Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 4, no. 9
News Flash!
Internet Multimedia Concert: Warsaw-Helsinki-Oslo
On 24 September 1998 the 41st International Contemporary Music Festival Warsaw Autumn will feature a concert on the Internet. The event, housed in Poland at the HYDE PARK Internet Multimedia Gallery. Composers and computer multimedia artists are invited to participate in an internet competition for a multimedia miniature (1MB or less) for performance at the Internet Multimedia Concert. The concert will includes prize winning entries deadline September 10, 1998) posted in the Internet multimedia gallery, HYDE PARK, at the Internet Cafe in The Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. During the Internet Multimedia Concert, HYDE PARK will become a part of an audio-visual instrument. The works collected in the HYDE PARK gallery will take part in the concert through the use of special computer software. Ten pieces will be selected for awards and presentation at the opening of the Internet Cafe and will be included in the Internet Gallery, HYDE PARK and associated sites of the Warsaw Autumn Festival, SACMUS in Finland and NoTAM in Norway for one year!
All awarded artists will be presented with free tickets to all concerts of the Warsaw Autumn Festival. One artist will be selected for the top award: a multimedia computer. For further details please visit the organizers at http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/who-how/.
The festival begins with a monographic chamber music concert devoted to the works by Zygmunt KRAUZE, celebrating his 60th anniversary. Held on September 18 at the Recital Hall in the Polish Music Publishers (PWM Edition), the concert will include such eminent performers as Ewa Poblocka, piano, Pawel Mykietyn, clarinet (also a composer), Tomasz Swiadczynski, trombone Krzysztof Jakowicz, violin, and Tomasz Strahl, cello. The composer – pianist will also participate in the program. The festival will close with a performance of his La Terre for orchestra. For more information about Krauze see our entry on the Composer of the Month, below.
Other details about the program of the 1998 Warsaw Autumn may be found on the English-version of the Festival’s web site, http://www.warsaw-autumn.waw.pl/index_e.html
News
18th Summer Course For Young Composers
Young composers from Poland and from around the world have a chance to hone up their artistic skills and knowledge during the 18th Course for Young Composers organized by the Polish Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music. The courses, led by the President of the ISCM Polish Section, Zygmunt Krauze and organized by the Executive Director Grazyna Dziura, are held from September 1 to 15 at Radziejowice, Poland. The lecturers include composers Louis Andriessen (The Netherlands), Hwan-Long Pan (Taiwan), Ake Parmerud (Sweden), Roger Reynolds (USA), and Boguslaw Schaeffer (Poland). The composers can learn from performers who specialize in new music and compose miniatures for them to be heard at a special concert at the end of the courses. This year’s group of performer-lecturers includes Krzysztof Bąkowski, violin, Alina Mleczko, saxophone, Jan Pilch, percussion. There will be a multimedia component to the courses, provided by STEIM electronic studio from Holland and Piotr Krajewski from Poland. The main subject of the courses is “Multimedia and the Newest Technology in Music.” Jarek Kapuściński will serve as the moderator. For more information about next year’s courses contact PTMW in Warsaw: tel: 48-22–827-69-81; fax: 48-22-827-78-04, e-mail: iscm_pl@ddg.art.pl.
Penederecki Festival And Symposium
As announced in our previous newsletter, the Krakow 2000’98 Festival led by Elżbieta Penderecka will be devoted to the music of Krzysztof Penderecki, celebrating his 65th birthday. Scheduled for Septemer 18-October 10, 1998, the festival will include 15 concerts, and a Symposium on Penderecki’s Music Theater (at the Cracow Academy of Music, September 18-20). The highlights of the festival are peformances of Penderecki’s opera The Black Mask (September 20) his oratorios St. Luke’s Passion(September 25), Te Deum (September 27) and The Seven Gates of Jerusalem (October 7). Three performances of Credo will be offered by the International Bachakademie Orchestra and Choir, with Helmuth Rilling, cond. The audiences will also have a chance of hearing Penderecki’s Symphonies and chamber music.
