Martin, Frank (EN)

Martin Frank, *15 September 1890 Geneva, †21 November 1974 Naarden (Holland), Swiss composer. He came from a Huguenot family that had moved to Geneva in the mid-18^th c. and was deeply engaged in the cultural life of the city. Martin’s grandfather, Charles Martin, was a treasurer of the conservatory he had founded in 1835 and a member of the orchestra at the Misukverein. As the tenth and youngest child of a well-known Genevan pastor, Martin grew up in a family that used to play music together. In 1908, he started studying mathematics and physics at the University of Geneva but he did not complete it. In 1906–14, he privately studied piano, harmony and composition under J. Lauber. Martin’s compositions were performed for the first time on 20 May 1911 in Vevey – it was Trois poèmes païens for baritone and orchestra. During World War I, Martin did three years of military service as a telegrapher. In 1918, he married Odetta Micheli and moved to Zurich. The following years were filled with further musical education and travelling: in 1921– 22, he was in Rome, and in 1924–25 in Paris, where he collaborated with the Russian Puppet Theatre led by Yulia Sazonova, N. Slonimsky’s sister. In 1926–36, he worked for „La Tribune de Genève” as a reviewer of symphonic concerts, and in 1926, he founded the chamber ensemble Société de Musique de Chambre de Genève, which he performed with as a pianist and harpsichordist until 1937. He also studied at Insitute JaquesDalcroze in Geneva, where he obtained a diploma in 1928 and was appointed professor of improvisation and rhythm. In 1930–33, he taught a chamber class at the Geneva Conservatory. In 1933, together with his second wife, he founded Technicum moderne de musique, a modern school teaching music, theatre and dance, which he led until 1939; the Technicum was closed due to financial difficulties; at the same time, his wife fell ill and died. Martin’s secular oratorio Le vin herbé was performed in 1942 in Zurich, considered his most original and characteristic work. In 1941–46, Martin again taught the chamber class at the Geneva Conservatory. In 1944, he composed the oratorio In terra pax, commemorating the end of World War II. This piece was commissioned by Geneva Radio and broadcast on 7 May 1945. In terra pax was performed in 1969 in the auditorium of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome in the presence of Pope Paul VI. Martin settled in Holland in 1946 together with his new wife, Maria Boeke, whom he had married in 1940. In 1950–57, he taught composition class at Hochschule für Musik in Cologne; his students included K. Stockhausen. Martin’s opera Der Sturm was first performed in Vienna in 1956. In 1963, Martin travelled to Iceland, which inspired the creation of Les quatre éléments, a symphonic fresco dedicated to E. Ansermet. In 1967, he lived in the United States and Canada, and for a time in New Hampshire as composer-in-residence. Martin received honorary doctorates from the University of Geneva in 1949 and from the University of Lausanne in 1961; in 1951, he was awarded the Prix de Genève; he was an honorary member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome; from 1942 to 1946, he served as president of the Association des Musiciens Suisses.

Martin is a special persona in the panorama of 20^th-century music, as he does not belong to any of the main trends. On the contrary, his work proves that considering these trends in oppositional categories is an oversimplification. Martin’s musical language is, on the one hand, determined by the tonal factor, and, on the other, by his experience with dodecaphony. The basis of Martin’s musical thinking was the concept of tonality as a hierarchical system, therefore reflecting a certain order of values, which became his response to the disintegration and total freedom of the new music. The composer included his philosophical and aesthetic view not only in his music but also in many published articles (e.g. Odpowiedzialność kompozytora, Ekspresja albo inkarnacja).

The path to Martin’s individual style was long. What is characteristic for him is the dichotomy between French culture, inherited from his ancestors along with the language and attachment to French spirituality and emotional restraint, and German culture, with its great cult of Bach. Martin’s youthful work was influenced by late Romantic music, especially by C. Franck. Thanks to his acquaintance with E. Ansermet, who in 1918 began giving regular concerts in Geneva with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande he founded, Martin became acquainted with the music of Debussy and Ravel and gained a deeper aesthetic awareness. Apart from the early Quintet (1919) and Pavane couleur du temps (1920), maintained in a Ravel-like harmonic climate, a lasting trace of M. Debussy’s fascination are the textural and timbral solutions (e.g. parallelisms) and instrumentation methods (e.g. combinations of strings, harp, flute and clarinet, abolition of the hegemony of brass instruments, polychronism of orchestral texture) used in his later works, most fully shown in Les quatre éléments (1964).

His search in the field of rhythm, undertaken under the influence of E. Jaques-Dalcroze’s idea, is reflected in, for example, Trio sur des mélodies populaires irlandaises (1925) and three symphonic pieces Rythmes (1926), related to The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky; however, the most consequential was his encounter with Schoenberg’s doctrine of dodecaphony. Martin accepted only a few of its elements, rejecting Schoenberg’s individual dogmatism. Martin saw the obligation to systematically use 12 notes as a source of dynamism in the melodic line; in the ban on using octaves and unison – a kind of impulse to maintain constant harmonic density. At the same time, he rejected the part of dodecaphony, which led to the destruction of tonal sense and the abolition of the hierarchy between notes.

