July 2003

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  • Publication date July 17, 2003

Polish Music Center Newsletter Vol. 9, no. 7

News

Kulenty Wins Unesco Rostrum Of Composers!

Hanna Kulenty’s Trumpet Concerto received the First Prize at the 50th International Rostrum of Composers organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Vienna. 66 works from 34 countries were submitted, out of which 9 were recommended for broadcast and awards. Polish submissions to the competition were selected and presented by musicologist Andrzej Chłopecki, whose choices had earlier brought Poland numerous awards in this competition.

Hanna Kulenty’s “Trumpet Concerto” was recorded by Marco Blauw as the soloist with the WOSPR Orchestra (National Polish Radio Orchestra of Katowice), under the direction of Belgian conductor Ronald Zollman. The Concerto was commissioned by the Orchestra and premiered on 3 March 2003 in Katowice; the live recording from the premiere was submitted to the competition. The work is in one movement and lasts for 23 minutes. For more information about Kulenty and her list of works visit her PMC composer page.

In the same competition, Jacek Grudzien’s work “Ad Naan” for cello and computer sound was recognized with an Honorary Mention. Andrzej Bauer was the cello soloist in this recording.

Polish Music Competitions To Collaborate

The General Assembly of World Federation of International Music Competitions, which met in Poznan from May 9th to the 11th, 2003, finally decided upon the need for a permanent collaboration between the four Polish member-competitions of WFIMC: Fr. Chopin Piano Competition, H. Wieniawski Violin Competition, G. Fitelberg Conductor Competition and W. Lutoslawski Cello Competition. Thus, representatives from each of the four events were invited to meet in the Ostrogski Castle in Warsaw on June 4th and 5th. Initially, areas of common interest for all four competitions, in which activities could be combined, were thoroughly discussed, especially those concerning joint representation of the competitions in contacts with authorities. There is the problem of timely securing public resources for prizes for the winners, fees for the members of the jury, board and lodging of participants, as well as preparation of the competitions themselves, which sometimes takes several years. Although the legal standings of competitions differ (“Chopin’s” and “Wieniawski’s” bearing most similarities), their importance in the calendar of events relevant for the national culture should be equally high, and their promotion in the world given equal emphasis by central authorities and regional governments.

Much work remains to improve communication between the competitions and the media, to share experience and organizational/technical information, the manner of composition and operation of the jury, selection of candidates as well as the prize-awarding policies. Plans have also been drawn to extend support to laureates of particular competitions, through e.g. providing them with opportunities for joint appearances.

Information about this event was taken from an article written by Romuald Połczyński for the Towarzystwo Muzyczne im. Henryka Wieniawskiego. To read this article, and to learn more about the H. Wieniawski Violin Competitions, please visit www.wieniawski.pl.

Summer Course For Young Composers

The Polish Society for Contemporary Music invites young composers, composition students, music theoreticians, musicologist and performers interested in contemporary music to 21st Summer Course for Young Composers in Warsaw. For further information or an application, contact ICSM Polish Section Vice President Maciej Zielinski at greenski@plusnet.pl or email polmusic@usc.edu. The application deadline is August 15th, 2003 and the course runs from September 18-27, 2003.

Celebrate Poland’s 1st Saint With Górecki In Cleveland

This year marks the 750th anniversary of the canonization of Poland’s first saint, Stanislaus of Szczepanów, who suffered a martyr’s death in 1079 as Bishop of Kraków. Stanislaus, slain by the king whom he had excommunicated, became revered spiritual hero of his nation and immigrant communities throughout the world.

To commemorate this significant event, the District IX Polish Singers Alliance of America [PSAA] has prepared a musical program of the “Cantata to St. Stanislaus BM”, composed by Piotr Górecki. Set to the Polish text of the late Franciszek Lach of Long Island and Chicago, the lyrics tell of the conflict between the king and bishop, Stanislaus’ murder at the altar, the brutal desecration of his body, its miraculous restoration, the king’s exile and penance, and increasing devotion to the martyr.
St. Stanislaus Church Sanctuary, entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976

A story of hate and triumphant love, the Cantata was written for the 700th anniversary of the saint’s canonization in Assisi. That year – 1953 – was a time when Poland, subjugated by wars and often partitioned, was suffering under atheistic Communism. The dramatic closing prayer asks that the uprooted sons and daughters of the Polish nation, scattered throughout the world much like the mutilated remains of St. Stanislaus, come together…as one. The Cantata closes with a thunderous AMEN!

This performance will highlight a combined chorus of a hundred singers, as well as soprano, baritone and bass soloists. Conducted by Dr. Thomas Witakowski, director of choral music at Buffalo State College, the work will be accompanied by Mr. Gorecki (composer and National Choral Director of the PSAA) on the organ. The first free performance was on June 29th at St. Stanislaus BM Church (Buffalo, NY) and the next will be at St. Stanislaus Church of Cleveland, OH on Sunday, July 27th, time of performance to be announced.
St. Stanislaus Church is located in the Warszawa Historic District in the southeast side of Cleveland, at 3649 East 65th Street between Broadway and Fleet Avenues. More information can be obtained from Adeline S. Wujocikowski at adewujo@aol.com or from the St. Stanislaus Church in Cleveland at (216) 341-9091 or ststans@ameritech.net .

Nocturne – A Play About Chopin

With the support of NeXtFest 2003, Theatre Network’s unique, multi-disciplinary celebration of emerging artists in the under-30 bracket, Aaron Talbot has created a new vision of Chopin. Talbot’s resolutely unclassifiable production of “Nocturne: An Incomplete And Inaccurate Account Of The Love Affair Between George Sand and Frederic Chopin” by the young Vancouver playwright Tanya Marquardt is one of NeXtFest’s nine mainstage shows. What Nocturne isn’t, in Talbot’s hands, is a guy playing the piano. He enlisted choreographer Amber Borotsik, and “physicalized the piano-playing as dance,” he explains. “It’s a piece of dance theatre now”, with blithe references to TV, the Internet, shopping. Talbot and the “2 Freds” (the performers who portrayed Chopin – 2 in one show – during the 10 day run of the production in June) are using their success to launch their own theater company at NeXtFest

A Great Summer Read: The Noonday Cemetery & Other Stories

by Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski

translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston

New Directions, June, 2003

Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski (1919-2000) was one of Poland’s greatest essayists and thinkers. He is best known for his devastating personal account of the Soviet gulags in A World Apart. It is one of the first (1951 – a decade before the works of Solzhenitsyn and others appeared) and still one of the best books on the subject in world literature. Though the English edition had a preface by Lord Bertrand Russell, the book was greeted coolly and even with skepticism at the time by a western European intelligentsia that still harbored considerable sympathy for communism and respect for Stalin. Having left Russia with General Anders’ army and fought at Monte Cassino, Herling-Grudzinski was a co-founder in 1947 and one of the original editors of Kultura, then published in Rome, which virtually sustained Polish culture during Communist rule. Herling-Grudzinski lived in Italy from 1952 on. His Journal Written at Night, begun in 1971 and continued to the end of his life, is one of the great monuments of Polish literature.