The symposium The Music of K. Penderecki in the Context of 20th-century Theatre [Muzyka Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w kontekście teatru XX wieku] will be held at the Cracow Academy of Music. The program committee included profs. Regina Chłopicka, Krzysztof Droba, Zofia Helman, Teresa Malecka, Zbigniew Skowron, Krzysztof Szwajgier and its president, prof. Mieczysław Tomaszewski.
FRIDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER
10.00 – 12.30, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
Marek Stachowski – introduction
Jan Błoński – Introduction into the 20th century theatre
Robert S. Hatten – Penderecki’s Operas in the Context of Twentieth-Century Opera
Krzysztof Szwajgier – Penderecki and the Avant-garde
From the Recent Works of Krzysztof Penderecki
Ray Robinson – Elements of Synthesis in Penderecki’s Symphony no.7: “Seven Gates of Jerusalem”(1996-97)
– Credo (presentation)
Teresa Malecka – Hymne an den heiligen Daniel
Allen Winold – The most recent chamber works of Penderecki’s
13.00, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery
Opening of an exhibition of Krzysztof Penderecki’s sketches and musical scores: Itinerarium
15.30 – 18.00, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
“The Devils of Loudun” and the Theatre of Moral Concern, Zofia Helman – chairman
Edward Boniecki – “The Devils of Loudun” and the Matter of Urban Grandier
Zofia Helman – “The Devils of Loudun”- genre, form, style
Stephen Downes – Daughters of Kundry? Laughter and the Grotesque in Penderecki’s “The Devils of Loudun”
Andrzej Tuchowski – Musical Theatre and the Social and Ethical Problems. Penderecki’s “The Devils of Loudun” and Britten’s “Peter Grimes”19.30, Kraków Philharmonic Hall
Inaugural concert: Krzysztof Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2, Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1
SATURDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER
10.00 -13.00, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
“Paradise lost” and the Revival of Religious Theatre, Regina Chłopicka – chairman
Pierre Albert Castanet – [Religious musical theatre from Honegger to Messiaen]
Niall O’Loughlin – The Dramatic, Musical and Biblical Context of Schoenberg’s “Moses und Aron”
Irene Mamczarz – The Tradition of Sacra Rappresentazione
Regina Chłopicka – “Paradise lost” – a Contemporary Interpretation of Biblical Story of Salvation
Ray Robinson – [Paradise lost – problems of the instrumentation]
Ewa Wójtowicz – Certain Problems of the Harmony of Penderecki’s “Paradise lost” (report)
Agnieszka Draus – Milton and Penderecki (poster)
Kazimierz Płoskoń – The Form of “Paradise lost” (poster)
15.00 – 17.00, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
“The Black Mask” and the Theatre of Extreme Emotions, Mieczysław Tomaszewski – chairman
Tadeusz Chrzanowski – The Theology of Horror
Anna Łabędzka – Some questions about “The Black Mask”
Regina Chłopicka – “The Black Mask” – the Modern Danse Macabre
17.30, Gallery of the International Cultural Centre
Opening of an exhibition: Krzysztof Penderecki “The Black Mask” – A Modern Vision of Dance Macabre
19.30, Kraków Philharmonic Hall
Concert: Krzysztof Penderecki Polymorphia, Symphony No. 1, Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky: Scherzo a la Russe, Symphony in Three Movements
SUNDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER
10.00 – 13.00, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
“Ubu Rex” and the Theatre of the Absurd, Andrzej Tuchowski – chairman
Zbigniew Skowron – introduction
Andrzej Chłopecki – In the context of the operas of G. Ligeti and J. Corigliano
Iwona Lindstedt – From Rossini to Modern Avant-garde. The Play of Conventions in Penderecki’s “Ubu Rex”
Maria Anna Harley – Penderecki’s “Ubu Rex” and Surrealism in Polish Musical Theatre
13.30, “Florianka” Auditorium of the Academy of Music
The Staging of Penderecki’s Operas, Discussion with the composer, Małgorzata Dziewulska – chairman
