Donald Martino

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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 50^th birthday and Triple Concerto on his 60^th.

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.

Martino died in Antigua in 2005.

[edit] Selected Works by Donald Martino

It should be noted that 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)