Paul Hindemith grew up in petit bourgeois circumstances. His ancestors hailed from Silesia; his father was a painter and varnisher in the Frankfurt area and his mother, Maria Sophie (née Warnecke) hailed from a shepherding family. The music-loving father could only support his family with difficulty, but he lay great emphasis on the strict musical education of his three children Paul (*1895), Antonia (*1898) und Rudolf (*1900). The fact that corporal punishment was among the methods of upbringing used is shown in a letter from the father to Emma Ronnefeldt, a supporter of the young Paul: “Once in my life I gave over our eldest, then 3 years of age, to my parents until he was 6. When I gave the boy away, I had already trained him pretty well in ear training and music & when I took him to school, the boy was completely spoiled. Nonetheless, my parents were well-educated people, but they were old and the grandson was so full of himself that the rascal had to do penance for this until the pep was in him again.”

The “Frankfurt Children’s Trio” – Paul played violin, Antonia piano and the younger brother Rudolf cello – was sent by the father through the villages of his Upper Silesian homeland, where they played their best renditions of adaptations of well-known entertainment music. Paul received his first regular violin instruction from the violinist Anna Hegner, who soon recommended him to the renowned violinist, teacher at the Hoch Conservatory and concertmaster of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Adolf Rebner.  Paul’s extraordinary talent and his responsible and reserved personality allowed him to make contacts with well-situated bourgeois families who supported him materially and encouraged his artistic-literary interests.

Alongside instruction in violin-playing, Paul studied composition with Arnold Mendelssohn, from 1913 with Bernhard Sekles, played in spa orchestras in Switzerland during the summer holidays and accepted a post during the same year as concertmaster at the Frankfurt Neues Theater. From 1915 – his father volunteered for service after the outbreak of war and was killed in September of that year – he took over the post of concertmaster at the Frankfurt Opera, feeling responsible for his mother and siblings. In addition, he acted as violinist and violist in the string quartet of his teacher Rebner. The composition Op. 1-9 written during this time reflect the compositional tendencies of the turn of the century and demonstrate the sovereignty with which the young composer mastered the techniques of the musical avant-garde (Schreker, Strauss and Reger). In later years he was self-critical about these pieces in his catalogue of works: “At that time I fluctuated back and forth, not knowing what I was doing. But ultimately there’s nothing one can do but compose.”

In August 1917 Hindemith was conscripted into wartime service; in January 1918 he drove to his regiment on the Alsatian front. He served as drummer and first violin of a string quartet recruited of soldiers and, from mid-1918, when his regiment was transferred to Flanders, stood guard and dug trenches. He composed despite the horrific impressions of the war – works which maintain a certain distance from the wartime experiences and abstain from any particular world-view.

Hindemith was very musically active and productive after the war. His compositions were of varying character, some with folksong elements and others influenced by modern dance music. After the compositions enjoyed regional successes, Schott Publishers in Mainz became interested in the young composer in 1919. The composer’s thoroughly turbulent development during the following months at first irritated the firm directors Ludwig and Willy Strecker, but a mutual trust soon developed which formed the basis of a lifelong, friendly partnership.

Hindemith made his breakthrough in1921, when his 3rd String Quartet, Op. 16 was performed at the first “Donaueschingen Chamber Music Performances for the Promotion of Contemporary Music” by an ad hoc quartet made up of the violinists Licco Amar and Walter Caspar as well as Paul and Rudolf Hindemith. The composer at once found himself at the centre of artistic interest and soon advanced to the position of figurehead of the musical avant-garde. What was it about this piece that so fascinated the public? It was surely the rhythmic verve and original, archaic drive of this music, which could be felt without much difficulty thanks to its clearly structured form.