Penderecki's "Variations on a Theme of Weber"

Author: Paul Hindemith
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) was a renowned American-German composer and conductor. In August 1921, his String Quartet premiered, establishing his position as one of Germany's leading young composers. A distinctive feature of Hindemith's musical composition was his rapid pace. He completed Kammermusik in just five days, and the finale of Sonata for Solo Violin was written on a train journey from Bremen to Frankfurt. Hindemith also served as a professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and at Yale University in the United States. Hindemith left Germany in 1938. After spending some time in Switzerland, he immigrated to the United States in 1940 and lived there for the next thirteen years. As will be explained below, this work, which later became his Symphony on Themes of Weber, was originally intended to be his first "American" composition. Although this was not the case, the piece embodies a typical American spirit, with its dynamic and highly outward-looking expression immediately aligning with the ideals of his new home—where he spent some of the happiest times of his life. It is no surprise that he was greatly annoyed when his German publisher published the score with the original English title translated into German.