History of the Foundation
Gertrud Hindemith outlined not only the formulation of the content of the Hindemith Foundation in her will, but also named personalities to whom she wished to entrust the administration of her estate.
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...By
no means do I expect that all these friends will be free to travel
to Blonay and I understand perfectly well should they be unable to
accept. But they are all friends of whom one could ask special
questions and advice following this gathering...
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After
Gertrud Hindemith's death on 13 March 1967 in Vevey, this circle of
friends assembled in December of that year to lay the groundwork for a
Hindemith Foundation and to elect the Foundation Council from this group
of friends.
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...I
name Dr Arno Volk, Director of Schott Music Publishers in Mainz,
as Executive Director and Chairman of the Foundation. He has
promised me that he would accept this office and I am very
grateful to him for it...
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Arno Volk, whose support Gertrud Hindemith had herself requested, was elected President of the Foundation at this meeting, with Karl Schober, a relative of Gertrud Hindemith, by his side as Vice President. Together with Marius Décombaz, the administrator of Hindemith's estate, Heinrich Straumann, a colleague of Hindemith's at the University of Zurich and Philipp Mohler, Director of the Academy of Music in Frankfurt am Main, they formed the first Foundation Council of the Hindemith Foundation. Blonay, Hindemith's final residence, was chosen as headquarters.
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The
First Foundation Council of the Hindemith Foundation:
Dr Arno Volk, President (Mainz) Dr Karl Schober, Vice President (at first Brussels, later Vienna) Marius Décombaz (Vevey) Prof. Dr Heinrich Straumann (Zurich) Prof. Philipp Mohler (Frankfurt) |
After Andres Briner (Zurich), a pupil of Paul Hindemith who had also been named on the list, replaced Heinrich Straumann in December 1968 as a member of the Council, this committee made an indelible impression on the work of the Hindemith Foundation. There was no change in its personnel for over fifteen years; only the death of Philipp Mohler interrupted the continuity of the collaboration. During this period the Hindemith Institute was opened in Frankfurt am Main as a musicological research centre and the Chalet Lacroix in Blonay was acquired and expanded into the Hindemith Music Centre.
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...I
should like to emphasise on this occasion that by no means
whatsoever should the usual sort of PH Society with
hundreds of members and publications be founded. All of these
societies were highly repugnant to my husband and he only
consented to become a member in the most difficult instances...
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Mohler's successor
at the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Hans-Dieter Resch, assumed Mohler's
duties in the Hindemith Foundation in February 1983 as well. Arno Volk
entrusted the office of President on 1 October 1985 to Andres Briner, at
first for reasons of health. After he died only a year later, he was
replaced by Andreas Eckhardt on the Foundation Council, who had been
recommended by Volk himself. After this change in personnel caused by the
deaths of two founding members, the Foundation Council resumed its work
over a period of nearly ten years with unchanged personnel. The first
working phase of the Foundation Council, marked by a first realisation of
the Foundation's idea, was now followed by a period of stabilisation and
of expansion of both institutions in Blonay and Frankfurt. During his
lifetime, Marius Décombaz initiated his younger colleague François
Margot as his successor on the Foundation Council; at nearly the same time
Andreas Schober replaced his ailing father and Andres Briner turned his
office of the Presidency over to Andreas Eckhardt.
In May 2003, Andres Briner retired; the Foundation's Council appoints him
as Honorary Member.