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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
The musical fortunes of the German composer Paul Hindemith (18951963) waxed and waned in his own lifetime. The recent centenary of his birth, however, has brought opportunities for re-assessment of both the composer and his work, and much interest has been focussed on his masterpiece, the opera ‘Mathis der Maler’ (‘Mathis the Painter’). Two recordings of this work are now available on compact disc, and the Royal Opera produced the first ever British staging of the work on what would have been Hindemith’s hundredth birthday. ‘Mathis der Maler’ has been revealed to be an enormously powerful music-drama, remarkable no less for the historical individual who inspired it and for the circumstances in which it was produced than for the beautiful music which it contains. Hindemith wrote his own libretto for this opera, which enabled him to put forward in it a number of his own ideas about both art and music, and also to raise profound spiritual issues. In its exploration of such themes, ‘Mathis der Maler’ has a relevance that transcends Hindemith’s own day, touching on issues both contemporary and timeless. To explain the motivation behind such a remarkable work, it is necessary to set it in the context of Hindemith’s life, and of his theories about music.
Hindemith was a precocious musical talent, playing violin and viola in orchestral and chamber ensembles from an early age. He rose to prominence as a composer in the years after the First World War, and his music was much performed, in Germany and further afield, during the 1920s.
1 These recordings are conducted by Rafael Kubelik (EMI 5 55237 2) and by Gerd Albrecht (Wergo WER 6255–2). In addition, there are numerous recordings available of the Mathis der Maler Symphony, composed in advance of the full opera and consisting of music from it.
2 Skelton, G., Paul Hindemith: The Man Behind the Music (London: Victor Gollancz, 1977), p. 293.Google Scholar
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15 All quotations from the libretto of ‘Mathis der Maler’ are taken from the translation by T. Ashley (Royal Opera Texts, 1995).
16 Clements, A., ‘Peter Sellars’ (Opera, November 1995, p. 1262).Google Scholar
17 Interview with Peter Sellars, The Independent, 18th November 1995.
18 ibid.
19 Ashley, T., ‘An Act of Necessity,’ in Royal Opera House programme book for ‘Mathis der Maler’ (1995), p. 27.Google Scholar
20 Peter Sellars, in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 28th November 1995.
21 Newspaper reviews almost without exception commented negatively on Sellars' staging. A more sympathetic view was expressed by John Allison in Opera, January 1996, pp. 104–109: ‘The updating of Hindemith's opera does nothing to undermine it … [Sellars' updatings] are the work of someone who believes passionately in the power of opera and its ability to comment on the human condition.
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