Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) was a renowned Czech composer whose early life was marked by a rich musical environment in Polička, where he lived in the church tower with his family. His musical education began with violin lessons, and despite an unsuccessful stint at the Prague Conservatory, he emerged as a significant composer with a diverse output. Martinů's compositions reflect various influences, from Czech folk music to jazz, as well as the styles of notable figures like Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy. His work is characterized by a blend of classical and popular elements, illustrated in pieces such as *The Kitchen Revue*, a jazz ballet celebrating rhythmic innovation. Other significant works include his *Piano Quartet*, which showcases intricate interplay between piano and strings, and *The Epic of Gilgamesh*, a large choral work that merges medieval and contemporary musical elements. After being forced from Europe due to the rise of the Nazis, Martinů settled in the United States, where he continued to compose and teach until his later years in Europe. His extensive and varied body of work has left a lasting impact on the musical landscape, influencing generations of musicians.
Subject Terms
Bohuslav Martinů
Czech classical composer
- Born: December 8, 1890
- Birthplace: Polička, Bohemia (now in Czech Republic)
- Died: August 28, 1959
- Place of death: Liestal, Switzerland
A renowned Czech composer, Martinů created music remarkable for its clarity, driving rhythms, and range of emotion. His compositions reflect the influence of the music of different historical periods and of different countries.
The Life
Bohuslav Martinů (BOH-hew-slav MAHR-tih-new) spent the first twelve years of his life with his family in the tower of the Church of St. Jacob, in the eastern Bohemia town of Polička. His father rang bells for services and served as a fire watchman from the tower, in addition to his primary occupation as a cobbler.
Martinů started school and violin lessons in 1897, and he made excellent progress on the instrument. His first solo performance took place in 1905, and people in the town raised money to send him to the Prague Conservatory the following year. Martinů’s academic life at the conservatory was unsuccessful, ending in his expulsion in 1910. In spite of this failure, the exposure to the musical community in Prague and urban life in general had a profound effect on Martinů’s career. Several significant works published in 1910 marked the beginning of Martinů’s substantial oeuvre.
Martinů continued to compose through World War I, avoiding direct involvement in that conflict for health reasons, and he supported himself by teaching violin and performing with the Czech Philharmonic. During the early 1920’s, he studied composition with Josef Suk in Prague before traveling to Paris to become a student of Albert Roussel. Beyond his lessons with Roussel, Martinů was influenced during this time by jazz and by the music of Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, and Les Six (a group of six composers in France who rebelled against the heavy Romantic style of composition).
In 1931 Martinů married Charlotte Quennehen, a dressmaker in Paris. During the 1930’s, Martinů was interested in various Renaissance and Baroque forms as well as in Czech folk music. The summer of 1938 was the last time that Martinů would be in Czechoslovakia during his lifetime. Nazi victories prevented his return to his homeland, and he and his wife were eventually forced out of France, making their way to New York in 1941. Martinů composed and taught in the United States until 1953, when he moved to Paris and then Nice. The next few years Martinů held teaching positions in New York and Rome, and he settled in Switzerland in 1957. After two years of poor health, Martinů died of stomach cancer on August 28, 1959. Two decades later, in 1979, Martinů’s remains were relocated to Polička.
The Music
In his youth, Martinů admired two composers from his own country, Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček. Martinů learned orchestration techniques from Suk, and he was guided away from programmatic writing by Roussel. Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical music encouraged Martinů’s leanings toward older historical styles. Debussy’s use of orchestral timbres also played an important role in Martinů’s compositions. The music of the Baroque and Renaissance periods appealed to Martinů, although he sometimes struggled philosophically with the implications and stylistic requirements of certain forms, such as the symphony. The majority of Martinů’s output is tonal in nature, although his pieces can be extremely dissonant, particularly those written in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
The Kitchen Revue. Martinů’s one-act jazz ballet, titled The Kitchen Revue, represents an important fusion of classical and popular elements in his music. The 1920’s were an important time of experimentation for Martinů, particularly in his use of jazz. Martinů drew comparisons between jazz rhythms and those of Slovak folk melodies, which strengthened the appeal of this growing idiom. Scored for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, violin, cello, and piano, this four-movement work is characterized by constantly changing meters, Stravinsky-like gestures, and the juxtaposition of elements as varied as neoclassical melodies and typical big band dances. The ballet premiered in 1927, and Martinů looked back on it later in life as one of his best compositions.