In the title story a WWII German officer’s widow and a cemetery custodian are inexplicably shot to death. In others, a Polish woman raped by Serbs is pressured to keep her child; an archaeologist’s wife who witnessed the war’s horrors mysteriously loses her memory; and a musicologist falls in love with a madrigalist and murderer. In his stories, noted for their “original traditionalism”, Herling-Grudzinski traces the individual fate that marks each person’s private road toward reconciliation with death.

This review was excerpted from the Polish Cultural Institute Newsletter.

Interview: TV/Film Composer Cezary Skubiszewski

Cezary Skubiszewski: Polish emigrant, veterinary science graduate turned music composer, he honed his musical skill in a tent in the outback to become one of Australia’s leading film composers. He is the winner of two Australian Film Institute awards, writer of unforgettable jingles (“Jet Set, get set, let’s go!”) and the man behind the lush soundtrack to producer Andrew Knight’s latest mini-series, After the Deluge, which concluded its run last month.
According to Knight, “He’s a composer on a grand scale. If he commits to something it’s 150 per cent. He just thinks it and breathes it and rings you up all the time, and plays bits of music over the phone receiver and drops off 30 tapes for you to listen to, and it’s all brilliant.”

Skubiszewski’s rich, sweeping score for the Deluge series ranges from the achingly beautiful, to the sweet and melodious, and draws on styles as diverse as Irish airs, ’40s jazz, reggae, classic and contemporary tunes – he’s a huge fan of Massive Attack, and has worked with the likes of Killing Heidi and Jebediah.

He may be a composer on a grand scale, but in the flesh, Skubiszewski is disarmingly down-to-earth, constantly worrying whether he’s talking too fast, whether he’s boring, whether the reporter needs a blanket on her bare knees to guard against the cold. “He’s a complete European gentleman, coupled with being extraordinarily talented,” Knight says. “He gets melancholic, he can’t help it, being Polish. But he combines humor and melancholy beautifully.”

It took 20 years after his first discovery of music (through the Blues at 12 years old), and the death of his father, before Skubiszewski was true to his own desire to make music. “Look, I always wanted to be musician, and I suppose maybe ( that) partly coincided with the death of my father … you know, I loved him, but I always felt pressured.”

Skubiszewski, who left his family in Poland and migrated to Australia in 1974, completed veterinary science at Melbourne University, then packed up and moved to Campsie, in outback New South Wales, a piano among his few belongings.

“I lived in army tent with a piano and I practise all the time, and I had a job one day a week just to support myself. That’s when I made really decision that I wanted to dedicate myself to music and I suddenly felt strength of ideas.” He later moved to Sydney with Lee, a teacher and painter – now his wife and greatest supporter – with whom he fell in love at first sight.

Skubiszewski’s first big break was being asked to compose the music for the film Lilian’s Story, directed by fellow Pole Jerzy Domaradzki. He has since worked with many Australian directors, including Gregor Jordan (Two Hands), Richard Flanagan (The Sound of One Hand Clapping), and, most recently, Tony McNamara (The Rage in Placid Lake, premiering in August).

The above was excerpted from an article written by Gabriella Coslovich on June 16 2003 for www.theage.com.au.

Awards

Wilk Prize Winner Milewski Succeeds Again

Barbara Ann Milewski received “The Dziewanowski Memorial Dissertation Award” from the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America for her doctoral dissertation, “The Mazurka and National Imaginings”. The award was presented at the Institute’s 61st Annual Meeting held at McGill University, Montreal, Canada on June 6-7, 2003. Ms. Milenski is a former winner of the Wilk Prizes for Research in Polish Music.

Paderewski Medal For Moore

On May 17th, Amy DeBusk Moore of Texas won the National Piano Guild High School diploma and as well as the Guild’s highest honor, the Paderewski Medal. Named after Polish pianist, composer and statesman Ignace Paderewski, the medal is awarded to students who have been national or international winners – memorizing 10 to 20 pieces – for 10 years. Each competitor for these awards must undergo rigorous training with a Guild-member instructor and is expected to be a versitile pianist and musician as well as to have extensive performance experience. The Guild offers diplomas at the high school, collegiate and young artist levels.

Internet News

Web Site Of American Polish Advisory Council

The APAC website, www.apacouncil.org, includes a Polonia Database with information about various Polish American organizations. For more information contact jskoczek@cympak.com.

California Events on PAC Site

The Polish American Congress, Southern California, has a web site, www.poloniacal.org, where the “master calendar” of Polish American events for the year of 2003 may be consulted. The Congress invites submissions from Polish American institutions, organizations, and individuals planning events, such as festivals, meetings, film screenings, balls, dances and other events. This way, there will be no conflict of interest. The Polish American Congress of Southern California co-sponsors two annual festivals “Proud to be Polish” featuring Polish food, folk art, competitions for youth, folk dancing, singing, and other manifestations of the Polish spirit. The spring festival is scheduled for Yorba Linda, the fall for Los Angeles. For more information contact the Congress, 3919 Myrtle Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807-3517, Phone 562-426-9830, Fax 562-426-9845 or 1700 Laurel Canyon Way, Corona, CA 92881-3475, Phone 909-278-9700, Fax 909-272-4548; or e-mail: richpna@earthlink.net; poloniacal@cs.com.

Rozstaje (Crossroads) 2003 Festival

This year marks the 5th annual Rozstaje Festival of Traditional Music in the main Market Square of Krakow. Started by Krakow 2000 Bureau as part of the Krakow 2000 – European City of Culture programme, this festival celebrates both the cultural unity and diversity of Galicia and the numerous common features of folk culture of all the lands situated along the ranges of the Carpathian Mountains.

Since 1999, the Rozstaje Festival has expanded from a highly regional event that barely reached beyond the Malopolska Competition of Traditional Music and concerts by leading Polish folk bands. Today, the festival is an international event that gathers famous artists of Central and Eastern Europe.

For more information, visit: Krakow Europejskie Miasta Kultury or the Rozstaje Website or Email: biuro@krakow2000.pl.

