SIGNED BY PAUL HINDEMITH

HINDEMITH, Paul. Symphonie Mathis der Maler. Mainz: B. Schott's Sohne, circa 1955. 12mo, original wrappers, pp. 90. $750.

Study edition of the full score of one of Hindemith's best-known works, signed by him on the title page.

"William Furtwängler conducted the first performance of Mathis der Maler in Berlin on March 12, 1934. It was soon banned by the Nazis as decadent. The symphony, based on parts of an opera of the same name, is one of Hindemith's finest achievements. Its three movements constitute a musical representation of the painter Mathias Grünewald's overwhelming Isenheim Altarpiece at Colmar, in Alsace. Grünewald is the hero of the opera, a deeply symbolic figure for Hindemith, who constructed a libretto about the horrors of the Peasant War of 1524 and the predicament of the artist in an oppressed society. The movements are marked 1. Angelic Concert, 2. Entombment, and 3. Temptation of Saint Anthony. The Temptation is a magnificent example of Hindemith's structural command underlying two chorale themes and concluding in a triumphal celebration of the spirit" (Dubal, Essential Canon of Classical Music, 595). Price stamp to front wrapper.

Fine condition.