Paul Hindemith

Des kleinen Elektromusikers Lieblinge

Paul Hindemith’s Seven Pieces for Three Trautoniums ("The Little Electromusician’s Favorites") were composed in 1930 as the first of a total of three works the composer wrote for the Trautonium, an instrument invented by Friedrich Trautwein. The premiere took place during the presentation of the electronic instrument at the Musikfest Neue Musik Berlin on June 20, 1930; the performers were Hindemith himself, his composition student at the time, Oskar Sala, and the pianist Rudolph Schmidt.

The seven trio pieces were not published in print until 1997; with this edition, they are now also available in an organ arrangement. This approach makes sense, given that Friedrich Trautwein (who also played the organ himself) had originally planned an electronic organ; in fact, the nasal tone characterized as "sharp" in the 2nd and 7th pieces sounds very similar to the organ register "Voix humaine." The score terms "Hauptwerk" and "Fernwerk," which refer to the placement of the loudspeakers at the performance venue, also come directly from organ terminology.

Despite the novelty of its sound production, the Trautonium was well-suited to Hindemith’s "linear counterpoint," as evidenced by the musical composition modeled after Baroque trio sonatas. The fact that the seven trio pieces were not conceived as being overly instrument-specific is evidenced by the composer’s later revisions—for example, in the Plön Music Festival (Trio Piece No. 3, listed there as "Trio for String Instruments") or in the fourth scene of the opera *Mathis der Maler* (Trio Piece No. 6 from measure 55, listed there as "Wind Chorale"). The explicit reference to *Tristan* in the first piece has given rise to speculation.

A performance on the organ, however, will require considerable musical imagination, particularly with regard to the interpretation or adjustment of the prescribed dynamics. Significant inspiration can be drawn from Oskar Sala’s 1977 Trautonium recording (made using multitrack technology); the cadenza of the second Trautonium (= middle voice) in Movement No. 6, which is only sketchily indicated in Hindemith’s score, comes from this "authentic" interpretation.

- Pier Damiano Peretti