Polish Ins tute Brussels
Some dates in the life of Witold Lutosławski
Some dates in the life of Witold Lutosławski
Belgium
Witold Lutosławski
Poland
1913 The Universal Exposi on is held in Ghent. Belgium, whose economy is booming, was thus able to hold its seventh Universal Exposi on.
1913 | 25 January Birth of Witold Lutosławski. His family moved to the family estate in Drozdowo, which lies around 200 km from Warsaw, which was at that me part of the Russian empire.
1913 | 28 January Warsaw inaugura on (Warsaw was then part of the Russian empire) of the Polish Theatre. The Poles, which had not had a state since 1795, had to fight for their culture to be recognised. 1914 Start of the First World War. The Polish Legions, made up of volunteers, formed in the AustroHungarian empire in order to fight the Russians.
1918 | September Józef, Witold’s father, and Marian, his uncle, are shot dead by the Bolsheviks. A@er her husband’s death, Maria Lutosławska and her three sons move to Warsaw.
1918 | 11 November The Armis ce brings an end to the First World War. Poland regains independence 123 years a@er its territory was last divided up. Józef Piłsudski becomes head of the interim government.
1924 Witold Lutosławski enters the highly renowned Lycée Stefan Batory in Warsaw. He a;ended a concert by Karol Szymanowski for the first me: there, he discovers the Third Symphony ‘The Song of the Night’.
1924 Władysław Reymont receives the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel Chłopi (The Peasants). For the first me, a Polish delegaon takes part in the Olympic Games which this year are taking place in Paris.
1927 He starts taking classes in music history. He impoves in music theory and piano; he learns composion under Witold Maliszewski at the Warsaw School of Music.
1927 First Interna onal Chopin Compeon which is won by the Russian pianist Lev Oborine.
1914 Outbreak of the First World War. Invasion of Belgium by German troops. The opening of locks on the Yser provoked an ar ficial flood which brought their advance to a halt. 1918 | 11 November Armis ce. The fourth part of the Treaty of Versailles grants Belgium the guardianship of the territories of Ruanda-Urundi. When this treaty expired, the redeemed cantons would be a;ached to Belgium. 1924 | 3 January The cartoonist André Franquin, who gave the world Gaston Lagaffe and Marsupilami, is born in Brussels. He was to become a famous collaborator on the comic Spirou.
1929 Publica on of the first tome of the adventures of Tin n (Tin n in the Land of the Soviets).
1929 First major composi ons, notably Varia ons, Poem for Piano, Dance of the Chimera for piano. He went on to compose the students’ hymn at the Stefan Batory school using the text of a contemporary poet, Stanisław Młodozeniec.
1931 Death of the Belgian violinist, composer and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe, a short me a@er the creaon of the Fonda on Musicale Reine Élisabeth.
1931 A@er receiving his baccalaureate, he began studies in mathema cs at Warsaw University. The following year, he enrolled at the Warsaw Conservatoire in the composion sec on. He soon gave up his mathema cal studies. 1934 | 10 May He took part in the first public performance of the composi ons of Grażyna Bacewicz at the Warsaw Cobservatoire.
1934 | 23 February Leopold III accedes to the throne a@er the death of his father Albert Ist, who died one week earlier in a climbing accident at Marcheles-Dames. 1938 Inaugura on of the Flagey building, built by the architect Joseph Diongre to house the headquarters of the INR radio (Ins tut Naonal de Radiodiffusion).
1941 King Leopold III, who stayed in Belgium whilst the Belgian government had withdrawn to England, had a church wedding with Liliane Baels. This event will bring up the ‘Royal ques on’ calling into queson the legi macy of the King of the Belgians.
1934 | 18 April Crea on of the Fryderyk Chopin Ins tute, known today as the Fryderyk Chopin Associa on.
1938 Official debut as a composer: the premiere takes place of his Symphonic Varia ons conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg. 1939 He is called up. A@er Poland surrenders, he comes back to Warsaw, where he stays un l 1944. His brother Henryk dies in the Russian camp at Kolyma.
