REPRINT SERIES

Paul Hindemith’s Konzertmusik für Blasorchester, Op. 41, dates from 1926 and was his first work for wind band. It was written for the Donaueschingen Festival, where it was first performed on 24 July 1926 under Hermann Scherchen, to whom it is dedicated, in a concert devoted to new wind music. It was published in 1927. The work plays for about 15 minutes in three movements: a Konzertante Ouvertüre, six variations on the song “Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter,” and a closing Marsch.

The piece is written for a wind orchestra modelled on the German military band, including tenorhorns and flugelhorns, and applies Hindemith’s rhythmic drive and contrapuntal skill to familiar band forms such as the overture, the variation set, and the march. It has remained a standard of the wind repertoire and a landmark in the history of the medium. This score and set of parts offers wind orchestras a compact, characterful, and historically important work by one of the leading composers of the twentieth century.