Witold Lutoslawski on Music Theory Print

Cello Concerto (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The concerto has a duration of roughly 24 minutes and is composed in four movements played without pause.

Instrumentation#

The work is scored for solo cello and a large orchestra comprising three flutes (all doubling piccolo), three oboes, three clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, celesta, harp, and strings.

Reception#

The cello concerto is one of Lutosławski’s most celebrated works. The music critic Andrew Clements of The Guardian called it “one of the Polish composer’s greatest achievements”. The writer Michael McManus similarly wrote, “I have always had a special affection for Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto. Like so many of his works, it is tautly composed, relatively short and full of contrasts. Intriguingly, it also strikes me as sitting to some degree outside the mainstream of his otherwise clear compositional phases, emanating from his most avant-garde period but somehow not fully belonging to it.”

Chantefleurs et Chantefables

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

Chantefleurs et Chantefables has a duration of approximately 16 minutes and is composed in nine movements:

Instrumentation#

The work is scored for solo soprano and a small orchestra consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet and E-flat clarinet), bassoon (doubling contrabassoon), trumpet, horn, trombone, percussion, timpani, harp, piano (doubling celesta), and strings.

Reception#

Chantefleurs et Chantefables has been praised by music critics. Andrew Clements of The Guardian described the composition as “a series of tiny epigrammatic settings inhabiting a child-like surrealist world, which Lutosławski illuminates with wonderful precision.” Keith Potter of BBC Music Magazine compared the piece to Lutosławski’s Chain 1, observing that they are “so exquisite that they verge on the precious.” The composer Russell Platt similarly described it as “one of the most gracious and affecting works of Lutosławski’s last years.”

Concerto for Orchestra (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The three movements are: The first movement is a sort of extended two-subject overture beginning in on an ostinato drum beat more threatening, if anything, than that which begins the Brahms’s First Symphony. The Capriccio is an airy, virtuoso scherzo, the main subject of which is intoned by the violin, followed by the remainder of the strings and woodwinds. It is followed by an expressive Arioso initiated by the brass section. The reprisal of the capriccio is intoned by the cellos and harp, the theme bowed, then with pizzicato. It is concluded with the ominous rumblings of the drums, double-basses and bass clarinet. The last movement is in three sections: the Passacaglia being a set of variations on a brooding theme played by the double-basses; followed by a vivacious and dynamic Toccata; and the (instrumental) Corale. The Corale’s second appearance produces a solemn finale for the monumental construction, the material for which is borrowed from a nineteenth-century collection compiled by the Polish ethnologist Oskar Kolberg. The concerto finishes with a dramatic flourish and climax from the whole orchestra.

Les Espaces du sommeil

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

Les Espaces du sommeil lasts 15 minutes and is composed in one movement but with a three-section scheme: #Dans la nuit il y a naturellement les sept merveilles #Il y a toi l’immolée, toi que j’attends #Il y a toi sans doute que je ne connais pas

Instrumentation#

The work is scored for solo baritone and an orchestra consisting of 3 flutes (2 & 3 doubling piccolo), 3 oboes, 3 clarinets in B (3 doubling bass clarinet in B), 3 bassoons, 3 trumpets in C, 4 horns in F, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, harp, piano (doubling celesta), and strings.

Mi-parti

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The work calls for a large orchestra: *woodwind: 3 flutes (all doubling piccolo), 3 oboes, 3 clarinets (3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons *brass: 3 trumpets in C, 4 horns, 3 trombones, 1 tuba *percussion: timpani, 3 percussionists (bells, marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, tam-tams, cymbals, vibraphone without motor) *celesta, harp, piano *and strings (8 first violins, 7 second violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos and 4 basses).

Recordings#

Awards: * for EMI recording: International Critics’ Award, 1979; Deutsche Schallplattenpreis 1977 * for the piece: State Prize, 1st grade 1978

Musique funèbre

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Lutosławski began composing Musique funèbre in late 1954 and completed it in 1958. The piece is scored for a small string orchestra of four violins, two violas, two cellos, and two basses. Its first performance occurred on March 26, 1958 in Katowice by the National Polish Radio Orchestra under the direction of Jan Krenz, who commissioned the piece to honor its dedicatee, Béla Bartók . It received a notable performance later that year at the Warsaw Autumn Festival . In 1959 it won both the Polish Composers’ Union Prize as well as First prize from the UNESCO International Composers’ Council. Recent performances include : *In February 2026, it was performed by the Hallé Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, United Kingdom as part of a programme of performances with Jonny Greenwood and Daniel Pioro, of Jonny Greenwood and Steve Reich compositions. *In 2014 it was performed at least twelve times in countries such as China (Hongzhou); France (Paris); Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Rostock); United Kingdom (London); and United States (Chicago) *In 2013 (Lutosławski’s centennial) it was performed at least twenty-nine times in fifteen countries including Austria (Vienna); Finland (Helsinki); France (Paris); Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Erfurt, Leipzig, Munich); Japan (Tokyo); Luxemburg (Luxemburg); Mexico (Guanajuato); Netherlands (Amsterdam); Poland (Warsaw); Portugal (Belém); Slovenia (Ljubljana); Spain (Madrid); Switzerland (Lucerne, Warth-Weiningen); United Kingdom (London, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; St Asaph Cathedral, Wales); United States (Cleveland, Philadelphia)

