Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 4, no. 5
Kosciuszko Foundation Competitions
Lynn Kao Top Prize Winner In 1998 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition
LYNN KAO was the First Prize Winner in the 1998 Kościuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, held in New York City Saturday, April 4. Kao, an 18-year old student at Indiana University, was given her $2,500 cash scholarship by Abbey Simon, in ceremonies at the Kościuszko Foundation House that afternoon. In addition to the scholarship prize, Kao will be invited by Piotr Paleczny, artistic director of the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdroj, to perform there in August. She will also be invited to perform in New York City and at chapters of the Kościuszko Foundation in other cities.
Second Prize was won by MICHAEL SCHNEIDER, a 21-year-old student at North Texas State University at Denton; and Third Prize by PAUL HADLEY, a 17-year-old high school junior at the St. Louis Symphony Music School in St. Louis. They received cash scholarships of $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.
Born in Taipei, KAO is presently a freshman at Indiana University, where she studies with Karen Shaw. She began piano studies in Taiwan at the age of five, continuing when she came to the United States in 1991. She has received numerous awards, including prizes from the Stamford and Hartford Symphony Orchestras. In 1996, she was the youngest finalist in the Kościuszko Foundation Chopin Competition.
Fifteen contestants, ranging in age from 17 to 22, from all over the U.S.A. competed in the public auditions before a jury which included world-famous concert pianist and other distinguished musicians and teachers. All were required to prepare a full recital program, including at least two major works by Chopin, and representing all musical historical styles.
The Kościuszko Foundation Chopin Competition was established in 1949, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Frederic Chopin. Over the years, many outstanding musicians have won prizes in the Competition, including Van Cliburn, Ian Hobson, and Murray Perahia. Today the Kościuszko Foundation Chopin Competition continues to encourage gifted young pianists to further their studies. Along with the Sembrich Voice Competition, first held in 1968, it promotes study and performance of Poland’s rich musical heritage. Next year, in early April 1999, the Competition will celebrate its own fiftieth birthday as the world marks the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death.
Valerian Ruminski Top Prize Winner In 1998 Kosciuszko Foundation Sembrich Voice Competition
VALERIAN RUMINSKI was the First Prize Winner in the 1998 Kościuszko Foundation Marcella Sembrich Voice Competition, held in New York City Saturday, March 21. Ruminski, a 30-year-old student at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, was given his $1000 cash scholarship by Teresa Kubiak, in ceremonies at the Kościuszko Foundation House that evening. In addition to the scholarship prize, Ruminski will be invited by Maria Foltyn, artistic director of the Stanislaw Moniuszko International Competition, to Warsaw, as her guest, to compete in that contest in October 1998. He will also be invited to perform at the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum, the great singer’s former studio, in Bolton’s Landing, N.Y.
Second Prize was won by soprano MONIKA KRAJEWSKA, a student at the Yale University School of Music; and Third Prize by bass WOJCIECH BUKALSKI, a student at the Boston University Opera Institute. They received cash scholarships of $750 and $500 respectively.
Born in Lackawanna, N.Y., RUMINSKI earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Voice at S.U.N.Y. / Buffalo, where Metropolitan Opera baritone Louis Quilico was among his teachers. His present teacher at the Academy of Vocal Arts is Bill Schuman. This May, Ruminski will appear in a production of Le Nozze di Figaro at the Academy, and during the summer will apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera Company, singing in Salome.
Some thirty contestants, ranging in age from 22 to 33, from all over the U.S.A. competed in the public auditions before a jury which included world-famous soprano Teresa Kubiak and other distinguished musicians and arts administrators. All were required to sings Polish songs and arias, by Moniuszko, Chopin, Karlowicz, Bacewicz, and others; the judges remarked on the high quality of preparation, and all those present at the auditions and the awards ceremony were thrilled that the Sembrich Voice Competition produced such fine results.
First presented in 1968, the Sembrich Voice Competition honors the great Polish soprano Marcella Kochanska Sembrich (1858-1935) who won world-wide acclaim as an opera singer (at the Metropolitan Opera here as well as throughout the globe), song recitalist, teacher, and generous supporter of many social programs, including relief for the victims of the San Francisco earthquake and African-American schoolchildren. She also founded the voice departments of the Curtis Institute and Juilliard School. Over the years, the Competition has attracted and supported such talents as soprano Barbara Hendricks and bass-baritone Jan Opalach.
