Henri Martelli
The French composer Henri Martelli was born on 25 February 1895 in Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (Argentina). His father Jean Pierre Martelli was a railway engineer and from 1887 to 1907 he was working at the Argentine railway network in the province Santa Fe. Henri was the oldest of five children. His sister Marie (*1896) was born on Corsica, the next two children Charles (*1897) and Aline (*1900) again in Argentina and the youngest son Albert again on Corsica. So the family lived here and there for a couple of years but it seems that the stay in Argentina did not have much impression on Henri Martelli. He later showed no specific interest in the country and usually gave Bastia as his birthplace.
In 1905 Henri Martelli entered the Lycee de Bastia and finished the first part of his baccalaureat in 1912. He then moved to Marseille and completed his baccalaureat at the Academie d‘Aix in Aix-en-Provence.
It is not known how and why Henri Martelli came to music in a household of an engineer. But in 1907 he was already good enough to receive private piano and harmony lessons by the local Ernesto Zwicker. The Austrian Zwicker was born in Trieste and later moved to Corsica. There are no biographical information available about him today but according to Henri Martelli he was a well educated and very good musician.
In 1913 Henri Martelli moved from Marseille to Paris and first studied law. He finished his studies in 1919 with a „licencie en droit“. Parallel to his law studies he also continued his musical education. Henri Martelli received private lessons by Mr. Gazier, the brother of renowned historian Augustin Gazier and also entered the harmony class of Jules Mouquet at the conservatory.
After finishing his law studies Henri Martelli focused on music and fully enrolled at the conservatory where he studied under Georges Caussade (counterpoint) and Charles-Marie Widor (composition, fugue). He finished his studies in the early 1920s and completely dedicated himself to a career as a composer so it seems. During the 1920s Henri Martelli started to compose seriously and until 1930 his work list had grown up to opus 30. Some of his compositions received premieres at the conservatory but essentially he was still a composer who waited for his success and who could not make a living from composing.
The late 1920s were full of private incidents for Henri Martelli. In 1924 Jean Pierre Martelli, the father of Henri, died at the age of 61. In 1926 the youngest brother of Henri, Albert Martelli, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 21. This had a huge impact on Henri Martelli and he composed the large orchestral work „Le tombeau d‘Albert“ (The tomb of Albert) as a result. The work was later retitled to „Mors et Juventa“ but never received a performance as far as I know. Good news came in 1927 when Henri Martelli married his wife Marie Ricaud.
The breakthrough as a composer for Henri Martelli came in 1930. In that year the Boston Symphony Orchestra under renowned conductor Serge Koussevitzky premiered his work „Bas-reliefs assyriens pour orchestre“. The reputation of the eminent conductor and orchestra as well as the enthusiastic critics gave the vital impulse for the career of Henri Martelli. Especially Serge Koussevitzky was a great admirer of his works and premiered several compositions with the Boston SO: „Concerto pour orchestre“ (in 1932), „Ouverture sur deux themes russe“ (in 1934) and „Passacaille sur un theme russe“ (in 1935). Now also notable French musicians performed his works: The „Divertissement sarrasin“ was premiered by the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris under Pierre Monteux in 1930, his „La Bouteille de Panurge“ by the Orchestre Nationale de France under Desire-Emile Inghelbrecht in 1937 and chamber works by the Kolisch Quartet, Janine Andrade, Robert Soetens or Marcelle Gerar.
In the 1930s Henri Martelli was also an active part of the association work of the composers. As a member of the board of directors of the Societe National de Musique he experienced the existing problems of this union. As a result Henri Martelli was one of the founding members (beside Emmanuel Bondeville, Florent Schmitt and Alexandre Tansman) of a new composer organisation in 1940: the Association de Musique Contemporaine (A.M.C). Since the same year he was also board member of the French section of the International Society for Centemporary Music and worked as their secretary. And in 1953 Henri Martelli became president of the S.I.M.C.