Participants: Mieczysław Dondajewski, Andrzej Hiolski, Jerzy Jarocki, Andrzej Majewski, Krzysztof Nazar, Ryszard Peryt, Jadwiga Rappé, Ewa Starowieyska, Franciszek Starowieyski, Andrzej Straszyński, Marek Weiss-Grzesiński
18.30, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Promotion of a CD recording of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Ubu Rex
19.30, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Krzysztof Penderecki The Devils of Loudun, Guest performance given by the Grand Theatre from Poznań
For more information about the Symposium contact the Academy of Music, Cracow. Tel: (48-12) 422-38-36; Fax: (48-12) 422 23 43 or (48-12) 423 20 78; e-mail: zbjanik@cyf-kr.edu.pl
A video of the magnificent folk song-and-dance ensemble, “Mazowsze” recorded in 1971 has been restored and is available from WGBH Boston Video. Several videos of folk dances (Mazowsze, Śląsk, other groups from folk festivals) are also available from PolArt in Florida.
If you are in Northern California plan to attend the Polish Arts & Culture Foundation Annual Ball in San Francisco at the Fairmon Hotel on November 14th. This year the Ball will celebrate four special events in Polish history:
- the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adam Mickiewicz, Poland’s greatest Romantic poet.
- the 100th anniversary of Madame Curie’s (Maria Sklodowska-Curie) discovery of Polonium and Radium.
- the 80th anniversary of Poland having regained its independence in (1918) (after 123 years of partitioning and occupation, thanks to the efforts of pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski).
- the 150th anniversary of the California Gold Rush. “Polish people arrived in the San Francisco Bay area before gold was discovered, others participated in the excitement, and still others, mainly scholars, greatly contributed to the culture and history of the state….a documentary exhibit of their achievements will be prepared for the Polonaise Ball.” [Forum, August 1998].
[Note: Among the many Poles who came to California, some were exiled from Poland after the 1830 Uprising against Russia and sent to America. They came overland as part of the American military units assigned to garrison the new territories out west and also joined in the gold rush, thus contributing to the history and development of the wild west. (The Polish presence is quite visible, such as, in writing the first book to be printed in the English language in California by Felix Paul Wierzbicki, M.D.; “Arden House” founded in Santa Ana canyon by Shakespearean actress Helena Modjeska; her engineer son with the Trans-Bay bridge in San Francisco to his credit; Copernicus Peak in Santa Clara county first named after Casimir Bielawski, surveyor, who published a topographical and railroad map of California and Nevada, etc…(ww)]
Time to think of Christmas shopping already!? Thanks to Lucyna Migala for sending us the newest CD by the Lira Singers, Lira Chamber Chorus and Lira Chamber Orchestra called “Ring in a Polish Christmas! With a few American carols, too.” Beautifully done! To order it or many other recordings (Gorecki, Polish folk music, Marian meditations, etc…) just call 1-800-547-LIRA and charge it (in Illinois 773-508-7040).
Jan Milun, president of the Moniuszko Musical Society of Boston is planning a huge concert in the city of Brzeg (where he was born; also the birthplace of Kurt Mazur), to commemorate the 20th anniversary of John Paul II’s Pontificate. The international event is scheduled for the second half of October in Sw. Mikolaj (St. Michael’s) Church. The “Evenings with the Pope” will include exhibits of photography, sculpture and paintings with Papal themes and films of various pilgrimages. Two compositions are being composed by Canadian composer Edward Domanski to words written by the Pope. A “Karol Wojtyla Magnificat” is being composed by Ukrainian composer, Jakov Gubanow, former student of Dmitri Shostakovich who now resides in the U.S. Performances of works by American composers dedicated to the late Father Popieluszko are also scheduled.
