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Manuscript Donation: Jan Jarczyk
It has been just over a year since the untimely death of great Polish jazz pianist and composer, Jan Jarczyk. His presence graced us at the Polish Music Center—Jan’s concert in March 2014 and his arrangements of tunes by Bronisław Kaper and Henryk Wars (Henry Vars) still resonate in the ears and hearts of our audiences.
Recently, we heard from Susan Mendez-Diez, Jan’s first wife, with whom he had lived in Boston when he first arrived in the U.S. Susan donated to the PMC a manuscript of Jan’s composition, The Bad Time—The Better Times, with the following information about its origins:
[…] When Jan arrived in 1977, he had been through a difficult time and the title, I think spoke to the start of something new and better to come after “The Bad Time.” At least, at that time, I felt as though his new life in the U.S. and meeting me was a look ahead to “The Better Times.” At first, I was unsure if the composition had been recorded and couldn’t find anything under that name, but, recently I found that it had been submitted for copyright and performed as recently as April 2015, by pianist Oliver Jones at a benefit concert at Vanier College in Montreal, honoring Jan.
[…] I am not sure if the composition was written for school or for a performance, but I was very happy to have it and kept it for almost 40 years. Sadly, after hearing that Jan had passed away, […] I felt that this music needed a home. […] The signed copy of The Bad Time –The Better Times, an original composition written by Jan Jarczyk in 1977, was given to me by him on December 17th of that year. I am very happy to donate this copy to the Polish Music Center at the Thornton School of Music, USC.
Roman Ryterband Collection
Roman Ryterband is one of the most outstanding Polish composers of the twentieth century. His work has been compared to the work of Debussy, Ravel and Britten and is highly appreciated in music circles around the world. The work of Roman Ryterband includes instrumental works, vocal-instrumental, chamber, choral and symphonic. Yet, so far, only one of his compositions, Sonata breve for violin and harp, was published by the Polish Music Publishers (PWM).
A number of his works and other items listed below have been recently donated to the by his wife, Clarissa Ryterband, and family. This is part of an ongoing collaboration between the PMC and members of the Ryterband family, who have been incrementally organizing and delivering items from all parts of Roman Ryterband’s life—both professional and personal—to the PMC. This collection has been donated to the PMC in order to preserve and catalogue these precious musical and historical items, but also to popularize once again the music of this great but rarely heard composer.
Books, Published music, misc. publications:
- Books on Chopin (w/ notes):
- “Fryderyk Szopen” by Zofja Lissa
- “Chopin” by Franciszek Liszt
- “Fryderyk Chopin” by Karol Stromenger
- “Chopin by Tadeusz” Mayzner
- “Szlakiem Chopina” by Maria Mirska
- “Wir Neger in America” book
- Paderewski album w/ notes
- “A Traver Les Charpons de Pologne”
- WA program from 1962
- PACN newsletter 1999
- Slowniczek Wyrazow
- Klejnoty Krakowa
- Kalanderz Chopinowski 1955
Scores:
- Trois Ballades Hebraiques for harp and violin/piano
- Sonata Breve for harp and violin
- Double Flute Quintet for 2 flutes, viola, cello and cembalo
- Deux Sonnets for contralto, harp and flute
- Two Images for harp solo
- Sonata for 2 flutes and harp
- Castle Munchenweiler
Letters and Papers:
- Files of biographical info:
- Biographical notes and diplomas
- Program notes and bios
- Personal letters – handwritten and typed
- Journal articles:
- Folk Harp Journal (June 1976) – “Folk Music and the Harp”
- Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Harfowego (Aug. 2012) – “Potret Kompozytora”
- The Indian Historian (1979) – “Agua Caliente and Their Music”
- Newspaper article clippings
- Compilation of notes on various pieces of music
- Palm Springs – press clippings and PS Festival of Music and Arts project proposal
- Recordings:
- 4 CDs (Palm Springs Records)
- 1 cassette (2 Desert Scenes perf. By Glorian Duo and Memories of Broadway perf. by Ryterband)
From Frank Harders-Wuthenow & EDA Records
Frank Harders-Wuthenow, Promotion Executive at the distinguished publishing houses Boosey & Hawkes | Bote & Bock, recently sent us a large package of CDs with fascinating and rare recordings of music by Polish composers published by EDA Records. Among the many highlights of this collection are such rarities as orchestral and chamber works by Joachim Mendelson (1982-1943), several orchestral works by Jerzy Fitelberg (1903-1951), chamber works by Konstanty Regamey (1907-1982), Józef Koffler (1896-1944), and Szymon Laks (1901-1983), as well as symphonic poems by Eugeniusz Morawski (1876-1948) and Alexandre Tansman (897-1986).
The complete list of CDs donated by Mr. Harders is as follows:
From the Poland Abroad series:
- Music for string orchestra by Laks, Tansman, Fitelberg and Karłowicz—EDA CD 26
- Symphonic poems by Fitelberg, Morawski, Laks and Tansman—EDA CD 27
- String quartets by Mendelson, Padlewski and Laks—EDA CD 34
- Opera and Ballet by Laks and Rathaus—EDA CD 35
- Chamber music by Regamey, Koffler and Laks—EDA CD 37
- Concerto—Concertino by Fitelberg, Kassern and Spisak—EDA CD 39
From the En hommage series:
- Music by Szymon Laks—EDA CD 31
- Music by Joachim Mendelson—EDA CD 40
Other recordings we received include:
- Elegy for the Jewish villages with music by Laks, Ravel, Ullman and Weisgall—EDA CD 30
- A 2-Cd set of Complete Piano Sonatas by Krzysztof Meyer—EDA CD 36
- A set of 4 CDs Polen im Herzen from the broadcast archives of Hessische Rundfunk
- Music by Laks, Słowiński and Pstrokońska-Nawratil—DUX CD 0737
These recordings will be added to our CD library collection and made available to students and scholars using Polish Music Center. Thank you, Mr. Harders, thank you, EDA Records! Dziękujemy!
Other recent donations:
CDs from the Kwadrofonik ensemble:
- Kwadrofonik by various composers featuring Kwadrofonik – self-published
- Unchained by Tomasz Sikorski and Julius Eastman – DUX 1188
- Requiem Ludowe by Kwadrofonik – PRCD 1940
From Paul Cadrin:
- The Symanowski Companion by Paul Cadrin and Stephen Downes – Ashgate Publishing