News
PWM, the Polish music publishers, now have a web site! You can order music scores, books, CDs and rent music on the internet. Both Polish and English texts. The URL is: http://www.pwm.com.pl. Recently, PWM has issued a new pamphlet on Grażyna Bacewicz and her music (in Polish and English) in anticipation of the 90th anniversary of her birth and 30th anniversary of death in 1999.
Dr. Richard Zielinski, one of the winners of the Wilk Prizes for research in Polish music, has been appointed music director of the Terre Haute Choral Society. He is also director of choral activities and coordinator of voice and choral division at Indiana State University.
The Polish American Journal, a weekly newspaper originating in Buffalo, NY, also has a web site. Visit http://www.polamjournal.com for information on things Polish and Polish-American. One of their reporters, Steve Litwin, reports about a Polka website: “Band leader Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push have, through the assistance of webmaster, Tom Salonick, produced a slick site, filled with plenty of information on the band and other polka items.”
Awards
A fifth year student of the Music Academy in Katowice won 3rd prize in a composition competition sponsored by the European Parliament and the French Ministry of Culture. Sebastian Niedziela wrote a 10 minute hymn entitled, “Say,” The 1st prize was won by 24yr. old Jorge Muniz Salas for APAX, a symphony.
New Books
New book on Poland’s foremost film composer, Wojciech Kilar, who also composed the music for the movie Bram Stokes’s Dracula here in the U.S. The book, published by PWM, contains interviews with the composer by musicologists K. Podobinska and Leszek Polony. Entitled Cieszę się darem życia: Rozmowy z Wojciechem Kilarem [I am happy with my gift of life. Conversations with Wojciech Kilar], the book also includes a calendarium of the composer’s life, a list of works and numerous illustrations.
Another new release from PWM: Jana Krenza Pięcdziesiąt lat z batutą. Rozmowy o muzyce polskiej. [Jan Krenz’s fifty years with a baton. Talks about Polish music.] Written by Elżbieta Markowska, the book of 209 pages also contains a calendarium of life and works, a list of selected compositions, list of radio recordings, list of concerts and illustrations; thus presenting a living history of Polish music of our times.
Lwowskie piosenki [Songs of Lwów], an authentic documentary of the city of Lwów’s dialect captured in its songs and life. Alphabetical listing of songs, bibliography, dictionary. 340 pgs. By J. Habela and Z. Kurzowa. PWM, 1998.
Historia muzyki polskiej [History of Polish music] by J. Chominski and K. Wilkowska-Chominska. In Polish. 2 volumes 1995-1996. PWM.
Calendar of Events
MAY 2: CONCERT OF POLISH MUSIC. Opening of the Sixth Warsaw Days of Literature.Concert Studio of the Polish Radio, Warsaw, Poland. Works by KURPINSKI (Ouverture “Dwie Chatki” [Two Cottages]), WIENIAWSKI (Violin Concerto No. 2), and JASINSKI (world premiere of Kantata). 6 p.m.
MAY 2: Piotr Folkert, piano. Music of Bach-Busoni, Brahms and Szymanowski. Kościuszko Foundation. 15 E. 65th St., 8:00 p.m. $15. Foundation members $12.
MAY 5: WORKS FROM THE MANUSCRIPT by JAN OF JASIENNA (15th c.). EArly music ensembles Bornus Consort and Ars Nova, National Philharmonic, Warsaw, Poland, 7 p.m.
MAY 7: MONIUSZKO’S 179th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT. Songs from Home Songbooks performed by R. Landowska (soprano), A. Wronska (mezzosoprano), M. Sobkowiak and M. Dubrawski (piano). Warsaw Music Society (WTM), Warsaw, 6:30 p.m.
MAY 6-7: Quo Vadis. Chamber opera by Bernadetta MATUSZCZAK performed by the Warsaw Chamber Opera, Warsaw.
MAY 10: Elsner String Quartet. Special Mother’s Day concert presented in association with WQXR radio. Graduates of the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, the quartet is studying at the Manhattan School of Music. Kościuszko Foundation, 3:00 p.m. $20/15.
MAY 11. Speculum Musicae. New music from Poland and the U.S. Music for strings and piano, includes rare solo violin work by Penderecki. Kościuszko Foundation. 8:00 p.m. $15/12.