First Piano Quartet. Martinů’s Piano Quartet was completed in 1942, soon after his arrival in the United States. The string and piano parts are fairly evenly matched in all three movements. The piano takes priority in the first movement. In the particularly moving second movement, the piano almost drops out entirely as the strings sustain a melancholy mood throughout. The spinning final movement features a more even distribution of material among instruments.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Typically categorized as an oratorio or cantata, Martinů refused to assign a conventional term to The Epic of Gilgamesh, describing it simply as an epic. It is based on the epic poem describing the ancient Babylonian king Gilgamesh. Martinů adapted Reginald Campbell’s translation of the poem into a proper libretto. This large choral work for soloists, speaker, and chorus features music that combines medieval vocal writing with more contemporary orchestration. Martinů finished the piece in 1955, near the end of his life.
Musical Legacy
Martinů’s demand as a teacher in the United States and throughout Europe stamped his influence on the musical world. His prolific compositional career spanned a wide array of genres and styles, including the symphony, opera, song, ballet, chamber, and solo music; and he drew on musical ideas from Baroque, classical, modernist, jazz, and folk sources.
Principal Works
ballets (music and libretto): Istar, 1921 (based on the book by Julius Zeyer); Kdo je na svêtê nejmocnêjší?, 1922 (Who Is the Most Powerful in the World?); Vzpoura, 1925 (The Revolt); La Revue de cuisine, 1927 (The Kitchen Revue); Špalíček, 1933 (The Chap-Book); The Strangler, 1948 (libretto by Robert Fitzgerald).
chamber works: Cello Concerto No. 1, 1930 (revised 1939); Four Nocturnes for Cello and Piano, 1931; Violin Sonata No. 2, 1931; Piano Quartet, 1942; Five Madrigal Stanzas for Violin and Piano, 1943; Violin Sonata No. 3, 1944; Czech Rhapsody, 1945 (for violin and piano); Oboe Concerto, 1955; Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, 1956; Duo No. 2 for Violin and Cello, 1958.
choral works:Polní mše, 1939 (Field Mass); Gilgameš, 1955 (The Epic of Gilgamesh).
operas (music and libretto): Veselohra na mostê, 1935 (Comedy on the Bridge; based on the play by Václav Kliment Klicpera); The Marriage, 1952 (based on the play by Nikolai Gogol); What Men Live By, 1952 (based on the story by Leo Tolstoy); Recké pasije, 1956 (The Greek Passion; based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis).
orchestral works: Symphony No. 1, 1942; Symphony No. 4, 1945; Symphony No. 5, 1946; Symphony No. 6, 1953; The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca, 1955; The Parables, 1958.
piano works: Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani, 1940; Piano Concerto No. 4, 1956 (Incantations); Piano Concerto No. 5, 1958 (Fantasia concertante).
Bibliography
Beckerman, Michael, ed. Martinů’s Mysterious Accident: Essays in Memory of Michael Henderson. New York: Pendragon Press, 2007. The title refers to an accident in 1946 in which Martinů fell off a balcony, severely injuring himself and preventing composition for a few years. Several chapters focus on Michael Henderson, an interdisciplinary Martinů scholar, but the book also provides biographical information and insight into the composer’s personality.
Evans, Peter. “Martinů the Symphonist.” Tempo 55/56 (Autumn/Winter, 1960): 19-26. In a fairly technical essay, Evans examines Martinů’s symphonic work both in the physical scores and in the composer’s overall aesthetic approach to the genre.
Racek, Jan, and Jiří Vysloužil. “Problems of Style in Twentieth Century Czech Music.” The Musical Quarterly 51, no. 1 (January, 1965): 191-204. This article outlines the major Czech musical figures usually associated with nationalism or modernism, and it offers insight into some of the political and social factors that play into the country’s musical history.
Šafránek, Miloš. Bohuslav Martinů. London: Dennis Dobson, 1946. Written by Šafránek while Martinů was alive, this book offers a thorough biography as well as analyses of several of the composer’s significant works.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Martinů’s Musical Development.” Tempo 72 (Spring, 1965): 11-15. Šafránek offers an overall aesthetic picture of the composer’s career, and he briefly describes some of Martinů’s music in a variety of genres, without an in-depth analysis of the score.