HINDEMITH, PAUL. (1895-1963). German composer, and one of the outstanding figures in 20th-century music theory and composition. ALS. (“Paul Hindemith”). 1p. Small 4to. New Haven, December 25, 1949. To Frankfurt politician DR. (HELLMUT) REINERT (1891-1962). In German with translation.

“After having had fun get-togethers on a few occasions in recent years, I would never have imagined that I would be writing to you so soon on a sad occasion. At my mother’s funeral service with such floral decorations as you had organized that I myself, as an unavoidably absent son, could not have bettered. As much as it pained me not to be able to be present at my dear old mother’s last journey, I was comforted by the participation of many friends who bid her such a heartfelt farewell. I would like to thank you and the staff of the Frankfurt magistrate involved for your kindness, which I will remember forever. Respectfully yours…”

After his opera Mathis der Maler was banned by the Nazis in the early 1930s, Hindemith left his post as professor of composition at the Berlin Academy of Music, to teach at several other European universities. However, financial difficulties led him to Yale where he taught from 1940 to 1953, the period during which he wrote our letter. Rejecting Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone system, Hindemith created his own harmonic theory, which used the principles of traditional tonality. His masterworks include Kammermusik, Symphonic Metamorphoses on a Theme by Weber, Sinfonia Serena and Die Harmonie der Welt.

Our heartfelt letter regards the death of Hindemith’s mother, Marie Sophie Warnecke, on November 23, 1949 in the Upper Hessian town of Butzbach, outside of Frankfurt. Hindemith was close to his mother, and it was to her that he dedicated his 1937 textbook Unterweisung im Tonsatz: Theoretischer Teil. Hindemith returned to Europe in 1953, when he accepted a teaching position in Zurich.

Reinert was involved in the government of Frankfurt since the 1920s and, at the time of our letter, was a city councilor actively engaged in the civic matters of Frankfurt until his retirement in 1960.

Folded with one small stain. In fine condition.