Frank Martin
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer born in Geneva in 1890, the youngest of ten children in a clergyman's family. He exhibited musical talent early on, studying piano and composition, and later trained with notable figures like Joseph Lauber and Ernest Ansermet. Martin's career took him from Geneva to Zurich, Rome, and finally Paris, where he immersed himself in early twentieth-century music. Although he taught at prestigious institutions such as the Jacques Dalcroze Institute and the Geneva Conservatory, he eventually moved to Amsterdam post-World War II, where he focused on composition until his death at eighty-four.
Martin's music is known for its eclectic style, drawing influences from composers like Arnold Schoenberg and Claude Debussy while maintaining a connection to Romantic traditions. His works span various genres and include notable pieces such as a mass, which reflects his personal faith, and "Le Vin herbé," a secular oratorio that marked a significant breakthrough in his career. Martin's mature compositions often feature a unique blend of twelve-tone techniques and neoclassicism, showcasing intricate counterpoint and harmony. Despite his contributions to modern music, he did not establish a distinct following, making his legacy complex and difficult to categorize within the broader musical landscape.
Subject Terms
Frank Martin
Swiss classical composer
- Born: September 15, 1890
- Birthplace: Geneva, Switzerland
- Died: November 21, 1974
- Place of death: Naarden, Netherlands
Martin developed a highly original compositional style that incorporated numerous influences, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach, French Impressionism, serial techniques, and folk music.
The Life
Frank Martin was the youngest of ten children born to a clergyman in Geneva, Switzerland. He displayed musical talents from an early age, playing the piano and composing. In 1906 he studied privately with Joseph Lauber in Geneva, learning the conservative Germanic style. Later studies with Hans Huber and Frederic Klose furthered his conservative musical upbringing. Martin developed a close relationship with the conductor Ernest Ansermet, who mentored the younger composer. Ansermet played a considerable role in Martin’s musical development, and he conducted premieres of many of Martin’s works.
Martin left Geneva in 1919, moving to Zürich, then in 1921 to Rome, and finally in 1923 to Paris. While in Paris, he became indoctrinated into mainstream European music of the early twentieth century. In 1926 he enrolled in the Jacques Dalcroze Institute in Geneva, eventually becoming an instructor. Martin also taught at the Geneva Conservatory, and he was director at the Technicum Moderne de Musique.
After World War II, he moved to Amsterdam with his third wife, Maria Boeke, a flutist, in part to escape the demands he faced in Switzerland. In 1956 they moved to the suburb of Naarden, where Martin devoted himself to composing for the remainder of his life. He was active with commissions until his death at eighty-four.
The Music
Martin was an eclectic composer, adopting musical traits from figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Claude Debussy. Stylistically, his music is difficult to place because of the wide array of influences and because of a long period of maturation. Martin’s compositions include nearly all genres, and they consistently reflect the highest quality.
The early works display Martin’s veneration for Johann Sebastian Bach along with influences of César Franck and Gabriel Fauré. These works are characterized by smooth voice leading and an emphasis on harmony and counterpoint. By the 1930’s, Martin had adopted a serial technique that differed from Arnold Schoenberg’s in its more confined approach. Martin’s mature works are driven by a gliding harmony, in which chords result from well-crafted lines. Strong thematic motives are absent, replaced by a steady, if austere, chromaticism. Tonality, though present in his music, is often blurred, and a piece seldom ends in the same key in which it was begun.
Mass. Though the mass was completed in 1926, it premiered in 1963 and was not published until 1972. Martin believed that his sacred works were personal communications between himself and God. Consequently, he withdrew these works until later in his life. Despite its early date of composition, the mass exhibits traits that characterized Martin’s mature style, with its melodic beauty and sublimely colorful harmonies. Martin’s counterpoint is flawless, resulting in a rich harmonic flavor.
