Hindemith for Winds

Synopsis

In 1926, the German composer Paul Hindemith was the director of that year’s Donaueschingen Music Festival, which, since its inception in 1921, had quickly established itself as an important showcase for new and progressive music. For the 1926 Festival, Hindemith decided to spotlight a genre of music overlooked by many composers, namely music for wind bands, and contributed a work of his own, entitled “Concert Piece for Wind Orchestra,” which premiered on today’s date in 1926 and was published as his Opus 41.

The critics of the day opined that the music was interesting, but lamented that such talented composers would waste their time writing for bands.

In his book “Winds of Change,” a history of band music and its reception, Dr. Frank Battisti explains: “In 1926, serious works for band were of no interest to German and Austrian band directors, who preferred to continue performing the standard repertory of transcriptions, arrangements, and marches. Critics, after hearing these works, remained convinced that the wind band would never become a medium of artistic musical expression.”

With the passage of time, and a dramatic change in the attitudes of band director and critics alike towards concert music for bands, Hindemith’s 1926 concert programming seems downright prophetic.

Music Played in Today's Program

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) – Concert Music for Winds, Op. 41 (Eastman Wind Ensemble; Donald Hunsberger, cond.) CBS MK-44916

On This Day

Births

• 1803 - French opera composer Adolph-Charles Adam, in Paris

• 1880 - Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch, in Geneva

• 1904 - French-born American composer and arranger Leo (Noël) Arnaud, in Lyon

• 1922 - American composer Leo Kraft, in New York City

Deaths

• 1739 - Italian composer Benedetto Marcello, in Brescia

• 1971 - British composer Alan Rawsthorne, in Cambridge, England

Premieres

• 1926 - Hindemith: Concert Music for Winds, Op. 4, in Donaueschingen, Germany, with Hermann Scherchen conducting

• 1938 - R. Strauss: opera, "Friedenstag" (Peace Day), in Munich at the National Theater, Clemens Krauss conducting, with vocal soloists Hans Hotter (Commandant) and Viorca Ursuleac (Maria);

• 1964 - Ginastera: opera, "Don Rodrigo," at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires

• 1983 - Elisabetta Brusa: "Favole" (Fables) for chamber orchestra, by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, George Hanson conducting

• 1995 - Michael Torke: opera "Strawberry Fields," at Cooperstown, N.Y., by the Glimmerglass Opera, Stewart Robinson conducting

Others

• 1838 - Mendelssohn finishes in Berlin his String Quartet in D, Op. 44, no. 1; In a letter dated July 30 that year, he writes to the violinist Ferdinand David: "I have just finished my third Quartet, in D Major, and like it very much. I hope it may please you as well. I rather think it will, since it is more spirited and seems to me likely to be more grateful to the players than the others."