Krakow Jazz Festival

Summer Jazz Festival at Piwnica Pod Baranami was organized for the first time in 1996 during celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Piwnicy pod Baranami. The festival expands every year to include more artists and greater variety of music. The Festival will consist of 30 concerts between the 2nd and 30th of July.

For more information:18 Warszawska st.PL 31-155, Krakow, PolandTel: (48)12-4234024Fax: (48)12-6341016Website: cracjazz.comE-mail: biuro@cracjazz.com

For a further listing of Polish Music Festivals, see the PMC Festival Page or culture.pl.

Performances

Górecki’s “Totus Tuus” Stands Out

On May 19th, the Pacific Chorale performed an evening of sacred music at the Basilica at Mission San Juan Capistrano. According of Peter LeFevre of the Orange County Register, “The evening consisted of 18 pieces, most brief, some of greater impact and depth than others. Henryk Górecki’s “Totus Tuus” burst out in firm, stable, confident voice from the onset, shifting keys and emotional states with equal fluidity. Comforting, languid, reverent, the work concluded on a sustained and unwavering pianissimo that evaporated into the space like a wisp of smoke.”

Penderecki Premiere

The West Coast Premiere of a new Sextet by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki took place in Santa Barbara on June 6th at the Lobero Theatre. It was part of a chamber music concert by Camerata Pacifica. The program was repeated at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Sunday, June 8th.

Chopin In Orange County

On Thursday, 5 June, pianist Christopher O’Riley performed Chopin’s “Andante Spianato & Grand Polonaise Brillante” with the Pacific Symphony conducted by Carl St. Clair at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in California.

Chiopin At Ravinia

Pianist Mischa Dichter performed at the Ravinia Festival on June 10th and included Four Chopin Mazurkas and the Polonaise in F minor, Op. 71/3. www.ravinia.org.

Chopin In England

Polish-American pianist Emanuel Ax performed Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61, 3 Mazurkas and the Andante Spianato, Op. 22 at the Salisbury Festival in England on June 4th and repeated the program on June 18th at Barbican Hall in London. Maurizio Pollini played a program of mostly Chopin music at his concert at the SBC Royal Festival Hall on June 6th. www.rfh.org.uk.

Stokowski Orchestral Arrangements In Birmingham

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthias Bamert, gave a performance of classic music arranged by Leopold Stokowski at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham on June 6th. It included the “Funeral March” from Chopin’s Second Sonata.

Heard On BBC Radio 3

During the “Lunchtime Concert” on June 4th, pianist Simon Trpceski was heard performing 2 Chopin Scherzos. On Friday June 13th, British Radio scheduled Szymanowski’s “Mythes” played by violinist Tasmin Little with Martin Roscoe on the piano.

Calendar of Events

JUN 1: 8th Annual San Francisco Chopin Competition for Young Pianists. 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Free.

JUL 18/19: Music of Szymanowski, Dvorak & Brahms. Joanna Kurkowicz, v., Ronald Feldman, c., Doris Stevenson, p.. At The Barge, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn Bridge. $35. 1-718- 624-4061. “Roxanna’s Song” from King Roger and Dance from “Harnasie Ballet”. For more information, email: music@bargemusic.org

JUL 23: Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61. Robert McDonald, p.. Taos School of Music Chamber Music Festival. 505-776-2388. Visit www.taosschoolofmusic.com

JUL 28: 26th General Convention of the National United Choirs of the Polish National Catholic Church, Scranton, PA. 8:00 a.m.

JUL 30-AUG 3: 13th Festival of the Polish Folk Dance Association of the Americas (PFDAA), Columbia University & Lincoln Center. 33 Ensembles from the U.S. and Canada will perform. Contact Daniel Dziadura, 718-256-1423 or dannydz@aol.com for more information.

JUL 31-AUG 3: 35th International Polka Association Festival & Convention, featuring Polish & Slovenian style polka music. Hyatt Regency, Oakbrook, IL. Call 1-800-TO-POLKA.

Discography

by Wanda Wilk

I accumulated a small collection of CDs that were sent to me throughout the year and they make up a nice variety of music in various genres. There is music for the organ, for piano solo, violin and piano, for voice, as well as jazz.

The one that has special meaning for me is a copy of the January 2, 2003 program, “The Polish Art Song” that was aired on Public Radio Station NQED-FM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It features soprano Barbara Nowicki accompanied by pianist Jon Verbalis. Barbara also wrote the program notes which were read by Dr. Donald Mushalka, president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Kosciuszko Foundation, who sponsored the program. It is a one-hour program of songs from the 19th and early 20th century, providing an excellent sampling and history of Polish art songs. Barbara begins with two vocal Polonaises by Prince Michael Oginski, followed by one or two songs of Maria Szymanowska and the great Chopin who wrote 19 of them, four of Moniuszko songs, one each of Niewiadomski, Paderewski, Noskowski, Pankiewicz, Zelenski and Rozycki, and three by Karlowicz and four by Szymanowski.

What is special about this disc is that Barbara Nowicki visited our Polish Music Center at USC about ten years ago to research the Polish art song. Our Walter Martin Collection of over 3,000 Polish art songs was a great help to her. She came from the East coast for a two-day visit and stayed seven days. She said that we had enough material here to write not one, but seven dissertations. She went back home to New Jersey, where she is a wife and mother, and pursued a doctor’s degree at Columbia University in New York city. Last year she graduated with a Doctorate degree in music and sent me a copy of her dissertation on the Polish art song. It is a fantastic piece of work. There has been no book published in English on Polish art songs and I had always planned to have one of the monographs of the Polish Music History Series devoted to this subject. Plans are now underway to prepare such a monograph for publication. This CD is and the book will be a fine example of the fruit of our endeavors at the Polish Music Center.

A very interesting CD, “Organ Music by Composers From Poznan” features Elzbieta Karolak on the organ. It represents three generations of composers connected with the city of Poznan and the organist performs on three different organs in that city, either newly built or re-built by Jan Drozdowicz. The composers featured here are: Mieczyslaw Surzynski (1866-1924), Stefan Poradowski (1902-1967), Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946), Barbara Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk (b. 1946), Rajmund Pietrzak (b. 1965) and Zbigniew Kozub (b. 1960).

Some of our readers may find the name of Barbara Zakrzewski familiar. Yes, Dr. Zakrzewska is our former librarian at the Center and now resides in California. She wrote the beautiful “Magnificat” in 1982 and it has been performed many times in Poland, Germany and Denmark.

