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Bohuslav Martinu 1890–1959

Bohuslav Martinu, the Czech composer, at Liestal, Switzerland, on 28 August, aged sixty-eight. He was born on 8 December 1890 in a belfry at Policka in eastern Bohemia, where his father was a shoemaker and also watchman of the church tower. As a boy he studied the violin, and at ten he wrote a string quartet. After being twice expelled from the Prague Conservatory for refractory behaviour, he joined the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as a violinist in 1913. In the early ‘twenties he began to enjoy some success as a composer, but, feeling the need for further training, he returned to the Conservatory and placed himself under Suk. In 1923, however, he settled in Paris and became a pupil of Roussel. Five years later his Second String Quartet was played at the I.S.C.M. Festival at Siena, and his String Quintet was given at the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Festival at Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

One of his best-known works, La Bagarre, dates from 1928; this was written to celebrate Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic. For his String Sextet in 1932 he was awarded the Coolidge Prize of $1,000, which was a welcome addition to his scanty funds. Another successful work, the Concert Grosso, followed in 1938. When the Germans invaded France in 1940 Martinu and his wife fled from the country, and after a protracted and hazardous journey eventually reached America. There many important commissions came to Martinu, from Koussevitsky, Mischa Elman, Münch and others; and his work became generally known. But in 1945 he was invited to become professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory, and he returned for a short time to his native land.

An extremely prolific composer, with a number of operas, symphonies, concertos and chamber works to his credit, Martinu remained essentially Czech in character, though his style was sometimes superficially cosmopolitan. His orchestral work Memorial to Lidice, first performed in New York in 1943, at once springs to mind as an expression of his strong patriotic feelings. In lighter vein, there is his short opera Comedy on the Bridge, which has had some success in this country, in student performances and on the radio. Much of his music has, in fact, been broadcast by the B.B.C. It cannot be denied that Martinu was wanting in self-criticism, and he certainly wrote too much. But his work as a whole has resourcefulness, vigour, fluency and charm.

Musical Times, October 1959