bars. Written in
1994, premiered Cambridge, 5 May 1994.
Maestoso e molto risoluto h = 88
{
4 ∑ ∑ 5
&2 4
œ œ#>œ ™
>œ. >˙
#˙
7
œ™
4 ˙ œ œ œ œ & #˙ 5
&2 ∑ œœœœœ œ œ œ œ#œ œJ ˙ 4
>˙ #˙ œ
f
>
˙™ œ™ œ ˙
? 42 7 j 5
œ ˙™ œ ™ œ. b >˙˙
4
˙ œ œœœœw
œœœ > >
>˙ w
> œ
j
3
5 4
f con forza
&4 ∑ 2 #˙ # œ œ ˙ ˙ œ ‰ Œ b˙ œ nœ œ œ
{
5 #nœ>œ ™™ œœ #>œœ ™™ œœ >œ ™ œ b>œ ™
>>>
I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not
>. >. œœ ‰ Œ n#>œœ. >œœ. >œ ˙ bbœœ. œœ. nœœ. >œ
w™™ œœJ b œœ ™™
4 w
& 4 #œ ™ œ œ ™ nœ #œœ 2 w œJ #œ œ #œœ ˙˙ bœ œ œnœœ
J J
? 45 œ ™ œj œ ™ œj œ 4 w™ j
˙˙ bœœ bœœ n œœ nœœ œœ bœœ ™™
j
mf
n œœ ™™ œ. œ b œœ ™™ n œœ. n œœ
2 w™ œœ ‰ Œ # œœ œœ # œœ
w™ œ œœ œ ˙ œ. œ. œ. >œ œ >œ ™
> > > > > >. >. > >>>
318 POSTLUDE
Example P.1 (continued)
{
6
> > > >
& ˙™ œ #˙ #˙ #˙ ™
œ #˙ #˙
”
#“œ. #œ.
grudge My two strong sons that I have
# œ. . œ. œ. œ. . #œ. . œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. .
& ∑ Ó Œ #œ. #œ œ. œ œ œ
bœ >œ. >œ. >œ. >œ. >œ >œ.

mf # œ. #œ. . œ. œ. . œ. œ. œ. . #œ. . œ. œ. œ. œ.
#œ œ œ œ
& bbœœ bœœ nœœ œœ bœœbœœ œœ ∑
J J
#˙ ™
>
>. >. >. >. > >. f
W
? œ œ œ nœ œj œ œj Œ
∑œ bœ n œ n œ bœ bœ œ #˙ ™ W
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #˙ ™ W
“‘
con Ped.
{
8
œ ˙ 5
& #œ #œ œ #œ œ 2
<“> .
seen go out
# œ #œ. . œ. œ. œ. . œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ.
#œ œ. #œ œ. œ. 5
2
&
. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. n œ.
#œ. #œ. # œ œ. œ.
.
œ. #œ œ. œ. œ. 5
& 2
W 5
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W
<“>
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>
9
5
&2 œ œ #œ. Œ #œ #˙ j‰ Œ
#œ ˙ nw œ
<“> .
To break their strength and die,
#œ . œ. . .
5 #œ #œ.#œ. #œ#œ.#œ. œ œ.#œ. œ. œ.
#œ.#œ œ. œ. œ œ. œ. #œ.# œ Œ ‰
5
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. . # œ œ. . #œ. # . # œ. œ.. . œ.. .
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.
# œ. #œ. .
5 . #œ#œ. œ œ.
& 2 #œ œ #œ#œ.
#œ. #œ. œ. œ.
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#œ
j
? 25 W ˙ œ
5
W ˙ œ ‰ Œ
W ˙ œJ
<“>
© Copyright 1994 Novello & Company Limited. All Rights Reserved.
International Copyright Secured. Used by Permission of Novello & Company Limited.
by the incomplete quartal tetrachord 4-8) are represented by explicit quartal

collections, which contrast with more dissonant material, particularly in the
piano part, in sections without emphasis (such as bar 3). We could describe
POSTLUDE 319
this as a prolongational structure. Moreover, motifs are constructed with