Le Vin herbé. Martin was approached by Robert Blum in 1938 to create a choral piece for his small madrigal group. The resulting work, completed in 1941, was a secular oratorio generally considered Martin’s breakthrough. The text is based on Joseph Bédier’s The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (1900). Scored for twelve voices with piano and string accompaniment, the voices supply both solo and choral parts. The choir provides commentary on the soloists’ dialogue. Martin employs serial techniques liberally, joining melodic rows with triadic harmonies. Tone rows are presented in one voice at a time, often in equal note values, with little or no development. He also uses parlando to present the text, a technique he probably derived from Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) and continued to develop in later vocal works.
Petite symphonie concertante. Commissioned by Paul Sacher and premiered by him in 1946, the work is scored for solo harp, harpsichord, and piano with double string orchestra. Martin blends a personal brand of neoclassicism with twelve-tone melodic content. The opening is a slow introduction with an expressive melody leading into an allegro section that develops each of the solo instruments singularly and in combination. A lively march follows, leading to a grand finale.
Piano Concerto No. 2. Finished in 1968 and first performed in 1970 with Paul Badura-Skoda as the soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic, the concerto represents a resurgence in Martin’s popularity in that city. The work begins with twelve-tone passages, leading to a rhythmic fugato. The second movement is a passacaglia, and the finale is a scherzo. The work is technically demanding on the soloist with its dense counterpoint and rhythmic vitality. Martin maintains traditional thematic development and tonality within a modernistic setting.
Musical Legacy
Martin excelled in almost every musical genre, writing high-quality masses, concerti, operas, instrumental and chamber works, and vocal music. His style reflected many of the modernist trends of the twentieth century, but his music never relinquished its Romantic roots. He adopted Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system, but he adapted it to his style by using it largely as a melodic tool. Though his works tend to lack lyric melodic characteristics, his harmonic and contrapuntal writing places him among the best composers of the time. Despite his teaching and performing activities, Martin never developed a following or established a school of composition. Because of his unique style—one that could not be pigeonholed into any trend—it is difficult to assign his music to any musical lineage. His compositions have been compared to similar works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith.
Principal Works
ballet:Das Märchen vom Aschenbrödel, 1942 (libretto by Marie-Eve Kreis; based on Cinderella by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm).
chamber works: Sonata No. 1, Op. 1, 1915; Piano Quintet, 1919; Trio sur des mélodies populaires irlandaises, 1926; Sonata No. 2, 1932; Quatre pièces brèves, 1934 (Four Short Pieces); Ballade for Flute, 1939; Ballade for Trombone and Tenor Saxophone, 1940; Eight Preludes, 1950; String Quartet, 1968.
choral works:Les Dithyrambes, 1918 (lyrics by Pierre Ronsard); Le Vin herbé, 1942 (lyrics by Joseph Bédier); Golgotha, 1949 (text from the Bible); Ballade for Voice, 1950 (lyrics by August Wenzinger and Paul Baumgartner); Ode à la musique, 1962 (lyrics by Guillaume de Machaut); Mass, 1963; Requiem, 1973.
operas:La Nique à Satan, 1933 (Thumbing Your Nose at Satan; libretto by Albert Rudhardt); Ein Totentanz zu Basel im Jahre, 1943 (A Dance of the Dead in Basel; libretto by Mariette de Meyenbourg); Le Mystère de la nativité, 1959 (based on Le Mystère de la passion by Arnoul Greban); Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, 1963 (based on the play by Molière).
orchestral works:Symphonie burlesque sur des mélodies populaires savoyardes, 1916; Piano Concerto No. 1, 1936; Symphony, 1938; Petite symphonie concertante, Op. 54, 1946; Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, 1949; Harpsichord Concerto, 1952; Violin Concerto, 1952; Piano Concerto No. 2, 1970.
Bibliography
Ansermet, Ernest, and Frank Martin. Correspondence, 1934-1968. Neuchâtel: A la Baconnière, 1976. Presents valuable insight on Martin’s views of his music and the works of others and a unique perspective into his life through a collection of letters written over a thirty-four year period.
King, Charles W. Frank Martin: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990. Exhaustive bibliography of biographic and analytical works about Martin. Includes a discography, worklist, and brief biographical sketch.