Martin’s works from the 1930s are evidence of further evolution. The crowning achievement of this phase of creativity is the Symphony, in which the 12-note series is the basis for shaping thematic and ostinato structures. From then on, Martin’s series were constructed as thematic-motivic creations with a predominance of seconds-thirds movement, gentle drawing and constant rhythmic order. Martin’s work is also characterised by the limited use of mirror forms, permutations and transpositions, as well as the presence of tonal implications in the form of triads or cadential phrases in ostinato themes.

The work that the composer considered “wholly his own” was the secular oratorio Le vin herbé (1938–41), based on the medieval myth of Tristan and Iseult. The universality of the myth was thus further confirmed in the form of multi-level connections between this work and the dramas of Wagner and Debussy, Charles Morgan’s English novel, and above all Joseph Bédier’s philological masterpiece Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut. Without reaching for elements of archaisation of musical language and using extremely modest performance means (12 voices, 8 instruments), Martin achieved a climate of austere simplicity and unique expression. The connections between music and words are built by mapping the syntactic structure of the text with rhythmic and sound means, as well as by using motifs endowed with connotative meaning and series with symbolic meaning. Le vin herbé initiated a series of Martin’s great vocal-instrumental works with elaborate forms and an epic narrative flow. Both operas: Der Sturm and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac refer to the tradition of the French tragédie mise en musique, in which the spoken text appears alongside recitative and singing, and each act contains ballet scenes. Also, in the oratorio works to the texts of A. Gréban, attention is drawn to the dramatic element and the influence of the medieval mystery play (Mystère de la Nativité, Pilate). The opposition of dodecaphony and tonal-modal harmony symbolises the antinomy of the human and divine factors. In the scenes involving Satan and the devils, the composer used parlando accompanied by percussion. The remaining solo parts are filled with a recitative narrative with a fine-interval melody typical of Martin, only in the lyrical scenes (Mystère de la Nativité) is a greater share of the cantilena noticeable.

Martin’s international fame came with his instrumental composition, Petite Symphonie Concertante (1945). His formal skill is revealed here in the concept of combining the baroque concerto grosso with classical form and in the presence of a series of 12 notes with tonal implications (initial ostinato), as well as in the refined colour scheme and polygenicity of sound. Martin’s piano pieces show affinities with both Debussy and Chopin. This is evidenced by the type of pianism we encounter not only in the concertos or the Ballade for Piano and Orchestra (1939) but above all in the cycle of 8 Preludes (1948), written for D. Lipatti.

Martin’s religious compositions place him among the most outstanding, alongside O. Messiaen, creators of religious music in the 20^th century. The rejection of theological dogmas resulted in the creation of works traditionally associated with the Roman Catholic liturgy (Mass, 1926; Requiem, 1972), and, at the same time, with a universal message, focused on what is common to Catholics and Protestants (In terra pax, 1944; Golgotha, 1948). Considering the composer’s Calvinist origins, his emphasis on the importance of the figure of the Virgin Mary is astonishing (Mystère de la Nativité, Pilate, Maria-Triptychon). The only composition unequivocally associated with the Huguenot-Calvinist tradition is Pseaumes de Genève (1958), a piece commissioned on the occasion of the 400^th anniversary of the University of Geneva. Golgotha ​​occupies a central place in Martin’s religious output. The concept of the 10-part Golgotha, inspired by Rembrandt’s graphic Three Crosses, is based on the combination of the narrative of the Evangelists, i.e. the dynamic element, with extensive meditative fragments. Preceding the proper course of the passion with two parts, Entry into Jerusalem and The Temple Sermon, resulted from the desire to present the figure of Christ not only through the Passion but also in action. Remaining faithful to his sound idiom, Martin also used clear references to Bach (e.g. in part 4), creating a work of universal significance and great expressive power. The passion theme can also be found in the 6-part Polyptyque (1973), composed for Y. Menuhin based on paintings by Duccio of Siena. Meanwhile, Requiem (1972) and the significantly titled cantata Et la vie l’emporta (1974) constitute a kind of spiritual testament of the composer, for whom the creation of beauty was always an “act of love”.

