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Fall 1994

Musical Metamorphoses in Hindemith's "March"

from the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl
Maria von Weber
Gene H. Anderson
University of Richmond, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation
Anderson, Gene H. "Musical Metamorphoses in Hindemith's "March" from the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria Von
Weber." Journal of Band Research 30, no. 1 (Fall 1994): 1-10.

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 ANALYSIS: MUSICAL METAMORPHOSES IN HINDEMITH'S
MARCH FROM SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS OF THEMES
BY CARL MARIA VON WEBER

Gene Anderson

Four years after composing the Symphonic Metamorphosis in 1943,

Hindemith approached his Yale colleague, Keith Wilson, to consider doing
a transcription of the March for band. Assenting immediately, Wilson went
over the score in detail with the composer, although it took thirteen more
years to obtain an agreement from Hindemith's American and German
publishers allowing him to begin the project. After almost two years of
work, Wilson conducted the Yale Band in its premiere in March, 1962, only
to receive a "blistering letter" from Hindemith's American publisher,
Associated, declaring the agreement void and impounding the score and
parts. The transcription remained inaccessible for eight more years until
Associated was purchased by Belwin-Mills, who immediately published
the work which meanwhile had become popular. While it is ironic and
unfair that Wilson was forced to sell his rights to Associated for a "paltry
sum" and has never received royalties, 1 his transcription endures as a model
of its kind-as ideally suited for band as the original for orchestra. 2
What little has been written about Hindemith's Symphonic
Metamorphosis-regarded in the literature as a relatively minor, albeit
popular product of his post-Mathis der Mahler period-has been rather
superficial and somewhat patronizing. The single analysis of the score in
English declares it to be neither symphonic nor a metamorphosis:

... the "Symphonic Metamorphosis" hardly lives up to its

title. There is little that can be said to be of a symphonic
nature in the integral structure of its movements and the the-
matic metamorphosis which is implicit in its title, is severe-
ly limited. 3

Although more charitable, German writers too have had difficulty agreeing
upon the manner and degree of metamorphosis applied to von Weber's
themes as suggested by the title, concluding the result to be less melodic
variation than a kind of parody of each piece as a whole. 4
ANDERSON

From the composer we learn 'nothing about his approaches to the con-
struction of this piece or about specific methods of musical metamorpho-
sis. Hindemith, in fact, considered such knowledge useless, as he tren-
chantly observed in an early autobiographical note: " ... for people with ears
my things are perfectly easy to understand, so an analysis is superfluous.
For people without ears such cribs can't help." 5 Indeed, one is struck, not
by the differences, but by the similarities between the March and its proto-
type, von Weber's Marcia from Huit pieces for piano duet, Op. 60, No. 7,
composed in 1819.6 But while model and original essentially agree in mat-
ters of melody, harmony, rhythm, and form, closer scrutiny reveals the
process of metamorphosis to extend beyond surface modifications of these
elements to more subtle but basic transformations of timbre, harmonic
function, and rhythmic proportion, which ultimately affect every level and
component of the composition's structure.
Comparison of the opening measures of the March with von Weber's
Marcia illustrates several procedures of change. Instead of two balanced,
harmonically unambiguous, and rhythmically sequential phrases at the
same dynamic level, Hindemith introduces drama and suspense by imply-
ing rather than stating harmonies, by lengthening certain rhythmic equiva-
lents, and by adding dynamic variety. Moreover, not only are the lengths
of Hindemith's measures 2-3 and measure 5 unpredictably out of balance
with his measures 1 and 4, they are unequal to each other, making for
asymmetric phrases of 6 and 5 beats respectively (Example 1).

Jfarcli, bars 1·5.

~~r:I;f!: '1; ; :'~~ .. : '1

Example 1.

