Tadeusz Ochlewski

Tadeusz Ochlewski, violinist, pedagogue, exceedingly active organizer of musical life, publisher, b. 1894 in Olshana, Ukraine, d. 1975 in Warsaw. He studied violin performance first in Petrograd, then in Warsaw under Stanisław Barcewicz, and delved into the art of early music interpretation under the direction of Wanda Landowska in Paris.

In the interwar years he was a violinist at the Warsaw Opera, and performed in the early music ensemble Triosonata which he founded as well as in the Polish Quartet, whose leader was Irena Dubiska. He was one of the founders of the Association of Polish Early Music Lovers and the Publishing Society of Polish Music, he directed the ORMUZ, an institution organizing concerts of the best performers in small communities. After the war he created the PWM Edition and directed it for 20 years, letting himself be known as an indefatigable propagator of Polish music. In 1963, Tadeusz Ochlewski founded the ensemble Con moto ma cantabile, which played a great role in the popularization of early music.

His close collaboration with Witold Lutosławski dates from the period when he directed the PWM Edition. Ochlewski, who above all desired to inspire the creation of new works, commissioned Lutosławski to write the Folk Melodies, and then a setting of Carols, both of which became immensely popular collections; he contributed to the creation of other pieces inspired by folk music, such as the Bucolics and Dance Preludes. Years later the composer admitted: "This was the source of my interest in folklore". Ochlewski also supplied him with Tuwim's poems, so that he could write songs for children. In recognition of Tadeusz Ochlewski's contributions Witold Lutosławski dedicated to him the 1951 Recitativo e arioso for violin and piano. (kt / trans. mk)