Paul Hindemith - String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- - Composer: Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 -- 28 December 1963)
- Performers: Danish String Quartet
- Year of recording: 1995
String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2, written in 1914-1915.
00:00 - I. Sehr lebhaft
11:02 - II. Adagio
22:22 - III. Scherzo. Sehr lebhaft
28:44 - IV. Ziemlich lebhaft
In his 1st string quartet, Hindemith (who was only nineteen years old) was trying to stand firm against the most highly challenging requirements of chamber music composition. Both musically and stylistically the music is based on a Brahmsian late-Romanticism, which would have been imparted to him by his second composition teacher at the Hoch Conservatory, Bernhard Sekles. Hindemith was concerned with extending and reshaping the traditional forms, which he favored, but without rendering them unrecognizable. In this work this results in an almost rampant, fit to burst musical prodigality, which Hindemith organizes through sophisticated compositional endeavor and which he makes easily comprehensible. The first movement is in traditional sonata form, but one whose formal components Hindemith elaborates in an unusually artful way. He leads the first subject through various forms, while he presents the second subject, which is closely related rhythmically to the first subject, in two different forms which are like variations of each other. In the development section he combines the motifs and themes by the use of strict techniques through both motivic and thematic treatment, as well as through counterpoint. Following the conventional recapitulation the coda is an ongoing continuation of the development.
So the constituents of the form are distinguished from each other not only through their melodic and motivic material but also through their respective compositional structures. Moreover Hindemith colours these formal constituents by means of a subtly differentiated harmonic and tonal conception:
- In the first movement the first subject remains firmly in the basic tonality of C major (the tonic), the transition to the next section is in D flat major (Neapolitan), the second subject in its first version is in E major (the mediant), its second version is in G major (the dominant), while the transition to the development section touches on A minor (the relative minor) as well as F major (the subdominant). By adopting such a well-planned compositional approach the nineteen-year-old composer certainly also demonstrates great skill, a skill which he would originally have learned and applied from Sekles's compositional methods, yet he is truly able to breathe new life into them through the freshness and originality of his musical invention.
- Hindemith imbues the second movement with the character of a three-part funeral march, which is quite unusual in string quartet music.
- The scherzo which follows, in complete contrast to the robust diatonicism of the first movement, is chromatic. Furthermore, in a lavish display of inventive abundance, he even gives this scherzo two trio sections, of which the first in particular exploits the tonal possibilities of the string instruments.
- Hindemith writes the final movement in rondo form, in which (clearly modeled on the example of Brahms's Third Symphony) he refers back thematically to the funeral march of the second movement, in the manner of a cyclical rounding off.
Hindemith completed the first movement of the quartet in the summer of 1914 immediately before the outbreak of the First World War and because of the war he at first stopped work on the piece. It was not until March and April 1915 that he continued work on it with the funeral march, a movement clearly relevant to that war when, to Hindemith's surprise, his composition teacher programmed the as yet unfinished work in an evening concert at the Hoch Conservatory. Under the greatest time pressure, which obviously acted as a stimulant, Hindemith duly completed the quartet and, as scheduled, it was given its première on 26 April 1915 in Frankfurt am Main by an ensemble of teachers and students, with Hindemith himself taking the first violin part.
The quartet remained unpublished during the composer's lifetime; it was not performed again until 6 February 1986 and was finally published in 1994. - Hudba
Thank you so much for posting. A new and wonderful discovery for me. I've enjoyed the comments too. Hindemith, I've discovered, excites people in a particular way - and I am no exception.
So warm! The same surprise I got when I first heard Stravinsky's first symphony. Though the iconic harmonic language is not there yet, there are still unmistakable trademark's of Hindemith throughout. A wonderful find.
His entire string quartet cycle is just great! You can really see his developments through them. I hope to complete them on my channel some day.
Hindemith and Schoenberg with rather similar quarters, at least contextually. Both thoroughly romantic works, yet both containing great foreshadowing of what each composer’s style would turn into later. Fantastic works.
This quartet makes me think of a famous story in which aging enfant terrible Richard Strauss heard a modernist piece by Hindemith, approached the young composer and said, "*You* don't have to write like this! *You* have talent!" Whereupon Hindemith laughed in poor Strauss's face.
