Ragtime (well-tempered)

Ragtime (well-tempered) is an orchestral piece by Paul Hindemith from 1921. The basis of this composition without an opus number was Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847 from the cycle of works The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach , which the composer wrote in style processed a ragtime in a provocative way. The ragtime was premiered in 1987 by the then Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin under the direction of Gerd Albrecht .

History and background

In the early 1920s, Hindemith received recognition as an interpreter of contemporary music, but he was also attracting attention as a composer. At that time, avant-garde European composers were very interested in overseas music, including jazz . His ragtime originated in a period when the 26-year-old Hindemith took a liking to parodies, grotesque instrumentation and the clash of different musical worlds, early music with modern light music, the “sacred” with the “profane”. He was well aware that this piece was an occasional composition.

His ragtime (well-tempered) is available in two versions, for symphony orchestra and for piano four hands . The basis for him was Fugue No. 2 in C minor from the cycle of works The Well-Tempered Clavier, first part by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Paul Hindemith wrote in 1920 to his music publishers Willy and Ludwig Strecker : “Can you also use Foxtrots , Bostons , Rags and other kitsch? When I can't think of decent music, I always write things like that. "

Hindemith changed the Bach fugue fundamentally. From the melodic material he formed a completely new piece, which both preserves the fugal character and shows the dancing style of a ragtime, the forerunner of jazz. Hindemith recognized these dance elements in Bach's music as well. With harmonic alienation, rhythmic tightening and changes, for example Bach's punctuation to the syncopations of ragtime and extensive instrumentation, he succeeded in creating a piece that was provocative for the time. He preceded him with a brief explanation: “Do you think Bach is turning around in his grave? He doesn't think about it! If Bach was alive today, maybe he would have invented the shimmy , or at least included it in decent music. Perhaps he would have taken a theme from the well-tempered piano of a composer who was presenting Bach for him. ” Hindemith took up the ragtime theme again in the fifth movement of his well-known 1922 suite .

Musical structure

In the foreword to the edition for piano four hands, the pianist and university professor Franzpeter Goebels writes that although the piece has a “ bruitistic ” (noisy) tendency, Hindemith has not neglected the tonal transparency and differentiation. The tempo should be played continuously according to the metronome = 80, the half note is a little faster than a second. The entire piece is composed in - time , alla breve or also called ² ⁄ _{2 time} , the Bach fugue, however, in ⁴ ⁄ _{4 time} . The ragtime extends over 135 bars and lasts between three and four minutes at the tempo. The tone strength is continuous ( fortissimo ) with pronounced dynamics , which contains numerous crescendos and diminuendos , i.e. passages that become louder and softer. Musical syncopations , accents but also trills determine the rhythm and groove .

reception

The musicologist Hans Emons describes Hindemith's ragtime (well-tempered) as a radical form of montage which, through assimilation of the musical zeitgeist of light-hearted American music, led to the spontaneous simultaneity of lust for life and the desire for destruction. The ragtime is a continuous, noisy cross between ragtime and Bach's C minor fugue. This turns the fugue theme into a quick march. The theme of the caricatured march also plays an important role in Hindemith's other pieces.

The pianist and musicologist Siegfried Mauser counts Hindemith's Ragtime to the music of Expressionism and a musical New Objectivity . At Hindemith, musical-baroque forms and structures are combined with expressionistic stylistic devices in such a way that the rhythm, harmony and form of the Bach fugue are satirized or caricatured. In this way he effortlessly combines the progressive movement of the traditional basso continuo of the Baroque era with the walking bass of jazz.

Publications (selection)

1986: Paul Hindemith: Ragtime: (well-tempered); for piano four hands. [Ed.] Franzpeter Goebels, Schott Verlag, Mainz OCLC 64481690 (score).
1987: Paul Hindemith: Ragtime (well-tempered); for orchestra. OCLC 916410790 Recording with the Radio Symphony Orchestra (Jesus Christ Church, Berlin West) Conductor: Gerd Albrecht.
1991: Paul Hindemith: Funny Sinfonietta op. 4 [1916]; Rag Time (well-tempered) [1921]; Symphonic Dances [1937] (= Orchestral works / Paul Hindemith. Volume 2). Recording with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Brisbane, conductor: Werner Andreas Albert OCLC 610644278 .

Comparative audio samples

Johann Sebastian Bach's original composition with pianist and weightlifter Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka .
Hindemith's Ragtime with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra , conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier .
Hindemith's version for piano four hands with the piano duo Michael Burshtin and Faina Kharmats.

Web links

Ragtime (well-tempered) on a theme of JSBach (1921). classical-music-online.net
Bach-P. Hindemith Arrangements / Transcriptions of Bach's Works by Paul Hindemith. at Bach Cantatas (discography, English)

Individual evidence

^ Letter of March 22, 1920 to Schott Verlag. Quoted from: Giselher Schubert: Hindemith. In personal reports and photo documents Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981, OCLC 887161902 .

↑ Bernward Halbscheffel: Rock music and classical-romantic educational tradition (= dissertation Berlin, 2000). From this the chapter: Jazz and Art Music. ( diss.fu-berlin.de PDF).

↑ Paul Hindemith: Complete Works. Volume II / 1, orchestral works 1916–1930. [Ed.] Arnold Werner-Jensen, Mainz 1987, OCLC 69074932 , p. 9.

↑ Tamika Sakayi Sterrs: Toward a compositional Paradigm based on Post-Tonality, Jazz, and Counterpoint (= Dissertation. Georgia State University, 1999). P. 318 ff. ( Getd.libs.uga.edu PDF).

^ Paul Hindemith: Ragtime (well-tempered) . Published by Franzpeter Goebels. Publishing house B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1985

↑ Hans Emons: Montage - Collage - Music. Frank & Thimme, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86596-207-2 , p. 109 f.

^ Siegfried Mauser: Hindemith interpretations. Hindemith and the twenties. Chapter Expressionism and New Objectivity in the Twenties. In: Dominik Sackmann, Zurich University of the Arts (Ed.): Zurich Music Studies. Volume 6, Lang, Bern / Berlin et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-03911-508-2 , p. 12.

[1] Letter of March 22, 1920 to Schott Verlag. Quoted from: Giselher Schubert: Hindemith. In personal reports and photo documents Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981, OCLC 887161902 .

[2] Bernward Halbscheffel: Rock music and classical-romantic educational tradition (= dissertation Berlin, 2000). From this the chapter: Jazz and Art Music. ( diss.fu-berlin.de PDF).

[3] Paul Hindemith: Complete Works. Volume II / 1, orchestral works 1916–1930. [Ed.] Arnold Werner-Jensen, Mainz 1987, OCLC 69074932 , p. 9.

[4] Tamika Sakayi Sterrs: Toward a compositional Paradigm based on Post-Tonality, Jazz, and Counterpoint (= Dissertation. Georgia State University, 1999). P. 318 ff. ( Getd.libs.uga.edu PDF).

[5] Paul Hindemith: Ragtime (well-tempered) . Published by Franzpeter Goebels. Publishing house B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1985

[6] Hans Emons: Montage - Collage - Music. Frank & Thimme, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86596-207-2 , p. 109 f.

[7] Siegfried Mauser: Hindemith interpretations. Hindemith and the twenties. Chapter Expressionism and New Objectivity in the Twenties. In: Dominik Sackmann, Zurich University of the Arts (Ed.): Zurich Music Studies. Volume 6, Lang, Bern / Berlin et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-03911-508-2 , p. 12.