Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The composer's diaries, translated for the first time, with commentary on his distinctive musical aesthetics and his relationship to artistic cross-currents in Czechoslovakia, France, and America.Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) was one of the most productive and frequently performed composers of the mid-twentieth century, renowned for such works as his opera Julietta; the Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani; and Symphony no. 6 ("Fantaisies symphoniques"). History books, however, rarely give a sense of what he stood for as a musician. Martinu's Subliminal States fills this gap by discussing the political, cultural, and musical challenges that he faced. The book also offers, for the first time, a translation of the composer's American Diaries, in which he set down his musical philosophy in direct and convincing terms. Martinu's diaries are, in large measure, a quest to establish a new kind of discourse on music. In place of the Romantic sentiment that he found others invoking to explain musical inspiration, Martinu suggested looking for"emotion" elsewhere, such as in the technical decisions a composer makes while producing the score, or even in the composer's ability to work "without conscious involvement." And in place of the schematic formal analyses that hefelt were misleading listeners about a work's "musical structure," he urged that we treat the work as a Gestalt, or as a synergy of functional relations. Martinu's diaries provide a unique contribution to the history of musical aesthetics and shed light on a composer who loomed large in the musical worlds of Europe and America. THOMAS D. SVATOS is Assistant Professor at Zayed University. musical inspiration, Martinu suggested looking for"emotion" elsewhere, such as in the technical decisions a composer makes while producing the score, or even in the composer's ability to work "without conscious involvement." And in place of the schematic formal analyses that hefelt were misleading listeners about a work's "musical structure," he urged that we treat the work as a Gestalt, or as a synergy of functional relations. Martinu's diaries provide a unique contribution to the history of musical aesthetics and shed light on a composer who loomed large in the musical worlds of Europe and America. THOMAS D. SVATOS is Assistant Professor at Zayed University.usical aesthetics and shed light on a composer who loomed large in the musical worlds of Europe and America. THOMAS D. SVATOS is Assistant Professor at Zayed University. musical inspiration, Martinu suggested looking for"emotion" elsewhere, such as in the technical decisions a composer makes while producing the score, or even in the composer's ability to work "without conscious involvement." And in place of the schematic formal analyses that hefelt were misleading listeners about a work's "musical structure," he urged that we treat the work as a Gestalt, or as a synergy of functional relations. Martinu's diaries provide a unique contribution to the history of musical aesthetics and shed light on a composer who loomed large in the musical worlds of Europe and America. THOMAS D. SVATOS is Assistant Professor at Zayed University.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. ix)
• Preface (p. xi)
• Acknowledgments (p. xvii)
• Abbreviations (p. xix)
• Notes to the Reader (p. xxi)
• Introduction: Why Martinu the Thinker? (p. 1)
• Part 1 A Chronicle of a Composer
• 1 Martinu's Parisian Criticism (p. 9)
• 2 General Polemics (p. 21)
• 3 Until 1943 (p. 34)
• 4 Martinu's Creative Process (p. 37)
• 5 On the Ridgefield Diary (p. 44)
• 6 1945 (p. 57)
• 7 A Return to Prague? (p. 64)
• 8 Banished and Revived (p. 69)
• 9 Final Years (p. 74)
• Part 2 The Composer Speaks
• 10 Editorial Remarks (p. 83)
• 11 1941 Autobiography (Spring 1941) (p. 91)
• 12 "On the Creative Process" (Summer 1943) (p. 98)
• 13 The Ridgefield Diary (Summer 1944) (p. 103)
• 14 Essays from Fall 1945 (p. 138)
• 15 Notebook from New York (December 1945) (p. 152)
• 16 Notes from 1947, Excerpts (p. 166)
• Part 3 Documentation and Further Reading
• Appendix 1 Martinu's Source Reading (p. 173)
• Appendix 2 Miroslav Barvík's Report on Martinu from May 1955 (p. 175)
• Appendix 3 On the Literary Reception of Kaprálová and Martinu: Jiri Mucha's Peculiar Loves and Miroslav Barvík's "At Tri Studne" (p. 177)
• Notes (p. 191)
• Bibliography (p. 231)
• Index of Martinus Musical Works (p. 239)
• General Index (p. 243)

Author notes provided by Syndetics