Another activity started in 1940 when Henri Martelli became head of the symphonic and chamber music service of the French radio. He held this position until 1944. In addition Henri Martelli was often jury member at choral competitions or instrumental exams at the Paris conservatory. For many of those exams he also composed the compulsory pieces.
Through the years Henri Martelli received different awards for his musical compositions. In 1948 he was awarded the Prix Theophraste Renaudot, in 1949 the „Medaille d‘hommage de la SACEM“, in 1961 the Prix Saint-Paul and in 1971 the Prix Florent Schmitt.
Henri Martelli did not work as a teacher or conductor like many of his colleagues. Beside his work for music associations like the Societe National de Musique, the S.I.M.C and the A.M.C he fully dedicated his life to composing. His most successful years were from the 1930s to the 1960s when he was regularly and widely performed. His most performed works are surely the Piano concerto op.56 which had several advocates like Ginette Doyen, Francoise Gobet and Lelia Gousseau and his Sept duos pour harpe et violon op.66 which was also taken over by many renowned harpists like Lily Laskine, Odette Le Dentu or Martine Geliot.
Henri Martelli died on 15 July 1980 in Paris.
Henri Martelli Archive
In my possession is the main estate of Henri Martelli. That includes autograph manuscripts for most of his compositions (published and unpublished) but also private documents. To give musicians and researchers a possibility to look through the content of my archive I created a finding aid. This finding aid can be downloaded below in pdf-format.
Among the many manuscripts in the archive there are of course several unpublished compositions. Therefore I tried to find and get in touch with the actual copyright holders of the works by Henri Martelli. Unfortunately I failed. SACEM did not answer my inquiries, the publishing houses Eschig and Choudens could not provide information either and my activities to directly contact a remote relative failed. But I don't want these compositions remain unknown and so I decided to publish the works for information purposes.
If you are the copyright holder of the works by Henri Martelli, please get in touch with me here.
1) Piano sonata
This piano sonata op.10 was composed in 1919. It is dedicated to Jean Duhem, a renowned pianist in Paris in the early 20th century. According to the documents in my archive the work was not premiered.
2) Solo d'Alto
The work is scored for viola and piano and was composed in 1921. In the manuscript the work has the opus number op.16 No.2. According to the documents in my archive the work still awaits its world premiere.
3) Suite galante
The Suite galante for piano op.29 was composed in 1924. It consists of the five movements 1. Passepied, 2. Reverences, 3. Loure, 4. Ritournelle and 5. Gavotte. According to the documents in my archive the work was premiered on 15 April 1927 at the Paris conservatory. I have no information if that is correct and who the pianist was.
4) Quatre Bagatelles
The 4 Bagatelles for piano op.19 were composed very likely in 1921 and - according to the documents in my archive - never premiered.
5) Quatuor a cordes
The official work catalogue of Henri Martelli contains two string quartets. The String quartet No.1 dates from 1933 and was premiered by the renowned Kolisch Quartet at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Florence (Italy) in 1934. The String quartet No.2 dates from 1944 and was premiered two years later by the Pascal Quartet.
The score presented here belongs to a different string quartet that predates both of the above mentioned compositions. This string quartet was composed in 1920. And it seems that it was premiered too because one of the manuscript parts has the handwritten note: "Demain, repetition chez M. Bourdron, 89, rue Chevalier a Levallois". That very likely refers to cellist Andre Bourdron and indicates a performance. Unfortunately I have no information about such a premiere. I am also unaware why Henri Martelli omitted this string quartet from the official numbering of his string quartets. The manuscript shows the title "1ere quatuor a cordes", but to avoid misunderstanding I decided to title this work "String quartet No.0".
6) Pour un mariage pour violon et piano
The work "Pour un mariage" is a small piece for violin and piano and was composed in December 1923. Like the title suggests it is likely that Henri Martelli composed the work as a gift or compliment to a wedding. But I don't have any information which bridal pair is meant. Three of Henri Martelli's siblings were in the right age to marry in 1923, so maybe one of them is the recipient.
