Der kompositorische Prozess bei Paul Hindemith

Hindemith was one of the most productive composers of the twentieth century. It would seem at first glance that all inhibiting reflectiveness was foreign to him. Perhaps this explains the lack of research devoted to the aspects of complexity and thoughtfulness in his compositional process. And yet manuscript sources of his text-bound compositions give ample witness to detailed compositional procedures, and analyzed together with simultaneous correspondence, essays, lectures, and respective performance conditions, one gains a more exact impression of his compositional method. This is best illustrated in Die Harmonie der Welt (1938-1962), which contains extensive examples of a diligent honing-out of content, a deciphering of the effect of various versions, and Hindemith’s decision-making regarding the precise interlock between music and text.