Grażyna Bacewicz Biernacka ([ɡraˈʐɨnabaˈt͡sɛvit͡ʂ]ⓘ; 5 February 1909 – 17 January 1969) was a Polish composer and violinist of Lithuanian origin. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.
Life
Bacewicz was born in Łódź. Her father and her brother Vytautas, also a composer, 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.[1] 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.[2] She continued her education in Paris, having been granted a stipend by Ignacy Jan Paderewski to attend the École Normale de Musique,[1] and studied there in 1932–33 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.[2]
After completing her studies, 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 National Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was directed then by Grzegorz Fitelberg.[2] This position gave her the chance to hear much of her own music. During World War II, Grażyna Bacewicz lived in Warsaw. She continued to compose and gave secret underground concerts, where she premiered her Suite for Two Violins.[3]
Bacewicz also dedicated time to family life. She was married in 1936, and in 1942 gave birth to a daughter, Alina Biernacka [pl], who became a recognized painter.[4] Following the Warsaw uprising they escaped the destroyed city and temporarily settled in Lublin.[5]
After the war, she took up the position of professor at the State Conservatoire of Music in Łódź. At this time she was shifting her musical activity towards composition, drawn by her many awards and commissions. Composition finally became her only occupation from 1954, the year in which she suffered serious injuries in a car accident.[3] She died of a heart attack in 1969 in Warsaw.
Compositions
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.
Works for solo instruments
Four Preludes for piano (1924)
Sonata (for solo violin) (1929) – early work, no number
Children's Suite for piano (1933)
3 Groteski for piano (1935)
Sonata for violin (1941) – premiered at an underground concert in Warsaw
Polish Capriccio for solo violin (1949)
Piano Sonata No. 1 (1949) (unpublished)
Capriccio No. 2 for solo violin (1952)
Piano Sonata No. 2 (premiered 1953)
Rondino for piano (1953)
Two Etudes in Double Notes for piano (1955)
Sonatina for piano (1955)
10 Concert Etudes for Piano (1956)
Sonata No. 2 (for solo violin) (1958)
Mały tryptyk [Little Triptych] for piano (1965)
Esquisse for organ (1966)
Rybki [Fish] for piano (1967)
4 Capriccios for violin (also trans. for viola) (1968)
Chamber music
Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn (1932) – First Prize in the Concours de la Société "Aide aux femmes de professions libres", Paris, 1933[6]
Variations on a Lithuanian Folksong for violin and piano (1934)
Muzyka na smyczki, trąbki i perkusję (Music for strings, trumpets, and percussion) (1958) – Third Prize, Tribune Internationale (UNESCO), Paris 1960[6]
Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Orchestra (1948) – Polish Ministry of Culture Award, 1955
Concerto No. 4 for Violin and Orchestra (1951)
Concerto No. 5 for Violin and Orchestra (1954)
Concerto No. 6 for Violin and Orchestra (1957) – unpublished and never performed[7] [UPDATE: Premiere performance 7 December 2019, Bartłomiej Nizioł, violin; Christoph König, conductor; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra / Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej. Source: Video on YouTube]
Concerto No. 7 for Violin and Orchestra (1965) – Belgian Government Prize, Gold Medal – Concours Musical International Reine Elisabeth de Belgique, Brussels, 1965
Viola
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1968)
Cello
Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra (1951)
Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra (1963)
Piano
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1949) – Second prize, Chopin Composition Competition, Warsaw, 1949
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1966)
Music for voice and piano
Róże [Roses] (1934)
Mów do mnie, o miły [Speak to Me, My Dear] (1936)
Three Arabic Songs, for soprano and piano (1938)
Oto jest noc [Here is the Night] (1947)
Smuga cienia [A Streak of Shadow] (1948)
Rozstanie [Leave-taking] (1949)
Nad wodą wielką i czystą [Over the Big and Clear Waters] (1955)
Dzwon i dzwonki [Large Bell and Small Bells] (1955)
Boli mnie głowa [I Have a Headache] (1955)
Sroczka [Little Magpie] (1956)
Music for voice with orchestra
Three Arabic Songs, for tenor and orchestra (1938)
Nocturne for violin and orchestra (from Sonata No. 5 for violin and piano) (1951)
Music for animated films (1950s)
Oberek Noworoczny, orchestra (1952)
Z chłopa król [Peasant King], orchestral suite for orchestra (1953?)
Tryptych ludowy, choir, orchestra (1954)
Nieboskiej Komedii, incidental music (1959)
Gile, children's song (1960)
Troilus and Cressida, incidental music (1960)
Macbeth, incidental music (1960)
Marysia i krasnoludki, film score (1960)
Sprawa, incidental music (1961)
Balladyny, incidental music (1965)
Mazepy, incidental music (1965)
Honours and awards
1933: First prize at the Society of Composers, "Aide aux femmes libres de Professions" in Paris for the Quintet for Wind Instruments
1936: Second Prize at the composition competition of the Society for Polish Music Publishing Trio For Oboe, Violin and Cello, an honorable mention for her Sinfonietta for String Orchestra
1949: Second prize (no first awarded) in the Composition Competition. Frederick Chopin, organized by the Polish Composers' Union in Warsaw for the Piano Concerto
1951: First Prize at the International Composition Competition in Liege for String Quartet No. 4
1956 Second Prize at the International Composition Competition in Liege for String Quartet No. 5
Nevermann-Körting, Uta (29 March 2006). "Grazyna Bacewicz". Musikvermittlung und Genderforschung: Lexikon und multimediale Präsentationen. Translated by Nancy Schumann. Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
