Donald Martino

Donald Martino studied at Syracuse University, Princeton University and Plainfield High School. Training under Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt and Luigi Dallapiccola is recorded. Steven Mackey, Stephen Lucky Mosko and Alexandros Kalogeras are recorded as having studied under Donald Martino. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is music composing and music theory. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are twelve-tone technique, contemporary classical music, art music and atonality. Places of work recorded in the authority are New England. Employment is recorded with Harvard University, Brandeis University and Yale University. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship, Pulitzer Prize for Music, Fulbright Scholarship and Arts and Letters Award in Music.

• Name — Donald Martino • Born — 16 May 1931 • Birthplace — Plainfield, New Jersey • Died — 8 December 2005 • Place of death — Antigua • Occupation — Composer • Alma Mater — Syracuse University Princeton University • Awards — Pulitzer Prize for Music (1974) • Notable Works — Notturno Pianississimo Donald James Martino (May 16, 1931 – December 8, 2005) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.

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.

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.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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(actress/danseuse/uninhibited female percussionist, tape), 1972 • Many popular songs and jazz arrangements, all unpublished

• Martino, Donald. 1961. "The Source Set and Its Aggregate Formations." Journal of Music Theory 5: 224-273. • Martino, Donald. 1964. "Claudio Spies: 'Tempi'." Perspectives of New Music 2/2: 112-124. • Martino, Donald. 1966. "Notation in General - Articulation in Particular." Perspectives of New Music 4/2: 47-58. • Martino, Donald, and Ricci, Robert. 1968. "Wherefore Modern Music?" Music Educators Journal 55: 94-96. • Martino, Donald. 1971. "In Memoriam Stravinsky." Perspectives of New Music 9/2-10/1: 64. • Martino, Donald. 1972. "Exotic Winds." The Musical Times 113/1555: 865. • Martino, Donald. 1974. "In Memoriam Dallapiccola." Perspectives of New Music 13/1: 240-245.

• Martino, Donald, and Boros, James. 1991. "A Conversation with Donald Martino." Perspectives of New Music 29/2 (Summer): 212-278.

Donald Martino worked in music composing and music theory. He was employed by Harvard University, Brandeis University, Yale University and New England Conservatory. He belonged to American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Letters. He worked at New England.

Donald Martino is recorded as having received Guggenheim Fellowship, Pulitzer Prize for Music and Fulbright Scholarship. Recorded at birth as Donald James Martino.