the british premiere was scheduled for 22 january 1936, with the composer as soloist in london. however, just before midnight on 20 january, king george v died. the following day, from 11 am to 5 pm, hindemith wrote "trauermusik" in homage to the late king. it was scored for viola and string orchestra, and was performed that evening, in a live broadcast from a bbc studio, with adrian boult conducting and the composer as soloist. the scheduled premiere of "der schwanendreher" was cancelled. "trauermusik" contains quotations from "" and "der schwanendreher".