Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith [Hardcover]

Paul Hindemith (Author), Geoffrey Skelton (Editor, Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1995

This selection of letters by Paul Hindemith-the first such anthology to appear in English-fills out our portrait of the internationally acclaimed composer, performer, festival organizer, teacher, lecturer, and writer, and provides an absorbing chronicle of his life and times.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300064519
• ISBN-13: 978-0300064513
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 4.2 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,053,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not very revealing and not super interesting, May 6, 2003

By 

Jeremiah Lawson (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selected Letters of Paul Hindemith (Hardcover)

One of my teachers told me that letters by famous people are usually very dull. Sad to say this seems to be the case here.

Skelton wrote a book on Hindemith and while that's great these selected letters seem to be missing a lot, a possibility suggested when Skelton says he didn't include material he considered of too personal a nature. I don't know if the Hindemith institute asked this or not but excerpts of some of the most interesting letters are missing, particularly the "moral conquest" letter he sent enclosed with Ludus Tonalis (which you can get in the Urtext edition); there he wrote scathing remarks about the Leningrad symphony and the American policy of promoting Russian music over German or italian music during the war years. The read is so dry I haven't even finished it yet and I get the strong sense that you wouldn't learn much more from this book than Skelton's earlier book. I've read A Composer's World and other books by Hindemith and can't shake the suspicion that Hindemith's letters were dull or, at least as likely, Skelton and co. wouldn't let us see the most readable parts.