Kleine Kammermusik

Paul Hindemith

This work bears the designation Opus 24, No. 2.

General Info

Year: 1922 / 1949
Duration: c. 13:45
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Schott Music Distribution
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $42.00 | Score Only (print) - $22.99

Movements

1. Lustig: Massig schnelle Viertel - 3:00
2. Walzer: Durchweg sehr leise – 2:00
3. Ruhig und einfach. Achtel – 4:45
4. Schnelle Viertel – 0:50
5. Sehr lebhaft – 3:10

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet
Horn in F

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Paul Hindemith's Kleine Kammermusik für fünf Blaser of 1922 is among those of the composer's works where an element of improvisation stands in the foreground. In its structure, the catchy and in places genuinely witty work follows the Classical divertimenti and cassations in several movements; these in turn had taken their cue from the Baroque suite with its sequence of dance movements.

The Kleine Kammermusik is in five movements, and the individual movements live from the tension between percussive rhythms and melodies that are almost eccentric. Hindemith writes concisely here. The principal ingredients are playfulness (playing with the technical possibilities offered by the different instruments) and pastiche: in the second movement, a waltz, a capricious clarinet theme takes over from the waltz rhythm, while in the fourth movement, which is less than a minute long, the individual instruments produce sheer self-caricatures in between rhythmically harsh tutti blocks. In this piece, too, one can hear that Hindemith's main aim was to write playable music for every instrument at all times; he was only incidentally interested in specific technical features, or in individual timbre.

- Program Note from liner notes of Ars Musici CD Blaserquinette

Commercial Discography

Audio CD: Quintett Wein - 2004

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minn.) Chamber Winds (Karrin Meffert-Nelson, conductor) - 6 December 2020
Youngstown (Ohio) State University Windy 5 Woodwind Quintet (Kathryn Umble, coach) – 29 November 2017
Round Top (Tex.) Music Festival – 8 June 2013

Works for Winds by This Composer

Concert Music, op. 50 (tr. Duker) (1930/1978)
Der Schwanendreher (1935)
Geschwindmarsch by Beethoven (1946)
Geschwindmarsch (arr. Mas Quiles) (1946/1975)
Kammermusik Nr. 5 (1927/1955)
Kammermusik Nr. 7 (1927/1956)
Kleine Kammermusik (1922/1949)
Konzertmusik fur Blasorchester, Opus 41 (1926)
Konzertmusik für Klavier, Blechbläser und Harfen, Opus 49 (1930)
Mathis der Maler (tr. Duker) (1934/1973)
Morgenmusik (1932)
Neues vom Tage Overture (arr. Rogers) (1929/)
Nobilissima Visione (tr. Sweet) (1938/)
Ragtime (tr. De Cinque) (1921/2016)
Septet (1948/1949)
Sonata (arr. Spede) (1938/2006)
Sonata for Four Horns (1952)
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (tr. Wilson) (1943/1972)
- March from "Symphonic Metamorphosis" (tr. Wilson) (1943/1972)
- Marsch from "Symphonic Metamorphosis" (tr. Ross) (1943/2012)
Symphony in B-flat (1951)
Symphony in E-flat (arr. Rogers) (1940/)

Resources

Hindemith, P. (1949). Kleine Kammermusik, für fünf Bläser (Flöte, Oboe, Klarinette, Horn, Fagott) opus 24 No. 2 : Studienpartitur [score]. Schott's Söhne: Meinz.