JAVS Fall 2012

Figure 10. Final published version (viola part) of Der Schwanendreher , movt. II, “ Nun laube, Lindlein, laube!, ” mm. 63–71.

Figure 11. Final version (viola part) of Der Schwanendreher , movt. II, “ Nun laube, Lindlein, laube! ,” mm. 32–34.

Figure 12. Sketch of the Langsam section of movt. II (bars 35–63) showing Hindemith’s orchestral reduc tion of the folksong verses along with the solo viola interjections. Some small corrections are evident. Sketchbook III. Bratschenkonzert / I. & II. / Schwanendreher / 1935 , p. 41 (with kind permission of the Hindemith Institute, Frankfurt am Main).

The friskiness of the fugato B section is rather sur prising considering it is surrounded by such lugubri ous music. Hindemith’s abrupt change to this almost frivolous middle section jolts the listener away from his rarely emotive and indulgent writing in both A sections. Hindemith’s title for the B section is Der Gutzgauch auf dem Zaune saß . This corresponds to no. 167 in Böhme, although in Böhme’s volume it has the title Kuckuck (the meaning of Gutzgauch is cuckoo), and Böhme indicates that the text and music were first printed in 1540. Giselher Schubert wrote that “the cuckoo in old folk-poetry was stig matized, thrown out, laughed at and pelted with stones.” 26 Hindemith’s incongruous self-portrait, although seemingly quirky within this movement, leaves a bitter-sweet residue when considering the text of the folksong. Could Hindemith have been referring to his plans to leave Germany and travel to the United States in the lines from the final verse below?

Then he spread his wings And flew there over the water.

The folksong is divided into the traditional four phrases, each with six beats and artful transitions between the two middle phrases. Hindemith slightly adjusted the second phrase and omitted the cuckoo calls (see figure 13) in the context of the concerto.

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