Grażyna Bacewicz (Composer)

Born: February 5, 1909 - Łódź, Poland
Died: January 17, 1969 - Warsaw, Poland

Grażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19^th century.

Grażyna Bacewicz’ father and brother Vytautas identified as Lithuanian and used the last name Bacevičius; her other brother Kiejstut identified as Polish. Her father, Wincenty Bacewicz, gave Grażyna her first piano and violin lessons. In 1928 she began studying at the Warsaw Conservatory, where she studied violin with Józef Jarzębski and piano with Józef Turczyński, and composition with Kazimierz Sikorski, graduating in 1932 as a violinist and composer. She continued her education in Paris, having been granted a stipend by Ignacy Jan Paderewski to attend the École Normale de Musique, and studied there in 1932-1933 with Nadia Boulanger (composition) and André Touret (violin). She returned briefly to Poland to teach in Łódź, but returned to Paris in 1934 in order to study with the Hungarian violinist Carl Flesch.

After completing her studies, Grażyna Bacewicz took part in numerous events as a soloist, composer, and jury member. From 1936 to 1938 she was the principal violinist of the Polish Radio orchestra, which was directed then by Grzegorz Fitelberg. This position gave her the chance of hearing a lot of her own music. During World War II, she lived in Warsaw, continued to compose, and gave underground secret concerts (premiering her Suite for Two Violins).

Grażyna Bacewicz also dedicated time to family life. She was married in 1936, and gave birth to a daughter, Alina Biernacka, a recognized painter. After the war, she took up the position of professor at the State Conservatory of Music in Łódź. At this time she was shifting her musical activity towards composition, tempted by her many awards and commissions, and it finally became her only occupation in 1954 after serious injuries in a car accident. She died in Warsaw, Poland.

Many of her compositions feature the violin. Among them are seven violin concertos, five sonatas for violin with piano, three for violin solo (including an early, unnumbered one from 1929), a Quartet for four violins, seven string quartets, and two piano quintets. Her orchestral works include four numbered symphonies (1945, 1951, 1952, and 1953), a Symphony for Strings (1946), and two early symphonies, now lost.

He honours and awards include: First prize at the Society of Composers, "Aide aux femmes libres de Professions" in Paris for the Quintet for Wind Instruments (1933); Second Prize at the composition competition of the Society for Polish Music Publishing Trio For Oboe, Violin and Cello, an honorable mention for his Sinfonietta for String Orchestra (1936); Second prize (no first awarded) in the Composition Competition. Frederick Chopin, organized by the Polish Composers' Union in Warsaw for the Piano Concerto (1949); First Prize at the International Composition Competition in Liege for String Quartet No. 4 (1951); Second Prize at the International Composition Competition in Liege for String Quartet No. 5 (1956); III deposit at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for Music for strings, trumpet and percussion (1960); Prize of the Belgian Government and the gold medal at the International Competition for Composers in Brussels for Violin Concerto No. 7 (1965); In addition, Grażyna Bacewicz received awards for lifetime achievement. These included the Order of the Banner of Work Class II (1949) and class I (1959), Order of Polonia Restituta Cavalier (1953) and Commander's Cross (1955), and the 10th Anniversary Medal of the Polish People's Republic (1955). On the centenary of her birth, Polish Post issued a stamp, with a portrait of the artist.

Works

Solo Instruments:
Four preludes for piano (1924)
Children's Suite for piano (1933)
Sonata for Violin (1941; premiered at an underground concert in Warsaw)
Esquisse for organ (1966)
Second Piano Sonata (premiered 1953)

Chamber:
Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn (1932; 1^st Prize in the Concours de la Société "Aide aux femmes de professions libres", Paris, 1933)
Trio for oboe, violin and cello (1935)
Sonata for oboe and piano (1937)
Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1948)
Suite for Two Violins (1943; premiere at an underground concert in Warsaw)
String Quartet No. 3 (1947; Polish Ministry of Culture Award, 1955)
String Quartet No. 4 (1951; 1^st Prize, Concours International pour Quatuor a Cordes, Liege, 1951)
String Quartet No. 5 (1955)
Sonatina for oboe and piano (1955)
String Quartet No. 6 (1960)
Quartet for 4 violoncelli (1964)
Trio for oboe, harp and percussion (1965)
String Quartet No. 7 (1967)

Orchestral:
Overture (1943)
Concerto for String Orchestra (1948; Polish State Prize, 1950)
Symphony No. 2 (1951)
Symphony No. 3 (1952)
Symphony No. 4 (1953; Polish Ministry of Culture Prize, 1955)
Muzyka na smyczki, trąbki i perkusję (Music for Strings, Trumpets, and Percussion) (1958; 3^rd Prize, Tribune Internationale (UNESCO), Paris 1960)
Concerto for Symphony Orchestra (1962)
Contradizione for chamber orchestra (1966; commissioned by Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover, New Hampshire)

Concertos:
Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (1937)
Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra (1948; Polish Ministry of Culture Award, 1955)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1949; 2^nd prize, Chopin Composition Competition, Warsaw, 1949)
Concerto No. 5 for Violin and Orchestra (1954)
Concerto No. 7 for Violin and Orchestra (1965; Belgian Government Prize, Gold Medal - Concours Musical International Reine Elisabeth de Belgique, Brussels, 1965)
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1966)
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1968)

Voice with orchestra:
Olympic Cantata, for choir and orchestra (1948; Mention, International Olympic Arts Competition, London, 1948; Polish State Prize, 1948. After the 17^th-century comedy by Piotr Baryka)
Acropolis, a cantata for choir and orchestra (1964; commissioned for the 600^th anniversary of Jagiellonian University)

Stage works:
Z chłopa król (Peasant King), a ballet (1953; to the libretto of Artur Maria Swinarski)
Przygoda Króla Artura (The Adventure of King Arthur), a radio opera (1959; Polish Radio and Television Committee Award, Warsaw, 1960)
Esik in Ostend, a ballet (1964)

Source: Wikipedia Website (July 2011)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2011)

Grażyna Bacewicz: Short Biography | Arrangements/Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Bibliography

Adrian Thomas: "Bacewicz, Grażyna". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2^nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).