OVERVIEW
The six chansons of Paul Hindemith are definitely striking gems of the twentieth century. What is interesting about these works is the fact that they pack much information in such a short package. For example, in the first chanson "La Biche" the unison part develops into familiar harmonies from triads to seventh chords. Then the texture goes back to octaves, unisons, and fifths as in Gregorian chant. That is an interesting attribute.
THE FIRST CHANSON: THE THEORY
I have witnessed in studying some of his collections of a cappella choral music that he has passages that range in perfect fifths but then go chromatically up and downward to get sonorities like seventh and ninth chords and several inversions of these harmonies. Another interesting thing is that these sonorities are formed by placing common chord tones with their enharmonic equivalents of those tones while still maintaining the overall triadic and seventh chord tone structure. For example, at Pfau Library I looked up one of his a cappella pieces that had a text that was translated as: “Come along, come along, more to drink here! More to drink here.” At the crest of this phrase I encountered the enharmonic equivalents of which I speak with B double-flats and F double-sharps in the texture. They sound as if they belong in the chord formations that Hindemith has laid out, however.
THE SECOND CHANSON
In the second chanson, there are many seventh chord and added six sonorities that make for interesting colorful effects. For example, when the piece starts, the harmony appears to be in harmonies in fourths and seconds, which sound so familiar to the 21st century ear.
THE THIRD CHANSON
In the third chanson, Hindemith turns over an exciting, impish allegro that glides between consonants and dissonance. For example, he starts in G and has the bass moving in a downward scale-wise motion. The tenor alternates in interesting fourths and fifths with the bass to create the seventh chord harmonies that are very much present in the music of the time.
THE FOURTH CHANSON
In the fourth chanson, it starts on a beautiful A-flat 6 chord going down in the bass line to a C# minor chord with a non-chord tone A in the altos, to a G minor seventh chord to a C minor seventh sonority back down to a F minor seven. From there, the chord progression works its way back to an A-flat tonic after visiting E-flat minor, C# minor, and B major.
The majority of these chansons are consonant but do have tasteful dissonances where appropriate to reveal moments of suspense. In composition, this is what I would look for when I'm writing. I'm not a big fan of repetitious or long-standing dissonance, but dissonance to lead into new more consonant sonorities, much like these chansons do. Another thing is the tenors and basses for most of the chansons have this fourth and fifth intervalic relationship between them. For example, the fifth chanson the texture going from E major 7, to D# major 7, to C# major 7, the tenor and bass notes are in a parallel fourth relationship with each chord. On the first chord the bass is on a B and the tenor an E. On the second chord, the bass is on A#. The tenor is on D#. On the next chord the bass is on G# while the tenor is on G#. The reason why Hindemith uses these inverted seventh chords is so that they can meld into the colorful add 6 chords (or triads with an added major second), which take place in almost every one of the six chansons.
