Donald Martino

For other people named Donald Martin, see Donald Martin (disambiguation).

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

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino studied composition with Ernst Bacon, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola. Most of his 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,it,t on his 50th birthday and Triple Concerto on his 60th.

Martino, who taught at Yale University, the New England Conservatory of Music, Brandeis University, and Harvard University, 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.^[1]

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.

Selected Works by Donald Martino

Many of these pieces have extensive doublings, such as flute/piccolo/alto flute.

• String Quartet No.2 (1952)
• Violin Sonata No.1 (1952)
• String Quartet No.3 (1953)
• Three Dances (1953) for viola and piano
• A Set for Clarinet (1954) for solo clarinet
• String Trio (1954)
• Portraits (1955) for chorus and orchestra
• Quartet (1957) for clarinet and string trio
• Trio (1959) for violin, clarinet, piano
• Fantasy Variations (1962) for violin solo
• Concerto (1964) for wind quintet (n.b. without orchestra)
• Piano Concerto (1965)
• Strata (1966) for bass clarinet
• B,a,b,b,it,t (1966) for solo clarinet with extensions
• Mosaic (1967) for orchestra
• Pianississimo (1970) for piano
• Seven Pious Pieces (1971) for chorus
• Cello Concerto (1972)
• Notturno (1973) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
• Paradiso Choruses (1974) for chorus and orchestra
• Ritorno (1975), for orchestra
• Triple Concerto (1977) for Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet and small orchestra
• Fantasies and Impromptus (1978) for piano
• Quodlibets II (1979) for flute solo
• String Quartet No.4 (1983)
• The White Island (1985) for chorus and orchestra
• Saxophone Concerto (1986) for Alto Saxophone and orchestra
• From the Other Side (1988) for flute, cello, percussion, and piano
• Twelve Preludes (1991) for piano
• Three Sad Songs (1993) for viola and piano
• Violin Concerto (1996)
• Serenata Concertante (1999) for flute, clarinet, flugel horn, french horn, percussion, piano, violin, violoncello
• Romanza (2000) for violin solo
• Sonata (2003) for violin solo
• String Quartet No.5 (2004)
• Trio (2004) for violin, cello, piano
• Trio (2004) for clarinet, cello, piano
• Concertino (2004) for clarinet and orchestra
• Violin Sonata No.2 (2004)
• Concerto for Orchestra (2005)

References

• Los Angeles Times Staff (2005). Los Angeles Times: Obituary of Donald Martino. Retrieved December 25, 2005.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.perspectivesofnewmusic.org/v29n2l4.htm

Resources

• Publisher's website
• Interview with Donald Martino By Bruce Duffie, January 12, 1991

Persondata
Name	Martino, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 16, 1931
Place of birth
Date of death	December 8, 2005
Place of death