Piano Concerto (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The concerto has a duration of roughly 27 minutes and is cast in four movements played without pause. The first movement comprises four sections, the first and third of which Lutosławski described as possessing “nonchalant” motifs. Conversely, he described the movement’s second and fourth sections as “filled with a broad cantilena, finally leading to the highpoint of the whole movement.” The composer called the second movement a “‘moto perpetuo,’ a quick ‘chase’ by the piano against the background of the orchestra which ends by calmly subsiding in preparation for the third movement.” The third movement begins with a recitative for the soloist, out of which a largo theme develops. The orchestra is introduced later in the movement, contrasting the beginning with “moments of a more sudden, dramatic character.” Finally, the orchestra again subsides and the cantilena returns, being performed by the soloist alone. The structure of the fourth movement alludes to a Baroque chaconne. Its theme is played by the orchestra and repeated several times while the pianist presents different episodes. The two ideas are cast in a “chain-form” and thus do not begin or end concurrently until near the end of the movement. A shortened version of the theme is played by the orchestra one last time before a brief piano recitative and coda “presto” conclude the piece.

String Quartet (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

The String Quartet has a duration of approximately 24 minutes and is composed in two movements: Lutosławski described the piece in the score program notes, writing, “In this Quartet I have sought to develop and enlarge the technique employed in the two preceding works, Jeux Venitiens and Trois Poèmes d’Henri Michaux the technique of what I call controlled aleatorism. It employs the element of chance for the purpose of rhythmic and expressive enrichment of the music without limiting in the least the full ability of the composer to determine the definitive form of the work.”

Symphony No. 2 (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Personal and musical transitions#

Lutosławski wrote his Symphony No. 2 between 1965 and 1967. The preceding years had been a time of transition for him and for Poland. The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin had seized control of the country in the aftermath of World War II, and the iron-fisted cultural dictation of the Communist government severely limited both the output of Polish composers and their exposure to musical developments in the outside world between the 1949 and 1954. Many pieces, including Lutosławski’s First Symphony, were condemned as formalist (focused on esoteric considerations of form rather than on speaking directly to the proletariat) and banned from public performance. In 1956, the Poles took advantage of Stalin’s death to reform their government. The national ruling communist ideology became more liberal, especially regarding the arts. Representing this shift, the first Warsaw Autumn (Poland’s international music festival) took place in 1957. The purpose of this festival was to expose Polish audiences to new music which had been prohibited by the communist regime and promote the work of modern Polish composers. Lutosławski’s work Muzyka żałobna (“Music of Mourning” sometimes translated “Funeral Music”) was featured in the 1958 festival. In the decade that followed, Lutosławski’s reputation flourished both in Poland and abroad; he traveled to many European and American music centers to serve as a music critic at music festivals, hear his works performed and receive various awards. The Second Symphony marked a culmination of Lutosławski’s music to that point. The years between the end of World War II and its completion had been a continuous effort to cement his personal style. Lutosławski had completed his first symphony in 1947—a work that some have called neoclassicist in its extensive use of canon and adherence to the four-movement standard and sonata form in the first movement. Almost two decades separate the first and second symphonies, and musically, they are a world apart. In the process of composing Five Songs on texts of Kazimiera Iłłakowicz (1956–58), Muzyka żałobna (1958), Three Postludes (1959–64), and Jeux vénitiens (1960–61), he developed the harmonic and rhythmic elements that define the Second Symphony and other mature works. The second movement of the symphony, “Direct”, even used some material that had been sketched and abandoned for a fourth postlude. These hallmarks of Lutosławski’s new style include harmonic aggregate chords using all twelve tones, macrorhythmic accelerando, texture as a formal element, and a preference for grouping instruments with similar colors. When Lutosławski heard John Cage’s piano concerto, he began exploring limited aleatoricism, and this became a feature of his style, although he intentionally never extended his employment of chance techniques beyond rhythm. Lutosławski stated that this rhythmic technique allows the performer a more interpretive role while preserving the control of the composer. Harmonic color preoccupied him; it was one way he tied himself to previous composers like Debussy. For Lutosławski, color was a vertical phenomenon in music, created both by the instruments used together and the intervals their parts created. Lutosławski proceeded on the momentum of the Symphony No. 2 to write the Livre pour orchestre (1968), crystallizing his personal style even further.