I think that Strauss would have loved Hindemith's first string quartet. I hope he got the chance to hear it.
Even in this early post-romantic quartet, Hindemith showed characteristic fecundity: an effortless mastery of form (flowing but concise) and the use of complex but transparent texture that would lead to some of the most perfect counterpoint of the modernist period. It's interesting that some of the elided sequences and musical periods suggest a more compressed style than the harmonic and melodic language. (Look at all of those baroque ornaments and trills!) It's also fun to hear the gapped lines that are so idiomatic to strings, since Hindemith's main instrument was of course the violin.
Elsewhere, I mentioned that I find some of Reger's early motoric writing a bit mechanical; but despite Stravinsky's comment about his "setting-up exercise concertos," Hindemith shows even in this piece that he excelled at writing lines full of meaning and vitality. He isn't really himself yet, but the music is far from rote.
Someone commented below that this quartet sounds warm. It's fun to think of that in light of how sternly Hindemith reacted against romanticism later. I once analyzed one of his so-called expressionist (really, neo-baroque) string quartets and found an expressive marking in German that I didn't know. I looked it up and discovered that it meant "with little feeling." Which puts me in mind of another of his instructions: that musicians play behind a partition so that the audience can't identify the music with the faces of the players.
Hmm, was Strauss ever actually considered an "enfant terrible?"
@@ThaSchwab: Strauss absolutely was considered an enfant terrible just before the arrival of modernism. The audience's reaction to the premiere of Tod und Verklärung is legendary; it's right up there with the violent responses to Le Sacre, Pelleas et Melisande, and Ballet Mechanique. He managed to shock audiences as late as 1903 with Elektra. I believe that Donald Grout uses the exact term enfant terrible to describe the young Richard Strauss in *A Concise History of Western Music*.
I appreciate your erudite disquisition! Before reading it...listening to the first movement....I thought "Metamorphosen"! Greetings from San Agustinillo!
@@steveegallo3384: Greetings to you, too, Stevee!
@@reginaldbraithewaite5833 -- Oh, THANKS! But....from WHERE?
BELLÍSIMO...QUE GRATO..ESCUCHARLOS...MUY LINDO....( COMENZAR..MI DIA...!!!!!!!!.)))) SUENAN PERFECTOS...DESDE CHILE....GRACIAS...👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚😃😃😃😃😃
I love Hindemith. Played a lot of his chamber music when I studied music (piano) at UCSD. My chamber music professor told me to play Hindemith like Brahms. It works!
Großartig! Danke für das Hochladen, samt schöner Partitur.
This quartet is so beautiful, so lyrical
Of all the modern composers, Hindemith is my favorite, although this sounds much more traditional than the famous sound I have become so infatuated with over the years.
+scottbos68 Yes this work was written when he was only 19, still influenced by his teachers. You can really see his progression through his string quartets, they are just as good as Bartók's and Schoenberg's in my opinion. So, more coming up in the future ;)
I was just thinking how like Scirabin, his early music was imitation of romanticism, and how later their sound evolved so greatly. I can honestly say no one ever sounded like Hindemith and no one sounded like Scriabin (that I know of). Both quite remarkable with wondrous inventions of sound and such a distinctive voice like no other.
scottbos68
Well, I think you can say composers tried to sound like Scriabin (like Roslavets, and other Russian and French composers), but he was, like Hindemith, a true original!
a talented Nazi indeed. Such a pity, Hitler thought he was "entartet".
The second movement is one of my favorite funeral march-type pieces. I wonder if the composer, having been a soldier, had his fallen comrades in mind when he wrote it.
Was für ein wundervolles Stück! Und das mit neunzehn Jahren geschrieben! Ein Genie, das war der junge Hindemith! Danke fürs Posten!
It's such a pleasant and satisfying surprise to encounter the Hindemith String Quartet cycle for the first time. It reminds me of when I was young I found out how delightful the Dvorak quartets were.
Once again an unbelievanle discovery for me, what a wonderful quartet ! It is the first time that I could listen to it . I have to hold my superlatives in check but t is almost as impressive as an Beethoven quartet. Thanks !!!
This is everything to me
My dear god...the Scherzo is one of the most facinating pieces I´ve heard for a String quartet combination.