1940 Belgium is invaded by Nazi troops.
1929 Joachim Lelewel’s remains are returned to Belgium. The Polish historian, bibliographer and ac vist had joined the wave of Polish emigrants to Brussels, where he remained from 1833 un l 1861. There, he had set up the Royal Library of Belgium’s Cabinet of Coins and Medals. 1931 In Raszyn, near Warsaw, the most powerful broadcas ng sta on in Europe is inaugurated.
1940 He forms a piano duo with the composer Andrzej Panufnik. From the beginning of the war, he parcipates in the semi-official musical life. 1941 He composes his Varia ons on a theme by Paganini as well as patrio c songs. He con nues to work on his Symphony Number 1. He meets his future wife, Danuta Bogusławska.
1939 | 1 September The Nazi troops a;ack Poland. The Second World War begins. 17 September Following the secret RibbentropMolotov agreement, the Soviet troops also a;ack Poland. 1940 | Juin First convoy of poli cal prisoners leaves for Auschwitz.
1941 | January Premiere of the Quartet for the end of Time (1940) by Olivier Messiaen in the Stalag VIII A, Zgorzelec (Görlitz), on what is now the German-Polish border.
1942 | August First convoy of Belgian Jews is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau
1943 The acts of resistance increase. One of the most spectacular acts is the arrest of a convoy of Jews bound for Malines. 9 November The Faux Soir is published by the Front de l’Indépendance: the 45,000 copies sold illicitly openly mock the Nazi occupying forces. 1944 The 1st armoured division of general Stanisław Maczek goes to war. A@er combat in the North of France, it liberates Flanders and then the Netherlands. 1946 | 26 September First edi on of Tin n is published. The weekly comic will be published un l 1993.
1948 Customs union amongst Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg is born: this is the start of BENELUX. Belgium starts to benefit from the Marshall plan, which aims to get its economy back on its feet. 17 March The United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg sign the Treaty of Brussels, which gives rise to the Western Union.
1942 | 6 August Janusz Korczak, doctor, writer and pedagogue dies in Auschwitz. He was one of the pioneers of child pedagogy. 1943 | 13 April Radio Berlin puts out a communiqué on the discovery of the bodies of 12,000 Polish officers in the Katyń forest. 19 April-16 May Warsaw Ghe;o Uprising.
1944 All of the composi ons wri;en by Lutosławski before the war perish furing the Warsaw Insurrec on. Only the Varia ons on a theme by Paganini escape this fate. 1946 | 26 October Marriage to Danuta Bogusławska. 5 December Premiere of the Symphonic Variaons at the Théâtre des ChampsElysées in Paris. The concert marks Lutosławski’s debuts abroad. The same year, he writes the group of Twenty Polish Christmas Carols. 1948 | 6 April Premiere of the Symphony Number 1: the concert, held in Katowice by the Polish Na onal Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg, is rebroadcast on Polish and Czechoslovakian radio.
1944 | 1 August-3 October Warsaw Insurrec on. The Army of the Interior (Armia Krajowa) directs armed opera ons against the Nazi occupying forces before the arrival of the Soviet troops. 1946 A decree of na onalisa on is put out by the Polish government: enre branches of the na onal economy become the property of the State.
1948 | 25-28 August Interna onal Peace Congress held in Wrocław by the Franco-Polish Commi;ee. In a;endance were representa ves from 45 countries, including Irène and Frédéric JoliotCurie, Georges Duhamel, Vercors, Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Paul Eluard, Mikhaïl Cholokhov, Ilya Ehrenbourg and Julian Huxley.
1949 First elec ons by mixed universal suffrage in Belgium.
1949 The Symphony Number 1 is played at the inaugura on of the IVth Fryderyk Chopin Interna onal Piano Compe on in Warsaw. The Soviet representa on in the jury disapproves of the work, as a consequence of which it was no longer played for many years.
1951 | 16 July End of the ‘Royal ques on’: Léopold III abdicated the throne leaving it to his son Baudouin, who was sworn in the following day.
