Rudolf Hindemith, since 1951 officially Paul Quest, pseudonym Hans Lofer
(9 January 19007 October 1974) was a German cellist, composer and conductor. He was solo cellist of the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
, and played chamber music in the
Amar Quartet
The Amar Quartet, also known as the Amar-Hindemith Quartet, was a musical ensemble founded by the composer Paul Hindemith in 1921 in Germany and was active in both classical and modern repertoire until disbanding in 1933. It made several recording ...
. He stood often in the shadow of his famous brother
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
but was rediscovered in recent years as a composer of an opera, a piano concerto, chamber music and piano pieces.
Life
Born in
Hanau
Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...
,
Rudolf Hindemith grew up with his brother Paul.
They made music together early. From age 10, Rudolf took cello lessons at
Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt.
He was engaged as solo cellist at the orchestra of the Münchener Konzertverein (later the
Münchner Philharmoniker
The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...
). From 1921 to 1924, he served in the same function in the orchestra of the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
, with conductors including
Richard Strauss and
Franz Schalk.
![Amar Quartet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Amar_Quartet.jpg)
The Hindemith brothers played in the
Amar Quartet
The Amar Quartet, also known as the Amar-Hindemith Quartet, was a musical ensemble founded by the composer Paul Hindemith in 1921 in Germany and was active in both classical and modern repertoire until disbanding in 1933. It made several recording ...
, one of the leading groups of the
contemporary music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...
scene of the 1920s, with Paul as violist and Rudolf as cellist.
Rudolf soon dropped out, because he often felt set back behind Paul, and switched to the genres of brass music and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
.
While Paul emigrated from Nazi Germany to Switzerland in 1938, Rudolf remained and became a conductor. He led the
symphony orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
of the
Generalgouvernement in
Cracow,
a project of
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War.
Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...
.
After the Second World War, Hindemith led a restless life as a composer, conductor and also educator, using numerous pseudonyms to avoid being addressed as Hindemith.
In 1958, his opera ''Des Kaisers neue Kleider'' after Andersen's ''
The Emperor's New Clothes
"The Emperor's New Clothes" ( da, Kejserens nye klæder ) is a literary folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.A ...
'' was premiered in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, conducted by
George Alexander Albrecht
George Alexander Albrecht (15 February 1935 – 21 December 2021) was a German conductor and composer, who also worked as a musicologist and academic teacher. A prolific composer at a young age, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Staatsope ...
who had studied with Lofer without knowing his identity.
Hindemith was married to
Maria Landes-Hindemith, first his piano student, then professor of piano at the
Musikhochschule München.
Rudolf Hindemith died in isolation in 1974 in
Neuperlach
Neuperlach (Central Bavarian: ''Neiperlach'') is a borough in the southeast of the Bavarian capital, Munich. and is part of the city district no. 16, Ramersdorf-Perlach. It was built starting in 1967 east of the former village of Perlach on the g ...
near Munich at the age of 74. His gravestone was inscribed with the pseudonym "Hans Lofer".
Work and rediscovery
In the 1990s, some of his students began to remember him more and more, even though he was considered a bizarre and sometimes cruel teacher. The musicologist Gerd Brill from the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over ...
has begun a biography.
A three-day Festival was held in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
in February 2001, presenting some of his piano pieces,
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
and the premiere of his Piano Concerto from the 1960s,
which he had entitled ''Suite for Piano and Orchestra''. Soloist
Kolja Lessing
Kolja Lessing (born 15 October 1961) is a German violinist, pianist, composer and academic teacher. His focus as a soloist and chamber musician has been the neglected repertoire by composers who were ostracised under the Nazi regime. His recordin ...
and the
Bremer Philharmoniker conducted by George Alexander Albrecht played the original work in five
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
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* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
.
In 2005, the pianist Stephanie Timoschek dedicated her thesis at the
University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
The University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, also known as Kunstuniversität Graz (KUG) is an Austrian university. Its roots can be traced back to the music school of the '' Akademischer Musikverein'' founded in 1816, making it the oldest u ...
to him and especially his piano works, which include 6 Dances, 7 Sonatinas, 5 Pieces, 7 Preludes and Fugues, 13 School Fugues, 27 Two-Part School Fugues and a waltz from his opera ''Des Kaisers neue Kleider''.
Editor
In the late 1920s, Hindemith undertook a new edition of some of the cello concertos by
Georg Goltermann
:''Georg Eduard Goltermann should not be confused with Julius Goltermann (1825–1876), the cello teacher of David Popper.''
Georg Eduard Goltermann (19 August 1824 – 29 December 1898) was a German cellist, composer and conductor.
Life
Golter ...
.
* Concerto I. A minor, Opus 14
* Concerto III. B minor, Opus 51
* Concerto IV. G major, Opus 65
* Concerto VI. D major, Opus 100
Recordings
The
Amar Quartet
The Amar Quartet, also known as the Amar-Hindemith Quartet, was a musical ensemble founded by the composer Paul Hindemith in 1921 in Germany and was active in both classical and modern repertoire until disbanding in 1933. It made several recording ...
with Rudolf Hindemith as the cellist can be heard on a CD published by Arbiter in 2011, including the premiere recording of Bartók's
String Quartet No. 2. The Dreyer-Gaido label released three CDs, entitled ''Rudolf Hindemith Edition'', between 2003 and 2010.
In 2008, Stephanie Timoschek made a premiere recording of the complete piano works on 2 CDs for
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindemith, Rudolf
1900 births
1974 deaths
German composers
20th-century classical composers
German conductors (music)
Musicians from Frankfurt