Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Steinberg.
I - Concert of Angels. Ruhig bewegt - Ziemlich lebhafte Halbe: 0:00
II - Entombment. Grablegung: Sehr langsam: 8:28
III - Temptations of St. Anthony. Sehr langsam, frei im Zeitmass - Sehr lebhaft: 12:42
Hindemith's Symphony "Mathis Der Maler" (Matthias the Painter) was composed between 1933-4, while he was writing the opera with the same name. He was commissioned an orchestral work by Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Hindemith decided to transform part of the operatic material into a symphony. It was premiered with great success on March 12 of 1934, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Furtwängler. The conductor faced severe criticism from the Nazi government for this premiere. Things came to a head in November 1934, after Furtwängler had written a newspaper article staunchly defending the composer. Unfortunately, the conductor’s well-meaning support seriously backfired.
The following month, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels delivered a speech condemning Hindemith’s work as manifesting "drastic confirmation of how profoundly the Jewish intellectual infection has eaten into the body of our own people". After such a declaration, Hindemith’s hopes of persuading any German opera house to stage the opera were completely dashed. The Symphony was the last premiere of an orchestral work by Hindemith in Germany before the National Socialist regime issued a general ban of his music on 1936. This action inevitably prompted the composer to sever ties with his native country. In 1938 he moved to Switzerland, where Mathis was given for the first time at the Zurich Opera, and two years later he settled in the US.
The title refers to Matthias Grünewald, a Renaissance German painter. The opera is set during the German Peasants' War (1524-5), and concerns Matthias's struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day, which mirrored Hindemith's own struggle as the Nazis had attained power and repressed any form of dissidence. The opera's obvious political message did not escape the regime. The titles of the three movements were derived from panels of the Isenheim Altarpiece, produced by Grünewald around 1510. While the opera failed to establish itself, the symphony has remained as one of Hindemith's most performed works.
The first movement is a scene of Mary and the infant Jesus being serenaded by angels, serving as the opera's overture. After serene, widely-spaced chords on strings, the horns introduce a theme based on the German folk song "Es sungen drei Engel" ("Three angels sang a sweet song"), which reaches a glowing and richly orchestrated climax. A faster theme introduced by solo flute and strings is given a lively contrapuntal treatment, with resourceful and highly colourful orchestration, a new neoromantic sound-world for Hindemith. The climax of the movement is in two parts: the folksong returns on horns, then fully fleshed out in brass; after a moment of calm, fugato strings gather the orchestra for the final brazen (and brazenly triadic!) chords, with strings chiming and bells and triangle shimmering.
The second movement is based on a panel depicting the crucified Jesus being laid in the tomb, and in the opera is a brief intermezzo expressing Mathis' grief on the death of his daughter. In this spare elegy, harmonies based on fourths and fifths prevail, intervals that the composer often employed to express solemnity. Flute and oboe, over pizzicato strings, entwine in a tender lament; there is a brief outcry of grief, then a return to the quietude of the opening, with the flute offering a gesture of consolation.
The third movement is drawn from the opera's episode in which the temptation of St. Anthony (one of the Isenheim Altarpiece scenes) is likened to the temptations and trials of Mathis himself. A chromatic recitative for unison lower strings is the thematic foundation of the three episodes that follow, beginning with a fast section in galloping rhythm, suggesting relentless pursuit and hopeless flight. An unsettling, high trill in the violins introduces the next section, a sensuous melody for violas and cellos depicting the pleasures of the flesh offered (vainly) to St. Anthony. The turmoil of the first section returns and reaches a cadence, at which point strings begin the contrapuntally complex resolution based on the plainchant hymn "Lauda Sion salvatorem". Ringing "Alleluias" in the brass bring the symphony to a close.
Pictures: Rearranged panels from the Isenheim Altarpiece; The Angel Concert (left), The Resurrection (centre), The Temptations of Saint Anthony (right), Entombment of Christ (bottom).
Sources: tinyurl.com/2ytwzbf5 and tinyurl.com/29jg9kqc
To check the score: tinyurl.com/28z7766r
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Steinberg.
