Bohuslav Jan Martinů

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(b Polička, 8 Dec 1890; d Liestal, 28 Aug 1959). Czech composer. He studied at the Prague Conservatory (1906-10), then worked as a teacher and orchestral violinist before going to Paris in 1923. There he studied with Roussel and developed a neo-classical style, sometimes using jazz (La bagarre, 1926 ; Le jazz, 1928, both for orchestra). He began to apply himself to Czech subjects (ballet Špalíček, 1933 ; operas The Miracles of Mary, 1935, Comedy on the Bridge, 1937 ; Field Mass for male voices, wind and percussion,1939), but not exclusively: this was also the period of his fantasy opera Julietta (1938) and of numerous concertos. In 1940 he left Paris, and the next year arrived in New York, where he concentrated on orchestral and chamber works, including his first five symphonies. From 1948 his life was divided between Europe and the USA: this was the period of his Sixth Symphony (1953), Frescoes of Piero della Francesca for orchestra (1955) and opera The Greek Passion (1961). He was one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, imaginative in style, with energetic rhythms and powerful, often dissonant harmony, but uneven in quality.

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The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) was the most important composer of his generation in the former Czechoslovakia.

Bohuslav Martinu was the son of a small-town shoemaker who was also the custodian of a church tower used as a fire-lookout station. Bohuslav was born in the tower and spent his childhood there. The composer suggested that this physical detachment from the usual childhood experiences helped to form his introspective and reflective nature. Violin lessons from a village teacher revealed his strong musical aptitude, and when he was 16 he went to Prague to attend the conservatory. He did not respond well to the rigid training and was soon expelled.

In spite of his failure at the conservatory, Martinu became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he held from 1913 to 1923, except for the war years (1914-1918), when he returned to his native village. His early works include the Czech Rhapsody (1920) and the ballet Istar (1922). Realizing that he needed more formal training in composition, he returned to the conservatory to study with Josef Suk.

With the aid of a government grant Martinu went to Paris in 1923, where he lived for the next 17 years. He became a pupil of Albert Roussel, whose economical but vigorous scores he admired. Martinu lived in the simplest manner, making his living by teaching a few private pupils and from the commissions he received from time to time. Important compositions of this era are Half-time (1925), inspired by a soccer game, and La Bagarre (1926; Tumult), dedicated to Charles Lindbergh, who had just made his flight to Paris. Serge Koussevitsky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, introduced Martinu's music to the United States. In 1932 his String Sextet won the Coolidge Prize for chamber music.

During the Paris years Martinu did not lose contact with Czechoslovakia. He wrote a folk ballet called Spalicek (1931), a kind of variety show of sketches from Czech life; The Miracle of Our Lady (1933), a medievalstyle miracle play; and the opera Juliette (1938). The major work of this period is his Double Concerto (1938), a powerful work expressing his feelings just before World War II and the imminent downfall of his country.

With the outbreak of war Martinu went to the United States, where he remained until 1953. He taught at the Berkshire Summer School and at Princeton University. Works of the American period include a Symphony (1942), a Violin Concerto (1943), and a Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1943). An accidental fall in 1946 resulted in a period of amnesia and partial deafness.

Martinu lived in Rome from 1953 to 1955, where he wrote Fresques de Piero della Francesca for orchestra, the opera Mirandolina, and his Sixth Symphony. He completed his twelfth and last opera, based on Nikos Kazantzakis's Greek Passion Play, shortly before his death in Switzerland.

Martinu's music was in no sense reactionary, but at the same time it was never blatantly "modern" or "experimental." It is characterized by the freedom of its melodies, perhaps influenced by Czech inflections, the vigor of its rhythms, and the transparency of its textures. He favored concerto grosso-like structures, contrapuntal and continuous, over sonata forms, and he avoided sentimentality and dramatic effects.

Further Reading

MilošŠafránek, Bohuslav Martinu: The Man and His Music (1944; rev. ed. 1946), was written by a friend of the composer and contains a thorough discussion of Martinu's personality and style. More recent studies of Martinu are in Arthur Cohn, Twentieth-century Music in Western Europe: The Compositions and the Recordings (1965), and David Ewen, The World of Twentieth-century Music (1968).

