In mid-2008, Maria Martin found a previously unnoticed handwritten manuscript by Frank Martin, titled Deuxième Ballade for flute and piano or flute, string orchestra, piano and percussion. This was the composer’s own arrangement of the Ballade for saxophone and string orchestra, piano and percussion, which he had composed for Sigurd Rascher in 1938.
On 12 and 13 May the work will be performed for the very first time in Thailand – by flutist Sebastian Jacot and the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Claude Villaret).
The concert version of Frank Martin’s Le Vin herbé (The Magic Potion) – “A Tristan with a difference” – was premièred 75 years ago, on 28 March 1942 in Zurich.
We are happy to see the work being performed today in Bristol by the WNO.
“Unlike Wagner’s maximalist, ultra Romantic and overtly theatrical operation, the trance-like, mesmeric effect of Martin’s music, is, like the love potion, a rare kind of intoxication, which leads us towards the mythical.” (Polly Graham, The Guardian, 2917-02-16)
Polly Graham blogs about Frank Martin’s Le Vin herbé – “the magic potion”. Graham is the director of the Welsh National Opera’s recent production of the secular oratorio. The production premièred on 15 February at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff before it will go on tour in March and April.
25 years ago today, on 9 February 1992, Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Die Eroberung von Mexico was first heard at the Hamburg State Opera – Ingo Metzmacher conducted.
On the same day in 1992, Arvo Pärt’s And One of the Pharisees ... was given its world première by Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.
In 1949, the orchestral suite of Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod was premièred in Baden Baden by the Radio Orchestra.
… and on this day in 1945, Frank Martin’s Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke was performed for the very first time in Basel by the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Paul Sacher.
And Happy Birthday Alban Berg! He was born on 9 February 1885, 132 years ago today.
“This work belongs on every stage.” (Eleonore Büning, FAZ)
Frank Martin’s secular oratorio Le Vin herbé – based on Joseph Bédier’s novel Romance of Tristan and Iseult – will be performed today and on 1 and 9 October at the Chicago Opera Theater.
After its first staged performance at the 1948 Salzburg Festival a critic of the Neues Österreich newspaper described the work as “A Tristan with a difference”. The concert version had already been premièred six years previously in Zurich. In its more than 60-year history Le vin herbé has enjoyed countless concert performances and several staged productions.
When I play the Polyptyque by Frank Martin, I feel the same responsibility, the same exaltation as when I play Bach's Chaconne. (Yehudi Menuhin)
Violinist Renaud Capuçon and the Kammerorchester Basel will perform Frank Martin’s Polyptyque today at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Yehudi Menuhin.
Happy 100th Birthday, Maria Martin!
Watch a 15-minute interview/documentary with Maria Martin, which was conducted in the Frank Martin House in 2011:
Simply put, Martin’s Le vin herbé is passionate, yes, but, unlike Wagner’s music drama, is wonderfully discreet, objective, and inward. Deep emotion is, paradoxically, generated through an essential restraint.
Professor Byron Adams, Professor in the Music Department of the University of California, Riverside, provides insight on Frank Martin’s Le vin herbé on the Boston Lyrics Opera’s blog. Find their blog here.
The Boston Classical Review on Frank Martin’s Le vin herbé:
“Richard Wagner didn’t have the last word on the Tristan legend, as the Boston Lyric Opera made amply clear on Wednesday night.
BLO’s production of Frank Martin’s mesmerizing Le vin herbé (presented in translation rather less poetically as The Love Potion) made a powerful case for the Swiss composer’s conception of the legend.”
Read the full review online.
This season’s last performance of Frank Martin’s secular oratorio Le Vin Herbé at the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater Berlin takes place today:
Frank Martin: Le Vin
Herbé
for 12 voices, 7 strings and piano | 90’
13.06.2013, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, Berlin; Narine Yeghiyan, s; Anna
Prohaska, s; Evelin Novak, s; Virpi Räisänen, a; Katharina Kammerloher, a;
Stephanie Atanasov, a; Thorbjorn Gulbrandsoy, t; Matthias Klink, t; Peter
Gijsbertsen, t; Arttu Kataja, b; Jan Martinik, b; Ludvig Lindström, b; Staatskapelle
Berlin, cond. Franck Ollu
Happy Birthday Alban Berg! He was born on 9 February 1885, 127 years ago today.
On this day in 1945, Frank Martin’s Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke was premièred in Basel by the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Paul Sacher.
In 1949, the orchestral suite of Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod was premièred in Baden Baden by the Radio Orchestra.
20 years ago today, on 9 February 1992, Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Die Eroberung von Mexiko was first heard at the Hamburg State Opera – Ingo Metzmacher conducted. Here’s a German introduction on the Deutschlandfunk radio website.
And on the same day in 1992, Arvo Pärt’s And One of the Pharisees ... was given its world première by Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices.