Martin, Frank (1890–1974)

Swiss composer, pianist, and harpsichordist. His works are characterized by delicate colouring in instrumentation and an expressive quality combined in later works with a loosely interpreted twelve-tone system. Composing for both large- and small-scale forces, from orchestra to chamber music, his best known works are the operas Der Sturm/The Tempest (1956) and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1962).

He was born in Geneva, studied there with Joseph Lauber, and in 1928 became professor at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze. In 1946 he settled in Amsterdam, where he remained even after his appointment as professor of composition at the Cologne Conservatoire. Martin was among the most distinguished composers of his generation.

Works Stage opera The Tempest (Shakespeare, 1956), Monsieur Pourceaugnac (1963); Six Monologues from ‘Jedermann’ (after Hofmannsthal, 1943), ballet Die blaue Blume; incidental music for Sophocles' Oedipus Coloneus and Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Choral Mass for double chorus, oratorios In terra pax (1945), Golgotha (1948); Le Mystère de la Nativité (1957–59).

Orchestral symphonic suite Rhythmes, Esquisse, symphony for orchestra; Petite Symphonie concertante for harp, harpsichord, piano, and strings (1945); piano concerto, violin concerto (1951), cello concerto (1966); Cornet (Rilke) for contralto and orchestra.

Chamber Piano quintet, rhapsody for string quintet, string quartet, string trio, piano trio on Irish tunes; Le vin herbé for 12 voices, strings, and piano (on the subject of Tristram and Yseult, from Joseph Bédier, 1938–41); two violin and piano sontatas.