Respecting his parents' wishes, he studied mathematics and physics for two years at Geneva University, but at the same time was also studying piano, composition and harmony with his first music teacher Joseph Lauber (1864–1953), a Geneva composer and by that time a leading figure of the city's musical scene.

Among a dozen major scores for the theater are operatic settings of Shakespeare's Der Sturm (The Tempest) in August Wilhelm Schlegel's German version (1952–55) and of Molière's Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1960–62), and the satirical fairy tale La Nique à Satan (Thumbing Your Nose at Satan; 1928–31).

His works on sacred texts and subjects include the large-scale theater piece Le Mystère de la Nativité (The Mystery of the Nativity; 1957/1959) and are widely considered among the finest religious compositions of the 20th century.

Swiss musician Ernest Ansermet, a champion of his music from 1918 onwards, recorded many of Martin's works, including the oratorio In Terra Pax (1944), with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

[2] Martin based his mature style on his personal variant (first used around 1932) of Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, but he did not abandon tonality.