Paul Hindemith's sonatas for viola and piano

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This dissertation is an account of Paul Hindemith's life between 1919 and 1939 withspecial reference to his compositional development through the three sonatas for violaand piano.The introduction to the dissertation initially provides a list of Hindemith's vast outputfor the viola followed by insight into the reason and need for undertaking thisresearch, literary sources used and their function in the context of this study and theconclusion that there is a lack of extant research on the three sonatas for viola andpiano. This is followed by comments on Hindemith as a viola player and composer,supported by opinions of scholars and performers. An overview of the contents andaim of the dissertation completes the introduction.This first of the two comprehensive chapters briefly discusses Hindemith's charactertraits as viewed by a number of scholars and continues by introducing the political,social and financial circumstances in Germany in 1919. The chapter progresses into adivision of the period 1919-1939 into six sub-sections of dates within this time span.Each section focuses on the political, financial and musical circumstances inHindemith's life, with special attention given to the periods of greatest change andconflict. Included in this chapter are also the specific circumstances surrounding thecomposition, first performances and publication of the three sonatas for viola andpiano, alongside mention of other works written at the same time. This is supportedby references and quotations from correspondence between Hindemith and his wife,colleagues and friends, as well as translations of newspaper articles, letters andarticles which thus far have not been translated into English. Special attention isgiven to possible reasons for the late publication of op.25 no.4 in 1977.Chapter 2 looks deeper into the significance, success and development of Hindemiththrough these three works. His stylistic development beginning with the influences ofDebussy and Reger, his identification with the 'Neue Sachlichkeit' until the beginningof his later conservatism can be seen clearly in these three works.The aim of the study is to assimilate the available information into an accurate andcoherent picture of the composer's life and stylistic development between 1919 and1939 in a way that has not been presented before. It is my intention through this workthat the unique style of the sonatas as well as their important place in the violarepertoire is apparent, and consequently of interest to other viola players, hopefullyencouraging them to play the works themselves.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University