Composers / Witold Lutosławski / Places catalog

Venice

Since 1930, festivals of modern music have been held in Venice. Lutosławski’s name first appeared on the programme of the inaugural concert of the 22nd Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea on 11 September 1959. The theatre orchestra of La Fenice under the baton of Nino Sanzogno performed Musique funèbre, and that was the first Italian performance of this work, completed barely a year before.

Two years later, the Chamber Orchestra of the Cracow Philharmonic was invited to the exceptionally long (three-week) 24th edition of the festival, moved to the spring. The orchestra’s director, Andrzej Markowski, wanted to give a few premiere performances for the festival audiences, and one of the composers he approached with a request for a new score was Lutosławski. Thus arose Jeux vénitiens, its title referring to the location of the first performance. The concert took place on 24 April 1961 atthe Teatro La Fenice, and it proved a memorable moment in the history of twentieth-century music: the moment when controlled aleatory technique was born.

Lutosławski employed that new technique again, in a much larger ensemble, comprising chorus and orchestra, in his new work, Trois poèmes d’Henri Michaux, which he started writing on his return from Venice. The Trois poèmes were first performed in 1963 at the new music biennial in Zagreb, but they were also performed soon afterwards in Venice, as well, in the autumn of 1964, when the organisers returned to the traditional period for the festival. The composer conducted the chorus.

Danuta and Witold Lutosławski made their last trip to Venice for a pleasant private occasion. In June 1993, Anne-Sophie Mutter invited them there to help celebrate her thirtieth birthday.

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