ABSTRACT
Paul Hindemith was born in Hanau, Germany, on November 16, 1895. The father, a lover of music and an amateur musician himself, saw to it that his three children received professional musical instruction beginning at an early age. Paul began the serious study of the violin at the Hoch Conservatory under the supervision of Anna Hegner, a violinist of some accomplishment. Hindemith became a member of the planning committee of the Donauschingen Festival in 1922. The festival was active in the promotion of contemporary music, and Hindemith played a major role on that committee, which further advanced his reputation and position in the music committee. World War I claimed Hindemith in 1917, when he was drafted. He spent his military service as a member of a regimental band, in which he played the bass drum. Hindemith was one of those composers in the twentieth century who attempted to reverse that trend by writing music.
