Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber

Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber is an orchestral work written by German composer Paul Hindemith in the United States in 1943.

History

The idea of composing a work based on Carl Maria von Weber's music was first put to Hindemith in 1940 by the choreographer and dancer Léonide Massine, who suggested that he should arrange music by Weber for a ballet. When Hindemith made a piano arrangement in March 1940 of the two pieces that would become movements 1 and 3 of the Metamorphosis (which in a letter of April 12, 1940 he described as "lightly coloured and made a bit sharper"), Massine expressed a preference for more strict arrangements of Weber. This was one reason the project fell through.^[1] After studying Weber's music, Hindemith watched one of Massine's ballets and disliked it, and so wrote the Symphonic Metamorphosis instead.^{[citation needed]} The Andantino and Marsch were completed on June 8 and June 13, 1943, respectively, and the manuscript of the complete orchestral score is dated August 29, 1943.^[2]

Although by its thematic material it belongs squarely in the European tradition, it was composed with the virtuosity of American symphony orchestras in mind, and was titled originally in English.

The Symphonic Metamorphosis is in four movements:

1. Allegro
2. Scherzo (Turandot): Moderato – Lively
3. Andantino
4. Marsch

The Weber themes are taken from incidental music which Weber wrote for a play by Carlo Gozzi, based on the same Turandot legend that later inspired Giacomo Puccini and others. Hindemith and his wife would play Weber's music for piano four-hands, and Hindemith used some of these little-known pieces—Op. 60/4 (no. 253 in the Jähns catalog of Weber's works) (first movement), Op. 37 (J. 75) (second movement), Op. 10/2 (J. 82) (third movement), and Op. 60/7 (J. 265) (fourth movement) for the themes of the other movements. Weber's piano duets were written around 1802–03, 1809, and 1818–19, his Turandot music in 1809.^[5]

The work was first performed on January 20, 1944, in New York City, with Artur Rodziński conducting the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. The New York Times described the piece as "a novelty ... [which] was one of the most entertaining scores that he has thus far given us, a real jeu d'esprit by a great master of his medium in a singularly happy mood."^[6]

Ballet productions

A new choreography to Hindemith's music was devised by Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros for a 1990 production at Wolf Trap, titled Movilissimanoble, but was pronounced "at best a qualified success as a symphonic abstraction in a neo-Balanchinian mode".^[12] A year later, the Tokyo Festival Ballet brought to New York Minoru Suzuki's Henyo: Unknown Symphony, a ballet danced to a recording of Hindemith's music, but it was not well-received: "The choreography kept 16 dancers busy. Yet the work was more notable for its abundance of steps than for its clarity of structure".^[13]

Instrumentation

The Metamorphosis is scored for a typical Romantic-sized orchestra.

• English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon
  .
• tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba
  .
• tom-tom, small gong, wood block, tenor drum
• violoncellos, double basses

• Luttmann, Stephen (2009). Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge Music Bibliographies (2nd ed.). New York City and London: Routledge.
  ISBN 978-0-203-89126-1
• ISBN 9780195170672
  .