1951 Crea on of the Silesian Triptych, a magnificent stylisa on of Polish folklore. This work brought to life the desires of the Socialist authori es regarding Polish social realism. 1955 | September Lutosławski works on the concertante version for chamber orchestra of his Dance Preludes. These mark a temporary departure from Polish folklore.
1955 Ilya Prigogine, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1977, receives the pres gious Francqui Prize. The same year, King Baudouin visits Congo. 1956 | 8 August Bois du Cazier mining disaster. 262 miners are killed.
1957 Signature of the trea es of Rome which establish the Common Market of which Belgium is one of the founding members. These treaes were to come into force the following year: the EEC and EURATOM are installed in Brussels.
1956 Lutosławski is a member of the jury at the Interna onal String Quartet Compe on held in the city of Liège. 14 December At the Liège Conservatoire de Liège, he a;ends the performance of the Concerto for Orchestra (1954) by the Liège Conservatoire orchestra, conducted by Fernand Quinet.
1957 He finishes working on his Five songs for female voice and a piano, a0er poems by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna. For the first me, he employs a twelve-tone harmony.
1949 | April Publica on of the ar clemanifesto ‘On the art of Socialist realism’. On the basis of this ar cle, those in power reject all forms of art which do not directly serve this purpose. Amongst other characteris cs, Socialist realism has a duty to be ‘close to the people’, which notably involves the importance of folklore and rejects all eli sm. It was only five years later that this situa on was officially cri cised. 1951 | 23 November First edi on of the novel Astronauci (The Astronauts) by Stanisław Lem.
1955 | 21 February Opening of the Vth Interna onal Fryderyk Chopin piano compe on in Warsaw. On this occasion, Queen Elisabeth (the mother of Léopold III) visits Poland. 1956 ‘Thawing’ in poli cal rela ons in Poland a@er the secret report by Nikita Khrushchev during the XXth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The ‘cult of personality’ is denounced: ‘destalinisa on’ can begin (Stalin died in 1953). 10-21 October First interna onal contemporary music fes val Warszawska Jesień. Lutosławski was to be a member of the fes val programming commission from 1959 un l 1974 and from1983 un l 1993. 1957 Polish Radio’s Experimental Studio is born. This is the fi@h studio for electronic music in Europe.
1958 The Universal Exposi on is held in Brussels. One of the major events is the crea on of the Atomium.
1960 | 30 June Congo gains independence. The Belgian colonial presence in Africa was to stop for good when Burundi and Rwanda declared their independence.
1961 During winter 1960-1961, the greatest general strike Belgium has ever known took place, caused by the promulga on of the ‘loi unique’, a programme aiming to relaunch the economy which imposed austerity measures.
1963 Belgium has three official languages: French, Dutch and German.
1964 Belgian composer Pierre Bartholomée writes Song for a cello, one of his first works. Two years earlier, he had founded the ensemble ‘Musiques Nouvelles’, which he was to direct un l 1976.
1958 | Printemps The Concert for orchestra is played in Brussels at the Universal Exposion during the European tour of the Warsaw Na onal Philharmonic Orchestra, the first since the end of the war, conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. Lutosławski composes Funeral Music. 1960 | 16 March Lutosławski hears a recording on the radio of John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra. His thoughts on this piece of work were to influence his later work.
1961 | 24 April He presents the first version of Ven an Games at the Venice Biennale. 16 September Premiere of the complete, definive version of Veni an Games during the Warszawska Jesień fesval. This work features the first elements of randomness in Lutosławski’s work. 1963 | 9 May Premiere of Three Poems by Henri Michaux at the Zagreb Biennale. For the first me, Witold Lutosławski conducts the orchestra himself. From now on, he will conduct the performances of his composi ons. 1964 The String Quartet, the only work of its kind by Lutosławski, is composed. This commission from Swedish radio was to be played by the famous LaSalle quartet.
