Martinu's Symphony No. 1

Synopsis

The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu had written around 300 works before he started on his first symphony in 1942. In fact, he had written pieces in just about every orchestral genre EXCEPT a full-blown symphony.

At heart, Martinu was a cosmopolitan European composer, but with a deep link to the specifically Czech musical legacy of Smetana, Dvorak, and Janacek. In 1942, Martinu was experiencing a cultural mid-life crisis: both his native land of Czechslovakia and his adopted home of Paris had been overrun by the Nazis. Martinu was living as an exile in America. Musical AND ethical considerations were both on his mind.

In a program note for the Boston Symphony’s premiere on November 13, 1942, the 52-year old Martinu wrote: “You will understand that when someone is face to face with the problem of his first symphony, he takes up a very nervous and serious attitude… his reflexes link with Beethoven’s and Brahms’s First… The large proportions, the expansive form of the symphony force the composer to put himself on a high plane… My deepest conviction is the essential nobility of thoughts and things which are quite simple and which, not explained in high-sounding words and abstruse phrases, still hold an ethical and human significance.”

Martinu’s First Symphony somehow captures both the nervous tension of the times and the yearning for a nobility of spirit in the face of a world in crisis.

Music Played in Today's Program

Bohuslav Martinu (1890 - 1959) Symphony No. 1 National Orchestra of Ukraine; Arthur Fagen, cond. Naxos 8.553348

On This Day

Births

• 1854 - American composer George Whitefield Chadwick, in Lowell, Mass.;

• 1856 - Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, in near Moscow (Gregorian date: Nov. 25);

• 1921 - Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen, in Iisalmi;

Deaths

• 1868 - Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, in Passy, near Paris, age 76;

• 1951 - Russian composer Nicolas Medtner, age 70, in London;

Premieres

• 1893 - Sibelius: "Karelia Suite," in Viborg, Finland;

• 1933 - Ruth Crawford Seeger: String Quartet, at the New School in New York City, by the New World String Quartet;

• 1943 - Martinu: Symphony No. 1, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting;

• 1953 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 5, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet;

• 1964 - Yardumian: Symphony No. 2 ("Psalms"), with vocalist Lili Chookasian, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1997 - Poul Ruders: Symphony No. 2, at Lincoln Center in New York, by the Riverside Symphony, George Rothman conducting;

• 2002 - Tavener: “Ikon of Eros” for soloists, chorus and orchestra, at the St. Paul (Minnesota) Cathedral, with Jorja Fleezanis (violin), Patricia Rozario (soprano), Tim Krol (baritone), the Minnesota Chorale and Minnesota Orchestra, Paul Goodwin conducting;

Others

• 1937 - First "official" radio broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Pierre Monteux conducting; Arthur Rodzinski had conducted a "dress rehearsal" broadcast on Nov. 2, 1937; Arturo Toscanini's debut broadcast with the NBC Symphony would occur on Christmas Day, 1937;

• 1940 - Disney releases “Fantasia,” an animated film based on classical music favorites ranging from Bach to Stravinsky; Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the soundtrack, and in one famous scene Stokowski shakes hands with Mickey Mouse.