JAVS Fall 2012

The opening of this movement is heartbreakingly tender, composed as if the viola were singing an elegy accompanied spontaneously by a minstrel harpist. The sheer intimacy and flagrant emotive indulgence displayed was indeed a rare occurrence in Hindemith’s music. The four phrases of the folksong played by the winds are answered and connected by the solo viola’s heart-rending recitativo interjections. The text is consumed by the notion of lost love, and Hindemith’s portrayal of the longing and sadness apparent in the five verses is masterful. Hindemith employed a Siciliano -like rhythm in the viola, encouraging further the notion of a lullaby. The opening section with the viola and harp is marked in 6/8, but the folksong is clearly in 2/4 (beginning in m. 35), and Hindemith indicated for the viola to remain in 6/8 in the solo passages link ing the folksong phrases. This combination of sim ple and compound time clearly distinguishes the simplicity of the folksong melody against the more rhythmically intricate solo viola material. This movement is in ternary form, with the A sec tion Nun laube, Lindlein, laube! appearing at the start and end, with a measure of variety the second time. The solo viola melody is heard an octave high er the second time and is accompanied not only by the harp, but joined from the outset with the folk song played by the horns, still maintaining the 6/8 versus 2/4 differentiation from the initial A section. Hindemith’s first version of bars 63–71 (fig. 8) was conceived in 9/8, seen below from Sketchbook III. Bratschenkonzert / I. & II. / Schwanendreher/ 1935. Not only is the rhythmic conception different in this sketch, but melodic material, shape, and notes vary greatly from the second sketch and final version (see figures 9 and 10). Hindemith seems to have used the sketched material from bars 69–71(see figure 8) in the final version of bars 32–34 (see figure 11).

Figure 8. The first version in sketch form of Der Schwanendreher , movt. II, “ Nun laube, Lindlein, laube! ,” mm. 63–71 from Sketchbook III. Bratschenkonzert / I. & II. / Schwanendreher / 1935 , p. 40 (with kind permission of the Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt am Main).

Figure 9. Second version of bars 63–71 from Sketchbook III. Bratschenkonzert / I. & II. / Schwanendreher / 1935 , p. 41. Hindemith raised some of the pitches by a semitone in the final ver sion seen in figure 10 (with kind permission of the Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt am Main).

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