Deux Cantabiles (from Violin Sonatas op. 12/1 & op. 12/3)

De Marin’s harp compositions are different from the whole repertoire coeval with him. From the compositional point of view, in his music there is a peculiar synthesis of stylistic elements of different origins: the lesson of the great Baroque composers can be easily recognized in the polyphonic conduct of slow movements, while in the use of ornamentation he recalls the style of French keyboard music from the first half of the 18th century.

There are also hints of the “sensitive style” which was typical of harp music by Meyer and Krumpholtz, with frequent forays into minor keys and a certain formal indeterminacy, but at the same time the composer’s gaze turns forward, towards the Beethovenian conquests. All these elements translate into a harpistic language which seemed revolutionary to contemporaries and which still does not fail to amaze.

In particular, the use of the peculiar sound effects of the harp takes on a characteristic role: harmonic and muffled sounds, pedal slides, to which is added the use of the eighth pedal, of rénforcement (disappeared in modern harps), are integrated into the writing and become part of the compositional fabric in all respects, according to a concept that will later be found only in the harp music of the twentieth century.

His knowledge of Beethoven’s compositions is testified by these two adaptations of the Adagios of violin sonatas op. 12, n. 2 and 3, published by Marin shortly after the first printing of the originals.