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9 February 2010

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Ludomir Różycki
languages: Polish  / English 
 

Ludomir Różycki, composer, conductor and pedagogue; born 18 September 1883 in Warsaw; died 1 January 1953 in Katowice.

Różycki studied the piano in the class of Aleksander Michałowski, theory under Gustaw Rogulski and Michał Biernacki, and composition under Zygmunt Noskowski at the Warsaw Music Institute. Having graduated with a gold medal in 1904, he continued studying composition under Engelbert Humperdinck at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin in 1904-7.

His composing debut was the symphonic scherzo "Stańczyk" op. 1, performed at the Warsaw Philharmonic in February 1904, with Emil Młynarski as the conductor. In 1905 he and Karol Szymanowski, Grzegorz Fitelberg and Apolinary Szeluto set up the Spółka Nakładowa Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich / Company of Young Polish Composers - a group whose purpose was to promote the new Polish music abroad. It did so until 1912. In 1907, having refused the appointment as professor at the Oslo Conservatory, Różycki moved to Lvov to work as the city's opera conductor and to run the piano class at the Galician Music Society Conservatory. His symphonic poem "Krol Kofetua / King Cofetua" op. 24 won the first prize at the composition contest marking the 10th anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic in 1912. From 1912 to 1918 he stayed in Berlin, making artistic trips chiefly to Switzerland, Italy and France, and in 1918 returned to Warsaw and was for a while a conductor at the Teatr Wielki.

In the inter-war period Różycki did journalistic, organisational and pedagogical work. He was instrumental in establishing the Polish Composers' Association in 1926 and became its first chairman. In 1930-32 he lectured at the Warsaw Conservatory. During World War II he took part in underground concerts as a pianist and accompanist. After the Warsaw Rising of 1944, during which many of his manuscripts burned down, he took refuge in Osieczany near Cracow. After the war he settled in Katowice, taking a teaching job at the National Higher School of Music. In 1945-6 he was acting Dean of the School's Department of Theory, Composition and Conducting. The last years of his life were spent reconstructing the scores which had perished during the war.

Różycki received a number of awards and decorations, including the Officer's Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta in 1925, the Gold Medal of the French Government for the ballet "Apollo i dziewczyna / Apollo and the Girl" and the National Music Award for the opera "Eros and Psyche" in 1937, the Golden Cross of Merit in 1946, the Order of the Standard of Labour of First Class in 1950, the Commodore's Cross with the Polonia Restituta Star in 1951, and the State Award of the First Degree for life achievement in 1952. He was a member of the Polish Composers' Union from 1945.

Major compositions
  • "Stańczyk" op. 1, symphonic scherzo for orchestra (1903-04)
  • "Preludes" op. 2 for piano (1904)
  • "Two preludes and two nocturnes" op. 3 for piano (1904)
  • "Gra fal / The Play of the Waves" op. 4 for piano (1904)
  • "Two melodies" op. 5 for violin or cello and piano (1904-09)
  • "4 Impromptus" op. 6 for piano (1904)
  • "Eights songs to words by Tadeusz Micinski" op. 9 for voice and piano (1904)
  • "Ballade" op. 18 for piano and orchestra (1904)
  • "Fantasia" op. 11 for piano (1905)
  • "3 Morceaux" op. 15 for piano (1905)
  • "Contes d'une horloge" op. 26 for piano (1905)
  • "Air, Mirage, Un Réve" op. 28 for piano (1905)
  • "Bolesław Śmialy / Boleslaus the Bold" op. 8, symphonic poem for orchestra (1906)
  • "Sonata for cello and piano" op. 10 (1906)
  • "Four songs from the cycle Orfan" op. 12 for voice and piano (1906)
  • "Six songs" op. 14 for voice and piano (1906)
  • "Six songs to words by Tadeusz Miciński" op. 16 for voice and piano (1906)
  • "Bolesław Śmialy / Boleslaus the Bold" op. 20, opera (1906-08)
  • "Three songs" op. 19 for voice and piano (1908)
  • "Meduza / Medusa" op. 27, opera fantastique (1908-11)
  • "Anhelli" op. 22, symphonic poem for orchestra (1909)
  • "Three songs to words by Cyprian Kamil Norwid" op. 23 for voice and piano (1909)
  • "Balladyna" op. 25, poem for piano (1909)
  • "Two nocturnes" op. 30 for violin and piano (1909)
  • "Rhapsody" op. 33 for piano, violin and cello (1909-13)
  • "Krol Kofetua / King Cofetua" op. 24, symphonic poem for orchestra (1910)
  • "Mona Lisa Gioconda" op. 29 [or 31], symphonic prelude for orchestra (1911)
  • "Piano quintet in C minor" op. 35 (1913-16)
  • "Eros and Psyche" op. 40, opera fantastique (1914-16)
  • "Laguna / Lagoon" op. 36 for piano (1915)
  • "Tance polskie / Polish Dances" op. 37 for piano (1915)
  • "9 Esquisses" op. 39 for piano (1915)
  • "4 Intermezzi" op. 42 for piano (1915-18)
  • "String quartet in D minor" op. 49 (1915)
  • "Piano concerto no. 1 in G minor" op. 43 (1917-18)
  • "Pan Twardowski" op. 45, ballet (1919-20)
  • "Fantasiestücke" op. 46 for piano (1919)
  • "Casanova" op. 47, opera (1921-22)
  • "Italia" op. 50 for piano (1923)
  • "Trzy erotyki / Three love poems" op. 51 for voice and piano (1923)
  • "Three songs" op. 48 for mixed choir a cappella (1924)
  • "Four pieces" op. 52 for piano (1924)
  • "Six characteristic pieces" op. 58 for piano (1924)
  • "Beatrix Cenci" op. 53, tragic opera (1925-26)
  • "Diabelski młyn / The Devil's Mill", satirical opera (1928-30)
  • "Dancing suite in 4 parts" for orchestra (1931-32)
  • "Lili chce śpiewać / Lili Wants to Sing", operetta (1932)
  • "Słowik / The Nightingale" op. 55 for piano (ca. 1933)
  • "Pani Walewska / Madame Walewska", historical opera (1933-40)
  • "Apollo i dziewczyna / Apollo and the Girl", ballet (1937)
  • "Pieta (Na zgliszczach Warszawy) / On the Ruins of Warsaw", dramatic piece for orchestra (1940-43)
  • "Piano concerto no. 2" (1941-42)
  • "Dzwony / The Bells", poem for voice and orchestra (1942-48)
  • "Ballade" op. 60 for voice and piano (1942)
  • "Violin concerto" op. 70 [unfinished] (1944)
  • "Polonez uroczysty / Solemn polonaise" for orchestra (1945-46)
  • "Warszawa wyzwolona / Liberated Warsaw", symphonic poem for orchestra (1950)

Author: Małgorzata Kosińska, Polish Music Information Center, October 2006

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