MAY 19. The Music Gallery: Live broadcast over WNYC-FM 93.9, NY. Pawel Knapik, double bass, with Anna Kijanowska, piano.
MAY 24. Third Chopin Competition of Young Pianists (up to age 15). San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Free. Presented by the Chopin Council of San Francisco.
MAY 29. Midori, violin; Robert McDonald, piano. Sonatas by Beethoven, Faure and Brahms. Also Karol SZYMANOWSKI’s Mythes. Wigmore Hall, London, England. 7:30 p.m.
MAY 31. Concert of Laureates of the Third Chopin Competition of Young Pianists. Kościuszko Foundation, New York.
MAY 31. Alexandre Tansman’s Piano Trio no. 2, Washington premiere performance at the U.S. holocaust Memorial Museum’s Meyerhoff Auditorium. Performers: Joseph Holt, piano, George Marsh, violin, and Steven Honigberg, cello.
American Summer with Polish Music
JUL 7-26: Lincoln Center Festival, NY. U. S. Premiere of Penderecki’s new oratorio, “Seven Gates of Jerusalem.” For more informatiton call 212-875-5928. Web site: http://www.lincolncenter.org
JUN26 -JUL 11: Oregon Bach Festival. World premiere of Penderecki’s “Missa.” Penderecki String Quartet also scheduled to appear. For more information visit the web site: http://bachfest.uoregon.edu
Recent Performances
In Poland
MAR 27 – APR 23. Days of Music in Kielce. Honored guest – composer Wojciech Kilar. The inaugural concert featured pianist Piotr Paleczny with the Kielce Philharmonic. One day was dedicated to music of the gorale (inhabitants of the Tatra mountains) with baritone Andrzej Hiolski accompanied by the String Band of Andrzej Obrochta from Zakopane.
APR 19-25: 23rd Days of Organ Music. Cracow. Concert Included works by Krzysztof PENDERECKI (19 April), Marek STACHOWSKI (22 April, Jubilate Deo), Felix NOWOWIEJSKI (23 April).
APR 25: Polski Teatr Tańca (Polish Dance Theatre). Ballet Premiere “Przebudzenia” [Awakenings] with music by KNITTEL, KINIORSKI and CHOLONIEWSKI. Poznan, Grand Theatre.
APR 26-30: 2nd Forum of Contemporary Art “Witold Lutosławski”. Lublin, Poland. Including concerts with works by Marta PTASZYNSKA (26 April), composers based in Lublin (MAZUREK, NIKODEMOWICZ; 27 April), Karol SZYMANOWSKI, H.M. GORECKI, Artur MALAWSKI (28 April), Tadeusz WIELECKI, Hanna KULENTY, Wlodzimierz KOTONSKI, Pawel MYKIETYN, Grazyna PSTROKONSKA-NAWRATIL, Lidia ZIELINSKA (29 April). The Forum ended with a performance of Górecki’s Symphony no. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs).
APR 30: Concert to Commemorate 200 Anniversary of Dabrowski’s Mazurka, the National Anthem. Music theatre “Do Ciebie, Polsko!” [To you, Poland!]. National Philharmonic, Warsaw. Peformed by the soloists, choir and orchestra of the Polish Army, cond. Boleslaw Szulia.
In the U.S.
APR 13: The Ensemble Capriccio premiered a work for String Trio and Clarinet by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski in Minneapolis at the Walker Center Auditorium.
APR 17: Pianist Garrick Ohlson appeared at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall performing Chopin’s Scherzo no. 3, Introduction and Variations, Waltz in A-flat, Fantasy in F minor and Two Nocturnes, along with Beethoven and Prokofiev sonatas.
APR 18: Jazz singer Ursula Dudziak opened the concert of hip-hop/acid-jazz music featuring violinist Michael Urbaniak at the exclusive China Club in New York.
APR 18: Pianist Ewa Skardowska and violinist Adam Zarzycki performed the violin sonatas of Chopin and Paderewski at the Polish Consulate in New York. Sponsored by the Chopin Foundation, Prof. Jan Gorbaty, president.
APR 18/19: The Oregon Repertory Singers presented Penderecki’s “Song of the Cherubim” in Portland.
