Donald Martino


Donald James Martino was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.

Biography

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino attended Plainfield High School. He began as a clarinetist, playing jazz for fun and profit. He attended Syracuse University, where he studied composition with Ernst Bacon, who encouraged him in that direction. He then attended Princeton University as a graduate student, where he worked with composers Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. He also studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar.
He became a lecturer and teacher himself, working with students at Yale University, the New England Conservatory of Music, Brandeis University, and Harvard University.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1974 for his chamber work Notturno.
In 1991, the journal Perspectives of New Music published a 292-page tribute to Martino.
Martino died in Antigua in 2005. A memorial concert was held at the New England Conservatory on May 8, 2007. A recording of the concert was released by Navona Records in 2009.

Music

Most of Martino's mature works were composed using the twelve-tone method; his sound world more closely resembled the lyrical Dallapiccola's than his other teachers'.
The pianist Easley Blackwood commissioned Martino's sonata Pianississimo, explicitly requesting that it be one of the most difficult pieces ever written. The resulting work is indeed of epic difficulty, but has been recorded several times.
Martino presented Milton Babbitt with at least two musical birthday cards: B,a,b,b,i,t,t on his 50th birthday and Triple Concerto on his 60th.

Musical compositions

Many of the instrumental pieces have extensive doublings, such as flute/piccolo/alto flute. Principal publishers: Ione, Dantalian, McGinnis & Marx.

Works for orchestra and concertos

Sinfonia, 1953, withdrawn, unpublished Contemplations, 1956
  • Piano Concerto, 1965Mosaic for Grand Orchestra, 1967
  • Cello Concerto, 1972Ritorno, 1976, arr. for band, 1977
  • Triple Concerto, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, 1977 Divertisements for Youth Orchestra, 1981
  • Alto Sax Concerto, 1987
  • Violin Concerto, 1996
  • Concertino, 2004
  • Concerto for Orchestra, 2005

Chamber music

  • Clarinet Sonata, 1950–51
  • String Quartet No. 1, withdrawn, unpublished
  • String Quartet No. 2, 1952, withdrawn, unpublished
  • String Quartet Mo. 3, 1954, withdrawn, unpublished
  • Violin Sonata, 1954Seven Canoni Enigmatici, canons with resolutions
  • String Trio, 1955, withdrawn, unpublished
  • Quartet, 1957
  • Trio, 1959Five Frammenti, 1961
  • Concerto, 1964 Notturno, 1973
  • String Quartet, 1983 Canzone e Tarantella sul Nome Petrassi, 1984 From the Other Side, 1988 Three Sad Songs, 1991
  • Octet, 1998Serenata Concertante, 1999
  • Violin Sonata No. 2, 2004
  • String Quartet No. 5, 2004
  • Trio, 2004
  • Trio, 2004

Works for solo instrument

Suite of Variations on Medieval Melodies, 1952, rev. 1954A Set, 1954, rev. 1974
  • Harmonica Piece, 1954Quodlibets, 1954
  • Fantasy, 1958 Fantasy-Variations, 1962 Parisonatina al’dodecafonia, 1964 B, A, B, B, IT, T, 1966 Strata, 1966 Pianississimo, piano sonata, 1970 Impromptu for Roger, 1977 Fantasies and Impromptus, 1980 Quodlibets II, 1980 Suite in Old Form , 1982
  • Twelve Preludes, 1991 15, 5, 92, A.B., 1992 A Birthday Card for Alea III, 1997Romanza, 2000
  • Sonata, 2003

Vocal works

Separate Songs, 1951
  1. All day I hear the noise of waters
  2. The half-moon westers low, my love From "The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts", 1952
  3. The Lion, the Tiger
  4. The Frog
  5. The MicrobePortraits: a Secular Cantata, 1954
  • Arrangement of Anyone lived in a pretty how town, 1955
  1. Alone
  2. Tutto e sciolto
  3. A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at MidnightTwo Rilke Songs, 1961
  4. Die Laute
  5. Aus einem Sturmnacht VIII;Seven Pious Pieces, 1972 Paradiso Choruses, 1974 The White Island, 1985

Film scores

The White Rooster, c1950, unpublishedThe Lonely Crime, 1958, unpublished

Other works

Augenmusik, a Mixed Mediocritique, 1972

Articles by Martino

  • Martino, Donald. 1961. "The Source Set and Its Aggregate Formations." Journal of Music Theory 5: 224-273.
  • Martino, Donald. 1964. "Claudio Spies: 'Tempi'." Perspectives of New Music 2/2: 112-124.
  • Martino, Donald. 1966. "Notation in General - Articulation in Particular." Perspectives of New Music 4/2: 47-58.
  • Martino, Donald, and Ricci, Robert. 1968. "Wherefore Modern Music?" Music Educators Journal 55: 94-96.
  • Martino, Donald. 1971. "In Memoriam Stravinsky." Perspectives of New Music 9/2-10/1: 64.
  • Martino, Donald. 1972. "Exotic Winds." The Musical Times 113/1555: 865.
  • Martino, Donald. 1974. "In Memoriam Dallapiccola." Perspectives of New Music 13/1: 240-245.

Interview with Martino

  • Martino, Donald, and Boros, James. 1991. "A Conversation with Donald Martino." Perspectives of New Music 29/2 : 212-278.