These bars, in tum, provide the basis for pervasive and more compre-
hensive transformations. By embodying in microcosm its fundamental

2
 SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS

ideas which recur periodically in altered guises and at formally strategic

places throughout the piece, the Introduction functions as the key to
Hindemith's March:

Formal Scheme

SECTION Introduction
SUBDIVISION motive x motive y xl yl
MEASURE 1 2 4 5
DOMINANT TIMBRE trp/trb hn/cym trp/trb hn/cym
DYNAMICS f p f p
KEY bb minor

A
a b y2 y3 x2 al y4
6 10 14 18 21 27 34 38 45
WW WW WW WW hn hn trp/trb WW hn
p mt t mt p cresc t r p
bb minor

B Al Bl Coda
c d cl x3 a2 bl x4 c2 dl c3 x5 +y5
51 68 74 82 88 96 101 111 119 125 132 141
hn WW WW WW trb trb ob/trb brass br brass hn/trp br
mf f f 0 mo f mf f mf/f ff ff ff
Bb major a minor EbfBb Bb major

The Introduction's most striking characteristic is the juxtaposition

within each phrase of extreme rhythmic, dynamic, timbral, and tonal con-
trasts labeled on the Formal Scheme as Motives X and Y. By overlapping
the conclusion of X with the entrance of Y, Hindemith achieves through
klangfarben a musical metamorphosis not obviously derived from von
Weber's theme. Thus the forceful opening figure (Motive X)---comprised
melodically of perfect consonances, of the simplest texture, of uncompli-
cated timbre, uni-directional, unequivocally in Bh, resolutely in duple

3
ANDERSON

meter, and indisputably a fanfare-dissolves abruptly after one measure

into its antithesis (Motive Y). The effect of successive differences might be
described as the transformation from relative stability to instability, from
clarity to ambiguity, from simplicity to complexity, from motion to rest, or,
if a Manichean interpretation may be suggested, from light to dark.
Beyond the proximate modifications, the implied harmonies of bars 2-
5 determine the basic structure of the piece by evolving gradually over the
length of the work and achieving their final transformation at the end.
Though the chord in bars 2-3 is a sounding D major triad, its inverted posi-
tion and eventual resolution-emphasized by the enharmonic spelling of
the chord third (Gh rather than F#)-reveal its actual function to be an
embellished and prolonged upper neighbor to the F in bar 4. Initially the
F is most likely heard as the root of the dominant, but the Bh and Dhs in the
second half of the bar suggest its role to be the fifth of the minor tonic triad.
While the status of F as a chord root is affirmed in the cadential harmony
of bar 5-an inverted dominant seventh-the original status of the tonic Bh
is transformed to an unresolved suspended dissonance (Example 2).
Mar-ch, Harmonic reduction, bars 1-S.

Example 2.

The tension and unpredictability of the first five bars is relieved by the
appearance of Theme A, whose rhythm, shape, and upper neighbor rela-
tionships (e. g., Bh to A in bars 7 and 9) derive from the Introduction, while
the rhythm of its accompaniment is that of the theme's first two bars in
diminution (Example 3). As in von Weber's original, the second half of

Example 3.

Theme A (measures 10-13) begins a modulation to the major submediant,

Gb, which is expanded and completed in the first half of Theme B. The cli-

4
 SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS

mactic Gb triads of bars 14-15, the first root-position major harmonies in

the piece, represent an apotheosis of that pitch from bar 3 of the
Introduction-an appoggiatura elevated to the level of a tonic (Example 4).
March, bare 14-17.

Example 4.

The emancipation of Gb from its former role is underscored by its exclu-

sion from muted horn harmony that ends the fourth phrase, a metamor-
phosis of Motive Y from a sounding D major to a Db minor chord with a
written E in place of Fb (Example 5).
March, bars 21-2Sa .

11 11 I
........ .
'
. . ..
~

:
·-
L ~
p-
-
·-
- L
..__

--
. .
L
--- -
...

••.,. "I ~ ~
' ' ' '

..
'••
- - .-
J
p--- - - ------ ------
~·~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Example 5.

Measures 6-26 can thus be viewed as an expanded transformation of the

first three bars of the Introduction, whose chief distinction is the separation
and independent development of Gb from its original harmonic context and
function (Example 6).
March, Harmonic reduction, bars 6-21.
•11011 11 II

I'~@@ i. @~J • t;;

i VI lV '-fu

Example 6.