I also received a CD of music by another Polish composer, who now lives in Los Angeles. Dr. Marek Zebrowski is also an accomplished piano virtuoso and teacher. He teaches music history at UCLA and worked at our PMC last year doing translations and helping Dr. Trochimczyk with the editing of two monographs of the Polish Music History Series: The Songs of Szymanowski and Life and Works of Jozef Koffler. Dr. Zebrowski was also born in Poznan, educated in France and the U.S. and has been living in the U.S. for more than twenty years now. He taught at Harvard U. and MIT and was a frequent lecturer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is well-known throughout Europe as a composer. His piano composition “Ex tempore” won 2nd Prize at the International Composition Competition in the Hague, Netherlands. He also received the Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship in Italy in 1997, during which time he composed two song cycles for baritone and piano. “Leaving Alexandria” is a selection of poems by the Greek poet, Constantine P. Cavafy and translated into English by Theoharis C. Theoharis.

It is beautifully sung by Chris Pedro Trakas, who has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, New York city Opera, Long Beach Opera, Frankfurt Opera and performed at the Barbican Center in England and at the Spoleto Festival. The CD also includes Schumann’s “Dichterliebe.” It is on a Titanic label. The composer superbly plays the part of the accompanist in this interesting vocal work.

I also received a copy of our local pianist, Wojciech Kocyan, playing Scriabin, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. My only disappointment is that there is no Polish composer here and we all know how well the pianist plays Chopin and Paderewski, having been a winner of the Paderewski International Competition in Bydgoszcz some years ago. The interesting point is that this is on a very good new Polish label, DUX, and it is good to see the cooperation between the pianist, who was born in Poland (but who continued his graduate studies at USC and is now teaching at Loyola-Marymount U.) and his mother country. The program notes are in Polish and English; however, the artist’s biography is only in Polish.

The next CD was also released by DUX. It features the music of Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) and played by Bartlomiej Niziol, violin and Waldemar Malicki, piano. According to the program notes, “In 1991, three years before graduating (with honors) from the Music Academy in Poznan, Niziol astonished the musical world by winning the Wieniawski International Violin Competition.” One of the youngest artists to have done so, Niziol has gone on “to win other competitions which led to engagements throughout the world.” Another product of Poznan’s music culture!

Last year when the “Pianist’s” son, Andrzej Szpilman came to a concert in Encino where his father’s Concertino for piano received its California premiere, he brought me a 5-CD album of his father’s music. This is a superb collection of Szpilman’s music and a historical example of his artistic talent as an outstanding performer and composer.

Two of the CDs contain the “Pianist’s” songs: 19 of his most popular ones performed by various artists and ensembles (including Mieczyslaw Fogg, and Irena Santor) and 9 songs written especially for children. These were all taken from Polish Radio archives from the years 1952-1979. Two of the CDs show off his talent as a chamber music player. First in sonatas for violin and piano with violinist Bronislaw Gimpel; second with three other top Polish string players playing Brahms and Schumann quintets. The fifth CD shows off his talent as a virtuoso pianist, playing his own Concertino for piano and orchestra, which he composed in 1940, and in the Rhapsody by Rachmaninov for piano and orchestra. As a soloist we hear him in Schumann’s Fantasie and Chopin’s Nocturne and Mazurka.

We also know that there was a recital of Szpilman’s songs in Los Angeles featuring Canadian pop star, Mona Lands, which received a good review in the LA Times. Wladek Juszkiewicz, director of the Polish Film Festivals here in LA, sent me a copy of this CD which contains 12 songs written by the “pianist” after the war in the ’40s and ’50s. New English language lyrics were commissioned and a new version of these songs was produced and sung and played in all new settings.

Last, but not least, I received a CD from artist-musician Janusz Supernak of San Diego. When I saw the name, Darek Oleszkiewicz, as one of the performers I knew this was going to be good. Entitled, “My Lullaby” it features pop vocalist Agnieszka Skrzypek and Tomasz Szukalski on tenor sax, pianist Michal Tokaj, Darek Oleszkiewicz, bass and Lukasz Zyta, drums. The last lullaby was arranged by Darek, who also has his own LA Jazz Quartet and teaches at Cal Arts. It is very easy listening and has a pretty groovy sound. I should probably try and see if my triplet grandchildren would fall asleep to them.

I am especially grateful to all those who sent me the CDs, which will be placed in the Polish Music Center for others to hear and enjoy.

“Polkas For Children” Now On CD

According to the Polish American Journal this recording is “a unique fairy tale put to polka music.” It was first produced in 1987 by Mark Kohan, leader of Buffalo’s Steel City Brass band. The “lyrics were written by Larry Trojak, founder of Buffalo’s DynaTones. Trojak’s words and Kohan’s music weave the story of young Katie and Johnnie, who embark on a magical tour that teaches them about their Polish heritage. They learn simple Polish phrases, how to count in Polish, take a trip to a Polish market and meet famous Polish heroes like Generals Pulaski and Kosciuszko. They also attend a Polish wedding, learn of holiday customs and are taught Polish history.” Performing on the recording are members of both the Dynatones and Steel City Brass.

Mark Kohan, who by the way is the editor of the Polish American Journal, plays the accordion and guitar and does some of the vocals; while his wife, Kyle, who has master’s degree in music and is a specialist in music ethnography, masterfully performs on the clarinet and saxophone.

To order your copies, call Mike Nowakowski at 716-674-7198 or for a free catalog write to Sunshine, PO Box 652, W. Seneca, NY 14224. CDs are $12 plus $2 shipping & handling.

Other CD Donations To The PMC

Archival copies of recordings of Hanna Kulenty’s music are available for study at the Polish Music Center. The Kulenty recordings include limited releases by the ensemble Ereprijs, Frau Musica Nova, and documentary recordings. The CDs have been produced by Martin Majoor, Dutch graphic designer and the composer’s husband. At present the following works are available on archival recordings on CD: Going Up, Violin Concerto No. 1 (both works also released by Ereprijs), Violin Concerto No. 2, Sinequan Forte B for cello and chamber orchestra, Third Circle for piano solo, Certus for Orchestra, Third Symphony Part One, Elfen ballet music for chamber orchestra, Still Life with a Cello for cello solo, A Fourth Circle for violin and piano, A Sixth Circle for trumpet and piano (world premiere, 1998), Flute Concerto, and Trumpet Concerto.A CD of Kulenty’s chamber music entitled “Hanna Kulenty: Arcs and Circles” was issued by DeutschlandRadio in association with Frau Musica Nova of Germany and may be ordered at http://www.jazz.hausmusik.de. This recording includes Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Circles, Arci and Stretto. Kulenty’s earlier music, up to 1995, is available on tapes and some works may also be found on documentary recordings of Warsaw Autumn Festivals issued by the Polish Music Information Center of the Polish composers’ Union in WArsaw, Poland (copies of these recordings are also available for study at the PMC).

