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From www.thomasstevensmusic.com For Trumpeters Only
Revised/Updated 19 September 2007 The correct (metronome) tempo marking for the first movement of the Hindemith Trumpet Sonata has been a subject of controversy in the trumpet community for decades, with the full nature and extent of the so-called “controversy” being limited to the following question: Did Paul Hindemith write the first movement to be played at 96-100 to the half-note, or 96-100 to the quarter-note (one tempo being half as fast, or twice as fast, depending on one's perspective, as the other). While most first-year music composition students would immediately recognize that, if performed at the half-note tempo, the Sonata would sound ridiculous and unlike any other piece of music Hindemith ever wrote, this observation has not deterred trumpeters the world over from insisting the half-note tempo marking (which was inserted in error at the time of the second printing) represents the composer’s original intent. Moreover, in the not-so-distant past, there was a common joke among Hindemith students and aficionados that the composer's metronome was defective, tending to run on the fast side. This was an indirect and mildly sarcastic way of suggesting the composer had a tendency to write under-tempo, indeed extremely conservative, metronome indications on his music, and some advocates of the "at-the-quarter-note" persuasion have used this as an argument for their cause. It has always been the personal opinion of this writer that Hindemith, whom many prominent musicians consider to have been one of the most disciplined and technically literate composers in the history of western classical music, would never have written anything in 4/4 and then indicated that it be played “alle breve”(2/2), at least in this (2:1) type of notational context (indicating 6/8 at the dotted quarter, for example, is a common practice and therefore would be a different matter). If he had intended for it to be performed alle breve, he would have notated it in 2/2. More specifically, albeit anecdotally, with regard to my contention, Hindemith’s former colleague at Yale, Mel Powell, once volunteered that if a Hindemith student had committed that type of notational indiscretion, the ever-so-compassionate professor would have berated the offending party “in at least three languages" (prior to issuing a failing grade). Over the years the controversy has been further exacerbated by numerous anecdotal and generally “inaccurate” accounts regarding the piece and the correct tempo marking for the first movement. The most pernicious of these, in my view, has been an assertion put forth by a prominent mid-century American trumpeter that he had played the premier performance of the piece, Hindemith was in attendance, and that the tempo was definitely at the half-note. The trumpeter may have indeed performed the premier, but there was no way Hindemith was involved in the supposed performance*. (A few years ago this story was scheduled to be included in an article written by a colleague of mine, whose name has been deliberately withheld from this post. I told him that, as a musician he should know better and further, that his credibility would suffer if he printed such nonsense. He researched the story, and while I am unaware of the particulars as regards his investigation, I do know that at one point he contacted officials at the Hindemith museum in Switzerland who confirmed that the “official” tempo was, indeed, at-the-quarter-note. Needless to say, the story never found its way into print, and my colleague never again mentioned the subject to me.) Everything mentioned thus far has been offered only as background information/examples of the kind of rhetorical nonsense that has dominated discussions of the subject at hand, in point of fact creating/perpetuating a controversy that never should have existed in the first place. To further clarify this point, I have posted (apologia for the faded condition of the printed material) two pages from my personal copy of the first edition of the Sonata, which my father purchased for me at a used-sheet music store in 1955. (I have recently given it to the eminent American pianist/accompanist, Rebecca Wilt, who will most likely be performing the piece hundreds of times during the course of her career, whereas I have played my last performance of it**.) Included in this post: 1.The original inside cover page (example #1-posted above), Edition Schott 3643, printed in Germany, which includes a paragraph, written in German and followed by the initials P.H., stating that the work could also be played on certain treble clef instruments (or the viola) other than the trumpet (from he who hated the Gebrauchmusik label!). It also includes the names of the other publisher members of the consortium of which Schott Brothers, Hindemith’s publisher, was associated at the time of publication(Editions Max Eschig, Paris, Schott & Company, Ltd., London, and Associated Music Publishers, New York). 2. For the bemusement of all (musical example posted below), the opening measures of the first page of the score from the first edition, replete with its at-the-quarter-note tempo marking. The prevailing conventional wisdom/version during my student days was that, just as in the case of other European musical works following WWII, especially in Germany, the engraving plates (which was how music was printed at the time) for some published music had been either lost or damaged during the war or the chaotic reparation period that followed, and new copies of scores and/or individual pages of scores needed to be redone. It has been speculated that something like this is probably what happened with the Hindemith Sonata. (The outer pages of the second printing clearly have the appearance of having come from different "master" plates than those used for the first printing.) In addition, the piece didn’t become standard trumpet repertoire until the late 1960s, by which time the "new" (second) printing had become, almost by default, accepted as the publication of record; hence, many musicians erroneously accepted it as being the original version. For the third (current) printing, the error was corrected from the half-note, restating the original quarter-note standard, but unfortunately, there have been those who, operating under the assumption their (second printing) editions represented the original version, have asserted this change was rendered in error. It was not; it was changed to correct a previous error! Many trumpeters, including this writer, have taken performance liberties with certain elements of the Hindemith Sonata, including its tempi; such is the inherent nature of the interpretive beast. The point of this post, however, has been to simply verify the composer’s original indication as regards the tempo of the first movement, and nothing more.
*The first American recording of the Sonata was made in 1950 in New York by Alex Wilson for a small composer's label called EMS. Additionally, in 1958, Professor Hindemith coached parts of the first and last movements of the Sonata at a composer’s forum where he presented/discussed selected portions of a number of his works for solo instruments (student performers).The work was performed at the quarter-note tempo without editorial comment as it was a non-issue at the time. **Ms. Wilt is currently in possession of the original copy from which the excerpts uploaded here have been photocopied (should anyone require verification of the document's authenticity). © Copyright by www.thomasstevensmusic.com |