Additional Sources

Martinu, Charlotta, My life with Bohuslav Martinu, Prague: Orbis Press Agency, 1978.

Martinů, Bohuslav (b Policka, 8 Dec. 1890, d Liestal, Switzerland, 28 Aug. 1959). Czech composer. He wrote the music for several ballets, including R. Remislawsky's Istar (Prague, 1924) and Who Is the Mightiest in the World? (Prague, 1972), Psota's The Riot (Brno, 1928), Joe Jencik's Spalicek (Prague, 1933), and Erick Hawkins's The Strangler (1948). Choreographers who have used his concert music for ballets include Tudor (Echoing of Trumpets, 1963), MacMillan (the one-act Anastasia, 1967), Tetley (Sphinx, 1979), Corder (Day into Night, 1980), and Kylián (Field Mass, 1980).

• Period: Modern (1910-1949)
• Born: December 08, 1890 in Policka, Czechoslovakia
• Died: August 28, 1959 in Liestal, Switzerland
• Genres: Ballet, Chamber Music, Choral Music, Concerto, Keyboard Music, Opera, Orchestral Music, Symphony

Biography

Along with Leos Janacek, Bohuslav Martinu was one of the twin giants of Czech music in the twentieth century, a composer with a distinctly individual voice and a versatility that led him to excel in every medium from stage works to symphonies to string quartets. Martinu was born in the Moravian town of Policka. Starting violin lessons at the of seven, he gave his first recital when he was 15. By the age of 10 he had written his first compositions; his juvenilia include songs, piano music, symphonic poems, string quartets, and ballets. In 1906, he entered Prague Conservatory, but reading and the theater diverted Martinu from his studies, and he was finally expelled for "incorrigible negligence" in 1910.

However, he continued composing. Exempted, as a teacher, from military service, Martinu produced many works during the World War I, including the patriotic cantata Czech Rhapsody (1918). Although this work and two ballets, Istar (1918-1921) and Who is the Most Powerful in the World? (1922-1923), gained favorable attention. Martinu felt the need for additional training. Returning to the Conservatory, he studied composition Josef Suk, later working in Paris with Albert Roussel, whose muscular, rhythmically vigorous music eventually influenced Martinu's own.

Martinu's music was well received in postwar Paris. Like many of his contemporaries, Martinu absorbed the influence of jazz, as evidenced in such works as the ballet La revue de cuisine (1927), which also incorporates South American rhythms, and the one-act opera Les larmes du couteau (The Tears of the Knife; 1928). In 1930, Martinu's constant desire to learn more led him to the music of Corelli, Vivaldi, and Bach, signaling a new concern with rhythmic continuity and contrapuntal technique.

Following the resounding success of his opera Juliette in Prague in 1938, World War II forced Martinu to flee his adopted home of Paris. After spending nine miserable months in the south of France, the composer and his wife made their way to Spain, and then to America, in the early months of 1941. For the duration of the war, Martinu lived in various cities in the Eastern United States, surviving on commissions and producing five symphonies by 1946.

Though Martinu had planned to return to Czechoslovakia after the war, injuries and health problems prevented him from traveling. After Czechoslovakia fell to the communists in 1949, it gradually became clear to Martinu that he was no longer welcome in his native land, a source of great pain to him. He eventually regained his health, however, producing such works as the Sixth Symphony (1951-1953), widely regarded as a masterpiece, two operas for television, and many chamber compositions. Martinu became an American citizen but spent much time in Europe; in 1953-5 he was based in Nice and in 1955-6 he was teaching at the American Academy in Rome. After a final New York sojourn he took up residence as the guest of Paul Sacher in Liestal, Switzerland, where he died in 1959.

Harry Halbreich's catalog of Martinu's music, to which the composer did not assign opus numbers, lists nearly 400 compositions. Well established in the repertoire, Martinu's best works confirm Martinu's status as an important twentieth century composer. ~ Michael Rodman, All Music Guide

Discography

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