However, just before midnight on 20 January, King George V died. The following day, from 11 am to 5 pm, Hindemith sat in an office made available to him by the BBC and wrote Trauermusik (Funeral Music, or Mourning Music; it is always known in English by its German title) in homage to the late king. It, too, was written for viola and orchestra and was performed that evening in a live broadcast from a BBC radio studio, with Boult conducting and the composer as soloist.

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dbpprop:abstract
  • However, just before midnight on 20 January, King George V died. The following day, from 11 am to 5 pm, Hindemith sat in an office made available to him by the BBC and wrote Trauermusik (Funeral Music, or Mourning Music; it is always known in English by its German title) in homage to the late king. It, too, was written for viola and orchestra and was performed that evening in a live broadcast from a BBC radio studio, with Boult conducting and the composer as soloist. The Schwanendreher premiere was cancelled. Trauermusik consists of four very short movements. The first movement is marked Langsam. The second movement (Ruhig bewegt) is less than a minute in length and the third is only slightly longer. The last movement is the heart of the work and in it, Hindemith quotes the chorale "Vor deinem Thron Tret ich hiermit" (Here I stand before Thy throne), well known in Germany via the harmonisation by Johann Sebastian Bach . Hindemith was unaware at the time, but the tune was very familiar in England as the "Old 100th", to the words "All creatures that on Earth do dwell". The piece also contains quotations from Mathis der Maler and Der Schwanendreher. Trauermusik immediately entered the reportoire of violists, as well as cellists and even violinists. The Swiss philanthropist and music patron Werner Reinhart, to whom Hindemith had dedicated his Clarinet Quintet in 1923, later told Gertrud Hindemith "there was something Mozartian" about her husband’s writing Trauermusik in half a day, and premiering it the same day. "I know no one else today who could do that", he said.
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rdfs:comment
  • However, just before midnight on 20 January, King George V died. The following day, from 11 am to 5 pm, Hindemith sat in an office made available to him by the BBC and wrote Trauermusik (Funeral Music, or Mourning Music; it is always known in English by its German title) in homage to the late king. It, too, was written for viola and orchestra and was performed that evening in a live broadcast from a BBC radio studio, with Boult conducting and the composer as soloist.
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  • Trauermusik
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