Web Site to visit Jazz pianist Adam Makowicz: http://www.west.net/~jazz
Awards
We are pleased to announce that Maria Anna Harley received the first prize in the 1998 Musicological Research Competition of the International Professional Music Fraternity, Mu Phi Epsilon. The prize has been awarded for her 1994 doctoral dissertation on Space and Spatialization in Contemporary Music: History and Analysis, Ideas and Implementations (McGill University, Montreal).
Calendar of Events
SEP 6: Radio Station KUSC (91.5 FM). Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Concerts with Alan Chapman. “Three Pieces in Olden Style” by Henryk GORECKI. Director Iona Brown will also conduct works by Handel and Mozart. 7:00 p.m.
SEP 11 & 12: Jozef ELSNER’s oratorio “Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi,” found after 160 years will be the feature presentation of the XXth Festival of Early Polish Music (Sep 8-12) in Warsaw. Warsaw Chamber Opera. Evangelical Church.
SEP 17: Krzysztof PENDERECKI’s Paradise Lost. First performance of the season at the National Opera, Warsaw. Staged by Andrzej Straszynski, music director and Marek Weiss-Grzesiński , producer and director.
SEP 18-OCT 10. Krzysztof PENDERECKI FESTIVAL, as a part of celebrating Penderecki Year in Cracow, Poland See our News.SEP 18-20: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM on the music of PENDERECKI. Cracow, Academy of Music, Poland.
SEP 24: Stanisław MONIUSZKO’s Halka. Special performance at the National Opera, Warsaw. Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Creative Work of Barbara ZAGÓRZANKA.
SEP 26: “Polish-American Heritage Concert.” Lira Ensemble of Chicato. Ohio Theater, 3114 Lagrange St., Toledo, Ohio. 7:30 p.m. $15; $8 children under 16. Tickets: 1-800-547-LIRA.
SEP 27: “Polish-American Spectacular.” Lira Singers and Lira Dancers. Center for the Performing Arts at Governors State University, University Park, IL. 3:00 p.m. $21.00. 10% discounts for seniors, students and children. Tickets: 773-539-4900 or 708-235-2222.
SEP 27: World Premiere of Marta PTASZYŃSKA’s opera for children, Pan Marimba . Held at 5 p.m. at the National Opera Theatre, Młynarski Hall. Libretto by Agnieszka Osiecka, music director Sławek Wróblewski.
SEP 29, also OCT 11, 17, 18: Repeated performances of Marta PTASZYŃSKA’s Pan Marimba.
October is Polish Heritage Month in the U.S.!
If you are in California, plan to see, hear and enjoy internationally acclaimed Polish concert organist, Andrzej CHOROSINSKI (Ho-roh-sheens’-key) perform on three “distinctive” organs, enabling him to play a different repertoire at each concert.
OCT 18: Sunday, 4:00 p.m. “Music of the Baroque” for organ. Long Beach “Bach” Festival. First Congregational church. Cedar Ave. & 3rd St. $10. Tickets: 562-663-2710.
OCT 20: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. “Symphonic Music for the Organ.” Westwood United Methodist Church. 10497 Wilshire Blvd. $15 (children free); Seniors & students $10.
OCT 25: Pasadena Neighborhood Unitarian Church. 301 N. Orange Grove. $12; Seniors/Students $8. 626-351-9795.
The INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MUSIC takes place on OCTOBER 1. In Poland it will be celebrated by an European premiere of Zbigniew Preissner’s Requiem at the National Opera, Warsaw, at 7 p.m. Conductor: Jacek Kaspszyk.
Books and Publications
Prof. Tyrone Greive, violinist and specialist in Polish music (on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin – Madison and the Winner of 1997 Wilk Prize for his paper on Kochański), has prepared an edition of Józef Elsner’s Sonata in F major for violin and piano. The Sonata was recently published by PWM Edition in Poland (Cracow, 1998). A recording will be issued shortly.
