Rome

Witold Lutosławski visited Italy for the first time in private, in the summer of 1957, on holiday, invited there with his wife by Colette and Witold Małcużyński. Two years later, he travelled to Rome twice, but in a professional capacity. First in the winter, to take part in the work of a committee selecting scores for the World Music Days, and then in the summer, to listen to the concerts he had helped to programme. After years of Poland being cut off from Western Europe, such a festival represented an inestimable opportunity to gain some idea of what kind of music was being written in other countries and what the latest innovations involved. On returning to Warsaw, Lutosławski shared his observations with listeners to Polish Radio; his report on the Roman festival inaugurated a cycle of programmes entitled ‘Musical Horizons’. The title was an apt one, because those horizons were expanding significantly at that time.

In 1967, Lutosławski travelled to Rome once more – now as a composer and conductor, to join Jan Krenz on the rostrum for a performance of his Trois poèmes d’Henri Michaux.