quartal collections, such as the piano accompaniment from bar 7.
We can learn many things from an examination of the relationship
between Hindemith’s music theory and compositional practice. Most
importantly, it shows his emphasis on fourths and fifths, which are integrated
into larger pitch collections. Moreover, it demonstrates a renewed concern
for voice leading within a context that permits the use of all twelve pitches of
the chromatic scale. The examination of this book shows, more generally, that
theoretical objectives must be clear. A theory textbook based on an individual
style may be very successful. So may a practical book which theorises about
music from the past (recent authors to have achieved popularity in this regard
include James Hepokoski, Warren Darcy and Richard Cohn). However, if this
distinction is unclear, or if one subtly introduces a different agenda without
explicit acknowledgement, then its legacy will be damaged. Furthermore,
without the support of a dedicated student body, it can be hard for your work
to be disseminated after you are gone.
It is not possible to say whether theorised music is any better or worse
than abstract music, as the argument cannot be other than subjective: it comes
down to personal preference. This divisive matter was particularly apparent in
the critical reception of the Marienleben revisions. However, it may be observed
that a theoretical basis to composition can help to produce a greater volume
of music, although this music will be prone to becoming more homogeneous.
Hindemith’s music and theory should be remembered for the way it asks
composers to engage with this issue, to look at their own processes, and to
question whether they should be more theory-based. Without question, he
succeeded in creating a distinctive musical style, refined and systematised
by a unique theory of composition, which worked with, rather than against,
tonality.1 This is his legacy.
1
See also Taruskin, Richard, The Danger of Music and Other Anti-Utopian Essays
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009b) p. 60, where he quotes: ‘“You
know, I’ve written a lot of music”, Paul Hindemith once remarked to the American
composer Otto Luening. “Yes, you certainly have,” Mr. Luening agreed. “And you
know,” Hindemith continued, “80 percent of it is bad.” “Then why did you write it?”
Mr. Luening asked, with Hindemithian tact. “Because without the 80 percent,” came
the reply, “there would never have been the 20 percent”’.
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Index
Adorno, Theodor 116, 269, 290, Bentzon, Neils Viggo 7, 263, 268,
293, 299–301 284–5, 309
Albrechtsberger, Johann 11 Trumpet Sonata 286–7
Altwein, Erich 298 Berg, Alban 121, 127
Amar Quartet 4, 7, 12, 89–93, 96, Berio, Luciano 263
116, 118 Sequenzas 263
Anderson, Leroy 302 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 125–6,
Ankara (teaching appointment) 234
126–7, 233–4, 268 Berlin Staatskapelle 12
Associated Board of the Royal Schools Berlin Staatsoper 126
of Music (ABSRM) 231, 237, Berlin Universität der Künste (Berlin
250, 264 Musikhochschule) 7, 14, 18, 47,
Athenaion (publisher) 19 49, 88, 124, 212, 237, 268, 282,
Atonality 19, 88, 93, 121–2, 302–3, 315
127–8, 145 Berlioz, Hector 60, 248, 269
Bernstein, Leonard 268, 274, 302
Babbitt, Milton 46, 269, 274, 290, 316 Biber, Heinrich 189, 209
Bach, Johann Sebastian 47, 113, 126, Bimodality (see bitonality)
134, 244 Bitonality 121, 191, 194–5
The Art of Fugue 136 Blackwood, Easley 274–5
B Minor Mass 257 Blomdahl, Karl-Berger 285
Well-Tempered Clavier 133 n.6, Concerto Grosso 285–6
169, 280 Blonay Bibliothek 4–5, 15 n.11, 30
Ballantine, Edward 4, 305 Blumenfeld, Harold 306
Barrère, Georges 235 Boatwright, Howard 52–5, 123, 139
Bartók, Béla 7, 11, 63, 91, 93–4, n.17, 256, 259–60, 268, 291, 299,
118–19, 129, 304, 309, 315 304, 306–7, 310–11, 312–13
Concerto for Orchestra 63, 173–4 Bobbitt, Richard 293–4, 298–9, 301
Mikrokosmos 64 Boepple, Paul 212
String Quartet No. 1 op. 7 91–2, 96 Boethius 17
String Quartet No. 2 op. 17 91–2 Böhme, Franz 246
Bauer, Phyllis 126 Boulanger, Nadia 275
BBC Promenade Concerts 316 Boulez, Pierre 275, 290, 302
Beethoven, Ludwig 8, 90–91, 263, 305 Second Piano Sonata 275
Bent, Ian 40, 45–6 Brahms, Johannes 81, 90–91, 263
332 INDEX
Brennecke, Wilfried 260 Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 96

