Frank Martin
Author(s): Paul Griffiths
Source: The Musical Times , Jan., 1975, Vol. 116, No. 1583 (Jan., 1975), p. 68
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/958906
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Obituary
FRANK MARTIN, the Swiss composer, died on 17th
17thcentury.
century.He He
was was
a pupil
a pupil
of Schoenberg
of Schoenberg
and his and his
November 20; he was 84. Martin was born in first biographer, and as a composer he was asso-
Geneva, the son of a Calvinist minister. He began ciated with the Second Viennese School before he
to play the piano and to compose at an early age, settled in this country, where he began to develop
but he had no conservatory or university training. an individual path. His output was enormous and
His op.1, a sonata for piano and violin, was com- embraced nine symphonies, six operas, nine string
posed in 1913. After World War I he lived in quartets, a large number of instrumental and vocal
Zurich, Rome and Paris before returning to Geneva works, totalling more than a hundred opus numbers.
and studying for two years at the Dalcroze Institute
(several works of the early and mid-1920s had
already demonstrated his interest in the rhythms
of ancient and exotic musics). He remained at the
institute as a teacher of improvisation and rhythmic
theory, working closely with Dalcroze himself. At the
same time he lectured at the Geneva Conservatory,
directed a private music school and appeared as a
pianist and harpsichordist. Martin used 12-note
serialism for the first time in the Piano Concerto
no.1 of 1933-4. He was one of the few outside
Schoenberg's circle to take up serialism before the
war, and after 1945 he was one of the few who
remained to teach it to a new European generation:
between 1950 and 1957 he took a composition class
at the Cologne Hochschule fur Musik, where
Stockhausen was one of his pupils. Residing in the
Netherlands from 1946, he travelled throughout the
world conducting his music and receiving numerous
honours.
Born in Vienna in 1885, Wellesz grew up in a
Like many of his compatriots, Martin reflected in
musical world dominated by Brahms, Mahler and
his art the twin cultural heritage of Switzerland. The
strongest Germanic influence on him was not
Schoenberg, but even in his early years his interests
were divided between scholarship and composition.
Schoenberg's work-despite the use of serial tech-
The inspiration of Guido Adler in the world of
nique, his music is predominantly, and often quite
simply, triadic-but the music of Bach. On the
scholarship was almost as important for him as were
other hand, Martin's sonorities often suggest com-
the impact of such vital creative figures as Mahler,
Strauss and Schoenberg in his creative development.
parisons with Debussy, Ravel or Roussel, and he
most frequently used French texts and titles. The
He was always an individualist, however, and his
result of this fusion, in Martin's best works, is a creative personality was as responsive to Gluck,
curious and distinctive mixture of the ascetic and Bruckner and Bart6k as it was to Viennese figures
nearer to hand. Indeed it was Bart6k who intro-
the sensuous. His mature style was established in Le
vin herbe (1938-41), a chamber oratorio on the duced him to his publisher. Apart from his early
legend of Tristan and Isolde, and it changed little
enthusiasm for Byzantine studies as a scholar, he
was one of the major Viennese figures with truly
in the compositions that followed, most of them for
international vision. After World War I, it was he
large forces. They included another oratorio,
who forged links with this country and with France:
Golgotha (1945-8), a Bachian Passion in which the
with Edward Dent he was one of the pioneers of the
seven Gospel 'pictures' are separated by meditative
ISCM, and it was through him that English com-
settings of St Augustine, and three major works for
posers like Bliss, Walton, Vaughan Williams and
the stage: Der Sturm (1952-5), after Shakespeare's
Holst were heard on the continent. In France he had
Tempest, Le mystere de la Nativite (1957-9) and
equally strong sympathies with 'Les Six' and other
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1961-2), after Moliere.
French composers. His was a vision of exceptional
All three of these were first conducted by Ansermet,
who did much to disseminate Martin's music. Of breadth and catholicity. As a scholar he rapidly
established a notable reputation: he published
several concertante pieces, the Petite symphonie
articles on Fux, Cavalli, Cesti, and Venetian opera
concertante for harp, harpsichord, piano and two
string orchestras (1945) enjoyed widespread popu- long before World War I, and wrote many articles
on Schoenberg. His studies in the field of opera
larity. Martin's later works of this type were often
written for particular soloists: Seefried and Schnei- prompted creative ambitions and his friendship with
Hofmannsthal (he attended the first performance of
derhan in the case of the Maria Triptychon (1968-9),
Ariadne in wartime Vienna as Hofmannsthal's
the Holligers in the case of the Trois danses (1970).
A conscientious craftsman, Martin left a discussion guest) led to their collaboration in Alkestis, pro-
of his artistic philosophy in Responsabilite du bably his most remarkable achievement for the stage.
Its invention is marvellously sustained and organ-
compositeur (Geneva, 1966). PAUL GRIFFITHS
ically conceived.
Growing recognition of his work as a scholar,
EGON WELLESZ, the composer, died in Oxford on particularly in Byzantine studies, led to his appoint-
November 16; he was 89. His contribution to the ment as professor of music history at Vienna
musical life of his time was twofold: he was both a University, while at the same time his compositions
notable if underrated composer and a distinguished like Prosperos Beschw6rungen, Die Bakchantinnen
scholar. In the field of Byzantine music his name is and Die Opferung des Gefangenen were beginning to
pre-eminent and much revered; he also wrote gain in international recognition. However, with the
authoritatively on opera, particularly opera in the advance of Nazi ideology and the Anschluss
68
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