This is an extensive collection of the music of Roman Maciejewski (1910-1998). Maciejewski’s varied works reflect a career that encompassed 2 World Wars, spanned Eastern and Western Europe and the United States, and triumphed through many personal changes. According to Michal Wesolowski, “Maciejewski did not care at all if his musical language was perceived as traditional. Free from all the “musts”, he developed his own, very individual, musical universe. Antithieses, such as his gigantic “Requiem” and fascinatin mazurkas, are the basis of his musical creation.”

Saint Ambrose: A Chamber Opera in One Act, for saxaphonist/actor and recorded electronic computer music

composed by Rodney Waschka II
performed by Steve Duke

This chamber opera is based on the life of the famous writer, infamous journalist, and veteran of the horrors of the U.S. Civil War, Ambrose Bierce. Recorded in 2002, it is available on Capstone Records.

Texas Kapela: Old time Texas-Polish fiddle band

A new recording from fiddler Brian Marshall. It is an all-acoustic collection of polkas, songs, and obereks that Marshall learned while growing up in “Texas Polonia”. This recording was made on Marszalek Recordings in 2002. Donated by Mark Rubin at Violinsetc.com.

PMC Report

Paderewski Exhibition

Paderewski in 1890. Promotional photo from German and American tours.

Paderewski: Portrait of a Musician” Exhibition was on display at Alfred Newman Recital Hall Gallery at USC from 17 September 2002 to 31 May 2003. Culled from the extensive collection of materials held at the Polish Music Center at the USC Thornton School of Music, this exhibition chronicled the life and career of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the musician-statesman who received an honorary doctorate from USC in 1923. Throughout his musical career Paderewski was actively lobbying for Polish independence; he collected funds to benefit the country, its soldiers and the victims of the war. His campaign resulted in Poland returning to the map of Europe; he then became the first Prime Minister of Poland and the first Polish delegate to the League of Nations. Paderewski’s compositions include songs, concerti and piano pieces, an opera, Manru(1901), and Symphony in B minor, Polonia (1907). He also edited a 20-volume anthology of music by other composers and served as the Editor-in-Chief for Chopin’s complete works. However, his main title to fame was his talent as a virtuoso pianist; his music was partly preserved on piano rolls and transferred to CDs.

The exhibition presented the composer’s historical photographs from 1890-1930s, manuscripts, piano-roll recordings from 1910s, early editions of his music, samples of his editorial work (Chopin, Century Library), concert programs from American tours in 1920-24, advertisements for Steinway, Victor-Victrola, and the Aeolian Co., as well as books and recordings on LP and CD. Californian material linked to Paderewski includes documentation about his honorary doctorate from USC (1923), programs from his Los Angeles performances, and the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles. The Exhibition is illustrated with excerpts from Paderewski’s speeches and period writings (poetry and music criticism). It is curated by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk (PMC Director) and Dr. Ljiljana Grubisic (Director of Communications at the Thornton School of Music, with a Ph.D. in Russian literature and ample music background).

Polish Music Journal 5/1 (2002): Bacewicz And Wilk Prizes 2001

The first 2002 issue of the Polish Music Journal, available from www.usc.edu/polish_music/PMJ/issue/5.1.02/contents.html, presents the winners of the 2001 edition of the Wilk Prizes for Research in Polish Music (Essay Competition). The winners, Adrian Thomas in Professional Category, Sławomir Dobrzański and Katarzyna Grochowska in the Student Category, discuss music from the 17th to the 20th century. Their texts are accompanied by bibliographies. Judith Rosen’s 1983 study of Grażyna Bacewicz, with a foreword by Witold Lutosławski is the featured article, reprinted from Vol. 2 in the Polish Music History Series of books (out of print). The abstracts of articles are included below.

Sławomir DOBRZANSKI: “Maria Szymanowska and Fryderyk Chopin: Parallelisms and Influence”

The article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Student Category ex aequo with Grochowska) provides a summary of historical research on possible personal contacts between Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831). Although there is no direct evidence of an actual meeting between them, several documents and historical circumstances suggest that both composers must have known each other personally. The main body of the article is devoted to a comparative analysis of musical styles of both the composers and to the possible influence of Szymanowska’s compositions on Chopin’s musical language. Although some of the research is based on previous insights of musicologists such as Maria Iwanejko and George Golos, the author suggests some new possible comparisons. Especially noteworthy is a brief analysis of the melodic material in Polonaises by Oginski, Szymanowska, and earliest Polonaises by Chopin. Szymanowska’s works discussed in the text include Vingt Exercises et Preludes, Waltzes, Songs, Mazurkas, dances, and 2 Nocturnes

Katarzyna GROCHOWSKA: “From Milan to Gdańsk: The Story of a Dedication”

This article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Student Category, ex aequo with Dobrzanski) takes up the task of explaining the route by which a Gdansk singer, Constantia Czirenberg, became the dedicatee of Milanese publisher Filippo Lomazzo’s 1626 motet anthology, Flores Praestantissimorum virorum. The main tools used for this study are the 17th-century travel diaries and itineraries of Charles Ogier and Prince Władysław IV Waza, both friends and admirers of Czirenberg. While tracing the possible connections between Czirenberg, Lomazzo and Władysław IV Waza, the author concludes that it was the Polish prince who initiated Lomazzo’s dedication. This conclusion offers a new perspective on Władysław’s well-known music patronage, which this time took place outside the royal court.

Judith ROSEN: “Grażyna Bacewicz: Her Life and Works”

This article is an online reprint of a monograph published in 1983 by the Friends of Polish Music at the University of Southern California. The monograph, the first book in English about the noted Polish composer, emphasizes the importance of her place in contemporary music. It discusses her significance as a composer, whose works not only bridged the gap between neo-romanticism and modernism, but also paved the way for the pursuit of new music by the next generation of composers. During her brief life (1909-1969) she lived through the eras of pre- and post- World War II with the accompanying musical freedoms and restrictions. Her musical gifts, both as composer and performer, and her exceptional strength of character are explored in a discussion of her life. The large quantity and excellence of her compositional output (in spite of the difficult times in which she lived) are highlighted with quotes from well-known personages and interesting anecdotes. The original monograph included an introduction by Witold Lutosławski as well as extensive lists of compositions and recordings and a selected bibliography. The present edition contains Lutosławski’s introduction, a different selection of illustrations than in the original edition, and an updated bibliography by Maja Trochimczyk and James Harley.

