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Grażyna Bacewicz

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Grażyna Bacewicz (b. February 5, 1909 in Łódź - January 17, 1969 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish composer and violinist. She was the first Polish female composer to achieve national and international recognition.

Grazyna Bacewicz before World War II

Life

Her father, Wincenty Bacewicz, gave Bacewicz her first piano and violin lessons. In 1928 she began studying at the Warsaw Conservatory, where she initially took violin and piano classes, and graduated in 1932 as a violinist and composer. She continued her education in Paris, having been granted a stipend by Ignacy Paderewski to attend the École Normale de Musique, and studied there in 1932-33 under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger. At the same time she took private violin lessons with Henri Touret. Later she also left France in order to learn from the Hungarian violinist Carl Flesch.

After completing her studies, Bacewicz took part in numerous events as a soloist, composer, and jury member. During the 1930s, she was the principal violoinist of the Polish Radio orchestra, which was directed then by Grzegorz Fitelberg. This position gave her the chance of hearing alot of her own music. During World War II, Grazyna Bacewicz lived in Warsaw, continued to compose, and gave underground secret concerts (premiering her Suite for Two Violins).

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 comissions, and it finally became her only occupation in 1954 after serious injuries in a car accident.

Compositions

Most of her compositions are for the violin. Among them are seven violin concertos, five sonatas for violin with piano including two for violin solo, seven string quartets, two piano quintets and four symphonies.

Works for solo instruments

  • Four preludes for piano (1924)
  • Children's Suite for piano (1933)
  • Sonata for Violin (1941) - premier at an underground concert in Warsaw
  • Esquisse for organ (1966)

Chamber music

  • Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn (1932) - 1st Prize in the Concours de la Société "Aide aux femmes de professions libres", Paris, 1933
  • Suite for Two Violins (1943) - premier at an underground concert in Warsaw
  • String Quartet No. 3 (1947) - Polish Ministry of Culture Award, 1955
  • String Quartet No. 4 (1951) - 1st Prize, Concours International pour Quatuor a Cordes, Liege, 1951
  • String Quartet No. 5 (1955)
  • String Quartet No. 6 (1960)
  • String Quartet No. 7 (1967)

Orchestra works

  • 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) - 3rd Prize, Tribune Internationale (UNESCO), Paris 1960
  • Concerto for Symphony Orchestra (1962)
  • Contradizione for chamber orchestra (1966) - comissioned by Hopkins Center, Hannover

Concertos

  • Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra (1948) - Polish Ministry of Culture Award, 1955
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1949) - 2nd 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 Viola and Orchestra (1968)

Vocal-instrumental music

  • Olympic Cantata (1948) for choir and orchestra - Mention, International Olympic Arts Competition, London, 1948; Polish State Prize, 1948

after the 17th-century comedy by Piotr Baryka

  • Acropolis, a cantata for choir and orchestra (1964) - comissioned for the 600th 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)
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