1958 First Interna onal Jazz Jamboree Fes val (en tled Jazz 58). Polish jazz develops at home and abroad.
1960 | 30 May Premiere of Ofiarom Hiroszimy — tren na 52 instrumenty smyczkowe (Thredony for the Vic ms of Hiroshima for 52 string instruments) by Krzysztof Penderecki at the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composi on Compe on. The composer was awarded third prize there. The work ini ally bore the tle 8’37 (a reference of the length of me America’s a;ack on Hiroshima lasted). 1961 The film Matka Joanna od Aniołów (Mother Joan of the Angels) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz is awarded the special prize at the Cannes Film Fes val.
1964 | March Le;er to the Prime Minister from 34 Polish writers and intellectuals. This is the first act of group protest against the government’s demands in the field of culture.
1966 | 18 July Law on the use of languages for administra ve use.
1968 The Université Catholique de Louvain is officially split into two separate universi es with regard to language. The episode went down in hisory as ‘Walen Buiten’.
1966 Ar s c trips to Denmark, the United States, Sweden and Germany. He composes his Second Symphony. 1968 The Lutosławski family moves to a villa in the Żoliborz district, not far from the old town in Warsaw. That year, he composed the Livre pour orchestre.
1970 Revision of the Belgian cons tuon: this is the first reform of the Belgian state, which establishes the Communi es and the Regions.
1970 The Concert for cello is completed. This commission from the London Royal Philharmonic Society is carried out for the first me by Ms slav Rostropovitch.
1975 Signature of the law on the merger of Belgian ‘communes’. The merger takes effect on 1 January 1977, leading to the number of ‘communes’ being divided by four.
1975 Lutosławski is made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Le;ers and the Naonal Ins tute of Art and Le;ers, joining I. Paderewski, P. Boulez, B. Bri;en, O. Messian, R. Shankar and Y. Xenakis. He composes the Sacher Varia on and et Les Espaces du sommeil (based on verses by French Surrealist poet Robert Desnos). 1978 | 31 August Lutosławski directs Polish Radio’s Grand Symphony Orchestra of Katowice during the Flanders Fes val in Ghent. Roman Jabłoński is a soloist. 1980 He conducts concerts of his music and takes part in workshops in Montreal, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and London as well as in many Polish ci es. He visits Turkey and Australia. That year, he composed the Double concerto and Epitaph.
1978 | 9 October Jacques Brel, Belgian writer, composer and singer, dies in France at the age of 48 ans. Plas c Bertrand sings Ça plane pour moi. 1980 | 19 April Telex, a pioneering group in electronic music, takes part in the Eurovision Song Contest. The audience is disconcerted by the group’s music, humour and use of irony.
1966 First Interna onal Poster Biennale at the Zachęta Na onal Art Gallery in Warsaw. 1968 | 30 January Last performance of Adam Mickiewicz’s Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve) at the Warsaw Na onal Theatre: the play is taken off the billing by the authori es, which consider it to be an -Soviet. This led to protests in academic milieux. Those in power took hold of these movements, leading to the ul mate expulsion of the Jewish intelligentsia. 1970 | 14-22 December Protests by workers at Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin and Elbląg. 20,000 go on strike. 41 of them die. Andrzej Wajda refers to this in his film Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron). 1975 Premiere of Umarła klasa (The Dead Class) by Tadeusz Kantor at the Cricot II Theatre, Krakow. The same year, Krys an Zimerman wins the IXth Interna onal Fryderyk Chopin piano compe on.
1978 | 16 October Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected Pope. He choses the name John Paul II.
1980 | 14 August Strikes break out in the Gdańsk shipyards. An inter-enterprise strike commi;ee is set up, led by Lech Wałęsa.
1980 | 8 August The ‘special law of 8 August 1980’, signed as part of the second reform of the Belgian state, notably governs the transfer of Personrelated ma;ers to Communi es. 1981 François Weyergans receives the Prix Rossel for his novel Macaire le Copte.