7) Mors et Juventa pour orchestre
On 31 October 1926 the youngest brother of Henri Martelli - Albert - died unexpectedly at the age of 21. As a result of this stroke of fate Henri Martelli composed the orchestral suite "Mors et Juventa" in just 3 months. At first the work was titled "Le tombeau d'Albert", but later retitled to the final "Mors et Juventa". The work exists of 5 movements played attacca and named 1. Preambule, 2. L'ascension de vie, 3. L'aurore d'un genie, 4. La victoire de la mort sur la geniale jeunesse and 5. Le chant de souvenir.
According to the documents in the archive this composition was never performed nor published before. It is clearyl the most personal and most emotional piece in the output of Henri Martelli.
8) Four short experimental works, combined in op.21
The op.21 by Henri Martelli is an extremely fascinating opus in his work catalogue and it is different to all his other compositions.
At a first glance it doesn't look unusual: The op.21 consists of four individual pieces, all composed in 1925. That is not very surprising, for example song cycles are build up this way too. But there is no general title for this set of compositions. And each of the four works is scored for a completely different instrumentation. So why did Henri Martelli put these four very different compositions under one single opus number? The manuscripts provide no answer to this. But what catches one's eye: All compositions are very short, very experimental and scored for unusual instrumentations.
According to the documents in the Martelli Archive all four works from op.21 did not receive a performance in the 1920s nor 1930s. Henri Martelli did not even mention them in several of his work catalogues of that time. They had to wait until 1946 resp. 1948 for their world premieres. The op.21 No.1, 2 and 3 were all broadcasted on 26 January 1946 in the radio program "Radio Laboratoire" of the French National Broadcasting Service RTF. This program offered state-of-the-art music and sound art, often challenging compositions using ultra-modern techniques. The title referred directly to the "Radio Laboratoire", the successor of the famous "Studio d'essai" by Pierre Schaeffer which had this name just in 1946 before it continued under "Club d'essai".
The op.21 No.4 was premiered in 1948 but I have no further information when or where it took place.
The four compositions of op.21 are:
op.21 No.1: Duo experimental, for oboe and English horn
op.21 No.2: Contraste, for piccolo, contrabassoon and piano
op.21 No.3: Sonorites, for celesta, clarinet and harp
op.21 No.4: Improvisation, for contrabassoon and piano
9) Plages sonores pour piano
A small piece for piano composed in 1947. It consists of the three movements 1. Melopee, 2. Ariette and 3. Virevolte. I have no information if the work was ever premiered.
10) Morceau de lecture pour violon et piano
Henri Martelli composed several dozens of "morceau de lecture", small compositions for a specific instrument and piano which were used for exams at the Paris conservatory. It is a common practice among composers who teach at conservatories to create such new compositions. They are first used in exams when students have to play them without knowing before. The best of such pieces are later published and some find its way into the standard repertoire. For example there is a famous "Morceau de lecture pour violon et piano" by Gabriel Faure.
This "Morceau de lecture pour violon et piano" by Henri Martelli was composed in 1946. According to the manuscript it was used at "violon - conservatoire concours 1946".
For more of Martelli's "Morceau de lecture" check out no. 16.
11) Decade
The composition "Decade (10 petites plages)" is a collection of 10 short musical phrases played by different solo instruments. The manuscript bears also the note "Emissions de la Culture Francais" and accompanying document lists the 10 pieces under the title "Titres des Interludes Musicaux pour les emissions culturelles". From this information I take the opinion that these 10 small phrases scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano or violin were composed as interludes for the broadcasting program of RTF.
12) Brasserie-Improvisation
The Brasserie-Improvisation for 2 violins, cello, contrabass and piano was composed in 1947. The documents in the Martelli archive give no information of a world premiere and so it seems the work still awaits a first performance.
13) Fantaisie-Impromptu
The Fantaisie-Impromptu for 2 violins, cello, contrabass and piano was composed in 1951. According to the personal documents of Henri Martelli the work was premiered on 19 November 1951 by the ensemble Musique Legere under the direction of Willem Cantrelle.
