Bohuslav Martinu
Encyclopedia
Bohuslav Martinů (ˈboɦuslaf ˈmarcɪnuː; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a prolific Czech composer
of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies
, 15 opera
s, 14 ballet
scores and a large body of orchestra
l, chamber
, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
, and taught music in his home town. In 1923 Martinů left Czechoslovakia for Paris, and deliberately withdrew from the Romantic style in which he had been trained. In the 1930s he experimented with expressionism
and constructivism
, and became an admirer of current European technical developments, exemplified by his orchestral works Half-time and La Bagarre. He also adopted jazz
idioms, for instance in his Kuchyňské revue (Kitchen Revue). In the early 1930s he found his main font for composition style, the neo-classical as developed by Stravinsky. With this, he greatly expanded to become an amazingly prolific composer, composing volleys of well-crafted chamber, orchestral, choral and instrumental works, and was able to do this with amazing dispatch. His use of the piano obliggato became his signature. His Concerto Grosso and the Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Tympani are among his most powerful from this period. Among his operas, Juliette and The Greek Passion are considered the finest. He is compared with Prokofiev and Bartók in his innovative incorporation of Central European ethnomusicology into his music. He continued to use Czech and Moravian folk melodies
throughout his oeuvre, usually nursery rhymes—for instance in Otvírání studánek
("The Opening of the Wells").
His great symphonic career began when he emigrated to the United States in 1941, fleeing the German invasion of France, to compose his six symphonies, which were performed by all the major US orchestras. In 1956, Martinů returned to live in Europe and died in Switzerland in 1959.
, a small town in Bohemia
near the Moravian
border. His father Ferdinand, a shoemaker, served as fire watchman, and the family lived in the tower of the St. Jacob Church. As a young violinist, he developed a strong reputation, giving his first public concert in his hometown in 1905. The townspeople raised enough money to fund his schooling, and in 1906, he left the countryside to began studies at the Prague Conservatory
. While there, he fared poorly as a student, showing little interest in the rigid pedagogy and hours of practice required, and being far more interested in exploring and learning on his own, exploring Prague, attending concerts, and reading books on every subject. Dropped from the violin program, he was moved to the organ department, which taught composition, but was finally dismissed in 1910 for "incorrigible negligence".
Martinů spent the next several years living back home in Polička attempting to gain some standing in the musical world. He had written several compositions by this time, including the Elegie for violin and piano, and the symphonic poems Andel smrti and La Mort de Tintagiles, and submitted samples of his work to Josef Suk, a leading Czech composer. Suk encouraged him to pursue formal composition training, but this would not be possible until years later. In the meantime, he passed the state teaching examination and maintained a studio in Polička throughout World War I
, while continuing to compose and study on his own. It was during this time that he studied the music of the Bohemian Brethren, which would influence his style and musical voice.
As World War I
drew to a close, and Czechoslovakia
declared an independent republic, Martinů composed a celebratory cantata Ceska rapsodie which was premiered in 1919 to great acclaim. As a violinist, he toured Europe with the National Theatre Orchestra, and became a full member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1920. He also began formal composition study under Suk. Martinů's modern style (including elements of impressionism and jazz) did not match the conservative styles in Prague, and he became determined to move to Paris. During these last years in Prague he completed his first string quartet, and two ballets
: Who is the Most Powerful in the World? and Istar.
in 1923, having received a small scholarship from the Ministry of Education. He sought out Albert Roussel
, whose individualistic style he respected, and began a series of informal lessons with him. Roussel would teach Martinů until his death in 1937, helping him focus and order his composition, rather than instructing him in a specific style. During the first years in Paris, Martinů assimilated many of the trends at the time, including jazz
, neoclassicism
, and surrealism
. Ballets were his favorite medium for experimentation, including The Revolt (1925), The Butterfly That Stamped (1926), Le Raid Merveilleux (1927), La Revue de Cuisine (1927), and Les Larmes du Couteau (1928).
In Paris, Martinů was welcomed into the Czech artistic community living there at the time. He would retain close ties to his homeland, returning to Prague and Polička during the summer months and for premieres of his works. Along with new styles, Martinů would continue to look to his Bohemian and Moravian roots for musical ideas. The most well-known during this time is the ballet Špaliček (1932-33), which incorporates Czech folk tunes and nursery rhymes.
In 1926, Martinů met Charlotte Quennehen, a French seamstress, and they married in 1931. Charlotte would become an important force in his life, handling many day-to-day affairs and mundane details that Martinů had trouble with; though culturally, the two were quite different, a fact that would cause numerous problems over the years. In 1937, Martinů became acquainted with Vítězslava Kaprálová
, a young Czech composer-conductor who arrived in Paris in the fall of 1937 to study with Charles Munch at the Ecole normale de musique, and also sought to study with him. Their relationship soon developed beyond that of student-teacher, and at one point they planned to move to America together, but their love relationship began deteriorating in 1939.