1980 | 31 August Signature of the agreements with the strikers. 9 December The Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to Czesław Miłosz. 1981 | 11-12 December 1981 Speech by Lutosławski at the Con- The Palme d’or is awarded to Angress for Polish Culture in Warsaw drzej Wajda. dedicated to ‘truth’ in works of 12-13 December A State of War is established in art. A@er the State of Wa ris estabPoland. Unions are banned, as are lished, Lutosławski re res from poli cal par es. A curfew is inpublic life. This marks his ‘interior stalled, trips abroad are forbidemigra on’. den, phone lines are cut, poli cal ac vists are locked up, etc. 1983 | 22 July 1983 1983 Hugo Claus publishes his great Premieres of the Third Symphony The State of War is li@ed. Flemish novel, Het verdriet van in Chicago and Chain I in London. 5 October België (The Sorrow of Belgium). The previous year, Lutosławski Lech Wałęsa receives the Nobel performed in Liège. Peace Prize. Since he is in prison, The same year, Lutosławski behe cannot go and collect the prize comes an honorary member of the in Stockholm. Instead, his wife DaUNESCO Interna onal Music nuta makes the trip. Council. 1988 1988 He writes the Piano concerto, Work begins on the third reform of the Belgian state. The Brussels- which will be played for the first me the same year in Salzburg, Capital Region has its own ins tuand then once again at the Warons. Gérard Corbiau releases his film Le szawska Jesień fes val. Krys an Zimerman plays the piano part Maître de musique which is a global success. twice. The previous year, Lutosławski had been made a member of the Académie des Sciences, des Le;res et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. 1989 | 5 April 1989 1989 Signing of the agreement which Lutosławski enters the Ci zens’ Confe`’s, one of the key groups brings an end to the Round Table in the New Beat, releases ‘C in Chi- Commi;ee, led by Lech Wałęsa. discussions. na’. He takes part in the Independent Culture Forum at the University of May Warsaw. First edi on of the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza is published. June First free elec ons in Poland since the end of the Second World War.
1990 | 3 April The Belgian government notes that King Baudouin is ‘unfit to reign’ (according to the terms of ar cle 93 of the Cons tu on). The King, loyal to his convic ons, had not wanted to sign the law decriminalising abor on. The law is promulgated on 4 April and the King reinstated the following day. 1992 The film C’est arrivé près de chez vous, the breakthrough for Benoît Poelvoorde, causes a polemic in Belgium. 7 February Belgium, like the other Member States of the European Economic Community, signs the Treaty of Maastricht, founding treaty of the European Union. 1993 The Belgian Cons tu on is revised: the country becomes a Federal State with three regions, Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. The same year, Albert II succeeds his brother Baudouin.
1994 Willy Claes, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and conductor, becomes Secretary General of NATO.
1990 | 30 March Lutosławski conducts the RTBF orchestra at the Maison de la Radio, place Flagey (Bruxelles), as part of the Ars Musica fes val. On the programme: the Funeral Music, the Piano concerto (played by Piotr Paleczny) and the Third Symphony.
1990 | 22 December Lech Wałesa is elected president of the Polish Republic by universal suffrage.
1992 First performance, at the BBC Proms, of Chantefleurs et Chantefables based on works by Desnos. Lutosławski conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He becomes a member of the Council of Culture repor ng to the president of the Republic of Poland.
1992 Wanda Rutkiewicz, considered as one of the best women mountaineers, dies in the Himalayas. She had reached 8 of the 14 sumemts exceeding 8000 metres and was the third woman to have scaled Everest.
1993 Premiere of his Fourth Symphony in the United States by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The same year he composes Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic, his last work. In Montreal, he conducts an orchestra for the last me. The same year, he receives the Polar Music Prize, the Nobel of music. 1994 | 7 February Death of Witold Lutosławski at the age of 81. A few days earlier, the Polish president Lech Wałęsa had awarded him the highest honour: the Order of the White Eagle. 16 February The composer is buried at Powązki cemetary in Warsaw. 23 April Death of his wife, Danuta.
1993 European release of the first part of the Three Colours trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski. September The last Soviet soldier leaves Polish territory.
1994 | 14 April The Polish government officially applies for Poland to join the European Union.
Calendar based on: • Będkowski S., The Diary of the Life, Works and Ac vity of Witold Lutosławski, 2007 • Mayer K. & Gwizdalanka D., Witold Lutosławski, 2 t., PWM, Krakow, 2003-2004 English version by Leah Maitland