Part Iii. Lento Allegro Lento - Music

Bohuslav Martinů 8 December 1890 Polička – 28 August 1959 Liestahl Was A Czech Composer Of Modern Classical Music. He Was Very Prolific Writing Almost 400 Pieces Among Them 6 Symphonies Choral Works Operas Concertos Including For Cello Violin Oboe And Five For The Piano And His Chamber Music Including Seven String Quartets. His Artistic History Content More Creative Periods Incl. Postimpresionism Neo-Classicism Expressionism Etc. Biography Bohuslav Martinů Was Born In A Bell-Tower Where His Father A Shoemaker By Trade Was A Watchman. Even As A Child He Developed A Reputation Locally And He Gave His First Public Concert In His Hometown In 1905. In 1906 Martinů Became A Violin Student At The Prague Conservatory. He Studied Briefly There Before Being Dismissed For “incorrigible Negligence” And Later Continued To Study On His Own. He Spent The First World War In His Hometown As A Teacher Where He Pursued His Interests In Composition. He Also Joined The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra As A Violinist. His Ballet Istar Was Completed In 1922. He Left Czechoslovakia For Paris In 1923 Where He Became A Pupil Of Albert Roussel Though He Retained Many Links With His Birthplace. When The German Army Approached Paris Early In The Second World War He Fled First To The South Of France And Then To The United States In 1941 Where He Settled In New York With His French Wife. In Later Life He Lived In Switzerland Never Returning To His Homeland. Martinů’s Music Displays A Wide Variety Of Influences Works Such As La Revue De Cuisine 1927 Are Heavily Influenced By Jazz While The Double Concerto For Two String Orchestras Piano And Timpani 1938 Is One Of Many Works To Show The Influence Of The Baroque Concerto Grosso. Other Works Are Influenced By Czech Folk Music. He Also Admired The Music Of Claude Debussy And Igor Stravinsky Among Other Composers. A Characteristic Feature Of His Style Of Orchestral Writing Is The Near Omni-Present Piano Most Of His Orchestral Works Include A Prominent Part For Piano Including His Small Concerto For Harpsichord And Chamber Orchestra. The Bulk Of His Writing From The 1930s Into The 1950s Was In A Neoclassical Vein But With His Last Works He Opened Up His Style To Include More Rhapsodic Gestures And A Looser More Spontaneous Sense Of Form. This Is Easiest To See By Comparing His Sixth Symphony Tellingly Titled Fantaisies Symphoniques And His Previous Efforts All From The 1940s. One Of Martinů’s Lesser Known Works Is A Piece Featuring The Theremin Commissioned By Lucie Bigelow Rosen. Martinů Started Working On This Commission In The Summer Of 1944 And Finished His Fantasia For Theremin Oboe String Quartet And Piano On October 1 Dedicating It To Mrs Rosen Who Premiered The Piece As Theremin Soloist In New York On 3 November 1945 Along With The Koutzen Quartet And Robert Boom. read less