With the exception of the two ballades for viola and for piano, Martin originally wrote every ballade for one solo instrument with piano and orchestrated them later on. The Ballade for flute was written in 1939; it was a mandatory audition piece for a Geneva competition and was premiered in Martin’s arrangement with piano and string orchestra accompaniment in Basel in 1941. The flute ballade alternates the fragile, nervous expressiveness of the soloistic opening theme with faster, somewhat motoric music.
