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celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
Marianne Martinez (1744-1812)
Martinez was born and lived in Vienna at the time of the great classical composers. The young Haydn was given board and lodging in their house for three years in exchange for teaching Marianne keyboard and composition. Family friend and court poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio (1696-1782) supervised her education (musical and otherwise) and clearly developed her talent in an unusual way for the time.From childhood Martines was a virtuosic player and singer, and regularly performed before the Imperial court. Her biographer Helene Wessely (1924-2011) depicted the young Martines as having “attracted attention with her beautiful voice and [superb] keyboard playing”. The composed a Mass in 1761 that was performed in the Imperial Court Chapel. In 1773 she was acknowledged by becoming an honorary member of the Bologna Accademica Filarmonica, the first woman on the roll of the society of composers and musical connoisseurs. Wessely also asserted that her compositions, particularly for voice, possess a “predilection for coloratura passages, leaps over wide intervals and trills indicat[ing] that she herself must have been an excellent singer.” As a star singer and keyboard-player, she developed such a reputation into adulthood that she was frequently requested to perform before the Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780). The English music writer Charles Burney (1726-1814) visited Europe in the early 1770s, and remarked on her virtuosity ("a brilliant finger", and "touching expression"). She wrote over 200 works including a symphony, concertos, a large oratorio, masses, and numerous keyboard and vocal works. In 1782 her Italian oratorio Isacco figura del redentore was premièred in a renowned concert series put on by the Tonkünstler-Societät. The librettist for this oratorio is credited to Pietro’s pen name of Metastasio. In her fifties (in the 1790s) she founded a singing school; she also ran musical soirées which attracted all the major artists of Vienna. The singer Michael Kelly (1762-1826) reported seeing her teamed up with Mozart, performing one of his four-hand Piano Sonatas! Her music is open hearted, sprightly and elegant. Many of the manuscripts of Martinez's compositions were destroyed in a fire in 1927. BBC Radio 3 featured her on Composer of the Week in January 2022. The daughter of a Neopolitan, her name is sometimes spelled with an s or a z. Click on these works for more details below: You can download and hear the start of the third movement of the Symphony in C by clicking here. For general information about playing our sound clips, click here and return via your browser's Back button. Back to Contents Piano Concerto in A 1. Allegro con spirito, A major. 2. Andante con comodo, D major. 3. Allegro assai, A major 2 fl, 2 hn, strings, solo piano. 16 mins Conciseness and energy are Martinez's hall marks for her fast movements. The sudden plunge into a harmonically unexpected world dispels any expectation of polite, early classical decorum. Her keyboard writing is reminiscent of Haydn in athletic mode. The Andante is more expansive and there is a lively, witty Finale. I gave the UK première with the Ambache Chamber Orchestra in 1997 to a warmly appreciative audience. Published by Furore-Verlag (Germany) Back to Contents Piano Concerto in C 1. Allegro, C major. 2. Andante, F major. 3. Allegro, C major 2 fl or ob, 2 hn, strings, solo piano. 15 mins Another energetic piece, full of joie de vivre. Published by Edition Tonger (NR : T2210-1, ISMN: M-005-22101-2. Germany) Back to Contents Symphony in C. 1770 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 hn, strings. 13 mins This is the earliest known classical symphony written by a woman. She wrote it aged 26, and it is in light tuneful Viennese style. The first movement has a no-nonsense character, full of rhythmic vitality and spiced up with imaginative use of different phrase lengths. Flowing flute lines pervade the slow movement, while the Finale is a spirited dance in 3/8 with energetic leaps. This is music which expresses great enjoyment in life. We gave the UK première in 1995 to an appreciative crowd. Published by Edition Tonger (Germany) Back to Contents Sonata da cimbalo, G dur. 1769 1. Allegro brillante, G major. 2. Andante, G minor. 3. Allegro assai, G major. 15 mins In 1772 Charles Burney passed through Vienna on one of his musical tours and reported meeting Martinez, and he heard her sing and play. "Her performance indeed surpassed all that I had been made to expect. She sung two aria of her own composition, to words of Metastasio, which she accompanied on the harpsichord, in a very judicious and masterly manner; and in playing the ritornels, I could discover a very brilliant finger. Her voice and manner of singing both delighted and astonished me! After these two songs she played a very difficult lesson of her own composition, on the harpsichord, with great rapidity and precision." We don't know the piece she played, though 'a very brilliant finger' is needed to play this Sonata! Published Furore-Verlag.de Back to Contents Oratorio Isacco, Figura del Redentore, 1781 Libretto by Metastasio. Abramo (bar), Isacco (sop), Sara (sop), Gamari (ten), Angelo (sop); chorus; 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, timps, strings Overture: Allegro Maestoso. Andante. Allegro con spirito Published by Furore-Verlag.de (fue 2538. Germany) Writing Hélène de Montgeroult, La Marquise et la Marseillaise Symétrie, Jérôme Dorival, 2006. New Historical Anthology of Music by Women Indiana University Press, James R. Briscoe, 2004. Inter-American Review 1990-1991: Pupil of Haydn and Friend of Mozart, R. Stevenson, pp 25-44. The Life and Selected Works of Marianna Martines, Karen Lynn Fremar, Ph D thesis, University of Kansas, 1983. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Abate Metastasio C. Burney, pp 279-280. Marianna Martines: A Woman Composer in the Vienna of Mozart and Haydn, Irving Godt. Reminiscences, Michael Kelly, 1826, IMSLP. Women Creating Music 1750-1850, Laura Gordy. Austrian National Library, books, articles, letters, compositions. Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers, Chapter 6, Sonata in A, by L Poundie Burstein, 2018. Recordings Forever Treasures, Women Composer of the Classical Period Martines Sonata in E, Olga Kleiankina. The Renaissance of Marianna Martines, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Il Primo Amore Nuria Rial. Scores Three Sonatas for Keyboard Hildegard.com. Kantatas; Arias; Dixit Dominus; Miserere; Oratorio; Keyboard Concertos; Sonatas Furore-Verlag.de. Sinfonia in C ClarNan Editions. Sinfonia in C Edition 49. Sinfonia in C download. Concerto in C T22101. Dixit Dominus A-R Editions. Dixit Dominus Gentry Publications. Sonata No 3 in A, Harbach Edition, page 16, 18th Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, Vol. II. Sonata No 3 is included in Schott Music. Pièces romantiques pour le piano Symétrie, 9 Études. Piano music by female composers Schott Music, Sonata No 3. Salmo 51 Ars Femina archive, SATB chorus, organ & string orchestra. Women Composers for the Harpsichord Presser, Edited Harbach.
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