100th birthday of Paul Hindemith - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1995 - 100 Pfennig

Paul Hindemith was born on November 16, 1895 in Hanau. In 1908 he began at the Frankfurt Conservatory violin, from 1912 to study composition. In 1915 he was given the post of concertmaster in the Frankfurt Opera House Orchestra. At the beginning of the 1920s, Hindemith was considered to be the leading head of the musical avant-garde in Germany. His compositions broke with the late-romantic style of music, seemed fresh, lively and cheeky. In 1927, Hindemith was appointed Professor of Composition at the Musikhochschule in Berlin. He worked with well-known artists and wrote works for almost all musical fields and occupations. He also gave concerts in the 1920s as a violist of the internationally acclaimed "Amar Quartet" and as a soloist. The National Socialists put a sudden end to Hindemith's career in Germany. His works were occupied from 1936 with a performance ban, he himself was no longer allowed to perform. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1938, to the US in 1940, and became a professor of music theory in New Haven. In 1946 he became an American citizen. In 1951 Hindemith accepted a professorship in Zurich and settled in 1953 on Lake Geneva. In his last decade of life, accompanied by numerous honors, he appeared as guest conductor of many large orchestras and composed operas, choral works and chamber music. Paul Hindemith died on December 28, 1963 in Frankfurt. (Text: Dr. Susanne Schaal)