Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Permissions
- I The Early Years
- II The 1920s in Paris
- III Last Years in Paris
- IV The Melodic Style
- V The Harmonic Style
- VI Texture and Orchestration
- VII The First Symphony
- VIII The Second Symphony
- IX The Third Symphony
- X The Fourth Symphony
- XI The Fifth Symphony
- XII Between the Symphonies
- XIII Fantaisies Symphoniques
- XIV Beyond the Symphonies
- XV Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index of Works
- Technical Index
- General Index
XIII - Fantaisies Symphoniques
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Permissions
- I The Early Years
- II The 1920s in Paris
- III Last Years in Paris
- IV The Melodic Style
- V The Harmonic Style
- VI Texture and Orchestration
- VII The First Symphony
- VIII The Second Symphony
- IX The Third Symphony
- X The Fourth Symphony
- XI The Fifth Symphony
- XII Between the Symphonies
- XIII Fantaisies Symphoniques
- XIV Beyond the Symphonies
- XV Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index of Works
- Technical Index
- General Index
Summary
Martinů bade a temporary farewell to the symphonic genre with his Fifth Symphony. The sequence of one Symphony per year ended when he produced no such work during 1947. One could cite several possible reasons for the cessation, not least the serious accident of July 1946. Composition of any sort proved to be difficult for some months, and even had he intended to write a Sixth Symphony in 1947, it is unlikely that he would have found the strength to do so. On the other hand, the gap in his symphonic output may signify a feeling that for now he had achieved all he could in the form. Furthermore – and somewhat remarkably considering his achievements – his original disinclination towards the symphony seems to have persisted. Šafranek quotes the following lines from a letter Martinů wrote to Paul Sacher in 1946 while at work on the Toccata e due canzoni:
During my years in America I composed five symphonies for large orchestra; I am delighted to return to my favourite form – the concerto grosso. The difference between these two large-scale forms has not been sufficiently emphasized and explained in the history of music. In the concerto it is not a mere matter of playing off soli and tutti against each other, here we find ourselves on the firm ground of pure music, or simply of music. Here we do not require so many colours or orchestral effects, here there is no climax of sound or emotion, which often leads you where you have no wish to go and which often impoverishes the line and the musical thought with this ‘climax-cliché’, where real music is completely lacking. Less obvious emotion, less noise and much more music in a condensed form – that is the concerto grosso. I assure you that it is indeed a pleasure to return to this economical work with a small number of instruments and an inner wealth of content.
Given this frank distrust of the alleged demands of symphonic writing, Martinů’s desertion of the form seems less surprising than his production of five symphonies in as many years. When he next embarked on a large-scale orchestral work, in New York early in 1951, it was with the clear intention of writing something quite new; a work distanced from the earlier Symphonies not only chronologically but stylistically too.
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- Martinu and the Symphony , pp. 365 - 408Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010