Adrian THOMAS: “File750: composers, Politics, and the Festival of Polish Music (1951)”

This article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Professional Category) is based on a file at the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw, in which details of the commissioning process for the 1951 Festival of Polish Music are contained. File 750 contains documents and letters to and from composers, who in Spring 1950, were invited by the Polish Composers’ Union to submit proposals to the Ministry of Culture and Art for works to be included in the Festival. What emerges is an insight into the lives of over 50 Polish composers at a crucial point in the period of “socrealizm.” Composers responded to requests for concert music and music of mass appeal in different ways, giving different reasons for their requests for subvention by the Ministry. And the Ministry responded by handing out support which ranged from one-off payments to minor composers to larger amounts spread over several months to more prominent figures. The responses of two composers – Panufnik and Lutosławski – are given special attention because of the new lines of inquiry their letters provoke. The information they contain – and that gleaned in consequence from other contemporary sources – is both surprising and controversial. In both cases, subsequent research will require a revised consideration of the composers’ unenviable positions as creative artists in a controlling political context.

Documentation:

  • Sławomir Dobrzański: Maria Szymanowska – Bibliography
  • James Harley, Martina Homma, and Maja Trochimczyk: Witold Lutosławski – Bibliography
  • Maja Trochimczyk: Andrzej Panufnik – Bibliography
  • Maja Trochimczyk and James Harley: Grażyna Bacewicz – Bibliography

Polish Music Journal 5/2 (2002): Zygmunt Stojowski And His Times

The winter 2002 issue of the Polish Music Journal presents the life and music of Zygmunt Stojowski (1870-1946), a Polish pianist and composer who moved to the U.S. in the early 1900s and taught piano performance a variety of American colleges as well as in his private music school. Stojowski’s late romantic style, rooted in Tchaikovsky and Paderewski (he shared the focus on emotion and clarity of form of the former, and the patriotic zeal and pianistic virtuosity of the latter) has deemed him to obscurity after the victory of Szymanowski’s “modernism” in the 1920s. The rediscovery of his life is due to a recent location of his personal papers and manuscripts, the Zygmunt and Louisa Stojowski Collection, in the possession of his son, Henry Stojowski. Joseph A. Herter, American conductor and music writer active in Poland, has began the search for Stojowski’s manuscripts several years ago. Thanks to the assistance of the Polish Music Center and the Ars Musica Poloniae Foundation he was able to travel to New York to search for Stojowski documents. The Kosciuszko Foundation supported partial cataloging of the collection Dr. Barbara Zakrzewska who located a large number of Stojowski manuscripts. Maja Trochimczyk continued the discovery and description of the collection, locating Stojowski’s notebooks and sketchbooks.Mr. Herter’s article on Stojowski’s life provides a general introduction to a biography that still needs to be written. His bibliographies, catalogue of works provide invaluable tools for researching Stojowski’s life. The article is accompanied by a selection of Stojowski’s writings and texts about him, and various articles on Polish music published in the U.S. between 1900 and 1945. The issue also includes one book review by Nicholas Reyland who writes about Lutosławski Studies (ed. Zbigniew Skowron, London: Oxford University Press, 2001).

  • Maja Trochimczyk (Editorial): “Stojowski, Paderewski and the American Reception of Polish Music”
  • Featured Article: Joseph A. Herter: “The Life of Zygmunt Stojowski”
  • Book Review: Nicholas Reyland: “A Protean Diversity: Lutosławski Studies“
  • Documentation:
    • Joseph A. Herter: “Annotated Catalogue of Works by Zygmunt Stojowski”
    • Joseph A. Herter: “Writings and Lectures by Zygmunt Stojowski”
    • Joseph A. Herter: “Stojowski – A Bibliography”
  • Source Readings (1): Maja Trochimczyk, ed.: “Writings by and about Stojowski”
    • Zygmunt Stojowski: “A Master Lesson on Chopin’s First Impromptu” (1915)
    • Zygmunt Stojowski: “Paderewski in the Light of my Recollections and Beliefs” (1935)
    • William Armstrong: “Sigismond Stojowski and His Views on Piano Study” (1906)
    • Maja Trochimczyk, ed.: “Stojowski’s American Reviews (1908-1943)”
    • Maja Trochimczyk, ed.: “Stojowski’s Program Notes (1913-1916)”
  • Source Readings (2): Maja Trochimczyk, ed.: “American Reception of Polish Music, 1902-1944”
    • Jaroslaw Zielinski: “Poles in Music” (1902)
    • Michael J. Piduch: “The Soul of Poland in Music” (1909)
    • Felix R. Łabuński: “Poland’s Contribution to Music” (1944)
    • Edward Baxter Perry: “The Story of the Polonaise” (1909)
    • Margaret Anderton: “The Spirit of the Polonaise” (1917)
    • William Mason: “Paderewski: A Critical Study” (1902)
    • Alfred Nossig: “The Secret of Paderewski’s Playing” (1902)
    • Fanny Morris Smith: “What Poet is most Akin to Chopin?” (1902)
    • Antonina Szumowska: “An Appreciation of Chopin” (1910)

Book No. 7: The Songs Of Szymanowski

The Songs of Karol Szymanowski and His Contemporaries is a collection of eighteen essays edited by Zofia Helman, Teresa Chylinska, and Alistair Wightman. The essays deal with various aspects of the song oeuvre of the Polish composer studied in a rich context of literary and musical issues (essays by Tomasz Baranowski, Edward Boniecki, Paul Cadrin, Stephen Downes, Maciej Golab, Danuta Jasinska, Elzbieta Jasinska-Jedrosz, Laura Grazyna Kafka, Daniela Philippi, Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski, Andrzej Tuchowski, Roman Vlad, Adam Walacinski, and Alistair Wightman). Additional texts discuss songs by Szymanowski’s contemporaries in Germany, France and Russia, including the Viennese circle, Ravel and Stravinsky (Wolfgang Ruf, Serge Gut, and Alicja Jarzebska). The book is a result of the International Scholarly Symposium, Song in the Oeuvre of Karol Szymanowski and His Contemporaries, which took place in Zakopane, Poland, in March 1997.