Małgorzata Perkowska-Waszek, director of the Paderewski Archives at the Institute of Musicology of the Jagiellonian University, has informed Wanda Tomczykowska, president of the Polish Arts & Culture Foundation and editor of their Newsletter, Forum, that the “Complete Works” of Paderewski will be published in Poland by the year 2000. Two of the twelve projected albums have just been released: Vol. IV Piano Works and Vol. X Overture and Suite.
Edith Eisler writes in her Sep/Oct ‘98 article “New York News” for the magazine “Strings” about the various quartets and soloists that have been performing lately in that city. She called the Elsner String Quartet from Poland ” the youngest and most European-sounding group…Its players are between 21 and 24; they got together at the Jozef Elsner High School of Music in Warsaw in 1991 and soon started winning prizes and performing. Now studying at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, they are very gifted and musical…..At the Kosciuszko Foundation on Mother’s Day…they premiered a String Quartet written for them by Leopold Godowsky III, the famous pianist’s grandson.”
In the previous issue she reported on Polish composer Krzysztof PENDERECKI being honored by the Y with a concert of his choral and instrumental music. “Spanning four decades, the works performed offered an interesting overview of the changes in his style.” She didn’t seem to care for some of his early works, Psalms of David, and the string quartets of the 1960s and 1988. “By contrast, the a capella “Agnus Dei” from the 1981 Polish Requiem, one of Penderecki’s most famous works, is rivetingly beautiful, free of gimmickry, deeply and honestly felt. The 1953 Violin and Piano Sonata is accessible and lovely…Cadenza, for viola, is the most substantial, lush and mournful. The Clarinet Quartet of 1993, mellow, singing, lyrical, exploits all the instruments’ colors and combinations. Clarinetist David Krakauer, violinist Kerry McDermott, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Carter Brey and pianist Christopher O’Riley, playing in a spotlight on a dark stage and dressed in solid black, were absolutely splendid.”
The name of Roman HAUBENSTOCK-RAMATI does not sound Polish, but he was born in Krakow in 1919 and studied music and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University, with private lessons in composition under Artur Malawski and Jozef Koffler. He was director of Polish Radio in Krakow from 1947-50, but left Poland in 1950, first to Israel, then to Paris and Vienna. From 1973 he was professor in Vienna and has lectured in the U.S. at Yale University.
It seems there is a very interesting recording (not the usual kind) available now on the HAT ART label, HATN101 “Batterie. Decisions. Kreise, and Alone I” performed by Everhard Blum (fl/voc); Iven Hausmann (tbn) and Jan Williams (perc). Richard Whitehouse reports in Soundbites(Aug ‘98) the “While cynics will apply the adage about graphic scores looking better than they sound, it would be wrong to overlook the skill involved in both the planning and execution of these pieces. Decisions, in particular, draws some imaginative sonorities into a coherent overall format.”
Discography
New Releases
From Accord (Polish label distributed in the U.K. by Discovery Records (Fax: 01672-563934). You can write for a catalog to Polygram Polska Sp.zo.o at ul. Jagiellonska 78, 03-301 Warsaw, Poland or by e-mail: polygram@wonet.com.pl
ACCORD ACD 018 GORCZYCKI Missa Paschalis. LEOPOLITA Missa Paschalis. MIELCZEWSKI Missa super “O gloriosa Domine.” Il Canto.
ACCORD ACD 026. SZYMANOWSKI. Violin Concertos nos 1 & 2. Concert Overture. Kaja Danczowska, violin. Warsaw Nat’l Philharmonic Orchestra. Kazimierz Kord. Yet another reference to the violinist. Richard Whitehouse asks in “Soundbites,” “Why do we hear so little of K. D.? Her spellbinding accounts of these concertos are the equal of any in the catalogue: the first sensuous and convincingly held together; the second rapt and intense with a passionate central cadenza…an impressive release.”
