Following the transfer of power to the National Socialists in 1933, the works of Paul Hindemith were defamed as “culturally Bolshevist” and removed from concert programmes; as a violist, he was increasingly restricted to performing abroad. However, as no general ban on his work was declared, Hindemith remained in Germany on the assumption that the situation could not endure for long.

Following a rapturously received performance of the Symphony “Mathis der Maler” (Mathis the Painter) by the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler on 12 March 1934, Paul Hindemith was caught up in the cultural-political wrangling between Furtwängler and the Reich’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. He asked for a leave of absence from the Berlin Academy and embarked on the first of four trips to Turkey in the spring of 1935, where he was involved in reforming music pedagogy at the request of the Turkish government. After his works were banned in Germany in 1936, he decided to emigrate. Hindemith quit his teaching position and sought out new ways of making a living during several concert tours of the USA. In September 1938, the composer first emigrated to Switzerland with his wife Gertrud, before continuing onward to the USA in 1940, where he had been given a position by Yale University and continued composing.

The Hindemiths visited Europe several times from 1947 onwards. However, they never considered remigrating to Germany. In 1953, they moved to Switzerland.

Selected works:
Cardillac (Opera, 1926)
Symphonie Mathis der Maler (1934)
Mathis der Maler (Opera, 1935)
Unterweisung im Tonsatz (Textbook, 1937/39)
Sonaten für versch. Instrumente und Klavier (1936–55)
Ludus Tonalis (piano cycle, 1942)

Further reading:
Schubert, Giselher: Paul Hindemith, Mainz: Schott 2016