Prof. Zofia Helman, University of Warsaw, Poland, is the author of numerous books and studies of twentieth-century Polish music (on Karol Szymanowski, Roman Palester, Polish neoclassicism, etc.). Dr. Teresa Chylinska of Kraków, Poland, is the editor-in-chief of the Complete Works of Karol Szymanowski (PWM and Universal Edition), as well as the editor of multiple volumes of the composer’s correspondence and writings. Dr. Alistair Wightman (United Kingdom) is a British expert on Polish music, the author of books about Mieczyslaw Karlowicz and Karol Szymanowski.The book is available from the Polish Music Center, for $40 (paperback only). ISSN 0741-9945 and ISBN 0-916545-06-7. Table of Contents:

  • Teresa Chylińska: Foreword
  • Zofia Helman: Karol Szymanowski’s Songs in the Literary and Musical Context of His Times (1-10)
  • Edward Boniecki: The Lyrical, Young Poland “I” in Songs by Szymanowski to Words by Tadeusz Miciński (11-23)
  • Danuta Jasińska: Jan Kasprowicz’s Hymns in their Interpretation by Karol Szymanowski (24-42)
  • Adam Walaciński: Within Richard Dehmel’s Circle: Songs by Schoenberg, Webern and Szymanowski (43-59)
  • Wolfgang Ruf: Richard Dehmel and the Lyricism of New Music (60-72)
  • Maciej Gołąb: Penthesilea for Soprano and Orchestra, Op. 18 by Karol Szymanowski-Semantics, Syntax, Form and Compositional Technique (73–83)
  • Daniela Philippi: Szymanowski’s Early Songs and German-language Art Song of Musical Modernism (84-98)
  • Tomasz Baranowski: Albert Mombert’s “Schlafend trägt man mich” in Songs by Karol Szymanowski, Alban Berg, Grzegorz Fitelberg and Joseph Marx (99-111)
  • Paul Cadrin: Between Dawn and Dusk: “The Song of the Night” and the Symphony at the Turn of the Century (112-121)
  • Alistair Wightman: Exotic Elements in the Songs of Karol Szymanowski (122-134)
  • Roman Vlad: Karol Szymanowski’s Four Songs, Op. 41 to Texts by Tagore (135-152)
  • Andrzej Tuchowski: Karol Szymanowski’s Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin: Their Structure and Expression (153-166)
  • Stephen Downes: Szymanowski’s “Melodic Crisis” (167-181)
  • Mieczysław Tomaszewski: Semplice e divoto-Szymanowski’s “Franciscan” Idiom (182-199)
  • Laura Grażyna Kafka: Karol Szymanowski’s Children’s Rhymes, Op. 49 from the Performer’s Perspective (200-209)
  • Elżbieta Jasińska-Jędrosz: Wiedzie nas Haller—An Unknown Song by Karol Szymanowski (210-228)
  • Serge Gut: Hispanicism and Frenchness in Don Quichotte ŕ Dulcinée by Maurice Ravel (229-242)
  • Alicja Jarzębska: Text and Music in Igor Stravinsky’s Solo Songs (243-265)
  • Glossary (266-269); List of Songs by Karol Szymanowski (270-282); Index

Book No. 8: Józef Koffler

Maciej Gołąb’s monograph, Józef Koffler: Compositional Style and Source Documents is in preparation and expected to be published in September 2003. Translated by Maxymilian Kapelański, and edited for publication by Dr. Linda Schubert and Marek Zebrowski, the book also includes a foreword by Prof. Anthony Polonsky and a CD of music examples. It is the first English-language monograph about a Polish-Jewish composer, Józef Koffler, a one-time student of Schoenberg and Poland’s first twelve-tone composer who died in the Holocaust in 1942 or 1943. Koffler’s music includes symphonies, a piano concerto, and numerous chamber pieces, songs, works for solo piano (with arrangements of Polish and Ukrainian folklore). Prof. Gołąb’s study is a detailed examination of Koffler’s life, music, and compositional style, based on newly discovered sources (manuscripts for pieces that were considered lost). Polish version published by Musica Iagellonica in 1995. English version includes a CD with a sample of Koffler’s music; from the archives of the Polish Radio edited by Mateusz Gołąb.

Winners Of 2002 Wilk Book Prizes

The 2002 Stefan and Wanda Wilk Book Prize is divided between two books ex aequo, both published by British authors in 1997:
John Rink: Chopin: The Piano Concertos 
(Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Adrian Thomas: Górecki
(Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

The Prize consists of $1,000 cash prize for each author (the full amount is $2,000) and an award certificate with an USC commemorative wood frame. The 2002 Competition Jury consisted of:

  • Prof. Maciej Gołąb, University of Warsaw, Poland;
  • Prof. Stephen Downes, University of Surrey, UK;
  • Dr. Martina Homma, Cologne, Germany;
  • Asst. Prof. Maja Trochimczyk, PMC Director, USC, Los Angeles
  • John Rink: Chopin: The Piano Concertos. 139 pages with 10 page introduction, music examples, discography, bibliographical references and index. Series: Cambridge Music Handbooks; ISBN: 0521441099 (hb); 0521446600 (pb); LC: ML410.C54; Dewey: 784.2/62/092.
    Chopin’s E minor and F minor Piano Concertos played a vital role in his career as a composer-pianist. Praised for their originality and genius when he performed them, the concertos later attracted censure for ostensible weaknesses in form, development and orchestration. They also suffered at the hands of editors and performers, all the while remaining enormously popular. This handbook re-evaluates the concertos against the traditions that shaped them so that their many outstanding qualities can be fully appreciated. It describes their genesis, Chopin’s own performances and his use of them as a teacher. A survey of their critical, editorial and performance histories follows, in preparation for an analytical ‘re-enactment’ of the music – that is, a narrative account of the concertos as embodied in sound, rather than in the score. The final chapter investigates Chopin’s enigmatic ‘third concerto’, the Allegro de concert. [from the publisher’s note]
  • Adrian Thomas: Górecki 187 pages with 18 page introduction; illustrations, 1 map, detailed list of works, bibliographical references, and index. Series: Oxford Studies of Composers; ISBN: 0198163932 (cloth); 0198163940 (pbk.). LC: ML410.G6448; Dewey: 780/.92.
    Górecki, the culmination of Thomas’s years of thorough, meticulous, and engaging research, provides a necessary foundation on which present and future scholars can build. This source-book surveys all of Górecki’s works, adding background and biographical details where appropriate. But its appeal is such that any reader— musician or not, scholar or amateur—will benefit from Thomas’s insights, learn from his observations, and, like the author, come to respect the music of this acclaimed composer on its own terms. Thomas assumes a readership that is fluent in music history, terminology and notation. He includes numerous score examples, often to illustrate the text but occasionally to replace it. The discourse strikes a balance between expressive interpretation and technical description. His discovery of extremely subtle allusions in Górecki’s music—a chord drawn from Chopin, a melodic gesture from Szymanowski, or a note or timbre from Beethoven—and his subsequent explication of their import should spur others to delve deeper in the music, rather than merely being satisfied with the intriguing surface qualities. [from a review by Luke Howard]

The Stefan & Wanda Wilk Prizes for Research in Polish Music are sponsored by the Polish Music Center (PMC) at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California and financially supported by the Stefan and Wanda Wilk Endowment Fund. The creators and sponsors of the Wilk Prizes, Dr. Stefan Wilk (radiologist) and Mrs. Wanda Wilk (M.M., music education, USC), initiated the competition for best essays on Polish music written in English by a non-Polish author in 1982. The competition is intended to stimulate research on Polish music in academic circles outside of Poland. The winners include such experts in Polish music as Stephen Downes, Jeffrey Kallberg, Martina Homma, Anne Mc Namee, Barbara Milewski, James Parakilas, Sandra Rosenblum, and others. The prizes are awarded in two independent competitions, each held biennially (in different years):

  • Wilk Essay Prizes for Research in Polish Music (yearly till 1999, since then held in odd years) and
  • Wilk Book Prizes for Research in Polish Music (even years, starting in 2000).