Discography
To celebrate the anniversary of May 3rd Constitution
CDs with Polish anthems, patriotic songs, popular folk and soldier songs:
Boże coś Polskę [God save Poland] Mazowsze Folk Ensemble sings religious chants and patriotic anthems, including “Bogurodzica” (a 13th c. anthem addressed to Mary and sung as coronation hymn of the Iagiellon dynasty, the earliest document of literary Polish), “Rota” (an early 20th c. hymn by Konopnicka/Nowowiejski), and the “Boże coœ Polskę” of the title. Polskie Nagrania Edition ECD 034, 1994.
Marsz, Marsz, Polonia [March, March, Polonia]. CD with recordings of Polish Army and Navy orchestras, performing the national anthem anda selection of historical military marches (“Marsz I Brygady, Szara Piechota, Strzelcy Maszerują,” etc.). Polskie Nagrania Edition ECD 064. 1996.
Echa Ojczyzny [Echoes of the Homeland]. A Medley of Popular Folk and Army Songs. Recorded by soloists, choir and orchestra of the Polish Radio, cond. Jerzy Kołaczkowski. Including Hejnal from Cracow, Polonaise “Farewell to the Homeland” by Ogiński, and even the ever-popular birthday song, “Sto lat.” Polskie Nagrania Edition. PNCD 088. 1996.
Białym Orłem Wzleć [Fly with a White Eagle]. A collection of patriotic choral works by several Polish composers, as well as “Bogurodzica” and the 1808 version of the national anthem. Compositions featured include MONIUSZKO’s IV Litania Ostrobramska, as well as works by LUCIUK, MORYTO, SWIDER, SAWA, ŁUKASZEWSKI. Performed by S. Moniuszko Concert Orchestra of the Polish Army and Choir of the Academy of Catholic Theology, Warsaw. Issued by the Orchestra, 1996.
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego [Dąbrowski’s Mazurka]
Video Tape. A history of the national anthem. Distributed by Polart (Florida).
Some CDs “made in Poland” for early music lovers
BORNUS CONSORT: MEDIA VITA. A collection of medieval religious songs in Polish, mostly from the Lenten period, including “Stała Matka Załościwa” [a folk version of Stabat Mater] and “Krzyżu Święty” [in praise of the Cross]. DUX 0279. 1997.
MUZYKA NA WAWELU [MUSIC AT THE WAWEL CASTLE]. Recorded by Ars Nova Ensemble, cond. Jacek Urbaniak. The CD includes a medieval Hejnal and an array of popular songs from the 16th c. as well as a selection from Psalms in Polish by Mikolaj Gomółka (ca. 1535-1591). DUX 0216. 1995.
O NICOLAI DE RADOM. Collected works by the eminent 15th c. composer Mikołaj of Radom (Magnificat, Glorias, Credos, secular works). Performed by Ars Nova. Cond. Jacek Urbaniak. DUX 0229. 1995.
MELODIE NA PSALTERZ POLSKI [Melodies for the Polish Psalter] By Mikołaj GOMÓŁKA, a 16th c. composer who set to music the beautiful translation of the Psalter by Jan Kochanowski (1580). Performed by Ars Nova and Il Canto. Recorded in 1996, this CD received the 1996 award “Fryderyk” and is available from DUX catalog as DUX 0244.
MARCIN MIELCZEWSKI. Selected works include Triumphalis dies, Deus in nomine tuo, Veni Domine, and complete Vesprae dominicales. Performed by Linnamuusikud from Tallinn and Bornus Consort from Warsaw. DUX 0264, 1996.
POLISH INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. Written by composers from the Baroque and contemporary: JARZEBSKI, MIELCZEWSKI, SZARZYNSKI, RADZIWIŁŁ, GÓRECKI, BAIRD. Performed by Concerto Avenna, Warsaw Baroque Orchestra. POLmusic 1-1989-1049.
POLSKA MUZYKA KLAWESYNOWA [Polish harpsichord music]. Performed by Urszula Bartkiewicz. The CD includes a selection of lute and organ works transcribed for harpsichord (Jan of Lublin Tablature), works from the collection of Princess Anna Maria, pieces by PĘKIEL, ŻELECHOWSKI, KOZŁOWSKI and ELSNER. Not all the pieces have been written for the harpsichord. The CD presents an interesting array of musical works spanning three centuries. Performed by Urszula Bartkiewicz. DUX 0243, 1995.