Literature: Frank Martin, J.C. Piguet Entretiens sur la musique, Neuchâtel 1967; E. Ansermet, Frank Martin Correspondance 1934–1968, ed. J.C. Piguet, Neuchâtel 1976; Frank Martin Lettres à Victor Desarzens, ed. P. Sulzer, Lausanne 1988; M. Martin Souvenirs de ma vie avec Frank Martin, Lausanne 1990; Ch.W. King Frank Martin. A Bio-Bibliography, New York 1990; R. Klein Frank Martn. Sein Leben und Werk, Vienna 1960; B. Billeter Frank Martin. Ein Aussenseiter der neuen Musik, Frauenfeld 1970; B. Billeter Die Harmonik bei Frank Martin. Untersuchungen zur Analyse neuerer Musik, Berno 1971; B. Martin Frank Martin ou la réalité du rêve, Neuchâtel 1973; Frank Martin. L’univers d’un compositeur, ed. E. Catala, Lausanne 1984; R. Brandt Religiöse Grundzüge im Werk von Frank Martin, Regensburg 1992; Frank Martin. Das kompositorische Werk, ed. D. Kämper, «Kölner Schriften zur Neuen Musik» III, Mainz 1993; M. Szoka Język muzyczny Franka Martina, Łódź 1995; K. Schüssler Frank Martins Musiktheater: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Oper im 20. Jahrhundert, Kassel 1996;  F. Martin, J.-Cl. Piguet Correspondance Frank Martin – Jean-Claude Piguet (1965–1974), ed. F. Félix, Geneva 2001; A. Perroux Frank Martin, ou, L’insatiable quête, Geneva 2001; M. Szoka Frank Martin – Konteksty muzyczne, Łódź 2002; M. Louer Frank Martin’s «Le Vin herbé»: compositional philosophy, serial procedures, dramaturgy and choral narratology, dissertation Indiana University 2008 ; S. Bruhn Frank Martin’s Musical Reflections on Death, Hillsdale, New York 2011; E. Ansermet Der Weg Frank Martins and Frank Martins historische Stellung, “Österreichische Musik-Zeitschrift” XI, 1956 and XXIV, 1969; S. Jarociński Frank Martin, in: Orfeusz na rozdrożu, Kraków 1983; K. Regamey O Franku Martinie, in: Poetyka muzyczna. Autorefleksje kompozytorskie: warsztatowe, teoretyczne i estetyczne, «Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Muzycznej w Krakowie» no. 6, Kraków 1983; S. Shigihara In terra pax. Anmerkungen zu Frank Martins Oratorium, in: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Oratoriums seit Händel, Bonn 1986; G. Schubert Frank Martin. Violinkonzert, “Melos” 1986 no. 4; J. Stankiewicz Frank Martin et la Pologne, “Revue musicale de Suisse Romande” 1990 no. 4; A. Baltensperger Fragen des Métier bei Frank Martin. Untersuchungen zu den Skizzen des Violinkonzerts, in: Quellenstudien I: Gustaw Mahler, Igor Strawinsky, Anton Webern, Frank Martin, ed. H. Oesch, Winterthur 1991; M. Szoka Quelques remarques sur certains aspects de la technique de la basse obstinée dans la création de Frank Martin, “Mitteilungen der P. Sacher Stiftung”, Basel 1992; T. Seedorf Porträt der literarischen Form. Rilkes “Comet” in der Vertonung von Frank Martin, “Die Musikforschung” 1993 no. 3; M. Szoka Problemy techniki i formy w Symfonii Franka Martina, “Muzyka” 1994 no. 4; M. Szoka Ernest Ansermet i Frank Martin – dzieje przyjaźni, “Res Facta Nova” 1999 no. 3; M. Szoka Der Cornet Rainera Marii Rilkego i Franka Martina – problem kwalifikacji gatunkowej, in: Pieśń europejska między romantyzmem a modernizmem, seriaes: Muzyka i liryka, vol. IX, Kraków 2000; S. Gärtner «…das religiöse Kunstwerk müsste seinen Urheber vergessen lassen…» Frank Martins Golgotha (1945–1948), in: «Entre Denges et Denezy…» Dokumente zur Schweizer Musikgeschichte 1900–2000, ed. U. Mosch, Mainz 2000 ; M. Szoka D`un certain signe du métier de Frank Martin, in: Music in the World of Ideas, book dedicated to prof. M. Bristiger, Poznań 2001; M. Szoka From Independence to Freedom: Frank Martin`s Dispute with the Avant-garde of 1950, in: Composing Principles: Continuity and Innovation in Contemporary Music, Vilnius 2002; M. Szoka Frank Martin i Emil Jaques-Dalcroze – czyli o fenomenie rytmu, in: Ratio Musicae, Warsaw 2003; M. Szoka Mit tristanowski w ujęciu Franka Martina (na tropie pewnej powieści), “Res Facta Nova” 2005 no. 8(17), English ed.: Frank Martin’s Interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde Myth: Following the Trail of a Certain Novel, in: Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, no. 6, Poznań 2007; “Feuilles musicales” 1953 no. 7/8 (special issue); «Bulletin de Société de Frank Martin», Lausanne since 1980 one issue a year.