14) Premier Suite pour Quatuor a cordes op.1
The first suite for string quartet op.1 by Henri Martelli was composed in late 1914 and early 1915. At this time he was 20 years old and studied law and also privately music with Mr. Gazier in Paris. In my archive this is the very first composition by Henri Martelli and counted op.1 by himself.
15) Passacaille sur un theme russe pour orchestre op.28
The Passacaille sur un theme russe was composed in 1930. According to the documents in the archive of Henri Martelli this composition was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky on 15 April 1935. Curiously the concert archive of the Boston SO does not mention the Passacaille nor a concert on that specific date.
16) Morceau de lecture
As already stated in No.10 (see above) Henri Martelli composed dozens of "Morceau de lecture", i.e. small compositions for a specific instrument (playing alone or accompanied by a piano) that were composed for exams at conservatories or other competitions. Testees had to perform the unknown work while sightreading the score.
Here is a selection of such compositions that henri Martelli composed over the years:
1) Morceau de lecture pour contrebasse et piano (1949)
2) Morceau de lecture pour harpe (1955)
3) Morceau de lecture pour clavecin (1956)
4) Morceau de lecture pour cor en fa et piano (1949)
5) Morceau de lecture pour Ondes Martenot (1962)
6) Morceau de lecture pour Ondes Martenot et piano (1967)
7) Morceau de lecture pour batterie et piano (1962)
8) Morceau de lecture pour piano (1956)
9) Morceau de lecture pour soprano et piano (1960)
10) Morceau de lecture pour violoncelle et piano (1942)
17) Quintette op.80
The work is scored for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp and was composed in 1952. The composition was very likely written with the Quintette Instrumental de l'Orchestre National in mind, a famous quintet founded in 1922 around the renowned harpist Pierre Jamet. And according to the documents in the Martelli Archive the work was premiered exactly by this ensemble on 26 March 1954.
18) Chevaux sans cavaliers, for voice and piano op.19 No.2
The song "Chevaux sans cavaliers pour chant et piano" was composed in 1921. It sets a poem by Jules Supervielle into music. According to the documents of the Martelli Archive is remains unperformed so far.
Curiously the autograph manuscript has the date "25 January 1956" written at the end of the score. That does not fit to the other data of the work: The op.19 No.1 is a song called "Sous bois, for choir and piano" which is dated "15 March 1921" in the manuscript and also the opus number itself refers to the year 1921 and not 1956. The existing manuscript of "Chevaux sans cavaliers" is the only one in the archive and it might be possible that the original autograph from 1921 was destroyed and Henri Martelli re-wrote the composition in 1956 to fix and preserve it.
19) Suite symphonique sur la mort de l'Empereur
The Suite symphonique sur la mort de l'Empereur is scored for orchestra and was composed in 1941. According to the documents in the Martelli archive the work was premiered on 11 January 1942 by the Orchestre National de France under the baton of Henri Tomasi.
20) Chants corses
In the late 1930s Henri Martelli came in touch with Corsican author Carulu Giovoni (1879-1963). Carulu Giovoni sent Henri Martelli a large set of 20 poems of his own and also basic melodies for these poems. Henri Martelli then harmonised these melodies and created serious songs for voice and piano. The outstanding fact of these songs is the use of Corsican language. There are not many classical songs in Corsican language and so these works are valuable examples.
I have typeset two of these songs. For both songs Carulu Giovoni wrote the poem and the basic melody, Henri Martelli "only" harmonised the works. I have no exact date when both works were composed, the poem "Parnicciola" was written 1943 or earlier and both songs were composed 1955 at the latest (according to registration stamps on the manuscripts).
- Canzone di campane - Ciccona, for voice and piano
- Parnicciola, for voice and piano
21) Prelude symphonique pour orchestre
The Prelude symphonique "Sur la vie de Jeanne d'Arc" for orchestra op.25 was composed in 1924. In the manuscript the work is dedicated to a "M. C. Harman", but I could not identify this person and the connection to Henri Martelli. According to my archive the work was never performed and still awaits its world premiere.