Composer of the Month
Michał Kleofas Ogiński (1765-1833)
Born on 25 of September 1765, in Guzów near Warsaw, Ogiński was an heir to a great Polish tradition of patriotic gentry. His grandfather, Tadeusz, was the governor of the Trotsk District, the father, Andrzej, was a cousin of the Lithuanian general and composer, Michał Kazimierz Ogiński (1728-1800). Michał Kleofas studied piano with Józef Kozłowski (1757-1831) the court musician of his family (till 1786); in subsequent years he studied violin with Jarnovic, G. B. Viotti and others. He did not receive any formal training in composition but continued to compose and publish throughout his career. Ogiński was a diplomat, serving as a representative of Poland in the Hague (1789), London (1790), and again in Holland (1791). During the tumultous time of the partitions, he joined the Targowica group (who took over all of his property), but soon found himself on the side of the Kościuszko Insurrection, as a member of the Council. He created his own division of cavalry and served as its commander during the war. After 1794 he emigrated to Italy, where he continued his political activities: he travelled for instance to Constantinopole (1796) as a representative of the Polish emigre community. In 1802 he returned to Poland, to his manor in Zalesie near Wilno, where his time was devoted to writing memoirs and composing music. In 1811 Ogiński participated in the creation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and became one of the supporters of the Tsar, who nominated him a senator. After the creation of the Congress Kingdom in 1815 Ogiński left for Italy, settling in Florence, where he died on 15 October 1833. His tombstone may be found in the church of Santa Maria Novella.
The list of Ogiński’s compositions includes numerous polonaises for piano solo (ca. 20 for 2, 3, 4 hands), published in Lwow, Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Prague, Paris, and London. The most famous of these is the Polonaise in A minor, “Pożegnanie Ojczyzny” (Farewell to the Homeland], also known as “Les Adieux” or “Polonaise tres favorite” and issued throughout Europe in numerous copies, transcriptions, variants. The location of the manuscript of this work is not known; its first edition appeared in 1831, with a scene from the November Insurrection (of the same year, against the Russians) on the cover. In addition to over 20 editions of the piano version, there are transcriptions for orchestras, chamber ensembles, according, viola, flute solo, flute and piano, guitar solo, 2 violins or mandolins, violin and piano, cello and piano and vocal transcriptions. Of interest are two choral arrangements, one in Polish (Pożegnanie Ojczyzny, 1962), and one in Russian (Polskij kraj, czudiesnyj kraj, text by J. Dolmatovskyj; 1962). You may listen to a short excerpt from this polonaise arranged for orchestra (in Real Audio format) if you click on the Polonaise’s title above.
Ogiński is credited with transforming the brilliant court dance into a melancholy, salon composition: his polonaises are among the earliest instances of romantic piano miniatures, called “character pieces for the piano” and expressing a particular mood or stylizing a dance form. Besides the polonaises, Ogiński composed a series of romanses to French and Polish texts and patriotic songs for the Kościuszko Insurrection. The latter group of pieces did not survive. He is also the author of an opera to his own libretto: Zelis et Valcour ou Bonaparte au Caire (1799, manuscript held at the Iagellonian University, Cracow). This opera may have been inspired by contacts with his uncle, Michał Kazimierz Ogiński, a composer – aristocrat who had a private opera company and an orchestra at his service. The Bonaparte opera reveals the younger composer’s interest in literature; his output in this area includes a series of memoirs and diaries, as well as collections of letters, rhymed treatises sent to friends. These writings are a testimony to his involvement in the artistic millieu of the late 18th- early 19th century, with featuring such well-known names as Maria Szymanowska and Karol Kurpiński (composers).
By Maria Anna Harley, based on information from:
- Stefan Burhardt: Polonez. Katalog Tematyczny (Vol. 2, 1792-1830, PWM 1976)
- Jerzy Morawski: Entry on M.K. Ogiński in Słownik Muzyków Polskich, Jozef Chominski, ed., vol. 2, PWM: 1965.
