About the work
Mathis der Maler is Paul Hindemith's seven-scene opera about the Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald and the creation of his Isenheim Altarpiece. Hindemith wrote both libretto and music between 1933 and 1935, having first distilled its preludes and interludes into the symphony of the same name, which Wilhelm Furtwängler premiered in Berlin on 12 March 1934. After Nazi cultural officials publicly attacked Hindemith and Furtwängler resigned in protest, the opera itself did not reach the stage until 28 May 1938, at the Zurich Stadttheater; it remained banned in Germany until 1946.
Plot
In Mainz during the Peasants' War, the painter Mathis serves Cardinal Albrecht but secretly helps a rebel leader escape, for which he is dismissed. He joins the peasants, witnesses their defeat, and falls into a vision of the Temptation of St. Anthony in which he doubts the purpose of his art. Emerging strengthened from this crisis, he completes the Isenheim Altarpiece and dies reconciled with his life's work.
Cultural significance
The real-life 'Hindemith Affair' surrounding the symphony turned the opera into a symbol of artistic freedom under Nazi rule even before it was staged. To this day, the symphony is performed far more often than the opera itself.