Sonata for Trumpet & Piano
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

Born in 1895, Paul Hindemith is considered to be the foremost German composer of his generation. He took violin lessons from the age of nine and studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt from 1908 to 1917. He was the concertmaster for the Frankfurt Opera between 1915 and 1923 baring a two year stint in a military band when he was called up for service.

During the late 1930s Hindemith took it upon himself to write a series of sonatas for all the instruments in the orchestra including some of the more neglected instruments such as bassoon, viola, double bass and tuba. However, his interest for composing Gebrauschsmusik – music for practical use rather than for art – and in particular the composition of his symphony Mathis der Maler, brought bad feelings from the rising Nazi party who believed this went against the grain of true German composition. So in 1938 Hindemith left Germany for Switzerland, and it was there that he completed the Sonata for Trumpet and Piano on November 25, 1939, just three months after the outbreak of World War II.

The sonata is in three movements as one would expect, but this is perhaps where tradition ends. The first movement Mit Kraft (With Strength) opens with a powerful statement from the trumpet punctuated by driving piano accompaniment. This march builds up to the introduction of the secondary theme, brooding and restless, which is developed substantially before the push towards a climactic finish.

Unusually, instead of following the usual pattern of a slow middle movement, the second movement (Mássig bewegt) continues in a rather playful style, still keeping some of the march-like elements from the first movement, yet there is an underlying tension pervading throughout.

The third movement, marked Trauermusic (Sad Music), finally slows the pace down. Written around the old chorale Alle Menschen müssen sterben (All men must die), this final movement is rather funereal. At a very slow crotchet = 40 the movement lasts as long as the previous two movements put together and draws to a grieving, yet noble conclusion with the re-statement by the trumpet of the chorale theme.

It is perhaps no surprise that Hindemith's Sonata for Trumpet and Piano is considered to show the composers protestations and his disgust as, from his exile in Switzerland, he was able to watch his countries leaders cut off Austria, take over Czechoslovakia and invade Poland culminating in the start of World War II. It is no wonder that the sonata is one of the most powerful and moving works in the trumpet repertoire.

© Adrian Horn