Hindemith Viola Sonata, Op. 11 No. 5
Paul Hindemith was born at Hanau, Germany on 16 November 1895 and died in Frankfurt, Germany on 28 December 1963. The Sonata Op. 11 No. 5 for solo viola was written in 1919 and was premiered by the composer himself. This sonata is the first of four that Hindemith wrote for solo viola, the others being the Sonatas Op. 25 No. 1 (1922), Op. 31, No. 4 (1923) and 1937. Hindemith also wrote three sonatas for viola and piano as well as three concertos for the instrument. In addition to composing Hindemith was also an active performer on both the violin and viola. It is interesting to note hindemith’s choice to create a set of string sonatas (two each for violin, viola and cello) under a single opus. Some of his colleagues were taken aback by this somewhat archaic notion from the Classical era (for instance, as one follows Beethoven’s compositions, opus numbers gradually are assigned to single works as opposed to sets). In 1914 Hindemith joined the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra as a first violinist and was eventually promoted to concertmaster in 1916. Hindemith also joined the Rebner String Quartet in 1915 as second violinist. Hindemith was enlisted to play in a regimental band at the end of 1917 and was stationed in France. After the Great War ended he returned to his post as concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra in 1918 (not even stopping to spend an evening with his mother, brother and sister). He also rejoined the Rebner Quartet but requested to play viola. Hindemith would later go on to form his own quartet, the Amar-Hindemith Quartet (in which he played the viola), as well as establish a career as a viola soloist.
When Hindemith returned from his service in the military, times in Germany were uncertain at best. Political instability rocked the nation, and the end of the Second Reich created a power vacuum that would eventually pave the way for Adolf Hitler to gain power. The birth pangs of the intermediate Weimar Republic were painful: political unrest and revolution caused thousands to die in a time of supposed peace, and the reparations demanded of the Germans created a communal sense of shame. The art and music of the period reflected the angst of the times.
The introductory statement of Ian Kemp’s monograph on Hindemith contextualizes the state of music in Germany after the end of the war:
After the 1918 war Germany needed a new composer. Reger had died in 1916, and neither Strauss nor Pfitzner were advocates of the New Music. An eager audience was waiting to acclaim their successor. Hindemith was fortunate in finding a platform as well as an audience ready for him.
The two Op. 11 sonatas for viola are a clear exhibit of a compositional crossroads in Hindemith’s career. Up to this point Hindemith’s compositions were much more lush and romantic; some commentators point out that if one were to listen to these early works without knowing who the composer was, they would be hard-pressed to identify the compositions as those of Hindemith. The Op. 11 No. 4 sonata for viola and piano bears a definite streak of romanticism; one hears touches of Debussy and Strauss at times.
The Op. 11 No. 5 sonata for viola solo, on the other hand, bears traces of what would become Hindemith’s unique musical language. Kemp says, “[m]any passages in No. 5, a solo viola sonata, are almost atonal, the music being held together by strong semitonal connections no less advanced for their indebtedness to the Tristan principle of semitonal movement.” This work is definitely influenced by Reger, whose musical style, according the New Grove, combined a chromatic harmonic language with Baroque and Classical formal procedures. Reger was definitely influenced by the works of J.S. Bach and had published his own sonatas for solo viola only a few years before in 1915 before his death.
The fact that some have dubbed Hindemith the “Bach of the Twentieth Century” comes as no surprise after examining the Op. 11 No. 5 sonata. This piece is in four movements which are linked through motivic connections. The first, “Lively, but not hurried” is in sonata form and exhibits very chromatic contrapuntal writing. The second movement is a slow movement where the performer is directed to play “with warmth and direction”. The third movement is a scherzo-trio; a lively scherzo exhibiting buoyant dance rhythms with a contrasting trio that is played a bit slower.
The final movement, a Passacaglia, is one that definitely bears the influence of Bach. The New Grove defines passacaglia as follows: In 19th- and 20th-century music, a set of ground-bass or ostinato variations, usually of a serious character; in the earliest sources, a short, improvised ritornello between the strophes of a song. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘chaconne’. David Neumeyer theorizes in his article “Hindemith’s hommages à Bach in Two Early Viola Sonatas” that the compositional procedures of the last movement of Op. 11 No. 5 are directly influenced by Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. Hindemith clearly labels in his sketches that the theme comprises the first 8 measures after which a set of variations follow. Neumeyer states that there are 22 (fewer in Hindemith’s sketches due to a numbering error). Most variations are 8 measures long except for variations 17 (9 measures), 21 (15 measures) and 22 (16 measures). In his article Neumeyer also finds that the movement is in ternary form, ABA’, where the first A section comprises of variations 1-11, B #12-16 and A’ #17-22.
Hindemith gave a speech in Hamburg on 12 September 1950 at the city’s commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Bach’s death. He entitled the speech “Johann Sebastian Bach: Heritage and Obligation” and it ended as follows:
If music has the power to direct our entire existence toward nobleness, this music is great. If a composer has dominated his music to this point of greatness, he has achieved the utmost. This Bach has achieved.
And, as most violists would state, so has Hindemith.
-Program notes by Dr. Daniel Doña