In this system, the major-minor duality is meaningless and the practice of modulation is dropped, although subject modulation occurs in the second fugue, to create growing tension. The affinity of each note with the keynote is directly related to its position on the harmonic scale. Ludus Tonalis can be thought of as the most direct application of Hindemith's theory that the twelve tones of the equally tempered scale all relate to a single one of them (called a tonic or keynote). Unlike Bach's work, though, the non-fugal pieces in Ludus Tonalis frequently repeat the work's main theme. Moreover, Hindemith composed all the fugues before composing. Ludus Tonalis was intended to be the twentieth-century equivalent to J.S. Hindemith waited to the very last to compose this launching piece.

But now that it's here, the world can only be grateful because, as unlikely as it seems, this is one heck of a performance of Ludus Tonalis. The tonalities of the fugues follow the order of his Serie 1 and use the keynote C (see The Craft of Musical Composition). Probably not: in fact, the world probably was not crying out for any performance at all of Hindemith 's twentieth century Art of the Fugue, much less an orchestral arrangement played on a synthesizer.

In between, there are twelve three-part fugues separated by eleven interludes, beginning in the tonality of the previous fugue and ending in the tonality of the next fugue (or in a different tonality very close to that). The piece, which comprises all 12 major and/or minor keys, starts with a three-part Praeludium in C resembling Johann Sebastian Bach's toccatas, and ends with a Postludium which is an exact retrograde inversion of the Praeludium. From the first and final movements, respectively.

Piano work by Paul Hindemith Opening ( Play ( help TIDAL is the first global music streaming service with high fidelity sound, hi-def video quality, along with expertly curated playlists and original content.

Paul hindemith in ludus tonalis