Frank Martin (composer) facts for kids
Frank Martin (born September 15, 1890 – died November 21, 1974) was a famous Swiss composer. He spent a big part of his life living in the Netherlands.
Early Life and Musical Journey
Frank Martin was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the youngest of ten children in a family of Huguenots, who were French Protestants. His father, Charles Martin, was a pastor. Frank started playing the piano and making up his own music even before he went to school. By the age of nine, he had already written several songs without any music lessons!
When he was 12, Frank went to a concert where he heard Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion. This powerful music deeply moved him and showed him the amazing world of classical music.
His parents wanted him to study something practical, so he spent two years studying math and physics at Geneva University. But at the same time, he was also busy learning piano, how to compose music, and music theory with his first teacher, Joseph Lauber. Lauber was a well-known composer in Geneva.
In the 1920s, Martin worked closely with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. From him, Frank learned a lot about rhythm and how music is put together. Between 1918 and 1926, Frank Martin lived in different cities like Zurich, Rome, and Paris. During this time, he was trying to find his own special sound in music.
In 1926, he started the Chamber Music Society of Geneva. For the next ten years, he led this group and also played the clavichord and piano with them. He also taught music theory and improvisation at the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute. He taught chamber music at the Geneva Conservatory too.
Frank Martin's Music and Style
Frank Martin's music often showed his Christian faith. His compositions came from his own personal beliefs.
One of his most famous orchestral pieces is the Petite Symphonie Concertante, which he wrote in 1944–45. This work made him famous around the world. His early Mass is his best-known choral work (music for choirs). The Jedermann monologues, which are pieces for a solo singer with piano or orchestra, are also very popular.
Martin wrote many other pieces, including a full symphony, two piano concertos, a harpsichord concerto, and concertos for violin, cello, and seven wind instruments. He also created a series of six short pieces called "ballades" for different solo instruments with piano or orchestra.
He composed music for about a dozen major theater shows. These include operas based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and Molière's Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. He also wrote a funny fairy tale opera called La Nique à Satan. His works based on religious stories, like Le Mystère de la Nativité, are considered some of the best religious music of the 20th century.
A Swiss musician named Ernest Ansermet was a big supporter of Martin's music. He recorded many of Martin's works, including the oratorio In Terra Pax (1944), with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Around 1932, Martin developed his own unique musical style. It was inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, but Martin still used traditional musical keys (tonality). His music often had clear sounds and strong rhythms, which made it different from Schoenberg's. Some of Martin's most praised music was written in his last ten years. He worked on his final cantata, Et la vie l'emporta, until just ten days before he passed away.
Frank Martin died in Naarden, the Netherlands, on November 21, 1974. He was buried in Geneva at the Cimetière des Rois. His music is played a lot in Europe, but less often in the United Kingdom.
Main Musical Works
Orchestra Music
- Esquisse for orchestra (1920)
- Rythmes for orchestra (1926)
- Fox Trot for small orchestra (1927)
- Guitare for orchestra (1934)
- Symphonie for orchestra (1936–37)
- Passacaille for large orchestra (1944/62)
- Symphonie concertante for orchestra (1944–46)
- Études for string orchestra (1955–56)
- Ouverture en hommage à Mozart for orchestra (1956)
- Les quatre éléments for orchestra (1963–64)
- Erasmi monumentum for large orchestra and organ (1969)
Concertos (Music for Solo Instrument and Orchestra)
- Piano Concerto No. 1 (1933–34)
- Danse de la peur for two pianos and small orchestra (1936)
- Ballade for alto saxophone or basset horn, string orchestra, piano, timpani and percussion (1938)
- Ballade for piano and orchestra (1939)
- Ballade for flute, string orchestra and piano (1939–41)
- Ballade for trombone or tenor saxophone and small orchestra (1940–41)
- Petite symphonie concertante for harp, harpsichord, piano and two string orchestras (1944–45)
- Ballade for violoncello and small orchestra (1949)
- Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra (1949)
- Violin Concerto (1950)
- Concerto for harpsichord and small orchestra (1951–52)
- Cello Concerto (1965)
- Piano Concerto No. 2 (1969)
- Trois danses for oboe, harp, string quintet and string orchestra (1970)
- Ballade for viola, wind orchestra, harpsichord, harp, timpani and percussion (1972)
- Polyptyque, for violin and two small string orchestras (1973)
Ballet Music
- Das Märchen vom Aschenbrödel (1941)
Chamber Music (for Small Groups of Instruments)
- Violin Sonata, No. 1 for string quintet (1913)
- Pavane couleur du temps for string quintet (1920)
- Piano Quintet (1922)
- Trio sur des mélodies populaires irlandaises (1925)
- Violin Sonata No. 2 (1931–32)
- Rhapsodie for two violins, two violas and double bass (1935)
- String Trio (1936)
- Sonata da chiesa for viola d'amore and organ (1938)
- Ballade for trombone or tenor saxophone and piano (1938)
- Ballade for flute and piano (1939)
- Ballade for trombone and piano (1940)
- String Quartet (1967)
Guitar Music
- Quatre pièces brèves (1933)
- Drey Minnelieder, for soprano, flute and guitar (1960)
Piano Music
- Eight Préludes (1947–48)
- Fantasia on Flamenco Rhythms (1970–73)
Organ Music
- Passacaille (1944)
- Agnus Dei pour orgue (1965/66)
Choral Music (for Choirs)
- Les Dithyrambes for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1918)
- Mass for Double Chorus (1922/26)
- Cantate pour le temps de Noël for soloists, female chorus, boys' chorus, string orchestra, harpsichord and organ (1929–30)
- In terra pax, oratorio for soloists, two choirs and orchestra (1944)
- Golgotha, oratorio for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra (1945–48)
- Songs of Ariel for chorus a cappella (1950)
- Le Mystère de la Nativité, oratorio for chorus and orchestra (1957–59)
- Pseaumes de Genève for mixed chorus, children's chorus, organ and orchestra (1958)
- Pilate for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1964)
- Requiem for soloists, chorus, orchestra and big organ (1971–72)
Vocal Music (for Singers)
- Le vin herbé, secular oratorio for twelve voices, seven strings and piano (1938/41)
- Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke for alto and small orchestra (1942–43)
- Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann for baritone or alto and orchestra (1943–44)
- Trois chants de Noël (texts by Albert Rudhardt) (1947)
- Suite for baritone and orchestra (1952/55)
- Maria-Triptychon for soprano, violin and orchestra (1967–68)
- Poèmes de la mort for tenor, baritone, bass and three electric guitars (1969–71)
- Et la vie l'emporta for alto, baritone, chamber chorus and chamber ensemble (1974)
Opera
- Der Sturm (1952–55)
See also
In Spanish: Frank Martin para niños
