Bohuslav Martinů  listen^? (born in Polička, December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer. To play the audio file do not click on the -image. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ...

Martinů studied briefly at the Prague Conservatory (before being dismissed for "incorrigible negligence") and later continued to study on his own. He left Czechoslovakia for Paris in 1923, where he became a pupil of Albert Roussel, though he retained many links with his birthplace. When the German army approached Paris early in the Second World War he fled, first to the south of France, and then to the United States in 1941 where he settled in New York with his French wife. In later life he lived in Switzerland, never returning to his homeland. Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Albert Roussel was a French composer. ...

Martinů was a very prolific composer, writing almost 400 pieces. He is less well known as his countryman, Leoš Janáček, but many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his choral work, The Epic of Gilgamesh (1955); his symphonies, a consistently fine modern cycle of six; his concertos, including those for cello, violin, oboe and five for the piano; and his chamber music, including seven string quartets, a flute sonata among other works. The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and comprising several movements. ... Origin Etymology Concerto (pl. ... A violoncello concerto is a concerto for solo violoncello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. ... A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and orchestra. ... Modern Oboe The Oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind double reed family. ... A piano concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, sonata literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ...

Martinů's music displays a wide variety of influences: works such as La Revue de Cuisine (1927) are heavily influenced by jazz, while the Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani (1938) is one of many works to show the influence of the Baroque concerto grosso. Other of his works were influenced by Czech folk music. He also admired the music of Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, among other composers. La Revue de Cuisine by Martinu. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Baroque music is Western classical music from the Baroque era, after the Renaissance music era and before the Classical music era proper. ... The concerto grosso was a popular form of baroque music centered around an ensemble, usually having four to six movements in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno). ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Claude Debussy (Achille-) Claude Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a composer of impressionistic European classical music. ... Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was Russian-American composer of modern classical music. ...

One of Martinů's lesser known works is a piece featuring the theremin commissioned by Lucie Bigelow Rosen. Martinů started working on this job in the summer of 1944 and finished his Fantasia for the Theremin, oboe, string quartet and piano on October 1 and dedicated it to Mrs. Rosen, who premiered the piece as theremin soloist in New York on November 3, 1945, along with the Koutzen Quartet and Robert Boom. Léon Theremin playing an early theremin The theremin or thereminvox (originally pronounced /tay-ray-meen/ but often anglicized as /there-uh-min/ [1]) is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ...

In His Own Words

"The artist is always searching for the meaning of life, his own and that of mankind, searching for truth. A system of uncertainty has entered our daily life. The pressures of mechanisation and uniformity to which it is subject call for protest and the artist has only one means of expressing this, by music." - Bohuslav Martinů

Media

File links The following pages link to this file: Apollo 8 Accordion Antonio Vivaldi Aramaic language Symphony No. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 1-1. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 1-2. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 1-3. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 2-1. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 2-2. ... Martinu - Sonata for cello and piano 2-3. ... Martinu- Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra-1. ... Martinu- Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra-2. ... Martinu- Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra-3. ...

External Links

• Bohuslav Martinů Foundation in Prague (http://www.martinu.cz/main.html)
• Catalogue of Works (http://martinu.cz.beledia.cz/katalog)