Appreciation by Alan Herringshaw

It was a very appreciative audience that gathered in the Clarendon park congregational Church Lecture Hall to listen to Robert Calow’s talk entitled “Who’s Afraid of Paul Hindemith?”

Those of us that were present left the hall less fearful, I think, at the end of what was an interesting talk packed full and even overflowing in places with facts and insights. Entertaining from the first musical illustration to the last and delivered with infectious enthusiasm throughout.

The musical illustrations captured the energy and vitality of Hindemith's music, and contrasted his first opera Sancta Susanna, which we were told featured a naked nun in a bath and a police raid to halt the performance, with the beautifully lyrical violin concerto in the first half of the talk and the final piece, the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, introduced by way of scenes of marital companionship with Paul and and his wife Gertrud playing the themes of Weber in piano duets. Hindemith’s firmly held belief that “it is better to make music than to listen to it” could not have been better illustrated. The photographs of Hindemith and his wife Gertrud happily playing duets was a lasting illustration of this.

It also became apparent throughout the talk that Hindemith was somewhat of an expert in the performing techniques of all the instruments for which he wrote. This, coupled with his mastery of all the intricacies of traditional harmony and counterpoint, produced a composer comfortable in writing tunes for the amateur player to perform as well as major symphonic works.

At a time when all around him were experimenting with “12 note music” Hindemith remained convinced that music should be more accessible and seen as a craft particularly useful for education.

I arrived at the venue knowing little of Hindemith (I admitted to having had to look in our family’s Larousse Encyclopedia of Music for guidance on the spelling of his name!!); I left having learnt far more than how to spell! I left the talk a convert to Hindemith and I am hopeful all of the audience felt a spark of interest which might ignite a desire to listen to more of his work.