Klarinet Archive - Posting 000961.txt from 2002/11

From: Bi6W@-----.net (Bill Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Trivia --- Hindemith
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 18:09:02 -0500

<><> Dan Leeson wrote:
I believe it was the planned ballet for what eventually became the
Symphonic Metamorphosis on themes of von Weber, and the set designer was
Salvador Dali. Do I get a pizza???

Yes, you do.

And since (I believe) you live in San Francisco, I may be able to pay up
someday..... although perhaps in some other currency besides..... pizza.
Perhaps fresh seafood?

The reason this trivia interested me is because I've always thought of
Hindemith as pushing the envelope, and thus I was surprised that he
didn't like Dali's art.

I don't enjoy serial or atonal music, and therefore I don't have even
one Hindemith composition in my CD collection. But when I consult the
encyclopedia, it says that Hindemith "showed a free and highly
resourceful treatment of traditional form and tonality" --- which isn't
quite the same thing as serial or atonal. Later in his life, "his
style entered a new phase, marked by increased clarity of tonality and
form and greater expressiveness of melody."

So perhaps I need to search out a composition or two of his and listen
to them. Any suggestions for someone who dislikes serial and atonal and
strident (such as the yowling first movement of Strauss's Domestic
Symphony, to which I would not listen again, even if you offered me a
rosewood basset horn with gold keys as payment)?

Regards,
Bill

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