Sonata for horn and piano (1939)

Mässig bewegt - lebhaft

Ruhig bewegt

Lebhaft - langsam - lebhaft

The prospect of writing at least one sonata for each of the major instruments of the orchestra, from flute to double bass, is so daunting that most composers wouldn’t even consider it. For Hindemith, who was one of the most industrious musicians of his day, it was just another project among many. Most of the sonatas were written in the late 1930s or early 1940s - the more problematic ones for double bass and tuba followed some years later - and, in spite of the uniformity of his harmonic language at this time, they are as distinct in their individuality as the instruments they are written for. As an aspiring hornist himself, Hindemith was particularly successful with the Horn Sonata in F, which was written in Bluche (his Swiss retreat from Nazi persecution) in 1939.

It is a characteristic construction in that none of the three movements is in sonata form. Hindemith prefers to present his material here in a kind of mosaic construction and, although the themes are discreetly manipulated to make smooth transitions between the various sections, that is about all the development there is. The first movement,Mässig bewegt (at a moderate tempo), is basically ternary in shape. The opening section has two broadly lyrical main themes - the first boldly assertive, the second quietly expressive - both of them introduced by horn and repeated by piano. The middle section is rather more excitable, particularly in the piano part, which insists on retaining its galloping rhythmic figuration even when the horn, at first tentatively and then emphatically, makes a start on recalling the opening theme. Although the piano is gradually persuaded to prepare for the recall of the more sensitive second theme and, eventually, to allow it to bring the momentum almost to a halt, a Lebhaft (lively) coda dramatically asserts the supremacy of the opening theme.

The second movement, Ruhig bewegt (at a quiet tempo), is remarkable among these sonatas for the priority given to instrumental colouring in its middle section. The outer sections, based on a theme which is derived from the first movement, are thoroughly characteristic in their linear interest and their contrapuntal textures. The middle section, on the other hand, opens with a quietly ringing ostinato in the top half of the keyboard to offset the poetic phrases about to be introduced by the horn and then introduces a decoratively detailed piano melody with a long-sustained horn note in the background. In case this seems unduly frivolous, the material of the opening section is dramatically more serious on its recall, rising gradually to a climax before subsiding at the end.

The last and longest of the three movements, the final Lebhaft (lively) is exceptionally well integrated. It is another ternary construction, setting the brisk and business-like outer sections against a Langsam (slow) middle section so rueful in character that it seems the two could have nothing in common. In fact, both themes of the middle section reappear, rhythmically transformed but melodically recognisable, in the midst of the Lebhaft material as it is recalled to initiate a purposeful drive towards a coda that conclusively expands both in tempo and in volume.

Gerald Larner©