Composers / Witold Lutosławski / Places catalog

Budapest

Often associated with Budapest is one of Witold Lutosławski’s most important and most popular works, Musique funèbre. It was written at the initiative of the Polish conductor Jan Krenz, who wanted to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók, in 1955, with this work. Although Lutosławski did not complete the work until January 1958, he retained the dedication:‘à la mémoire de Béla Bartók’. In May 1959, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra performed Musique funèbre during a guest concert in Budapest, and when the cello’s last note faded away, the audience greeted the moment with silence, treating it as a memento for the victims of the insurrection against soviet occupation three years before. In 1982, Lutosławski received a medal from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture for Musique funèbre.

Lutosławski, like many twentieth-century composers, held Bartók to be the most important composer of that century. During his youth, he had held the Hungarian composer to be a model of the creative use of folklore, and then the personification of compositional discipline. ‘For me – said Lutosławski in 1958 – his creative path was a reference point and at the same time a general model’. The Polish composer first visited Hungary in 1956, to take part in events commemorating Bartók. Later, he travelled here twice more, invited to conduct his own music (1978 and 1982).

Published in Budapest in 1974 was Beszélgetések Witold Lutosławski, an extended conversation between the composer and Bálin András Varga.

Place Category
Aix-en-Provence Appearances
Aldeburgh Appearances
Amsterdam Appearances
Århus Education
Aspen Appearances
Austin Other
Baranów Sandomierski Other
Basel Other
Basztowa Street Performance spaces
Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts Other
BBC Orchestra and other ensembles Appearances
Belfast Other
Berea Performance spaces
Berlin Appearances
Białystok Education
Boston Appearances
Brisbane Other
Budapest Other
Calgary Education, Other
Cambridge Other
Celle Publishers / Bookshops
Chicago Appearances
Cincinnati Other
Cleveland Appearances
Cologne Other
Copenhagen Appearances
Cracow Philharmonic Performance spaces
Dartington Education
Donaueschingen Other
Dresden Other
Drozdowo Flats
Düsseldorf Appearances
Edinburgh Other
Evian Appearances
Filmography Radio / TV
Florence Appearances
Geneva Appearances
Glasgow Other
Graz Other
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Hagen Other, Performance spaces
Hamburg Other
Hanover (New Hampshire) Other
Helsinki Education
Herkulessaal Appearances, Performance spaces
Houston Other
Huddersfield Appearances
Indianapolis Other
Jagiellonian University Education
Katowice Other
Kazimierz nad Wisłą Other
Komorów Flats
Łagów Other
Lancaster Appearances
La Rochelle Appearances
Leeds Appearances
Leipzig Education, Performance spaces, Publishers / Bookshops
Lisbon Appearances
Liverpool Appearances
Łomża Education
London Sinfonietta Performance spaces
Los Angeles Appearances
Louisville (Kentucky) Other
Lublin Appearances
Lucerne Other
Madrid Appearances
Manchester Appearances
Mikołajki Other
Milan Appearances
Montreal Appearances
Moscow Appearances
Munich Philharmonic Appearances, Performance spaces
New York Appearances
Odense Education, Performance spaces
Olsztyn Education
Opio (near Grasse) Flats
Oslo Other
Paris Appearances
Pittsburgh Appearances
Poznań Other
Prague Appearances
PWM EDITION Publishers / Bookshops
Riga Performance spaces
Rome Other
Rotterdam Appearances
Royal Albert Hall Appearances, Performance spaces
Royal Philharmonic Society Appearances
Saint Paul (Minnesota) Other
Salzburg Other
San Francisco Appearances
Strasbourg Appearances
Stawisko
Stockholm Appearances
Sydney Appearances
Szczecin Other
Tanglewood Education, Other
Tokyo Appearances
Toronto Education
Toruń Education
Venice Performance spaces
Vienna Performance spaces
Villars-sur-Ollon Other
Warsaw Appearances, Flats, Other, Performance spaces
Washington Appearances
Wawel Appearances
Wehr near Rheinfelden Other
Wrocław Other, Performance spaces
Wzdów Other
Zagreb Performance spaces
Zegrze Other
Zurich Performance spaces