Bohuslav Martinů – Nonet for winds & strings, H. 374
Posted on | June 19, 2010 | 2 Comments
In 1959, a hundred years after the demise of Spohr and only a few months before his own death from the terminal cancer from which he was already suffering, Martinů composed his own Nonet for the same combination of instruments as favoured by Spohr.
The work is dedicated to the Czech Nonet, who gave the first performance at the Salzburg Festival on 27th July 1959, and combines nostalgia for Martinů’s native homeland with a tribute to the classical style of Haydn, which had become an increasing interest of Martinů’s during his years in America.
All three movements are redolent of the kind of music played by country musicians in Bohemia and Moravia, but the first especially, with its crisp Haydnesque themes, clarity of texture and clever use of counterpoint, reveals the composer’s selective and highly individual response to the past. It holds together perfectly in its serene affirmation of life, with no hint of the shadow of death under which it was composed.
Martinů has been justly hailed as one of the outstanding Czech composers of this century. Besides nationality, he shares many attributes with Dvorak. Both achieved their initial success outside their own country – Dvorak in Berlin, Martinů in Paris. Though both drew on the folk music of their homeland, they were truly international figures in music. Although their interests embraced music of the rural regions of the former Czechoslovakia, they were cosmopolitan, Dvorak being influenced by the music of Brahms, Martinů by Stravinsky.
Martinů came to America in 1941 to escape the Nazi occupation of Paris, and though he longed for his homeland, he and his music were enthusiastically received. In 1944 there were so many premieres of his works, writers of the time referred to 1944 as “the Martinů year.” He also taught in America, serving on the faculty of Princeton University for five years. He was appointed professor of composition at the National Conservatory in Prague in 1946.
Martinů had not lived in his native Czechoslovakia since 1923 and throughout the long years of voluntary exile, first in Paris and then in America, the spirit of his homeland remained a powerful force in his creative personality. Martinů became an American citizen in 1952. When he eventually came back to Europe in 1953, return to the repressive communist regime of Czechoslovakia was not an option, and he spent his remaining years in Italy and Switzerland where he died on August 28, 1959. He was prolific, composing music in all forms.
Sources:
http://bhco.co.uk/pages/node/177
http://www.fuguemasters.com/martinu.html#Nonet
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June 19th, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
[...] in 1838. Later, works for nine instruments were written by Rheinberger, Stanford, Ravel, Webern, Martinu and others.]. The nonet was composed and premiered in [...]
July 4th, 2010 @ 12:54 pm
[...] Martinů: Nonett for strykere og blåsere, H. 374. Click for details [...]