The Characteristics Of Hindemith "The Fourth String Quartet" (Op.32)

Paul Hindemith(1895-1963) was a famous 20 th century German-American composer,theorist, educator, musician and conductor. He was also a representative of the Neo-Classicism. In this thesis, Hindemith’s "Fourth String Quartet"(Op.32) is the research object. trying to summarize the composers of the alignment features, so that by his music theory and analysis of the characteristics of creation, further learning Hindemith creation of vertical and horizontal integration of creative thinking, provide analytical material for the creation of subsequent practice of the composer, but also provide some theoretical reference for the player.The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is a summary of the relevant background knowledge, including the composer’s life and the overview of his works. The first section introduces Hindemith Biography and profile creation. The second section describes Hindemith composition techniques and the overview of his composition techniques theoretical. The second chapter is on the "Fourth String Quartet" compositional a technique of analysis, the first is that the string quartets creative background profile. The second section analysis the composition techniques specifically, including the harmony, musical form,counterpoint and orchestration. The third chapter is a summary, which is mainly concluding the characteristics of Hindemith’s counterpoint and the influence of these characteristics.On the one hand, Hindemith used the linear counterpoint and Pantonality to compose the horizontal melody. On the other hand, he used the harmony tension to control the vertical structure. He found a "new" way to organize these techniques, by building his own system of composition theory to achieve his creative ideals. This thesis aims to provide some valuable reference for the creative thinking of writing contemporary music, but also give performers some theoretical reference.