Symphony No. 3 (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Analysis#

Many passages in the Symphony no. 3 employ Lutosławski’s by-then well developed technique which he called “limited aleatorism”, in which the individual players in the orchestra are each asked to play their phrase or repeated fragment in their own time — rhythmically independent from the other musicians. During these passages very little synchronisation is specified: events that are coordinated include the simultaneous entrances of groups of instruments, the abrupt end of some episodes, and some transitions to new sections. By this method the composer retains control of the symphony’s architecture and the realisation of the performance, while simultaneously creating complex and somewhat unpredictable polyphony. At the beginning of the illustrated page from the score, for instance, the woodwinds and brass (notated at the top of the page) are playing short repeated passages. The composer specifies completely the music for each player, leaving the interpretation to the individuals: only the co-ordination between the parts is unspecified. The strings (notated at the bottom of the page) join the texture by sections: first the violins, then the violas, the cellos and lastly the basses, all playing rapid repeating figures. The string players do not coordinate their playing (even within sections) except for their entries. These entries are indicated by the conductor, as instructed by the down-arrows above the string parts. Other parts of the symphony (the very beginning and the very end, for example) call for rhythmic synchronization of the orchestra, and are notated more traditionally.

Symphony No. 4 (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Orchestration#

3 flutes (3rd flute also taking piccolo), 3 oboes (3rd oboe also taking English horn), 3 clarinets (2nd also taking E clarinet; 3rd clarinet also taking bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd also on contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, bongos, chimes, glockenspiel, marimba, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tenor drum, tom-toms, vibraphone, xylophone), 2 harps, piano, celesta, and strings.

World Premiere#

The symphony received its world premiere on February 5, 1993 from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with the composer conducting, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. It was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the support of Betty Freeman.

Twenty Polish Christmas Carols

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Twenty Polish Christmas Carols is a composition by Witold Lutosławski. It is based on Christmas carols collected by the composer in 1946 in Poland at the request of the Director of the Polish Music Publishing. In the years leading up to this event, occupation by Nazi Germany and The Soviet Union had had a devastating effect on Poland. The post-war years were times of daily hardship. The cultural sphere was influenced by conservative ideologies and the totalitarian authorities in place at the time. In such a climate, collecting Christmas carols was a relatively safe and harmless activity. Arranging the collected Christmas Carols, Lutosławski first wrote for only voice and piano. Aniela Szleminska (soprano) and Jan Hoffman then performed a part of the completed work in Kraków. The work then disappeared until almost 40 years later, when Lutoslawski re-arranged the carols for soprano, a female chorus and orchestra. On December 15, 1985 this version was performed for the first time. Marie Slorach sang accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra with a choir. On December 14, 1990 the Chamber Orchestra of Scotland, with accompanying choir, played the work with soloist Susan Hamilton in Edinburgh. This version was equipped with English-language texts, while all previous versions had been performed in Polish. Twenty Polish Christmas Carols have been likened to folk-song pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams . The Polish texts were drawn from books: * Śpiewnik Kościelny - collection of Polish 19th century sacred songs by Michał Mioduszewski (1838–1853) * Pastorałki i kolędy z melodyjami – collection of 17th to 19th century Polish sacred Christmas carols by Michał Mioduszewski (1843) * Lud vol.16: Lubelskie by Oskar Kolberg (1883) * Lud vol.22: Leczyckie by Oskar Kolberg (1899)

Variations on a Theme by Paganini (Lutosławski)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Version for two pianos (1941)#

In the years leading up to Lutosławski’s completion of this piece, the composer was a minor officer in the Polish Army when Poland was invaded in the events prior to World War II, by the Soviets from the East and the Nazis from every other direction. After escaping from his initial capture, he fled on foot more than four hundred kilometers towards his home in Warsaw, which rendered him without an official identity until the end of the war. After some time performing in small cafés to make his living, he and fellow pianist Andrzej Panufnik formed a piano duo, performing in a few popular nightclubs, where Lutosławski arranged more than two hundred pieces for two pianos. However, a few years later, by the time the Warsaw Uprising had broken out, both pianists had left the capital, taking only essentials. Out of the two hundred arrangements Lutosławski wrote during the years prior to that event, the Variations was the only surviving composition, all the rest of them presumably ending up destroyed. This arrangement was written with Lutosławski himself at the first piano and Panufnik at the second piano, although Panufnik never claimed to have been in the creation process. The arrangement was later published by PWM Edition and Chester Music.