Composers / Witold Lutosławski / Places catalog

Saint Paul (Minnesota)

One of the most frequently performed of Witold Lutosławski’s works, and in the composer’s opinion one of the most important in his entire oeuvre, is Partita for violin and piano. It was first heard on 18 January 1985, when in the composer’s presence it was performed by Pinchas Zukerman and Marc Neikrug. At that time, Zukerman was leader of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, and it was that ensemble which had earlier approached Lutosławski about writing a work for violin and… well, exactly. At this point, Lutosławski and Zukerman offer different versions of the story.

The composer, relating the circumstances surrounding the composing of Partita, implied that he wrote it for its current forces essentially due to a misunderstanding, because the chamber orchestra had turned to him with a rather vague commission and he happened to be planning to compose a work for violin and orchestra. He had even made a number of sketches by the time it turned out that the Americans were really expecting him to write a duet for violin and piano, and not an orchestral work. So he reluctantly set aside the sketches he had started and, although it was not in his plans, set about writing a work for the anticipated duet, completing it in November 1984, around six weeks before the date fixed for the first performance.

Pinchas Zukerman, however, giving an interview on the subject of Partita, claimed: ‘We originally wanted him to write it with orchestra, but he didn’t finish the orchestration in time’.

And that is how it came about that a composition for a couple of soloists resulted from an orchestra’s commission.

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