Martinu's Subliminal States (eBook)

The composer's diaries, translated for the first time, with commentary on his distinctive musical aesthetics and his relationship to artistic cross-currents in Czechoslovakia, France, and America.Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) was one of the most productive and frequently performed composers of the mid-twentieth century, renowned for such works as his opera Julietta; the Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani; and Symphony no. 6 ("e;Fantaisies symphoniques"e;). History books, however, rarely give a sense of what he stood for as a musician. Martinu's Subliminal States fills this gap by discussing the political, cultural, and musical challenges that he faced. The book also offers, for the first time, a translation of the composer's American Diaries, in which he set down his musical philosophy in direct and convincing terms. Martinu's diaries are, in large measure, a quest to establish a new kind of discourse on music. In place of the Romantic sentiment that he found others invoking to explain musical inspiration, Martinu suggested looking for"e;emotion"e; elsewhere, such as in the technical decisions a composer makes while producing the score, or even in the composer's ability to work "e;without conscious involvement."e; And in place of the schematic formal analyses that hefelt were misleading listeners about a work's "e;musical structure,"e; he urged that we treat the work as a Gestalt, or as a synergy of functional relations. Martinu's diaries provide a unique contribution to the history of musical aesthetics and shed light on a composer who loomed large in the musical worlds of Europe and America. THOMAS D. SVATOS is Assistant Professor at Zayed University.