Briner, Andres 8, 292 String Quartet op. 10 92, 96
Bruckner, Anton 11 Degenerate Music (see Entartete
Buffalo (teaching) 132, 170, 268 Musik)
Bush, Alan 278 Degree progression 14, 42–3, 45, 47,
55, 79–80, 144, 221
California Institute of the Arts 273 ‘Der Fall Hindemith’ 14, 19, 126, 233
Canon (counterpoint) 133–4, 148, 169, DeVoto, Mark 304, 307, 311
172, 175, 239, 249, 257–8, 315 DeWitt, Isabel 255
Carter, Elliott 268, 292, 302 Die Lehre von dem Tonempfindungen (see
Harmony Book 269 Helmholtz, Hermann von)
Cazden, Norman 293–6, 299, 302 Difference tones (see combination
Černý, Ladislav 98, 114 tones)
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (see Disney, Walt 259
Hindemith’s Theoretical Writing: Dissonant prolongation 101–2, 104–5
A Composer’s World) Dodecaphonic (see Serialism)
Cherubini, Luigi 5 Donaueschingen festival 88, 90, 116
Chopin, Frédéric Donovan, Richard 123–4, 273
B Minor Sonata 133 n.6 Downes, Ralph William 238
Chord groups 39, 41, 72 Dunlap, Joseph 55–6
Chord root 20 n.30, 36, 42, 78, 87, 139 Dunsby, Jonathan 57
Chord value 14, 39, 41, 57, 75, 80, Dvořák, Antonín 248
138–9, 195 String Quartet in F op. 96 91
Cohn, Richard 289, 316, 319
Colman, John 62, 230, 236, 239, 256–7 Eisler, Hanns 127
Combination tones 14, 17–18, 33, 36, Energetics 13, 40
49–50, 139, 150, 295 Enescu, George 244
Cooke, Arnold 276 Engel, Carl 22
Copland, Aaron 75 n.18, 180, 267–8, Entartete Musik 127–8
270, 300 Equal temperament 26, 30–33
Cowell, John R. 136, 311 Erpf, Hermann 91
Studien zur Harmonie und
Dallapiccola, Luigi 286 Klangtechnik 127
Danuser, Hermann 183 Expressionism 87, 180
Darcy, Warren 319
Darmstadt 282, 290, 293, 310–11 Fétis, François-Joseph 23, 24 n.42
Debussy, Claude 61 n.4, 92–4, 97, 129, Fibonacci Sequence 113
237, 248, 305 Firnberg, Bernhard 299
Canope 63 Forte, Allen 6, 96, 102 n.25, 289–90,
Douze Études 63–4 292, 299
La Cathédrale Engloutie Profondément Foss, Lukas 274, 275
calme 63 Capriccio 274
Frankfurt Hoch Conservatory 90, 299
INDEX 333
Frankfurt Opera Orchestra 12, 90–91 Hausegger, Siegmund von 125