ACCORD ACD 027. SZYMANOWSKI Symphony no. 4, Harnasie ballet. Piotr Paleczny, piano. Warsaw Nat’l Philharmonic & Chorus. K Kord, cond.
From NAXOS 8.553989. MOSZKOWSKI Piano Concerto in E major, op. 59. Suite for Orchestra, “From Foreign Lands.” Op. 23. Markus Pawlik,;. Polish Nat’l Radio symphony Orch. Antoni Wit.
Still another of the most popularly performed and recorded of Lutoslawski’s works: the Dance Preludes for clarinet and piano. Included in KOCH DISCOVER DICD 920491 “Around Bartok.” Fides Auf der Maur (cl), Michiko Tsuda (p). Romanian and Hungarian folk music by Romanian and Hungarian composers.
In the “Soundings” section of the Gramophone Ivor Humphreys described the Virgin Classics recording of LUTOSLAWSKI’s Chantefleurs et Chantefables, Preludes and Fugue, Five Songs and Chain I , from the soprano Solveig Kringelborn and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding as “an honest recording, where matters of internal balance have been quite properly left to the musicians… These recordings are very good indeed, beautifully integrated, with a clearly defined image which occupies the studio acoustic to convincing effect.” It had been favorably reviewed by Michael Oliver in May.
The August 1998 issue of Gramophone reports that Hyperion “continues its invaluable work in unearthing rare and unusual reportoire. Amongst recent forays is the first uncut recording of Ignace Jan PADEREWSKI’s Symphony with the BBC Scottish Smphony Orchestra under the baton of Jerzy Maksymiuk.”Reviewed in Gramophone:
DECCA ENTARTETE MUSIC 455 315-2DH. RATHAUS. Symphony no. 1, op. 5 and Der letzte Pierrot. Deutsches Symphony Orch. Berlin, Israel Yinon. The Polish-born composer was briefly successful in pre-war Germany, but left when Hitler came to power. Composed music for film and ballet in Paris, London and America, where he eventually settled. Michael Oliver calls Karol Rathaus “an impressively gifted composer…and looks forward to future recordings by the conductor and of the composer.”
Composer of the Month
Zygmunt Krauze
Krauze’s multifaceted musical personality may be described by a series of labels: composer and animator; unist, purist, colorist and folklorist; pianist and inventor. He is also a Warsavian and a Parisian, the leader of the Music Workshop group and the head of Polish section of the International Society for Contemporary Music. He may be dubbed the most dynamic among the “static” composers (his music is very quiet). The celebration at the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music (an anniversary concert of his music, and the performance of La Terre at the final concert of the festival) highlights the duration of his career and his lasting contribution to Polish music and musical life.
Krauze was born in 1938 in Warsaw where he studied piano and composition (at the State Higher School of Music, later renamed the F. Chopin Academy of Music). In 1963 he began organizing concerts of contemporary music with other young composers and musicinas. In 1966 he received a fellowship from the French government for a year to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1967 he founded the ensemble “Music Workshop” for which over 100 new compositions have been written. In 1966 he received the first prize at the international Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music in Utrecht, Holland. In 1973 he was an artist-in-residence in West Berlin on a prestigious DAAD fellowship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. Among his awards and prizes are: the Silver Cross of Merit of Poland (1975), the knightood of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France (1974) and the annual Prize of the Polish Composer’s Union (1988).
He has served on the jury of the International Society for Contemporary Music (1979, 1989, 1990) and the jury of the Gaudeamus Competition in Holland (1981, 1987). From 1971 to 1981 he was a member of the repertoire committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival. In 1982 Pierre Boulez invited Krauze to serve as an artistic advisor to the IRCAM center for contemporary music and computer music research in Paris. In 1983 he produced a weekly radio program for France Musique about contemporary music. In 1986 he was one of the producers and organizers of a film series about contemporary music for Polish Television, subtitled The Creation of Music . In 1988 he made another series of 20 films, Music and Silence in English, for the same network.
