Bohuslav Martinu - 50th Anniversary of Death on 28 August 2009

Bohuslaw Martinu was born in Bohemia in 1890 and lived through the shattering times of the first half of the twentieth century. In the face of upheaval and the loss of his homeland, Martinu remained a cheerful, versatile man full of energy and creativity.
Martinu’s career began on a fairly unpromising note. After having been expelled from the Prague Conservatoire for ‘incorrigible negligence’, he did not even succeed in passing his exams there on the second attempt. However, his prospects improved when he got a job as a violinist with the Czech Philharmonic.
Even then, Martinu was a quite prolific composer. He was particularly influenced by the the French composers of the time, but also by Czech folk music. In the 1920s he took lessons with Albert Roussel in Paris as well as with Josef Suk and developed a distinctive – even though not long-term – personal style with polytonal harmonies, polyphonic setting and rhythmic vitality. Gradually, his international reputation spread.
Again and again, we find evidence of Martinu’s interests and hobbies in his music, amongst others animals, flying and sport. His football piece Half-Time became particularly well-known, but swimming and boxing were subjectsof his works as well – all disciplines which the composer pursued himself. In music, Martinu was interested in jazz, classicism but also in experimental and highly dissonant sounds. As in life, he was open to inspiration and gratefully accepted what came along.
At the onset of the Second World War, Martinu was forced to flee to the USA. Moving from place to place, he nonetheless established his reputation as a symphonist, but in his homesickness he often turned to his Czech roots, writing numerous songs on Czech texts. At the end of the war, with Russia now in control of Czechoslovakia, he was unable to return to Prague. He lived first in Nice from 1953, then in Rome and spent the last years of his life in Switzerland.
There are Martinu performances worldwide throughout 2009, and Schott commemorates this year with a series of new study scores.

• Bohuslav Martinu - Profile
• Website of the International Martinu Foundation