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Cappella Amsterdam sings An eine Tote, composed by Paul Hindemith. The song was performed in Cappella Amsterdam’s concert program Kafka, featuring Dutch actors Anne-Chris Schulting and Roeland Fernhout. The program was led by chief conductor Daniel Reuss.
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) was a German composer, violinist, teacher, organist, theorist and conductor. He studied violin at Frankfurt’s Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium, then played at the Frankfurt Opera from 1915 to 1923. From 1921 to 1929, he was a violinist in the Amar Quartet, where he actively advocated the music of his time. He was appointed to teach composition at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin in 1927 and then in Switzerland in 1938, to which he had fled from the rising tide of Nazism. He left for the United States, where he taught at Yale University, teaching composition, from 1940 to 1953. He obtained American citizenship in 1948. Later, he returned to Europe. He settled in Switzerland and taught at the University of Zurich from 1951 to 1953.
His oeuvre is very extensive, containing more than a hundred compositions and touching all genres. Although he was an ardent defender of contemporary music, he was never attracted to dodecaphony. He has also written several theoretical works.
Program
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) An eine Tote
lyrics
Stille Blume, erblaßt unter herbstlichen Sternen,
demütig Licht, in den schweigenden Abend verweht:
Mögen von dir die Liebenden ehrfürchtig lernen
Nimm uns, da du gegangen, nicht das Gebet,
nicht die Geduld zu unsrer endlichen Reife,
nun die Erfüllung dir auf erblichener Stirne steht.
Gabst du uns doch, erhoben aus ruhloser Streife,
Beispiel genug, aufdaß an der Wurzel berührt,
In deinem Sterben sich unser Leben begreife.
Nicht, daß du ruhest, von keiner Klage verführt,
Schmerzt uns Verwirrte, die in der Woge geblieben:
(Du bist am Ufer, das allem Leide gebührt.)
Aber wir trauern, daß wir dich nun erst lieben,
Da wir erkennen, wie du nach sanftem Gebot
Deine Vollendung schon allen Dingen verschrieben.
Und wir dienen in Schauern: dem Abend,
Dem Herbste, dem Tod
performed by
Cappella Amsterdam
Daniel Reuss conductor
