Martin, Frank

Frank Martin

Suite from the Opera Der Sturm (The Tempest) (1952-54)

for Baritone (Prospero) and Orchestra

(b. Eaux-Vives, Geneva, 15 September 1890 – d. Naarden, Netherlands, 21 November 1974)

I Ouvertüre. Adagio molto tranquillo (p. 1) – Più lento (p. 11) –
Con moto (p. 12) – Poco a poco rallentando (p. 33) –
Tempo primo (p. 34) – Un poco meno lento (p. 36) –
II ‚Mein Ariel, hast du, der Luft nur ist…’. Viertel = 84 (p. 40) –
Un poco meno mosso (p. 42) – Allegro moderato (p. 44) –
Un poco più mosso (p. 49) – Poco a poco meno mosso (p. 61) –
III ‚Ein feierliches Lied’. Allegretto alla Marcia (p. 71) – Più mosso (p. 80) –
Un poco meno mosso (p. 85) –
IV Epilog. ‚Hin sind meine Zauberei’n’. Larghetto (p. 91) – Più animato (p. 97) – Con moto (p. 99) – Tempo primo (p. 102) – Allargando molto (p. 107)

Preface (by Christoph Schlüren, May 2016)

Frank Martin’s first stage works consisted of incidental music. They begin with Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (1922) in the French translation by Jules Lacroix (1809-1887), premièred in Geneva on 21 November 1922, and with Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus (1923) in the French translation by André Secretan (1896-1940), premièred in Geneva in 1923. These were followed in 1928 by Le Divorce by Jean-François Regnard (1655-1709), premièred in Geneva in April 1928, and in 1929 by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the translation by René Morax (1873-1963), premièred in Mézières on 1 June 1929. Then came a three-hour “popular spectacle” La Nique à Satan (1930-31), based on a text by Albert Rudhardt (1894-1944) and premièred in Geneva under the composer’s baton on 25 February 1933. In 1935 Martin wrote a score for the ballet Die blaue Blume, which, however, he never orchestrated; the only piece he completed from it was Danse de la peur in a version for two pianos and orchestra, premièred in Geneva on 28 June 1944 by Madeleine Cantacuzino-Lipatti and Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) under the baton of Edmond Appia (1894-1961).

By then Martin had composed the first section of his secular oratorio Le Vin herbé (1938), based on chapter 4 of the Roman de Tristan et Iseut by Joseph Bédier (1864-1938). After the première of its first section, given in Zurich on 16 April 1940 by the Zurich Madrigal Chorus under Robert Blum (1900-1994), he completed sections 2 and 3 in 1940-41. The première of the entire work took place in Zurich on 28 March 1942 (again with the Zurich Madrigal Chorus under Robert Blum), and the first stage production at the Salzburg Festival on 15 August 1948 under Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963), where it was called Der Zaubertrank (The Magic Potion). Soon Le Vin herbé advanced to become one of Martin’s most successful works. The year 1941 also witnessed his ballet score for Das Märchen vom Aschenbrödel (the Cinderella story as told by the Brothers Grimm), which premièred in Basel on 12 March 1942. In 1942 there followed the incidental music to La Voix des siècles, premièred in Geneva on 4 July 1942 under Roger Vuataz (1898-1988) to celebrate the city’s two-thousandth anniversary. One year later Martin wrote a score for Ein Totentanz zu Basel im Jahre 1943, a “danced open-air theater piece” for boys’ choir, string orchestra, jazz band, and Basler drum that was based on a scenario by his niece Mariette de Meyenbourg (1900-1986) and premièred in Basel on 27 May 1943. It was followed in 1946 by incidental music to Athalie by Jean Racine (1639-1699), which was first heard in Geneva on 7 May 1947 under Albert Paychère (1889-1970) and contains the subsequently famous Ouverture pour Athalie.

Read full preface / Komplettes Vorwort lesen > HERE