When the German army approached Paris early in the Second World War
, Martinů fled, having been blacklisted for his connections to the Czech resistance. He and Charlotte journeyed first to the south of France, and then through Spain and Portugal, eventually reaching the United States in 1941 with the help of his friend and diplomat Miloš Šafránek.
for most of the period from 1948–1956. His six symphonies were written in the eleven-year period 1942–1953, the first five being produced between 1942 and 1946.
His notable students include Alan Hovhaness
, H. Owen Reed
, Jan Novák
, Vítězslava Kaprálová
, Howard Shanet
, Peter Pindar Stearns, and Burt Bacharach
.
. He died at a clinic in Liestal
, Switzerland, on August 28, 1959.
(1955); his six symphonies
; his concerto
s, including those for cello
, violin
, oboe
and five for the piano
; his anti-war opera
Comedy on the Bridge
; and his chamber music
, including seven string quartet
s, a piano quartet
, a flute sonata, and a clarinet sonatina
.
A characteristic feature of his orchestral writing is the near-omnipresent piano; many of his orchestral works include a prominent part for piano, including his small concerto for harpsichord
and chamber orchestra. The bulk of his writing from the 1930s into the 1950s was in a neoclassical
vein, but with his last works he opened up his style to include more rhapsodic gestures and a looser, more spontaneous sense of form. This is easiest to hear by comparing his sixth symphony, titled Fantaisies symphoniques, with its five predecessors, all from the 1940s.
One of Martinů's lesser known works is a piece featuring the theremin
commissioned by Lucie Bigelow Rosen
. Martinů started working on this commission in the summer of 1944 and finished his Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet
and piano on October 1, dedicating it to Rosen, who premiered the piece as theremin soloist in New York
on November 3, 1945, along with the Koutzen Quartet and Robert Bloom.
His opera The Greek Passion
is based on the novel of the same name
by Nikos Kazantzakis
.
His orchestral work Memorial to Lidice was written in remembrance of the village of Lidice
that was destroyed by the Nazis in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
in the late spring of 1942. It was composed in 1943 whilst he was in New York.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, 15 opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s, 14 ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
scores and a large body of orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l, chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
The Česká filharmonie is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is the best-known and most respected orchestra in the Czech Republic.- History :...
, and taught music in his home town. In 1923 Martinů left Czechoslovakia for Paris, and deliberately withdrew from the Romantic style in which he had been trained. In the 1930s he experimented with expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
and constructivism
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
, and became an admirer of current European technical developments, exemplified by his orchestral works Half-time and La Bagarre. He also adopted jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
idioms, for instance in his Kuchyňské revue (Kitchen Revue). In the early 1930s he found his main font for composition style, the neo-classical as developed by Stravinsky. With this, he greatly expanded to become an amazingly prolific composer, composing volleys of well-crafted chamber, orchestral, choral and instrumental works, and was able to do this with amazing dispatch. His use of the piano obliggato became his signature. His Concerto Grosso and the Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Tympani are among his most powerful from this period. Among his operas, Juliette and The Greek Passion are considered the finest. He is compared with Prokofiev and Bartók in his innovative incorporation of Central European ethnomusicology into his music. He continued to use Czech and Moravian folk melodies
Moravian traditional music
Moravian traditional music represents a part of the European musical culture connected with the regions around the western Carpathian Mountains. It is characterized by a specific melodic and harmonic texture related to the Eastern European musical world...
throughout his oeuvre, usually nursery rhymes—for instance in Otvírání studánek
The Opening of the Wells
The Opening of the Wells is the chamber cantata by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů.It was composed in June and July 1955 in Nice, France to the text of Czech poet Miroslav Bureš. It was written for female chorus, soprano, alto and baritone solos, reciter, two violins, viola and piano...
("The Opening of the Wells").
His great symphonic career began when he emigrated to the United States in 1941, fleeing the German invasion of France, to compose his six symphonies, which were performed by all the major US orchestras. In 1956, Martinů returned to live in Europe and died in Switzerland in 1959.
1890-1923: Polička and Prague
Martinů was born in PoličkaPolicka
Polička is a town on Bohemia-Moravia borderline in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has cca 10,000 inhabitants. It is about 17 km west of Svitavy.- History :Polička was founded in the year 1265 by Bohemian king Přemysl Otakar II...
, a small town in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
near the Moravian
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
border. His father Ferdinand, a shoemaker, served as fire watchman, and the family lived in the tower of the St. Jacob Church. As a young violinist, he developed a strong reputation, giving his first public concert in his hometown in 1905. The townspeople raised enough money to fund his schooling, and in 1906, he left the countryside to began studies at the Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...
