Martinu is one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His oeuvre embraces nearly all genres of music. It incorporates and unifies elements from his native Bohemia as well as nearly every musical style found in the first half of the 20th century. Although he never formally adopted the language of 12-tone nor the ultra-Romantic styles popular at the Prague Conservatory where he studied, he was affected by them nonetheless, and his scores are occasionally marked by their strident effects.
Martinu's early training in music was somewhat difficult. He was expelled from the Conservatory on the grounds of "incorrigible negligence" in June of 1910. He simply went on and taught himself the rudiments of composition being first influenced by the impressionist composers of Paris. His Czech Rhapsody was the first work to bring him any major success. In 1923 a scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris for the first time, and his experience had a liberating effect on him personally as well as musically. "I went to France not to seek to save myself there but to confirm my opinion. What I sought there was neither Debussy nor impressionism nor musical expression but the true fundamentals of Western culture, which, in my view, harmonize much better with our own national character than a labyrinth of conjectures and problems." Martinu received a feu-lessons from Albert Roussel in composition and was exposed to "order, clarity, measure, taste, precise, sensitive, direct expression, in short: the outstanding qualities of French art that I have always admired and with which I wanted to become more intimately acquainted."
The premiere of the Three Madrigals at the Musicians' Guild in Times Hall, New York, on December 23,1947 was a major event of that musical season. The Sun of the next day published the following comment: "It was a considerable labor of love for Joseph and Lillian Fuchs to devote themselves to learning Martinu's Three Madrigals for violin and viola, which was the absolutely new work of the evening, and an absolutely good one. They can hardly tour the piece, and come next week, they will hardly be able to record it. But somebody ought to get it down while it is still as fresh with them as it is now." Virgil Thomson wrote of the Madrigals, "So beautiful a work, in so beautiful an execution marks a high point in the season, in many seasons."
The Madrigal has a long history. Most commonly it is a vocal work for two or more parts, with an intricate texture, often of a daring and experimental harmonic character ornamented with extreme chromaticism, as in the works of Marenzio and Gesualdo in the Renaissance in Italy. Martinu's poco allegro opens with a brisk rhythmic figure that provides strong motor impulse from the start; its character is augmented only by the most original of harmonies. The poco andante of the second movement is hushed and pastoral. The coloring through the use of special effects is noteworthy, particularly that of mutes. The finale is a tour de force of rhythmic energy, unexpected accents, and instrumental virtuosity. Its spirit is one of freshness and inexhaustible vitality and carried to an exhilarating conclusion.
-- Kendall Durelle Briggs