I - Concert of Angels. Ruhig bewegt - Ziemlich lebhafte Halbe: 0:00
II - Entombment. Grablegung: Sehr langsam: 8:28
III - Temptations of St. Anthony. Sehr langsam, frei im Zeitmass - Sehr lebhaft: 12:42
Hindemith's Symphony "Mathis Der Maler" (Matthias the Painter) was composed between 1933-4, while he was writing the opera with the same name. He was commissioned an orchestral work by Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Hindemith decided to transform part of the operatic material into a symphony. It was premiered with great success on March 12 of 1934, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Furtwängler. The conductor faced severe criticism from the Nazi government for this premiere. Things came to a head in November 1934, after Furtwängler had written a newspaper article staunchly defending the composer. Unfortunately, the conductor’s well-meaning support seriously backfired.
The following month, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels delivered a speech condemning Hindemith’s work as manifesting "drastic confirmation of how profoundly the Jewish intellectual infection has eaten into the body of our own people". After such a declaration, Hindemith’s hopes of persuading any German opera house to stage the opera were completely dashed. The Symphony was the last premiere of an orchestral work by Hindemith in Germany before the National Socialist regime issued a general ban of his music on 1936. This action inevitably prompted the composer to sever ties with his native country. In 1938 he moved to Switzerland, where Mathis was given for the first time at the Zurich Opera, and two years later he settled in the US.
The title refers to Matthias Grünewald, a Renaissance German painter. The opera is set during the German Peasants' War (1524-5), and concerns Matthias's struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day, which mirrored Hindemith's own struggle as the Nazis had attained power and repressed any form of dissidence. The opera's obvious political message did not escape the regime. The titles of the three movements were derived from panels of the Isenheim Altarpiece, produced by Grünewald around 1510. While the opera failed to establish itself, the symphony has remained as one of Hindemith's most performed works.
The first movement is a scene of Mary and the infant Jesus being serenaded by angels, serving as the opera's overture. After serene, widely-spaced chords on strings, the horns introduce a theme based on the German folk song "Es sungen drei Engel" ("Three angels sang a sweet song"), which reaches a glowing and richly orchestrated climax. A faster theme introduced by solo flute and strings is given a lively contrapuntal treatment, with resourceful and highly colourful orchestration, a new neoromantic sound-world for Hindemith. The climax of the movement is in two parts: the folksong returns on horns, then fully fleshed out in brass; after a moment of calm, fugato strings gather the orchestra for the final brazen (and brazenly triadic!) chords, with strings chiming and bells and triangle shimmering.
The second movement is based on a panel depicting the crucified Jesus being laid in the tomb, and in the opera is a brief intermezzo expressing Mathis' grief on the death of his daughter. In this spare elegy, harmonies based on fourths and fifths prevail, intervals that the composer often employed to express solemnity. Flute and oboe, over pizzicato strings, entwine in a tender lament; there is a brief outcry of grief, then a return to the quietude of the opening, with the flute offering a gesture of consolation.
The third movement is drawn from the opera's episode in which the temptation of St. Anthony (one of the Isenheim Altarpiece scenes) is likened to the temptations and trials of Mathis himself. A chromatic recitative for unison lower strings is the thematic foundation of the three episodes that follow, beginning with a fast section in galloping rhythm, suggesting relentless pursuit and hopeless flight. An unsettling, high trill in the violins introduces the next section, a sensuous melody for violas and cellos depicting the pleasures of the flesh offered (vainly) to St. Anthony. The turmoil of the first section returns and reaches a cadence, at which point strings begin the contrapuntally complex resolution based on the plainchant hymn "Lauda Sion salvatorem". Ringing "Alleluias" in the brass bring the symphony to a close.
Pictures: Rearranged panels from the Isenheim Altarpiece; The Angel Concert (left), The Resurrection (centre), The Temptations of Saint Anthony (right), Entombment of Christ (bottom).
Sources: tinyurl.com/2ytwzbf5 and tinyurl.com/29jg9kqc
To check the score: tinyurl.com/28z7766r