Krauze’s teaching assignments include International Courses for Composers in Darmstadt (1974), for the International Summer Courses in Kazimierz Dolny (1986), and the Academies of Music in Stockholm (1975) and Basel (1979). He served as Artistic Director and Lecturer at the International Seminar for young composers at Groanjan in yugoslavia (1988). He also lectured at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1979) and Yale University (1982). In 1980, with a group of Polish composers and musicians, he revived the Polish Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music and has since served as its President. In 1987-1990 he served as the President of the whole Society, and continued to lead the Polish Section after the completion of the tenure at the international level.
The composer describes his style as “unism” emphasizing the connections to modern painting of his works with their “minimalist-oriented” features and colourful textures. His main compositions include: Piece for Orchestra no. 1 (1969), Folk Music for orchestra (1972), Aus Aller Welt Stammende for 10 string instruments playing folk melodies (1973), Soundscape for instruments, objects and tape (1975), Violin Concerto (1980), Quatuor pour la Naissance (1984), Symphonie Parisienne (1986), Riviere souterraine installation for seven tapes (1987), and La Terre for symphony orchestra to be premiered at the 1998 Warsaw Autumn.
[MAH]
Anniversaries
Born this month
- 19 September 1938 – Zygmunt KRAUZE, composer
- 5 September 1924 – Krystyna MOSZUMANSKA-NAZAR, composer
- 24 September 1914 – Andrzej PANUFNIK (died 27 October 1991), composer
- 18 September 1883 – Ludomir ROZYCKI (died 1 January 1953), composer
- 13 September 1896 – Tadeusz SZELIGOWSKI (died 10 January 1963), composerDied this month:
- 29 September 1954 – Alfred GRADSTEIN (born 30 October 1904), composer, and social activist
- 27 September 1943 – Wacław GIEBUROWSKI (born 6 February 1878), priest, choral conductor and musicologist
In Memoriam
Frank Harasick
A memorial mass was held for Frank Harasick on August 8th at St. Bede’s Church in La Canada. Several eulogies revealed a picture of a “Man of action” – a devoted husband, father and grandfather, dedicated teacher, colleague, a WWII veteran, community activist and friend. As a teacher Frank volunteered for every committee position that was available and worked evenings and summer school during his 36 years as a teacher at Franklin Elementary School. He left a strong impression on his students, many of whom were in the audience. But most of all, his legacy to the school was to have been responsible for building up “the best public school library in the Los Angeles.”
He served as president and vice-president for the California chapter of the Polish American Historical Society. He was a commander in the American Legion and won the Americanism Award and he was active in many Polish-American organizations, including the Friends of Polish Music at USC. During his lifetime he garnered many awards and honors. When he retired from teaching he started a new career. He volunteered to work at our Polish Music Reference Center. Here he found things to do on his own. He created an index to all music references int eh beautiful “Poland” magazine that we have in our archives. He also translated several articles and helped with translations of Polish song titles.
Frank did this every Wednesday for several years until his legs would no longer allow him to use the stairs to our room. Yes, Frank shall be sorely missed; but warmly remembered forever! An Educational Fund has been established in his memory at PAHA: P.O. Box 2541, North Hills, CA 91393-2541.
[WW]
Director’s Reports
by Maria Anna Harley
Polish Music Librarian at the PMRC
We are happy to welcome in California Dr. Barbara Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk, music librarian from the University of Poznan who will spend 10 months at the Polish Music Reference Center as a Fellow of the Ko ciuszko Foundation. I invited Dr. Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk to apply for this grant last year after discussing the issue of cataloging our collection with the Foundation’s President, Mr. Joseph Gore and his Educational Assistant, Ms. Maryla Janiak. The Kosciuszko Foundation was willing to help the PMRC in this matter, but only if a suitable, qualified candidate for their Fellowship could be found. We succeeded admirably, because the qualifications of Dr. Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk are impeccable and exceed our expectations. To describe her simply as a music librarian is to limit her, because she is a composer (a graduate of the Academy of Music in Pozna , student of Prof. Florian D browski, 1969; an active member of Polish Composers’ Union), a scholar (with a doctorate about “Choral Movement in Wielkopolska in the years 1870-1918” from the A. Mickiewicz University in Pozna , 1976), and the main bibliographer for Poland for the international music databases, such as RILM, RISM, etc.
