Is there a choral recording of Hindemith's "Frau Musica"?

September 5, 2004 8:46 AM

Does anybody know of a choral recording of Hindemith's "Frau Musica"? The sheet music is available, but I'm not finding any recordings.
posted by languagehat to media & arts (4 comments total)

Maybe try asking the folks at rec.music.classical.recordings. I couldn't find one...
posted by misteraitch at 12:18 PM on September 5, 2004

languagehat, do you have access to library with an OCLC worldcat search?

Also, the first thing I thought of when I came up empty was to ask my old choral professors about this -- do you have any you have access to at a nearby university?
posted by weston at 1:58 PM on September 5, 2004

misteraitch: Thanks, that's a great suggestion, and I just followed up on it.

weston: WorldCat was another brilliant suggestion; I put in my NYPL card number, searched, and found the following (doubtless long out of print) LP:

Title: Apparebit repentina dies
The demon of the Gibbet ; Canon for Mrs. Coolidge's 85th birthday ; Frau musica
Author(s): Hindemith, Paul, 1895-1963.
Corp Author(s): Harvard Glee Club; Radcliffe Choral Society.
Publication: [S.l.]; Marquis Recordings
Year: 1900-1977?
Description: 1 sound disc; analog; 12 in.
Music Type: Canons and rounds; Multiple forms
Standard No: Publisher: MR-139; Marquis Recordings

It's available at Harvard (duh), Cornell, and Minot (SD) State University. I doubt anybody will send an LP to NYC via interlibrary loan, but if I get desperate I may try it. Hard to believe it's only been recorded the once -- Hindemith isn't exactly an unknown composer. Anyway, thanks to both of you!
posted by languagehat at 3:56 PM on September 5, 2004

Hindemith's later (mid-40s) rewriting of the piece was in English, so you might want to try Dame Music instead. I still couldn't find anything, though...
posted by monkey closet at 1:59 AM on September 6, 2004