THE PROBLEMATIC NATURE OF HINDEMITH'S ‘DAS UNAUFHÖRLICHE’: A CRITICAL RESPONSE

Extract

The year 1930 marked the end of a brief artistic collaboration between the composer Paul Hindemith and the playwright Bertolt Brecht. This collaboration, which began in 1929, brought forth the 1929 Lehrstück and Der Lindberghflug, the latter also involving the contributions of Kurt Weill. However, this artistic relationship, which from its outset was on borrowed time, quickly deteriorated as the result of a heated disagreement regarding the 1930 Schott score of Lehrstück. In the score's preface Hindemith stressed the adaptability of the work according to the circumstances of the performers. The confrontational Brecht felt offended for what he perceived to be the subordination of his text to purely musical aims. Further, Brecht and Hindemith quarrelled on the goal underlying the didactic Lehrstück. Hindemith approached the work as a means to propagate his ideas regarding a modern audience (Laienmusik – or ‘music for the laymen’) and the new musical conventions of a Gebrauchsmusik (a complex concept developed later in the discourse).