Hindemith

>That's interesting. I can't find the piece mentioned in his list of works,
>though he did have an interest in American popular music in the period
>1921-22. Was it originally for piano?

No idea, Bill. "Well-Tempered Ragtime- 1921" is how it's titled in the
MIDI
file. It sounds like what one might expect a ragtime piano piece by a
fella
called "Hindemith" to sound. I mean that in a good way...

>In fact, I think Hindemith felt the necessity to defend the use of 12 tones
>in an attempt to refute microtonalists (Carillo, Haba), while at the same
>time relating the derived pitches to a single tonic in an attempt to refute
>the possibility or desirability of atonality (Schoenberg, et al.).

He certainly seems to have expended a lot of energy (writings, etc.) on
it.

I've been reading a bit more about Hindemith in Daniel T. Politoske's
"Music". Hindemith is quoted as having written (in "A Composer's World"),
"...there is only a limited number of harmonic and tonal combinations,
and no matter how big this number is, it will be exhausted after
centuries of continuous use." But,he is also said to have attacked
other modern composers and in general objected stringly to new avant-
garde systems. (Guess he'd have luuuved us, eh ?)

>In one of Haba's books, it is mentioned that Hindemith played viola in
>one of his quartets and was very concerned to get the quarter-tone
>intonation correct to Haba's satisfaction.

Curiouser and curiouser...

So, maybe the "Well-Tempered Ragtime- 1921" is a hoax, or a fluke ?

Best wishes & great dishes,
Drew