I absolutely love Hindemith! So when I need to find inspiration for composing a string quartet I knew I'd have to listen to him
Que bonito es esto.
I have to join the others and say that the scherzo is great, great, great. And the rest is great too. As always, a valuable upload, thanks.
Your videos are good not only for it's content, but also for the description. It really teaches me.
Thank you for posting!
Ongelooflijk prachtig!
Gorgeous!
That scherzo! wow.
+Bas Hendrickx Yes the scherzo is outstanding!
Reminds me (unsurprisingly) of Strauss.
The scherzo somehow reminds me of the second of the Enigma Variations.
STRAUSS-KAHN...TAMBIEN ME GUSTA...... ( ESTO RELAJA...MUY GRATO...ESCUCHAR...))))))... GRACIAS ....AMIGOS....😃😃😃😃😃😃🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚👍👍👍👍👍
the third movement is like when your pet birds convince you to switch places with them and you place yourself in their cage and fly around and eat seeds while they mock you
SIIIIIII SÉ PUEDE ..YYYY NO ES MUCHO PEDIRRRR.....( ME GUSTARÍA ESCUCHAR.. EL .." DANUBIO..AZUL.."....POR FAVOR...GRACIAS....)))))).. DÉ CHILE..
Ay Anita....... :-)
Wonderful typesetting as well. Who published the score?
'Musik unserer Zeit' (Schott)
Thank you!
Período Despertância Musical, Final Séc. XIX Início Séc. XX
-&- Musical Awakening Period, Late 19th Century Early 20th Century
Man. This sounds like Brahms...
Even the third movement?
@@joshscores3360especially the third movement 😉
@@reev9759 more like reger I think
@@joshscores3360 what's some good Reger to start off with?
@@reev9759 aus mein tagebuch
Hey this is gorgeous , where can we get the score for free ? please help us ,we want to play it
If you provide an e-mail address, I will send it to you!
olla-vogala Muhammadyor.uz@gmail.com
olla-vogala thank you very much !!! subscribed and thumbs up from me
"Like" on 24 October 2017
Where can one find the parts and/or the score to play this? I think my string quartet would love to play this.
I can send you this score if you want, but I don't have parts I'm afraid.
olla-vogala that's alright! Would you be so kind as to send me the score? lschroeder@sw.rr.com
Max Reger's influence is obvious.
Very Straussian!
21:49 Darth Vader ?
Ah this this is light Years away from top of the flops and tony blackburn radio one programs. And today's trashy pop music
.To MY MIND A STRING QUARTET ARE THE HART BEAT AND SOUL OF CLASSICAL MUSIC THEY ARE MY FAVOURITE OF ALL CLASSICAL PEICES .I am 64 years old 2022 I hope it's not to late for me to listen to the great many other musical works that I will enjoy when I discover them here on you tube .
ALMOST NEOROMANTICIST BUT SMART AND DEFYING EXPECTATIONS .brAHMS WOULD HAVE DOME THI S HAd he lived into the next century .Pure Germsn and pleasure and sweet harmony loving . What would Brahms have made of Stock an d Boulez if he had been born in 1855 and lived till 1945 . Like Goldmark ,Pfitzner and everyone else it wouldn't have been right for him. Stravinsky is interesting in this - he took on all styles but waited till after Schonberg death t publish any serialist works .Copland too checked it out - and why not ! Expression mst be risked in order to find out what was not previously possible before . Ludus is over my head and does not sound to me but this is old-fashioned and quite likable -while being intelligent !
It does remind me of Brahms!
dont want to rune the 666 likes
Minute 17+. I've got bored a bit. 😁
I can't believe CZcams injects commercials into these musical pieces. It's so disturbing and boarders on perverted.
Four parts playing all the time. No solos. This is too tiring to listen.
Alp Durmaz I respectfully disagree. I personally find the 2 or 3 voices almost as "sidecharacters" to the 1 or 2 with the melody. It's constant motion with harmonizations that at the time, were nearly never used. This set the tone for twentieth century music and I love it. I do see, however, at times where it could seem a bit busy if you focus on parts as individuals, but try listening again thinking of the parts as one whole body working toward musical progression that constantly support the other voices.
There's a solo at 4:28.
Hey this is gorgeous , where can we get the score for free ? please help us ,we want to play it