Three American Folksongs

During a tour of the United States, Paul Hindemith was asked by a staff member of his American publisher in 1938 to write little pieces for recorders which should serve as a model for other composers. Hindemith accepted this commission and chose melodies from the American folk-song repertoire as a basis for the little settings. Hindemith's interest in the recorder has remained almost unknown to the public. He said himself that he 'was one of the first in Germany to help revive this old instrument' and that he 'had played old recorder music and written new one' even before other composers 'had heard the name of the instrument'. As early as 1932, he published a recorder trio (Schott OFB 208) in the Plöner Musiktag collection of works, which he even premiered together with his pupils Oskar Sala and Harald Genzmer. Although Hindemith's 3 American Folksongs for Recorder Trio had arrived at his publisher only a few days after the composition, the recorder trios have remained unpublished up to now. They were found among Hindemith's belongings after his death and have been composed in such a way that they can be played best by two descant recorders and one treble recorder.