(The following informative interview material about Paul Hindemith was brought to light by my wife's father, Clarence Grimes, of Hamden, Connecticut. Retired from a long career as a high school musical director of orchestras and bands as well as a noted teacher of the German language, Mr. Grimes is a regular visitor to Yale University 's music school and excellent music library.)
Professor Luther Noss, former Dean of the Yale School of Music, recently stated in an interview that of the over fifty 20th Century composers published by Schott, the works of Paul Hindemith account for over one-half of all royalties combined. Mr. Noss is now the Curator of the Hindemith Collection at Yale where Paul Hindemith taught for so many years. During the last years of his life, Hindemith (1895-1963) was guest conductor for about forty symphony orchestras yearly all over the world. He never played his own works unless requested to do so, and then would schedule but one of his many symphonic compositions on a program.
Of particular interest to bassoonists is the occasion of the first performance of his Bassoon Sonata. Completed in June of 1938, it had its first performance on November 6 of that same year in Zurich, Switzerland. The player was Gustaf Steidl, and the pianist was Walter Frey. The story of the event is to be found on page 139 of Andres Briner's Life of Hindemith. At the morning Hauptprobe, which was also a lecture by Hindemith on the premiere of "Mathis Der Maler," the talk was to be framed by the first performance of the Bassoon Sonata and another chamber work.
Mr. Steidl had been delayed by heavy traffic and was late arriving at the hall. As he climbed the stairs inside the rehearsal room building, he said he got the fright of his life when he heard being superbly played the piece for which he was to perform the world premiere! Had the composer replaced Steidl with another artist at the last moment? To his astonishment when he entered the room, he found that the "bassoonist" who was playing the Sonata so professionally was none other than the composer himself. Hindemith had "borrowed an instrument just to fill up the time."