Paul Hindemith was a German composer of the Twentieth century. He became a primary advocate of the Neue Sachlichkeit form of music. The musical experience of Hindemith had been very complicated. He was most notable for his work as a musician, but early in his work as a performer, he eventually used his chamber musical skills for publicity and public relations in the Donaueschingen Festival. However, he still made sure he had time to compose. A great deal of his music was composed during his performances between 1917 and 1924. He also started teaching at the University of Music in Berlin while still working for the Festival.

Hindemith became a major advocate of the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) style of music in the 1920s, with compositions such as Kammermusik, including works with viola and viola d'amore as solo instruments in a neo-Bachian spirit. Other notable compositions include his song cycle Das Marienleben (1923), Der Schwanendreher for viola and orchestra (1935), the opera Mathis der Maler (1938), the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1943), and the oratorio When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, a requiem based on Walt Whitman's poem (1946).