The prizes are awarded to authors of the best scholarly publications reflecting original research on some aspect of the music of Poland, preferably on a less researched topic or composer. Entries for the Wilk Book Prizes competition may be submitted to the jury by the author, publisher, or a third party. The 2002 competition was open to works published outside of Poland in English, French, or German during the previous five years (1997-2001). Subsequent editions of the competition will be held in “even” years and will include books published in the previous five years. It is notable that three of the current Jury members have won the Wilk Prizes in the past (the remaining one is ineligible, being a Polish scholar from Poland).

Director’s Projects

During the Fall 2002 semester Dr. Maja Trochimczyk was on a sabbatical leave, working on a research project for which she received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, East European Committee. The project, entitledSound Constructions: Image, Number, and Space in 20th-Century Polish Music,” is devoted to the use of non-musical imagery in Polish music after World War II, the compositional techniques and ideologies associated with this usage, and the similarities and differences between the approaches to this subject by Polish composers and their Western counterparts. The project is partly based on composers’ sketches and other material from the Polish Music Center’s collection, as well as on material held at the Sacher Stiftung in Basel and Polish archives.Dr. Trochimczyk interrupted her leave to supervise the Paderewski Exhibition preparations, edit both issues of the 2002 volume of the Polish Music Journal, and welcome to PMC His Excellency Przemysław Grudziński, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, who visited the Center and the Doheny Library (Special Collections Department) in October 2002.

Dr. Trochimczyk presented the following papers in the academic year 2002/2003:

  • “Towards Poland’s National Style: Paderewski or Szymanowski?” presented at a session on “Karol Szymanowski,” Third International Conference on 20th Century Music, Nottingham, U.K., June 26-29, 2003.
  • “Poland’s National Composer: Szymanowski or Paderewski?” presented at a session on “Polish National Composers” at the 61 Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, June 6, 2003.
  • “How Paderewski Plays: Chant d’amour and the Aestheticism of America’s Gilded Age.” Society for American Music, Tempe, Arizona, 27 February 2003.
  • “From Mrs. Szymanowska to Mr. Poldowski: Career Choices of Nineteenth-Century Polish Women Composers.” Session “Seen and Heard? Women Painters, Performers, and Composers in Poland,” American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies Meeting. 21-24 November 2002, Pittsburgh.
  • “How Paderewski Plays: Chant d’amour and the Aestheticism of America’s Gilded Age.” American Musicological Society. Columbus, Ohio, 31 October- 3 November 2002.

Recent and forthcoming publications, completed by Dr. Trochimczyk in the 2002/2003 academic year:

  • “Chopin and the ‘Polish Race’ – National Ideologies and Chopin Reception,” chapter for Halina Goldberg, ed., The Age of Chopin: Interdisciplinary Inquiries,Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003 (40 pages).
  • “The Question of Identity: Polish-Jewish Composers in California.” Forthcoming in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry vol. 19, “Polish-Jewish Relations in North America,” Anthony Polonsky, ed. (46 pages).
  • Entries on Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Ignacy Jan Paderewski for Biographical Dictionary of Literary Influences: The Twentieth Century, ed. John Powell (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press), forthcoming in 2003.
  • “W stronę muzykologii narodowej: muzykolodzy wobec muzyki polskiej,” [Towards a National Musicology: Scholars and Polish Music,] the Polish Musicological Quarterly, Muzyka, no. 3-4, 2002 (special double issue dedicated to Prof. Michał Bristiger, on his 80th anniversary): 4-16.
  • Review of Karol Berger’s A Theory of Art (Oxford University Press, 2001), forthcoming in Muzyka, 2003.

Anniversaries

Born This Month

  • July 04, 1904 – Artur Malawski, composer (d. 1957; see his Page at PMC)
  • July 06, 1837 – Władysław Żeleński, composer (with a doctorate in philosophy, d.1921)
  • July 09, 1931 – Eugeniusz Knapik, composer
  • July 10, 1936 – Jan Wincenty Hawel, composer
  • July 10, 1835 – Henryk Wieniawski, violin virtuoso & composer (see his Page at the PMC)
  • July 10, 1929 – Tadeusz Strumiłło, musicologist (d. 1956)
  • July 13, 1775 – Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł, composer, cellist, patron of arts (d. 1833)
  • July 14, 1926 – Jan Krenz, conductor & composer
  • July 16, 1947 – Grażyna Pstrokonska-Nawratil, composer
  • July 17, 1932 – Wojciech Kilar, composer (see his Page at PMC)
  • July 22, 1930 – Leoncjusz Ciuciura, composer
  • July 23, 1884 – Apolinary Szeluto, composer (Young Poland group, d. 1966)
  • July 26, 1928 – Tadeusz Baird, composer (d. 1982, see his Page at the PMC)
  • July 26, 1922 – Andrzej Koszewski, composer (choral music)
  • July 29, 1943 – Marta Ptaszyńska, composer & percussionist (see her Page at PMC)

 

Died This Month

  • July 1, 2001 – Halina Czerny-Stefanska (b. 1922, pianist)
  • July 6, 1911 – Kazimierz Hofmann (b. 1842, pianist, composer, father of the renowned virtuoso and director of Curtis Institute, Józef Hofmann)
  • July 8, 1906 – Franciszek Bornik (b. 1870), priest, conductor, writer
  • July 21, 1964 – Zygmunt Sitowski (b. 1906), musicologist
  • July 23, 1829 – Wojciech Bogusławski (b. 1757), the first theatre director in Poland, the author of several opera libretti (set by J. Stefani and J. Elsner)
  • July 25, 1831 – Maria Szymanowska (b. 1789), pianist & composer (see her Page at PMC)