After the repeat ofmeasures 6-26, Motive Y is extended and enhanced

by woodwind and brass accompanying figures before leading to a truncat-
ed restatement of Motive X, with an inverted antiphonal woodwind
response in place of the muted horns. The Gb in measure 35 is transformed

5
ANDERSON

here, however, into an Fl> or the fifth of a B major triad, which usurps its
original appoggiatura relationship to the dominant (Example 7).
March bars 34-37
~ ..
.,"•• II~ I J: .
,) ,~ ~
"
•

!
v ' PY I 1, ' '
f p
f: ~: I.I: ~
: "- '

Example 7.

A culminating restatement of Theme A by the full band in measures 38-

44 precedes a final modification of Motive Y in which Qb is banished from
the horn harmony to the accompanying timpani, and which forms both the
conclusion of Section A on the tonic minor and the transition to Section B
in the parallel major (Example 8).
March, bara 45·49a.

Example 8.

Section B initiates an exchange of instrumental roles. The French

horns, formerly an inactive respondent to the woodwinds and other brass,
now have the theme (Example 9). Triplets in the accompanying woodwinds
March, bars 52-55.

~ ~ . . ~ . "

mf

Example 9.

replace the dotted rhythms of before. The trumpets and trombones, absent
until measure 68, take over the role of accompaniment to a new idea
assumed by the upper clarinets, flutes, oboes, and English horn.
Temporarily silent, the horns re-enter to accompany a rhythmically dis-
placed version of Theme C at measure 74.
Here at the midpoint of the March Hindemith reaches a climax of
harmonic and rhythmic complexity. For the first half of the work the

6
 SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS

prevailing harmonies had been major triads, minor triads, or major-minor

seventh chords-I and II harmonies according to Hindemith's Table of
Chord Groups. 7 In measure 45 (see Example 8) a prolonged major-minor
seventh is reached (Hindemith Group III) and in the first half of measure
72, a dominant augmented eleventh (Hindemith Group IV), the most dis-
sonant chord of the piece (Example 10). Hence Hindemith adheres to his
guidelines for "harmonic fluctuation," in which is recommended a

,..
.
March, bar 72a .

.
Example 10.

balanced rise and fall of harmonic tension throughout a piece. 8

Correspondingly, in measure 123, the point comparable to measure 72 in
the restatement of B in second half of the March, the augmented eleventh
is replaced with a major triad or Group I harmony.
Rhythmic complications similarly accumulate and recede. In Section
A, duple subdivisions prevail in both melody and accompaniment. In
Section B, triple and duple subdivisions occur simultaneously between the
melody and accompaniment, culminating in the rhythmic disjunction of
measure 74 mentioned above. And like the fate of its harmonic counter-
part, the augmented eleventh, this aspect of rhythmic complexity is neu-
tralized by reversion to the original rhythm at measure 125 in the restate-
ment of Section B.
A repeat of the Introduction forms the transition to a modified recapit-
ulation. In keeping with a process of escalating complexity, the transfor-
mation of the Introduction is extreme-except for the melodic outline,
everything of the original is reversed: whole and half notes substitute for
halves and quarters; equal durations take the place of dotted values; quiet
woodwinds replace loud brasses; static horn harmonies accede to synco-
pated counterpoint in the low brass and string bass; the cymbal roll surren-
ders to a metrical series of repeated pitches in the timpani; a continuous
timbre eliminates klangfarben. But most significantly for the process of
the piece, the Gb-emancipated in bars 14-15 from the harmony of bars 2-
3, transformed to fb in bar 35, tangentially reintroduced into the harmony
in bar 45-reasserts itself in its original location as a harmonic root in bar

7
ANDERSON

84. Its metamorphosis as Qb is complete (Example 11).

March, bara 82-87.

' p.0:
- .. _ ' ·~. .. ,........--;. "

l
., I
"" ... '

.
p

:
C.<' rt-- I I . '
p ,..,. L..li I I I I I ~
- ---
Example 11.
The procedure of reversal continues in the recapitulation beginning in
measure 88, with an abrupt modulation to the leading tone minor and the
theme switched from upper woodwinds (bar 6) to low brasses. Outside
changes of instrumentation and key as well as some ornamental passages
in triplets by the clarinets, bars 88-100 are a literal repeat of 6-18. At bar
101, however, the transition to the recapitulation of Section B is accom-
plished by a rising sequence constructed of Motive X in the woodwinds
rather than the horn harmonies of Motive Y as previously (Example 12).
March, ban 101-105.

i~ ~- 1 .,; -~{ - ~r ~ ~> • !!1

f mp f

Example 12.

