There is hardly any musical genre in which Paul Hindemith, born in 1895 in Hanau near Frankfurt, has not been involved. Besides his work as composer, he also appeared as both violin and viola soloist and worked in both orchestras and string quartets. As conductor, he has led world première performances of several of his own works. As music theoretician he has written significant books on æsthetics and composition, and he was a professor of composition at academies in Europe and the United States. His musical creativity is also many-sided: his expressionistic works in the 1920´s brought him the reputation of a musical bogeyman. In the 1930´s he turned to a neoclassicistic musical language and composed ?musique d´occasion? for amateur musical groups before returning to a pronouncedly tonal, neoconservative style in his final works. Beyond all changes of of style, his works are permeated with a music-maker´s involvement with music per se. This is why Paul Hindemith must be regarded as one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. He died in Frankfurt in 1963.
Born on November 16, 1895 in Hanau (near Frankfurt)
Died on December 28, 1963 in Frankfurt