Donaueschingen

Philharmonic societies, which from the mid nineteenth century onwards willingly limited themselves to familiar repertoire, acquired such an aversion to new music that during the 1920s composers began seeking other possibilities for the presentation of their works. The first festival of new works was organised – when Lutosławski was aged barely seven – in Donaueschingen, in 1921. Initially, it was chamber works that were performed at Donaueschingen, but from 1950, when the festival entered into collaboration with the music department of Südwestfunk, a fixture on the programme became concerts by the radio symphony orchestra, based at that time in Baden-Baden. Lutosławski came into contact with this festival three times. In October 1959, he came to Donaueschingen as a listener and observer, the latter role resulting from his organisational work on the Warsaw Autumn. His own music was heard during the festival on two occasions, and in keeping with the tradition of presenting mainly premiere performances at Donaueschingen, they were both first German renditions: the String Quartet (1965) and the Third Symphony (1984).