Langsames Stück und Rondo was composed in 1935 as the last of three works Paul Hindemith wrote for the electronic trautonium invented by Friedrich Trautwein. In 1930, Hindemith had already composed Sieben Stücke für drei Trautonien (‘Des kleinen Elektromusikers Lieblinge’); in that early phase of production, the instrument could only be played one note at a time. By 1935, however, Oskar Sala had further developed the instrument, as Hindemith himself reported in his handwritten catalogue of works: “Early August. Langsames Stück und Rondo für Trautonium. Written for Sala. An interesting task, as recently, the trautonium can be treated as a four-part instrument, but only in such a way that two parts each are coupled with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th notes of the subharmonic series (octave, twelfth, second octave, and third below that); despite the severe limitations for setting the music, the interweaving of the two coupled series (which can run independently and differently from one another) yields unusual possibilities. Sala’s model (an early version of the ‘Mixturtrautonium’) had now been expanded to include a second manual; the ‘additional subharmonic tones’, based on the mutation stops of the organ, allowed for a broader harmonic spectrum, which Hindemith used skilfully. In addition, two pedals – comparable to swell pedals – also allowed direct control over changes in timbre during the performance. An organ adaptation of Langsames Stück und Rondo therefore seems more than justified. As to style, the work is quite close to Hindemith’s first two organ sonatas (1937): the opening motto of Sonata I is already announced in the first bars, and overall the diptych seems to anticipate Sonata II. Tonally, the work is documented by two trautonium recordings by Oskar Sala3, but the score is considered lost during the war. The present reconstruction was created on the basis of Paul Hindemith’s sketches transcribed by Heinz-Jürgen Winkler, a transcription by Oskar Sala of the opening bars of the rondo, and Sala’s 1985 recording. The third movement of Paul Hindemith’s Second Piano Sonata (1936), into which Langsames Stück has been incorporated, served as a further reference. I would like to express my gratitude for the support and advice provided by Dr. Susanne Schaal-Gotthardt, Director of the Hindemith Institute in Frankfurt, Dr. Silke Berdux, Curator of the Sala Fund at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, and Peter Pichler, trautonium player from Munich. - Pier Damiano Peretti (Translation: Esther Dubielzig)