As a composer, she has received awards at five competitions, and continues to compose acclaimed works for symphony orchestra, choirs, soloists, as well as chamber and computer music. She also composed music for children and is listed in dictionaries of Polish composers. As a scholar, she is the author of over 50 publications, including three books about various aspects of the history of musical culture in western Poland, i.e. Wielkopolska and Pomorze (1982, 1986, 1989). Before receiving the Ko ciuszko Foundation Fellowship, she received grants for research abroad and spent time in Utrecht (1981), Oxford (1985), and many centers for computer music in the U.S. (grant from Kosciuszko Foundation, 1987). It may be interesting to add that Dr. Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk comes from a distinguished family, her father was Zbigniew Zakrzewski (emblem: Trzaska) and her mother Godzislawa Donimirska (emblem: Brochwicz). We are very happy to welcome our long-expected visitor to California and hope that her visit here will be enjoyable and fruitful.
International Conference: “Polish Jewish Music”
Plans are beginning to take final shape of our main project for the fall of 1998. The conference, scheduled for 15-16 November 1998 will be coorganized by the School of Music and the Hebrew Union College and will examine the musical and cultural contribution to the treasure trove of Polish music and to the collection of little-known and unjustly forgotten masterpieces of the world heritage. There will be two concerts: the first of the music of Tansman and his contemporaries performed by USC faculty and students (November 15, 1998, 8.p.m.; this concert will be broadcast by KUSC), the second of the music of piano virtuosi such as Rosenthal, Friedman and Godowski, will be offered by Anna Szpilberg, a Canadian pianist (of Polish-Jewish descent) and the Californian, Agnieszka Lejman.Special sessions will be devoted to the historical issues (guest historians Piotr Wrobel and Paul Knoll), to 19th century musical culture, to music for film and theatre, to the music of Karol Rathaus and of Aleksander Tansman. Dr. Brett Werb of the Holocaust Museum in Washington will be there alongside with three Polish scholars, and several fellow Americans. Dr. Linda Schubert (UCLA), a well-known specialist in the history of film music, with great enthusiasm embarked upon the research project devoted to the film music of Mr. Henryk Wars (or, as he became known in the U.S. Henry Vars). She will focus only on his American years and will present her findings, as well as fragments of the films that she will discuss, at one of the sessions of our Conference.
The “ethnic” caption of the conference’s title may be misleading; it is not the degree of “Polishness” or “Jewishness” of the composers or their music that will be discussed, but the forgotten achievements of many musicians whose work still does not receive the recognition that it deserves because of its artistic quality. One example is the music of Aleksander Tansman. During his lifetime Tansman was more famous than Szymanowski; he actually helped his older colleague with some French projects. He survived the war in California, but returned to Paris with his French wife. After World War II, the “avant-garde” French musicians did not appreciate his neoclassical style, the communist Poland did not want to support, or even acknowledge, emigre composers, such as Tansman, Andrzej Panufnik, or Roman Palester, the music of Tansman gradually disappeared from the spotlight. There are few recordings available, though the Tansman Foundation in his home city of ód has made much progress, especially on the occasion of the composer’s centennial (1996). There will be a whole session devoted to Tansman’s music during the conference. Another session will deal with the music of Karol Rathaus, who emigrated to the U.S. and settled in New York. Scholars will discuss the musical lives and achievements of Grzegorz Fitelberg (conductor and composer), Jozef Koffler (twelve-tone composer), Polish piano virtuosi, klezmer music, etc. The detailed program, which still may somewhat change, will be published in October.