Toccata e due canzoni
performed Jan 16, 2005

After Janàček, Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) is the leading Czech composer of the 20th century, but (like Milhaud and Villa-Lobos) his reputation was tarnished because he composed at amazing speed and almost never revised his scores, creating a substantial number of masterpieces plagued by their less eloquent counterparts.

Martinů was born in the small town of Polička in the Bohemian-Moravian highlands, from which Smetana and Mahler also came. His family lived in tiny room at the top of a church tower, where his father, a cobbler, earned money by watching for fires in the town below. (Martinů carried a postcard of the view from the tower for the rest of his life.) Young Bohuslav learned the violin, starting composing at 10 years old, and, thanks to donations from friends in Poliča, was sent to the conservatory in Prague, where he was not a very successful student. It wasn't until he was playing the violin regularly in the Czech Philharmonic that his education really began. In 1923, he won a small grant from the ministry of education to travel to Paris. He intended to stay for a few months, but remained for over seventeen years.

In Paris, Martinů studied with Roussel, was stunned by jazz and the music of Stravinsky, and started composing rapidly. In 1940, soon after the premier of his magnificent Double Concerto, Martinů was blacklisted by the Nazis and fled to America. Unlike many composers who fled to the United States, Martinů never felt comfortable in America, but health problems and the rise of the communism in 1948 prevented him from returning home.

Martinů's Toccata e due Canzoni (1946) shows the composer at his best, with excellent writing an accessible language for modern audiences. Virgil Thomson said of the piece, "… the shining sounds sing as well as shine, the instrumental complication is part of the musical conception, not an icing laid on top." It was while writing this piece that Martinů suffered an accident that would deeply affect the course of his career. While teaching at the Berkshire School of Music (Tanglewood) he missed his footing on his balcony in Great Barrington and fell ten feet onto concrete, leaving him with a smashed skull and impaired hearing and balance. Having finished the Toccata and the first Canzone, the second Canzone would reflect some of the darkest moments Martinů endured in his recovery. Nonetheless, his ingenious use of older forms and his highly accessible harmonies have made the Toccata e due Canzoni a favorite in the concert hall.

More?