Frey, Walter 240 Havemann, Gustav 90, 126
Frick, Wilhelm 125 Heiden, Bernhard 245, 250, 276, 309
Frost, Thomas 244 Helmholtz, Hermann von 15, 18, 26,
Fugue Subject Paradigm 140–41, 30, 35
146–8, 156, 162, 170–71, 285 Henze, Hans Werner 184, 219
Fürtwangler, Wilhelm 125–6 Hepokoski, James 319
Fux, Johann Joseph 5, 11, 16, 18, 22, Herzog, Friedrich 126
42, 50–51, 56 Hindemith, Gertrud 6, 21, 56, 126,
136, 142–3, 153, 180 n.5, 241,
Ganassi, Sylvestro 298 246, 252, 260, 291–2
Gassmann, Remi 20–22 Hindemith, Paul (musical works)
Gatti-Aldrovandi, Clelia 242 ‘A Frog He Went A-Courting’ (1941)
Gebrauchsmusik 125 227, 247–8
Gee, Matthew 248 Apparebit Repentina Dies (1947)
Genre-sequence 263 67, 69, 248, 260, 287
Genzmer, Harald 263, 268, 276, Cardillac (1925–26) 89, 127, 178
282–3, 285–7, 313, 317 Concert Piece for Trautonium
Sonata for Two Pianos 282–3, (1931) 49
284–5 Concerto for Bassoon and Trumpet
Gershwin, George 305 (1949–52) 226, 233, 252
Gewandhaus Orchestra 126 Concerto for Clarinet (1947) 226
Goebbels, Joseph 126 Concerto for Horn (1949) 226,
Goldenberg, Yosef 292 233
Gould, Glenn 184, 185 n.22, 189, Concerto for Orchestra (1925) 89
219, 231 Concerto for Organ (1962–63) 226
Gradus ad Parnassum (see Fux, Johann Concerto for Piano (1945) 226
Joseph) Concerto for Violin (1939) 226
Gregorian Chant 15, 47 Concerto for Woodwind and Harp
Grünewald, Matthias 125 (1949) 226
Guerrero, Jeannie Ma. 310, 313 Das Marienleben (1922–23/1948)
Guide tones 42–3 xv, 3–4, 6, 13, 23, 89, 114, 122,
177–221, 224, 280–282, 296–7,
Halliday, John 22, 31, 293, 296 300, 309, 319
Handel, George Frideric 126, 134 Introductory Remarks 183,
Haney, Joel 313 185, 187–9, 191, 198–200,
Harmonic degree progression 14–15, 203, 208–9, 218, 312
47, 183 Das Nusch-Nuschi (1920/24) 12,
Harmonic dualism 11 127
Harmonic fluctuation 1, 14, 40, 42–3, Das Unaufhörliche (1931) 3, 56, 127
47, 51, 59, 80, 86, 138–9, 179, 183, Der Dämon (1923) 180
195, 202, 208, 310, 317 Der Schwanendreher (1935/36) 3,
Hauer, Josef Matthias 127 127, 226
334 INDEX
Die Harmonie der Welt (Symphony 220, 224, 234, 249, 279–80, 284,
1951, Opera 1957) 15, 226–7, 300, 315
298 Mathis der Maler [opera]
Die junge Magd op. 23/2 2, 127, 180 (1933–35) 13, 23, 126, 223
Echo (1942) 236 Mathis der Maler Symphony
Eight Songs for Soprano and Piano (1933–34) 3, 6, 23, 47, 60, 65–6,
op. 18 (1920) 220 125–6, 183, 223, 234, 259
Enthusiasm (1941) 236 Messe (1963) 72, 191
Five Pieces for String Orchestra Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1919)
op. 44/4 (1927) 3 12, 127
Five Songs on Old Texts (1937– Neues vom Tage (1928–29) 127, 178
38) 178–9, 212–21 Nobilissima Visione (1938) 202, 233,
Frau Musica op. 45/1 (1928– 260
29/1943) 3, 178, 237 Octet (1958) 223
Hin und zurück (1927) 154 Philharmonic Concerto (1932) 3, 125
In Einer Nacht (1917–19) 236, 263 Plöner Musiktag (1932) 3, 223, 232
Instrumental Sonatas (general) Ragtime (Well Tempered) (1921) 223
225–54 Sancta Susanna (1921) xv, 12, 124,
Kammermusiken (general) 12, 82, 127, 223, 300
89, 223 Septet (1948) 143, 232
Kammermusik No. 1 op. 24a (1922) Sing-und Spielmusik (general) 13,
122, 180 178, 223, 237
Kammermusik No. 5 op. 36/4 Six Chansons (1939) 72
(1927/30) 12 Six Songs for Tenor and Piano
Konzertmusik für Blasorchester op. 41 (1933–35) 212
(1926) 249 Solo Violin Sonata Fragment (1922)
Konzertmusik für Klavier, Blechbläser 94–5, 102
und Harfen op. 49 (1930) 3 Sonata for Althorn and Piano (1943)
Konzertmusik für Solobratsche und 227, 231, 239, 241–7, 249–52, 259
größeres Kammerorchestra op. 48 Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (1938)
(1930) 3 226, 238–40
Konzertmusik für Streichorchester und Sonata for ’Cello and Piano (1948)
Blechbläser op. 50 (1930) 3, 56, 247, 252
60, 125, 223, 248, 262 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1939)
Lehrstück (1929) 127 239, 241–3
Lieder nach alten Texten op. 33 Sonata for Double Bass and Piano
(1923) 70–71, 177–9, 212–21 (1949) 225, 231, 247, 252, 289
‘Little’ Sonata for ’Cello and Piano Sonata for English Horn and Piano
(1942) 227 (1941) 236, 247–8
Ludus Minor for ’Cello and Clarinet Sonata for Flute and Piano (1936)
(1944) 227 3, 68–9, 235–6
Ludus Tonalis (1942) xv, 3, 6, 23, Sonata for Four Horns (1952) 80–
76, 118, 131–75, 177, 194, 218, 85, 252–3
INDEX 335
Sonata for Harp (1939) 239, 241–3 Sonata for Viola d’amour and Piano
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1938) op. 25/2 (1922) 2, 180
