Klarinet Archive - Posting 000315.txt from 1996/10

From: Tom Labadorf <Labadorf@-----.com>
Subj: Fwd: Re: tuning, devices & instinct
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 06:30:37 -0400

On Oct 10, David Niethamer posed a question concerning intonation and music
of Hindemith as a response to my previous post. Here is my defence for
making the statement that Hindemith's music "must be performed in equal
temperament" as opposed to just temperament. All comments are welcome.
---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj: Re: tuning, devices & instinct
Date: 96-10-11 02:08:50 EDT
From: Labadorf

David,

Your point about Hindemith being a top notch string player is well taken. I
was drawing my conclusion perhaps form a limited source and my gut feeling
(there's that phrase again) about Hindemith in the mid to late 1910s. He was
among the new set of composers who wanted to break all ties from the
overexpansiveness of the Romantics. He felt the grandios writing styles were
just too out of control, and that it was time to get a handle on composition.
It was around 1918 or so that he started with his Kammermusik series with
Kammermusik no. 1. It appears at this time, he was into shock value. (His
opera Sancta Susana is a perfect example. Check out a synopsis and you'll
see what I mean.) Kammermusik no. 1 was written for a handful of musicians
- one to a part - and for the premier performance he instructed the musicians
to face *away* from the audience. This along with stark scoring in
neo-Baroque/Classical writing and the unusual addition of a siren in the
finale nearly started a riot with the audience. I think he liked this kind of
attention. He and Shoenberg were contemplating the same attitute about
Romantic music even though they went in different directions. The point is
that he was a non traditionalist, at least as far as Romantic music is
concerned, and his pitch preferences may have had the same tendency.

Another point is that Hindemith's music is based on a layered linear style.
His clarinet sonata is particularly this way with many open intervals. The
opening melody of the first movement is predominantly in perfect fourths.
With this kind of writing, it is more important to tune the melodic line to
itself than to harmonic intervals with the piano.

Well, that's my defence. I admit, I may have fired prematurely, but at least
there was some basis for my original statement. I, too, am very interested
to hear from a more knowledgable source about Hindemith's music.

Tom L.
Clarinetist, U. S. Coast Guard Band
Adjunct instructor in clarinet, Connecticut College
Labadorf@-----.com