Director’s Report
by Maria Anna Harley
Hanna KULENTY’s recent visit to California, organized by the PMRC, was very fruitful for the composer. Students of composition at universities located in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Long Beach had an occasion to hear and discuss her music. The April 4th concert was greeted with a positive review by Alan Rich (L.A. Weekly who stated:
What I have heard of Kulenty tells me of a headstrong experimenter with some powerful ideas about pounding on and rewarding the hearer’s senses. Best of all on Saturday night–on first hearing, anyway–was the new trumpet piece [A Sixth Circle], running about 10 minutes, setting a strong and shapely lyric line (plus a lot of sonic tricks) for Tal Bar-Niv’s trumpet atainst a breathless perpetuum mobile from Sergei Silvansky’s piano. Nothing of Kulenty’s is listed in the current Schwann; there are recordings available abroad, including her Second Piano Concerto, a knockout piece. Tell me about there not being any new composers.
We hope to see Ms. Kulenty in Los Angeles again. However, she was not the only visitor to the PMRC who travelled to the Center from outside of California. Recent guests included eminent musicologist Brett Werb from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. D.C. He donated several recordings of the music by Józef Koffler, a 12-tone composer and a Holocaust victim, to the PMRC collection. Many thanks. Another PMRC guest, Prof. Wojciech Marchwica (speaker at our Music History Symposium, 4 April 1998), brought a sample of publications by Musica Iagellonica, a small and very efficient publishing house based in Krakow, Poland. Musica Iagellonica has issued several volumes in English and more information about these volumes will soon be available on the Internet (the publisher will soon have its web page). Prof. Marchwica’s lecture at the PMRC Music History Symposium (about Wanda Landowska) will be published in our new online publication, the “Polish Music Journal”. The first issue will be available in June 1998.
Soon after the departure of our guests the PMRC slowed down its activities, as its Director flew to Europe to participate in the international conference at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, entitled “The Yearning for the Middle Ages” and organized by two German scholars, Prof. Annette Kreutziger-Herr (Hamburg) and Prof. Dorothea Redepenning (Heidelberg).
I presented a paper entitled “Bogurodzica Reborn: A Medieval Anthem in Contemporary Music (Panufnik, Ptaszynska, Kilar, Górecki).” The paper which will appear in the conference’s proceedings next year, discusses the socio-political context, symbolic function and compositional use of this anthem in works including Sinfonia Sacra by PANUFNIK, Conductus and Polish Letters by PTASZYNSKA, Bogurodzica by KILAR, and a series of compositions by GÓRECKI, in which only the anthem’s first motive appears. The usage of “Bogurodzica” –an ardent prayer for peace and restful sojourn in paradise, addressed to Mary and Jesus — as a national anthem, an anti-German symbol, and a battle hymn of the Polish army suggests the interplay of political and religious factors with the aesthetics of contemporary music. The composers associated the anthem with the Millennium of Poland (Panufnik), the 600th Anniversary of the Black Madonna and the rise of the Solidarity movement (Panufnik, Górecki, Ptaszynska, Kilar). The paper was also illustrated with an excerpt from Aleksander Ford’s film “The Teutonic Knights” (music by Kazimierz Serocki) higlighting the presence of Bogurodzica at a battlefield: it was sung by the Polish troops during the battle at Grunwald (1410).
Anniversaries
May 3: The Celebration of May 3rd Constitution. Poland’s National Holiday. For an essay about Polish national anthems see last May’s issue of our Newsletter.
Born This Month
- May 2, 1846: Zygmunt NOSKOWSKI. Died 23 July 1909.
- May 2, 1913: Florian DĄBROWSKI. Composer and teacher.
- May 5, 1819: Stanisław MONIUSZKO. Died 4 June 1872.
- May 5, 1909: Grażyna BACEWICZ (d. 17 January 1969). Composer, violinist, and pianist.
- May 12, 1805: Jan Nepomucen BOBROWICZ(died 2 November 1881), guitarist and composer.
- May 17, 1943: Joanna BRUZDOWICZ.
- May 18, 1905: Włodzimierz ORMICKI . Composer, conductor, music theoretician.
- May 20, 1903: Jerzy FITELBERG (died 25 April 1951), composer, son of the famous conductor.
- May 28, 1836: Jan KARŁOWICZ (died 14 June 1903). Father of composer Mieczyslaw.
- May 31, 1932: Bogusław MADEY. Conductor and composer.
- May 31, 1913: Irena GARZTECKA (died 14 November 1963). Composer and pianist.
Died This Month
- May 6, 1892: Nikodem BIERNACKI (b. 1826), violinist and composer.
- May 21, 1848: Felix JANIEWICZ (b. 1762), violinist, conductor, and composer.