. While there, he fared poorly as a student, showing little interest in the rigid pedagogy and hours of practice required, and being far more interested in exploring and learning on his own, exploring Prague, attending concerts, and reading books on every subject. Dropped from the violin program, he was moved to the organ department, which taught composition, but was finally dismissed in 1910 for "incorrigible negligence".
Martinů spent the next several years living back home in Polička attempting to gain some standing in the musical world. He had written several compositions by this time, including the Elegie for violin and piano, and the symphonic poems Andel smrti and La Mort de Tintagiles, and submitted samples of his work to Josef Suk, a leading Czech composer. Suk encouraged him to pursue formal composition training, but this would not be possible until years later. In the meantime, he passed the state teaching examination and maintained a studio in Polička throughout World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, while continuing to compose and study on his own. It was during this time that he studied the music of the Bohemian Brethren, which would influence his style and musical voice.
As World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
drew to a close, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
declared an independent republic, Martinů composed a celebratory cantata Ceska rapsodie which was premiered in 1919 to great acclaim. As a violinist, he toured Europe with the National Theatre Orchestra, and became a full member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1920. He also began formal composition study under Suk. Martinů's modern style (including elements of impressionism and jazz) did not match the conservative styles in Prague, and he became determined to move to Paris. During these last years in Prague he completed his first string quartet, and two ballets
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
: Who is the Most Powerful in the World? and Istar.
1923-1940: Paris
Martinů finally departed for ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1923, having received a small scholarship from the Ministry of Education. He sought out Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
, whose individualistic style he respected, and began a series of informal lessons with him. Roussel would teach Martinů until his death in 1937, helping him focus and order his composition, rather than instructing him in a specific style. During the first years in Paris, Martinů assimilated many of the trends at the time, including jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, and surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. Ballets were his favorite medium for experimentation, including The Revolt (1925), The Butterfly That Stamped (1926), Le Raid Merveilleux (1927), La Revue de Cuisine (1927), and Les Larmes du Couteau (1928).
In Paris, Martinů was welcomed into the Czech artistic community living there at the time. He would retain close ties to his homeland, returning to Prague and Polička during the summer months and for premieres of his works. Along with new styles, Martinů would continue to look to his Bohemian and Moravian roots for musical ideas. The most well-known during this time is the ballet Špaliček (1932-33), which incorporates Czech folk tunes and nursery rhymes.
In 1926, Martinů met Charlotte Quennehen, a French seamstress, and they married in 1931. Charlotte would become an important force in his life, handling many day-to-day affairs and mundane details that Martinů had trouble with; though culturally, the two were quite different, a fact that would cause numerous problems over the years. In 1937, Martinů became acquainted with Vítězslava Kaprálová
Vítezslava Kaprálová
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a Czech composer and conductor. Among her teachers were some of the best European composers and conductors of the time - Bohuslav Martinů, Václav Talich, and Charles Münch.-Life:She was a daughter of composer Václav Kaprál...
, a young Czech composer-conductor who arrived in Paris in the fall of 1937 to study with Charles Munch at the Ecole normale de musique, and also sought to study with him. Their relationship soon developed beyond that of student-teacher, and at one point they planned to move to America together, but their love relationship began deteriorating in 1939.
When the German army approached Paris early in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Martinů fled, having been blacklisted for his connections to the Czech resistance. He and Charlotte journeyed first to the south of France, and then through Spain and Portugal, eventually reaching the United States in 1941 with the help of his friend and diplomat Miloš Šafránek.
1941-1953: America
Life in America was difficult for him, as it was for many of the other outstanding artists who arrived in similar circumstances. Lack of knowledge of English, lack of funds, and lack of opportunities to use their talents were problems common to all such émigré artists at first. However, Martinů did acclimatise himself. He composed a great deal and taught at the Mannes College of MusicMannes College of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music is The New School university's music conservatory. While the university's main campus is located in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mannes maintains its main academic building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....
for most of the period from 1948–1956. His six symphonies were written in the eleven-year period 1942–1953, the first five being produced between 1942 and 1946.
His notable students include Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
, H. Owen Reed
H. Owen Reed
Herbert Owen Reed is an American composer, conductor, and author.-Education:Reed was raised in rural Odessa, Missouri, where his first exposure to music was his father's playing of the old-time fiddle...
, Jan Novák
Jan Novák
Jan Novák was a popular Czech composer of classical music. Novák was primarily active in the 1960s and composed the music for several films of Karel Kachyňa...
, Vítězslava Kaprálová
Vítezslava Kaprálová
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a Czech composer and conductor. Among her teachers were some of the best European composers and conductors of the time - Bohuslav Martinů, Václav Talich, and Charles Münch.-Life:She was a daughter of composer Václav Kaprál...
, Howard Shanet
Howard Shanet
Howard Shanet was a U.S. conductor and composer. He was also a music professor at Columbia University, and the chairman of its music department from 1972–1978.-Biography:...