237–9 Sonata for Violin and Piano in
Sonatas for Organ (set) 12, 131, E-Flat op. 11/1 (1918) 2
237 Sonata for Violin and Piano in E
Sonata for Organ No. 1 (1937) 238 (1935) 3, 227, 233, 234–6
Sonata for Organ No. 2 (1937) 238 Sonata for Violin and Piano in C
Sonata for Organ No. 3 (1940) (1939) 140, 234, 241
246–7 String Quartet No. 3 op. 16
Sonata for Piano (general set) 3 (1920) 90
Sonata for Piano 1 (1936) 70–71, String Quartet No. 4 op. 22 (1921)
236–7, 242 2, 89, 91, 115–20, 122–3, 128–9,
Sonata for Piano 2 (1936) 3, 37–8, 150
237 String Quartet No. 5 op. 32 (1923)
Sonata for Piano 3 (1936) 132, 141, 143, 202
212, 236–7 String Quartet No. 7 (1945) 116
Sonata for Piano (four hands) (1938) String Trio No. 1 op. 34 (1924) 122
240–41, 262 String Trio No. 2 (1933) 3, 122,
Sonata for Solo Cello op. 25/3 (1923) 297
2, 61, 91, 117, 121–3, 182, 252 Suite 1922 op. 26 (1922) xv, 61, 88,
Sonata for Solo Viola op. 11/5 (1919) 97–9, 127, 180, 198, 223, 236
94–7 Symphonic Dances (1937) 233
Sonata for Solo Viola op. 25/1 (1922) Symphonic Metamorphosis (1943)
2, 89–92, 98–118, 128–9, 180, 196, 259–62, 264
212, 226, 235, 315 Symphony in B-flat for Concert
Sonata for Solo Viola (1923) 90 Band (1951) 250
Sonata for Solo Viola (1937) 237 Tanzstücke op. 19 (1920) 122
Sonata for Solo Violin op. 31/1 The Four Temperaments (1946) 131
(1924) 234 Three Easy Pieces for ’Cello
Sonata for Trombone and Piano (1938) 227
(1941) 233, 247 Trauermusik (1936) 3
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano Trio op. 47 (1928) 227
(1939) xv, 7, 234, 241–7, 289 Tuttifäntchen (1922) 180
Sonata for Tuba and Piano (1955) Hindemith, Paul (theoretical writing)
191, 226–7, 242, 252–3 A Composer’s World: Horizons and
Sonata for Two Pianos (1942) 132, Limitations 15 n.10, 16–18, 23,
141, 247, 249–50 55, 100, 122, 291
Sonata for Viola and Piano op. 11/4 Elementary Training for Musicians
(1919) 2 xv, 2, 9, 46, 61, 224, 254–9, 264,
Sonata for Viola and Piano op. 25/4 271, 273, 312
(1922) 114 Methods of Music Theory 16, 18, 293
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939) Sterbende Gewässer 16, 18, 23 n.39,
236, 241, 287 68 n.13
336 INDEX
The Craft of Musical Composition I Hitler, Adolf 124, 126, 234, 277–8
(English translation) 2, 20, 23–6, Höderlin, Friedrich 212, 236
29–31, 34, 37–8, 39 n.75, 43–5, Holloway, Robin 184, 219
47–8, 52, 54, 61, 73, 77–8, 123, Holtmeier, Ludwig 21 n.33
279, 309 Honegger, Arthur 309
The Craft of Musical Composition II
(English translation) 21–2, 237, Incomplete quartal pitch collections
242, 246, 262, 307 70–73, 82, 118, 156, 190, 209, 216,
Traditional Harmony Vol. 1 1, 282, 318
9, 68–9, 224, 254, 258–9, 264, Interval vectors 70
269–71 Ives, Charles 304
Traditional Harmony Vol. 2 2, 9, 134
n.9, 138–9, 224, 254, 259, 264, Jacobson, George 225
269–71, 282–3 Joio, Norman Dello 63 n.9
Unterweisung (complete set) 16–20, Jonas, Oswald 267
50, 55, 61, 75, 93, 123, 140, 224 Jones, Quincy 302
Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Theoretische Journal of Music Theory 273–4, 291–3,
Teil 1–8, 11, 13–19, 21–3, 32, 35, 299, 304, 316
37–9, 42–5, 50–52, 57, 59, 72, 74,
79, 83, 87–8, 115, 121, 127–9, 131, Kahn, Robert 212
133, 138, 142, 144, 146–8, 150, Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur 125
153–4, 167–8, 170–71, 173–5, Kandinsky, Wassily 114
177–8, 181, 183, 185, 189–90, Kater, Michael 125
194–5, 198, 208, 211–12, 214, Kemp, Ian 5–7, 12
217–21, 234, 240, 244, 249, 252–6, Kepler, Johannes 15–16, 18–19,
260, 264, 268–70, 275, 277–8, 280, 20 n.30, 23, 55, 298
282–3, 286–8, 290–91, 293–4, Kerman, Joseph 291
296–7, 300–302, 304–8, 311–12, King’s College London xv
315–16 Klee, Paul 114
Unterweisung im Tonsatz (1940 Klemperer, Otto 12
second edition) 20, 29–31, 45–6, Knussen, Oliver 302
50, 73 Kraehenbuehl, David 63 n.9, 291,
Unterweisung im Tonsatz II 20 n.30, 304, 306
22, 34, 39 n.73, 50–51, 55, 74, Krenek, Ernst 88, 127
76–7, 131, 197, 276 Kube, Michael 90, 115 n.29, 118
Unterweisung im Tonsatz III 17, Kurth, Ernst 13, 18, 40
51, 55–6, 59, 67, 73, 80 n.24, 131,
139, 308 Lam, George 49
Unterweisung IV 51, 59, 62, Landau, Victor 33 n.61, 293–4, 296–7,
80 n.24, 171 299
Hindemith Institute 4, 133 n.8 Lansky, Paul 121–2
Hinton, Stephen 6 n.7, 18 n.23, Lauer-Kottlar, Beatrice 180
19 n.19 Leigh, Walter 276
INDEX 337
Leipzig Radio Orchestra 126 Mussorgsky, Modest 239

