Composers / Witold Lutosławski / Places catalog

Riga

Riga Polytechnic was founded in 1862 – the first technical institution of higher education in the tsarist empire. It trained future agronomists, chemists, engineers, mechanics and architects, and lessons were conducted in German. Poles, opposed to the Russification of Poland, willingly travelled to Riga; Witold Lutosławski’s three uncles, Wincenty, Marian and Jan, trained at Riga Polytechnic, and the little brother Kazimierz attended secondary school there.

Witold found himself in Riga in May 1935, and he probably did not even see the building of that almost ‘family’ polytechnic. He travelled to the city with a group of students from the Warsaw Conservatory, invited there for a ceremony organised by the Society for Polish-Latvian Rapprochement. On 4 May, in the Grand Hall of the local conservatory, they gave a concert in which Lutosławski performed his latest work, the Piano Sonata.

‘It just so happened that on the day our group arrived in Riga, a monographic Karol Szymanowski concert was taking place at the local theatre – he recalled years later – We couldn’t go to the concert, because we had to practise the concert programme before our performance, after a long and tiring journey. Nonetheless, we were invited to a reception at the Polish consulate in Riga in honour of Karol Szymanowski. When Artur Taube, our group’s minder, introduced me to Szymanowski, I heard the words: “Ah, so you’re the young man who accompanies my ‘Arethusa’ by heart”… I remember the entire stay in Riga as an extremely pleasant time. Szymanowski was enormously kind to our little group, came to our concert, we followed him around the city and went to Riga Radio, where he was recording his works with Wacław Niemczyk and his sister, Stanislava.

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