The sequence culminates in bars 107-10 with the rhythm of Motive X alte
red to extend over five beats rather than four and outlining first an fb minor
triad and concluding on a D dominant seventh-the metamorphosis of Qb
to fb has begun. Then, in the second half of bar 110 Hindemith jolts the
listener with successive surprises: the first instance of absolute silence in
the piece and the recapitulation of Theme B in the subdominant rather than
the tonic (Example 13).
March, bars 107-110.

1 ~:: •&rt~ 11@!'.. ~ ~ 1:.: ;? ~I

f

Example 13.

8
 SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS

Bb reasserts itself as the tonic in bar 115 for the second half of the
phase, but instead of repeating Theme C as before, a version of Theme D
climaxing on Fb precedes the final statement in the tonic, beginning at bar
125. Thus concludes a tendency towards the dissolution of the dominant
harmony initiated in the Introduction where its presence is implied but not
explicitly stated. After the opening bars Hindemith uses the dominant to
reaffirm the tonic only twice-in bar 72, embellished almost beyond the
point of recognition as an augmented eleventh, and in bar 123, chromati-
cally altered with only a trace of its function remaining.
It remains for the Coda to provide the final and most decisive meta-
morphosis of the March. From the alternating repetitions of Motive X in
the trumpets and horns at bar 132 (Example 14) progressing to a frenzy of
March, bars 132-133.

Example 14.

development at bar 136, emerges an ultimate unison statement followed by

a root-position D major triad in bars 140-41 (Example 15).
March, bars 140-144.
bu...

Example 15.

The equivocal identity of Qb in bar 2 has been finally resolved to an

unequivocal Fb. With the instability stabilized, ambiguity clarified, com-
plexity simplified, and darkness dispelled by light, the problem presented
at the beginning of the March is solved. And by its solution the nature of
thematic metamorphosis is finally clarified as a transformation not of
appearance, but of character.

9
ANDERSON

NOTES
1
Letter from Keith Wilson, August 18, 1992

2
Allowing for instances where the substitution of winds for strings would be obvious
or predictable, Wilson's transcription is faithful to Hindemith's original orchestration with
the exception of bars 45-49, where he employs French horns for the restatement of Motive
Y rather than retain Hindemith's choice of flutes and clarinets. Since Hindemith's instru-
mentation does not preclude horns, this would seem to be a deliberate deviation by Wilson
for purposes of coherence, thereby affiliating horns with Motive Y throughout the piece.

3
John Fenton, "Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis," Music Teacher (February
1978), 19.

4
Wilfried Brennecke, "Die Metamorphosen-Werke von Richard Strauss und Paul
Hindemith," Schweizerische Musikzeitung, 103/4 (1963), 201. In this article, which con-
tains brief analyses of each movement of the Symphonic Metamorphosis, Brennecke sur-
veys the question of metamorphosis verus variation in German writings about the piece.
The author's section on the Marsch is entirely a comparison of its form with that of
Weber's Marcia.

5
Ian Kemp, Hindemith (London: Oxford University, 1978), 7.

6
For this to have been a funeral march as some think, proof is lacking since the auto-
graph is lost indicating the original title and tempo (Brennecke, 204-04 ).

7
Paul Hindemith, Craft of Musical Composition, Book I: Theory, Arthur Mendel
trans. (New York: Schott, 1968). Hindemith's Table is in an appended chart at the end of
the text in which chords are classified according to increasing levels of dissonance and sta-
bility: e. g., Group 1--chords without a tritone, seconds, or sevenths; Group II--chords
with a tritone but without minor seconds or major sevenths; Group III--chords without a
tritone but with seconds or sevenths; Group IV--chords with a tritone, major sevenths,
and minor seconds; plus Groups V and VI of dissonant chords with and without a tritone
whose roots must be determined by context. The March contains no prominent harmonies
of the latter two classifications.

8
Ibid., 114-21.

IO