Lerdahl, Fred 7, 94, 306, 316
Levi, Eric 125 National Socialist Party 19, 21 n.33,
Liszt, Franz 62, 269, 305 88, 124–8, 234, 236, 277, 297, 301
Malediction Concerto for Piano and Neo-Riemannian Theory 292
Strings 62–3 Neue Sachlichkeit (see New Objectivity)
Mephisto Waltz 63 Neumeyer, David 5–7, 9, 17–18, 56,
Londeix, Jean-Marie 251 72, 76 n.20, 101, 114, 184, 189,
Lübbecke-Job, Emma 180 193, 209, 212, 293
New Grove Dictionary of Music and
MacGregor, Willard 131 Musicians 267, 275
Machaut, Guillaume de 7, 36, 47 New Haven Symphony Orchestra 262
MacMillan, James 317 New Objectivity 88–9, 208, 223, 300
Madrigal Singers 212 Nithart, Matthis (see Matthias
Main, Alexander 291 Grünewald)
Malcolm, Alexander 298–9 Nono, Luigi 290, 310, 313
Manuel, Niklaus 249 Noss, Luther 8, 20, 52, 55–6, 181, 212
Marenzio, Luca 5
Massine, Léonide 260 O’Connell, Kevin 55
McCabe, John 317 Octatonic scale 87, 93–7, 99–100,
Melodic degree progression 14–15, 44, 102–4, 108, 114, 116, 129, 132,
57, 77–8, 183, 317 165, 315
Mendel, Arthur 4–5, 20–22, 29–30, Oettingen, Arthur von 18
32 n.60, 33–4, 50, 55, 63 n.9, 212, Oral History of American Music
230 n.12, 291 (OHAM) 4–5, 60, 62–3, 126,
Mendelssohn, Arnold 119 230
Mendelssohn, Felix 297 Ortmann, Otto 22
Mersmann, Hans 40 Oster, Ernst 267
Messiaen, Olivier 269, 275, 301–2, Overtones 14, 18, 23–4, 26, 29, 32–3,
304, 316 35–6, 52, 75
Technique de mon langage musical
269, 302 Paganini, Niccolò 269
Miller, Carl 268 Palestrina, Giovanni 11, 16
Monday Group (Sweden) 268, 284–5 Paris Conservatoire 226, 244
Monteverdi, Claudio 8 Pärt, Arvo 317
Orfeo 79 Pentatonic scale 68 n.13, 75 n.18, 93,
Monochord 23, 49, 298 97, 155, 198, 237, 261, 305, 309
Morgan, Robert 7, 101, 156, 158 Pepping, Ernst 276, 286
Morse Code 249 Perle, George 121–2
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 8, 90–91, Persichetti, Vincent 61 n.4, 268, 306,
305 308–9, 312
Requiem 248 Perspectives of New Music 273–5, 291
Müller-Blattau, Josef 18 Pfitzner, Hans 125
338 INDEX
Phibbs, Joseph xv Reger, Max 12, 60, 252, 263