, Peter Pindar Stearns, and Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
.
1953-1959: Europe
In 1953, Martinů left the United States for France and settled in Nice, returning in 1955. In 1956, he took up an appointment as composer-in-residence at the American Academy in RomeAmerican Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
. He died at a clinic in Liestal
Liestal
Liestal is the capital of the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, south of Basel.It is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.-History:...
, Switzerland, on August 28, 1959.
Music
Martinů was a prolific composer, who wrote almost 400 pieces. Many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his choral work The Epic of GilgameshGilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
(1955); his six symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
; his concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
s, including those for cello
Violoncello concerto
A cello concerto is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments....
, violin
Violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
, oboe
Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra (Martinů)
Bohuslav Martinů's Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra, H. 353, was written in 1955 for the Czech-born Australian oboist Jiří Tancibudek.The work was commissioned by the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper, in celebration of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.Jiří Tancibudek gave the world premiere...
and five for the piano
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
; his anti-war opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Comedy on the Bridge
Comedy on the Bridge
Comedy on the Bridge is an opera in one act by Bohuslav Martinů to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the comedy by Václav Kliment Klicpera.-Performance history:...
; and his chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, including seven string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s, a piano quartet
Piano quartet
In European classical music, piano quartet denotes a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments...
, a flute sonata, and a clarinet sonatina
Clarinet Sonatina (Martinů)
The Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů is a late work that was composed in 1956 while Martinů was living in New York.- Structure :...
.
A characteristic feature of his orchestral writing is the near-omnipresent piano; many of his orchestral works include a prominent part for piano, including his small concerto for harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
and chamber orchestra. The bulk of his writing from the 1930s into the 1950s was in a neoclassical
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
vein, but with his last works he opened up his style to include more rhapsodic gestures and a looser, more spontaneous sense of form. This is easiest to hear by comparing his sixth symphony, titled Fantaisies symphoniques, with its five predecessors, all from the 1940s.
One of Martinů's lesser known works is a piece featuring the theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
commissioned by Lucie Bigelow Rosen
Lucie Bigelow Rosen
Lucie Bigelow Rosen was a Theremin soloist known for popularising the use of the instrument in the 1930s and 1940s, and founder of the Caramoor festival.-Life:...
. Martinů started working on this commission in the summer of 1944 and finished his Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
and piano on October 1, dedicating it to Rosen, who premiered the piece as theremin soloist in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on November 3, 1945, along with the Koutzen Quartet and Robert Bloom.
His opera The Greek Passion
The Greek Passion (opera)
The Greek Passion is an opera in four acts by Bohuslav Martinů. The libretto, by the composer, is based on the novel The Greek Passion by Nikos Kazantzakis. The opera exists in two versions. Martinů wrote the original version from 1954 to 1957...
is based on the novel of the same name
The Greek Passion
The Greek Passion or Christ Recrucified is a 1948 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.-Plot summary:...
by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus...
.
His orchestral work Memorial to Lidice was written in remembrance of the village of Lidice
Lidice
Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic just northwest of Prague. It is built on the site of a previous village of the same name which, as part of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was on orders from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal...
that was destroyed by the Nazis in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
in the late spring of 1942. It was composed in 1943 whilst he was in New York.
In his own words
Further reading
- Beckerman, Michael Brim, and Michael Henderson (eds.). 2007. Martinů's Mysterious Accident: Essays in Honor of Michael Henderson. Hillsdale, N.Y.: Pendragon Press. ISBN 9781576471111 (cloth); ISBN 9781576470039 (pbk).
- Červinková, Blanka (ed.) 1990. Bohuslav Martinů, 8.12.1890–28.8.1959: bibliografický katalog. Prague: Panton. ISBN 8070390689.
- Halbreich, Harry. 1968. Bohuslav Martinů: Werkverzeichnis, Dokumentation und Biographie. Zurich, Freiburg i. Br.:Atlantis-Verlag.
- Large, Brian. 1975. Martinů. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0715607707
- Martinů, Charlotta. 1978. My Life with Bohuslav Martinů. Prague: Orbis Press Agency.
- Mihule, Jaroslav. 1966. Bohuslav Martinů. Prague: Státní hudební vydavatelství.
- Rybka, F. James. 2011. Bohuslav Martinu: The Compulsion to Compose. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810877610.
- Šafránek, Miloš. 1962. Bohuslav Martinů: His Life and Works, translated by Roberta Finlayson-Samsourová. London: A. Wingate.
External links
- Bohuslav Martinů Foundation in Prague
- Bohuslav Martinu Centre in Policka
- The OREL Foundation- Bohuslav Martinů's biography and links to bibliography, discography and media.
- Bohuslav Martinů at Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music
- The Kapralova Society Journal.
- Two-year international project "revisits” great Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů - Radio Prague