Donald Martino

Donald James Martino (May 16, 1931 – December 8, 2005) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.

Biography Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino attended Plainfield High School. He began as a clarinetist, playing jazz for fun and profit. He attended Syracuse University, where he studied composition with Ernst Bacon, who encouraged him in that direction. He then attended Princeton University as a graduate student, where he worked with composers Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. He also studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar.

He became a lecturer and teacher himself, working with students at Yale University, the New England Conservatory of Music (where he became chair of the composition department), Brandeis University, and Harvard University.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1974 for his chamber work Notturno.

In 1991, the journal Perspectives of New Music published a 292-page tribute to Martino.

Martino died in Antigua in 2005. A memorial concert was held at the New England Conservatory on May 8, 2007. A recording of the concert was released by Navona Records in 2009.

Music Most of Martino's mature works (including pseudo-tonal works such as Paradiso Choruses and Seven Pious Pieces) were composed using the twelve-tone method; his sound world more closely resembled the lyrical Dallapiccola's than his other teachers'.

The pianist Easley Blackwood commissioned Martino's sonata Pianississimo, explicitly requesting that it be one of the most difficult pieces ever written. The resulting work is indeed of epic difficulty, but has been recorded several times. (Blackwood declined to perform it.)

Martino presented Milton Babbitt with at least two musical birthday cards: B,a,b,b,i,t,t on his 50th birthday and Triple Concerto on his 60th.

Musical compositions Many of the instrumental pieces have extensive doublings, such as flute/piccolo/alto flute. Principal publishers: Ione, Dantalian, McGinnis & Marx.

Works for orchestra and concertos Sinfonia, 1953, withdrawn, unpublished Contemplations, 1956 Piano Concerto, 1965 Mosaic for Grand Orchestra, 1967 Cello Concerto, 1972 Ritorno, 1976, arr. for band, 1977 Triple Concerto, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, 1977 Divertisements for Youth Orchestra, 1981 Alto Sax Concerto, 1987 Violin Concerto, 1996 Concertino (clarinet and orchestra), 2004 Concerto for Orchestra, 2005

Chamber music Clarinet Sonata (clarinet, piano), 1950–51 String Quartet No. 1, withdrawn, unpublished String Quartet No. 2, 1952, withdrawn, unpublished String Quartet Mo. 3, 1954, withdrawn, unpublished Violin Sonata (violin, piano), 1954 Seven Canoni Enigmatici, canons with resolutions (2 violas, 2 ‘cellos/2 bassoons, 1955; string quartet, 1962; 2 clarinets, alto clarinet/basset horn, bass clarinet, 1966, may be combined with version of 1955) String Trio, 1955, withdrawn, unpublished Quartet (clarinet and string trio), 1957 Trio (clarinet, violin, piano), 1959 Five Frammenti (oboe, double bass), 1961 Concerto (wind quintet), 1964 Notturno (piccolo/flute/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, viola, ‘cello, piano, percussion), 1973 String Quartet [No. 4], 1983 Canzone e Tarantella sul Nome Petrassi (clarinet, ‘cello), 1984 From the Other Side (flute, ‘cello, piano, percussion), 1988 Three Sad Songs (viola, piano), 1991 Octet (flute, clarinet, flugelhorn, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, ‘cello), 1998 Serenata Concertante (flute, clarinet, flugel horn, French horn, percussion, piano, violin, ‘cello), 1999 Violin Sonata No. 2 (violin, piano), 2004 String Quartet No. 5, 2004 Trio (violin, cello, piano), 2004 Trio (clarinet, cello, piano), 2004

Works for solo instrument Suite of Variations on Medieval Melodies (‘cello), 1952, rev. 1954 A Set (clarinet), 1954, rev. 1974 Harmonica Piece, 1954 Quodlibets (flute), 1954 Fantasy (piano), 1958 Fantasy-Variations (violin), 1962 Parisonatina al’dodecafonia (‘cello), 1964 B, A, B, B, IT, T (clarinet with extensions), 1966 Strata (bass clarinet), 1966 Pianississimo, piano sonata, 1970 Impromptu for Roger (piano), 1977 Fantasies and Impromptus (piano), 1980 Quodlibets II (flute), 1980 Suite in Old Form (Parody Suite) (piano), 1982 Twelve Preludes (piano), 1991 15, 5, 92, A.B. (clarinet), 1992 A Birthday Card for Alea III (clarinet), 1997 Romanza (violin), 2000 Sonata (violin), 2003

Vocal works Separate Songs (high voice and piano), 1951 All day I hear the noise of waters (James Joyce) The half-moon westers low, my love (A. E. Housman) From "The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts" (Hilaire Belloc) (high voice and piano), 1952 The Lion, the Tiger The Frog The Microbe Portraits: a Secular Cantata (Edna St. Vincent Millay, Walt Whitman, E. E. Cummings) (mezzo-soprano and baritone solos, chorus, orchestra), 1954 Arrangement of Anyone lived in a pretty how town (SATB chorus, piano 4 hands, optional percussion, 1955 Three Songs (James Joyce) (soprano/tenor or bass, piano), 1955 Alone Tutto e sciolto (in English) A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight Two Rilke Songs (mezzo-soprano and piano), 1961 Die Laute Aus einem Sturmnacht VIII; Seven Pious Pieces (Robert Herrick) (chorus with optional piano/organ), 1972 Paradiso Choruses (Dante) (solo voices, chorus, orchestra, tape), 1974 The White Island (SATB chorus and chamber orchestra), 1985

Film scores The White Rooster, c1950, unpublished The Lonely Crime, 1958, unpublished

Other works Augenmusik, a Mixed Mediocritique (actress/danseuse/uninhibited female percussionist, tape), 1972 Many popular songs and jazz arrangements, all unpublished