Piatigorsky, Gregor 252 String Quartet in F-sharp Minor
Piston, Walter 61 n.4, 64 n.11, 268–9, op. 121 92
301–2, 304–5, 307, 310, 316 Rehding, Alexander 11 n.2
Harmony 269–70, 301, 310–11 Reichsmusikkammer 126–8
Orchestration 301, 310 Reinhard, Andreas 298
Counterpoint 301, 310 Reizenstein, Franz 131, 184, 268,
Plainchant (see Gregorian Chant) 276–83, 286, 311, 313
Polytonality 15, 19, 88, 123–4, 173–4, Twelve Preludes and Fugues
198 op. 32 279–82
Poulenc, Francis 236 Reutter, Hermann 127
Powell, Mel 63 n.9, 96, 273–4 Rickards, Guy 8
Prague String Quartet 98 Riemann, Hugo 11, 16 n.13, 30, 45
Prokofiev, Sergei 236 Rilke, Rainer Maria 3, 180
Prout, Ebenezer 16 n.13 Rosenberg, Alfred 126
Prolongation 74–5, 82, 101–2, 138, Roth, Hermann 45–7, 49–50, 73, 311
307, 315, 319 Rothfarb, Lee 40 n.78
Pythagoras 15, 18, 49, 57 Root representative 37
Pythagorean temperament 32, 57 Roxburgh, Edwin 238
Royal Academy of Music xv, 282
Quartal Pitch Collections 7, 31, 37, 43, Rubeli, Alfred 18 n.24, 268
57, 62–7, 69–84, 87, 93, 99, 108, Ruff, Willie 233
110, 113, 128–9, 132, 140–42, Rundfunkversuchsstelle 5, 14, 47–50,
146–8, 154–5, 162, 164, 168, 282
171–4, 182, 190–91, 193, 195,
197–200, 205, 209, 216, 219–20, Sala, Oskar 49–50, 311
237, 239, 241–2, 243, 247, 253, Salience 59, 67, 69–70, 72, 82–3, 93–6,
261, 270, 274, 280–83, 285–6, 288, 100–101, 114, 118, 128, 139 n.19,
305, 311, 315, 317 140–42, 144, 157, 172, 174, 195,
217–18, 242, 253, 280, 282
Rameau, Jean-Philippe 11, 17, Salzer, Felix 7, 267, 290–91, 316
23–4, 75 Salzman, Eric 312
Rathaus, Karol 127 Sanromá, Jesús Maria 235–6
Ravel, Maurice 63 Schachter, Carl 316
Sonatine 63 Scharouns, Hans 257
Bolero 248 Schenker, Heinrich 7, 10, 13, 45–7, 50,
Rebner, Adolph 90 57, 73–4, 83, 267–9, 276, 290–92,
Rebner Quartet 4, 7, 12, 89–90, 92–3, 304, 307, 312, 317
96, 299 Schenkerian Theory (see Schenker,
Redlich, Hans Ferdinand 277–8, Heinrich)
293–4, 297–8, 300–301 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 5
Rees-Davies, Jo 242 Schoenberg, Arnold 5, 11, 13, 15, 33,
36, 47, 92–4, 121–2, 124, 127–9,
INDEX 339
252, 267–8, 275–8, 290, 298, Set theory 59, 73, 291–2
301–2, 304, 316 Shackford, Charles 55, 292, 299
First Chamber Symphony 64–5, Simmonds, Bruce 291
308 Skelton, Geoffrey 8, 13, 19 n.26,
Fundamentals of Musical Composition 20 n.30, 180, 185, 212
254, 269–70, 304 Smetana, Bedřich 91
Harmonielehre 127, 308 Stege, Fritz 125–6
String Quartet op. 7 92 Steidl, Gustav 240
String Quartet op. 10 92 Stein, Leonard 267
Structural Functions of Harmony Stein, Fritz 48, 124, 126–7
254, 259, 304 Step progression 14, 183, 221
Piano Piece op. 33a 122 Stephan, Rudolf 184, 293–4, 296,
Schreker, Franz 47, 91, 127 299–300
Schubert, Franz, Straus, Joseph 7, 74
String Quartet in E Major Stevens, Halsey 244
D. 353 92 Stockhausen, Karlheinz 286, 290, 302
Moment Musical 133 n.6 Stone, Kurt 248
Schubert, Giselher 4, 19, 20 n.29, Strang, Gerald 267
88, 202 Stravinsky, Igor 6–7, 9, 11, 15, 47,
Schuijer, Michael 39 92–4, 118, 127, 129, 304–5, 309,
Schumann, Georg 125, 269 315
Concert Piece for Four Horns and Concertino for String Quartet 92
Orchestra op. 86 253 Petrushka 96
Schünemann, Georg 124 Three Pieces for String Quartet 118
Scott, Derek B. 63 Strecker, Willy 52, 234, 291
Scott, Marion M. 22 Strunk, Jr., W. 212
Scriabin, Alexander 6, 63, 65, 97, 99
Sechter, Simon 11 Tallis, Thomas 5
Second Viennese School (see Serialism) Tanglewood 132, 170, 171–2, 268, 270,
Sekles, Bernhard 119, 127, 299 274, 312
Senfl, Ludwig 81 Tartini, Giuseppe 17, 33
Serialism 15, 32–3, 122, 124, 253, 278, Taruskin, Richard 76–7, 182, 268
290, 310 Taylor, Clifford 293, 298–9
Series 1 1, 14, 18–19, 20 n.30, 23–33, Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich 248
35, 42, 49–52, 57, 59, 74–6, 86–7, ‘The Hindemith Case’ (see Der Fall
131, 133, 137–8, 142, 146, 150–54, Hindemith)
156, 158, 162, 172, 175, 179, The Music Review (periodical) 269,
182–3, 196, 202–3, 208, 211, 277–8, 290, 293–9, 302, 313, 316
217–18, 279, 298, 306–7, 309–10 Theory of Melody 44, 51, 77
Series 2 14, 18–19, 20 n.30, 23, 32–40, Third Reich 88
42, 49, 52, 57, 59, 74, 77, 80, 87, Toch, Ernst 127
137, 150, 172, 175, 179, 182–3, Thomson, William 22 n.36, 27, 32, 35
208, 295, 307, 309–10 n.68, 292–3
340 INDEX
Thomas Hall Collection (THC) 4–5, Whittall, Arnold 57, 118

