A major composer of the 20th century, often regarded as the leading figure among French-speaking Swiss composers, Frank Martin left a unique mark on the history of music. His creative activity spans practically an entire lifetime, since his earliest known manuscript dates from 1899 and his last completed work, the chamber cantata Et la vie l’emporta, was composed in the very year of his death, 1974. Inspired by J. S. Bach, it represents a kind of return to the source for Frank Martin, whose career as a composer is no doubt owed to the aesthetic shock he experienced at the age of twelve upon hearing the St Matthew Passion at Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. Frank Martin often recounted this experience, as in the portrait devoted to him by Swiss French-language television in 1970:
I was put into a kind of ecstasy, such that from beginning to end I can no longer recall a single memory. I was seized, carried off into another world. It was as if I had been transported to Paradise. It is an experience I have always wanted to repeat throughout my life but never have, and which is absolutely unique.
Frank Martin studied privately with the Swiss composer Joseph Lauber (1864–1952), his “master from a technical point of view”, who also taught him—and publishers still appreciate this today—“a very important thing: […] to write music cleanly”! Frank Martin’s artistic sensibility, blending traditions (sometimes very ancient ones) with the avant-garde, shines through in works of original inspiration and great expressive richness. Among Swiss composers, he belongs to those who always refused to choose between Latin and Germanic aesthetics, much like Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950), whose pupil and friend he was. Although Frank Martin explored various modes of writing—moving from a post-Romantic to a neo-Classical style and then, marked by dodecaphony, to a highly chromatic idiom, drawing on ancient or oriental rhythms, inspired as much by the Middle Ages as by jazz—he always remained focused on his own path. His instantly recognisable body of work undoubtedly bears the imprint of this long and free maturation.
Frank Martin expressed himself about his music on many occasions. Let us mention, for example, Entretien sur la musique or Un compositeur médite sur son art. Part of his correspondence has also been published, notably his exchanges with other central figures of music in Switzerland such as Ernest Ansermet (1883–1969), founder of the Orchestre de la Suisse romande, or Victor Desarzens (1908–1986), founder of the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, to name but two. Finally, mention should be made of an archive from Swiss French-language television that lets us hear Frank Martin and even see him at work: in September 1970, on the eve of his 80th birthday, the composer gave a long interview for the programme Personnalités suisses, in which he unfolds his memories and, so to speak, opens up his workshop. In it we discover a joyful and very lively man, generous with anecdotes and very much at ease in talking about his craft as a composer:
In fact, the feeling expressed matters little; what matters is that the work be beautiful, that the artist conceived and carried it in that region of his mind which lies beyond joy and suffering, which is consequently inexpressible, but which can sometimes take shape in a work of art.
Frank Martin has also been the subject of numerous publications, books and articles—all the more so as 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of his death. Among the most recent, let us cite the work by Alain Corbellari, Frank Martin, un lyrisme intranquille, published in 2021, a solid introduction to the composer’s music and thought, offering a synthetic yet no less rich survey of his entire output. By the same author, we may also mention Frank Martin. Célébrer sa musique. Guide pour les interprètes et les programmateurs, an illustrated booklet which, in our view, is likely to interest a wider audience than its title suggests, thanks in particular to a fine biographical chronology adorning the bottom of each page—a document that can moreover be downloaded free of charge (see link below). These are precious sources for anyone wishing to become better acquainted with this essential figure in the history of music as well as with the flourishing Swiss musical life of the early 20th century.
Céline Eliseev
Indicative bibliography
Official Frank Martin website: frankmartin.org
Download link for the booklet Frank Martin. Célébrer sa musique. Guide pour les interprètes et les programmateurs: Download PDF
Page dedicated to Frank Martin on Musinfo, the information centre for Swiss music: musinfo.ch
A few suggestions from Frank Martin’s writings and published correspondence:
- Alain Corbellari, Frank Martin. Un lyrisme intranquille, Lausanne, EPFL Press, 2021.
- Frank Martin, Un compositeur médite sur son art, Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 1977.
- Frank Martin and Jean-Claude Piguet, Entretiens sur la musique, Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 1977.
- Frank Martin and Ernest Ansermet, Correspondance (1934–1968), ed. Jean-Claude Piguet, Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 1976.
- Frank Martin, Lettres à Victor Desarzens. Témoignages de collaboration entre le compositeur et son interprète, Lausanne, L’Âge d’homme, 1988.
- Frank Martin and Jean-Claude Piguet, Correspondance (1965–1974), ed. François Félix, Geneva, Georg, 2001.
Audiovisual reference:
Personnalités suisses, “Frank Martin”, Télévision suisse romande, 14 September 1970. Watch online