7, 22, 29–30 Whole-tone scale 68 n.13, 92, 94,
Tonality (Hindemith analysis) 43, 45, 96–7, 104, 108, 129
47, 73–4, 183 Wilde, David 278
Tonsatz 21–3 Williams, Ralph Vaughan 75 n.18, 253
Tovey, Donald Francis 20, 56 Wilson, Iaan xv
Trautonium 14, 49, 282 Wilson, Keith 230 n.11, 232, 262
Trautwein, Friedrich 14, 49–50, 282 Wolf, Johannes 212
Trippett, David 313 Wyner, Yehudi 60, 63 n.10
Two-voice framework 14, 16, 42–3, 47,
145, 179, 183, 196–7, 208 Xenakis, Iannis 302
Urlinie 45–6 Yale Collegium Musicum xv, 129, 313

Ursatz 57 Yale Hindemith Collection (YHC)
4–5, 8, 20, 21 n.32, 50, 73 n.14,
Varèse, Edgard 6 133 n.8, 139 n.17, 288, 304,
Voigt, Ernest 20 306–7, 311
Yale School of Music 4–5, 9, 23, 49,
Wagner, Richard 47–8, 220 52, 77, 79, 96, 123, 132, 170, 181,
Walton, William 12 232, 254–5, 268–74, 276, 289, 291,
Wason, Robert 11 n.1 296, 302–3, 307
Waterhouse, William 239
Weber, Carl Maria von 260–62 Zentralton (see Tonality)
Webern, Anton 93, 121 Ziegler, Hans Severus 127–8
Weill, Kurt 127 Zuckerkandl, Victor 40
Weimar Republic 124 Zurich (teaching appointment) 268–9,
Weismann, Adolf 89, 116 291
Westphal, Kurt 40
D ESBR USLAIS
T he music theory of composer Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), originally
entitled Unterweisung im Tonsatz, is well known, yet poorly understood.
This book provides a critical engagement with Hindemith’s Unterweisung,
particularly concerning its relationship to existing acoustic music theories.
By examining different Unterweisung-versions, it charts the evolution
of Hindemith’s use of language and mode of communication, including
THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF PAUL HINDEMITH

his reference to polytonality, atonality, Fuxian species counterpoint, and
avoidance of existing music for his examples. It also elaborates the
source material on which the theory is based, using a reconstruction of
Hindemith’s personal library.
Central to the book is the relationship of Hindemith’s Unterweisung to

his compositional practice. Hindemith’s fascination with the challenges
of music theory falls into a middle period in his oeuvre, enabling
profitable comparisons with his compositional practice both before and
after his theory-making. The book also comprises a detailed discussion
of Hindemith’s theoretical and compositional legacy. Beginning with an
overview of existing polemics, it draws together unpublished materials
from the Yale Hindemith Institute with reminiscences from former students
to construct an Unterweisung reception history. The book shows that,
while many areas of Hindemith’s theory have been overtaken by recent
interests in music theory that relate to cognition and geometry, his
influence has been deeply felt.
SIMON DESBRUSLAIS is Lecturer in Music and Director of Performance

at the University of Hull and an internationally acclaimed trumpet soloist.
Cover image: Portrait of Paul Hindemith courtesy of the Hindemith Foundation, Blonay,
THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF

Switzerland.
B OY D E L L P R E S S
An imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
PAUL HINDEMITH
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620–2731 (US)
S IMON DESBR USLAIS

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D ESBR USLAIS

T he music theory of composer Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), originally

THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF PAUL HINDEMITH

Central to the book is the relationship of Hindemith’s Unterweisung to

SIMON DESBRUSLAIS is Lecturer in Music and Director of Performance

THE MUSIC AND MUSIC THEORY OF

S IMON DESBR USLAIS

THE BOYDELL PRESS

All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation

The right of Simon Desbruslais to be identified as the

First published 2018

ISBN 978 1 78327 210 5

The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

This publication is printed on acid-free paper

— Paul Hindemith, A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations

1 An Unterweisung Critical Commentary 11

3 Stylistic Borrowing and Pre-Unterweisung Music 87

4 The Ludus Tonalis as Quintessential Hindemith 131

5 Theory-based Revisions 177

6 Practical Music and Practical Textbooks 223

7 The Hindemith Legacy 267

1.1 Comparison of Series 1 derivations. 31

2.1 Series 1, taken from Unterweisung II (1939) p. 91, and

4.1 Hindemith’s first sketch for the chromatic order

5.1 Hindemith’s revised climax diagram from Introductory

6.1 The front page to Hindemith’s autograph of the

7.1 Hindemith’s memo to Richard Donovan, YHC. 273

1.1 The corresponding frequencies of Hindemith’s Series 1. 26

2.1 Quartal IC vectors. 70

3.1 Hindemith op. 25/1: first movement synopsis. 104

4.1 Subject pitch centres of Ludus, Fugue 1 in C. 138

5.1 Tonal structure in Marienleben II. 187

6.1 Hindemith’s instrumental sonatas 1935–1955. 228

ABRSM Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

which I believe is typical of the majority of musicians who know Hindemith

translation is available by visiting https://boydellandbrewer.com/media/

Cover image courtesy of Hindemith Foundation, Blonay, Switzerland.

All musical examples by Paul Hindemith © Schott Music, Mainz, reproduced

All other material by Paul Hindemith, including unpublished manuscripts,

© Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt-am-Main 1970. All rights reserved by Suhrkamp

This book is a critical study of Hindemith’s music theory, through a close

Hindemith’s Theory Publications

1. Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Theoretische Teil (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1st

4. Elementary Training for Musicians (Mainz: Schott & Co., 1946).

The 1937 German Unterweisung edition ended with an appendix listing

Die Verwirklichung der in diesem Buche vorgetragenen Ansichten über die

[The realisation of the views presented in this book on the technique of

Sonate in Es für Violine und Klavier, op. 111 (1920)

[As a practical demonstration, a new version of the 1924 published

Hindemith’s Theory and Practice in Primary Sources

In addition to the chronological placement of Hindemith’s compositions and

Giselher Schubert (1980) has examined Hindemith’s Unterweisung drafts

1. Class notes from Hindemith’s students at Yale

The chronological placement of Hindemith’s music theory within his

Secondary Sources on Hindemith

Thirdly, Neumeyer does not use Hindemith’s Unterweisung appendix to the

There is a short and rudimentary application of the Unterweisung to

or Stravinsky. However, there are already two on Hindemith (2005 and