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Witold Lutosławski
Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanowski, and possibly the greatest Polish composer since Chopin". His compositions—of which he was a notable conductor—include representatives of most traditional genres, aside from opera: symphonies, concertos, orchestral song cycles, other orchestral works, and chamber works. Among his best known works are his four symphonies, the Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), and his cello concerto (1970). During his youth, Lutosławski studied piano and composition in Warsaw. His early works were influenced by Polish folk music and demonstrated a wide range of rich atmospheric textures. His folk-inspired music includes the Concerto for Orchestra (1954)—which first brought him international renow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variations On A Theme By Paganini (Lutosławski)
''Variations on a Theme by Paganini'' (), often referred to as the ''Paganini Variations'', is an arrangement for two pianos of Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 24, from Paganini's original set of 24 Caprices for violin, written by Polish composer Witold Lutosławski. The arrangement, originally composed in 1941, was later re-arranged for piano and orchestra. Background Version for two pianos (1941) In the years leading up to Lutosławski's completion of this piece, the composer was a minor officer in the Polish Army when Poland was invaded in the events prior to World War II, by the Soviets from the East and the Nazis from every other direction. After escaping from his initial capture, he fled on foot more than four hundred kilometers towards his home in Warsaw, which rendered him without an official identity until the end of the war. After some time performing in small cafés to make his living, as Germans had banned public concerts, he and fellow pianist Andrzej Panufn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a Warsaw metropolitan area, greater metropolitan area of 3.27 million residents, which makes Warsaw the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 6th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures and comprises List of districts and neighbourhoods of Warsaw, 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers . Warsaw is classified as an Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Alpha 2, alpha global city, a major political, economic and cultural hub, and the country's seat of government. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship. Warsaw traces its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia. The city rose to prominence in the late 16th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harmonic objects such as chords, textures and tonalities are identified, defined, and categorized in the development of these theories. Harmony is broadly understood to involve both a "vertical" dimension (frequency-space) and a "horizontal" dimension (time-space), and often overlaps with related musical concepts such as melody, timbre, and form. A particular emphasis on harmony is one of the core concepts underlying the theory and practice of Western music. The study of harmony involves the juxtaposition of individual pitches to create chords, and in turn the juxtaposition of chords to create larger chord progressions. The principles of connection that govern these structures have been the subject of centuries worth of theoretical work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The Urban agglomeration, urban area was home to 1.45 million people (2020), while the Zurich Metropolitan Area, Zurich metropolitan area had a total population of 2.1 million (2020). Zurich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zurich was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans, who called it '. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zurich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski Polish: (9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish right-wing politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "''Endecja''") political movement active during the interwar period. While he never wielded significant political power except for a brief period in 1923 as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmowski was one of the most influential Polish ideologues and politicians of his time. A controversial personality most of his life, Dmowski desired a homogeneous, Polish-speaking and Roman Catholic-practicing nation. Throughout most of his life, he was the chief ideological opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter's vision of Prometheism, a multi-ethnic Poland reminiscent of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, Dmowski's nationalist rhetoric actively marginalized other ethnic groups living in Poland, particularly those in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Democratic Party (Poland)
The National-Democratic Party (, SDN) was a secret political party created in 1897 in the Russian Partition of Poland by the National League (''Liga Narodowa''), a conspirational Polish organization active in all three partitions. SND rejected the idea of armed struggle for Poland's sovereignty similar to Polish Positivists. Instead, SDN focused on non-violent opposition and legislative attempts at trying to stop the wholesale Russification and Germanization of the Poles ever since the Polish language was banned in the Russian partition in reprisal for the January Uprising. This however meant also rejecting cooperation with the linguistic and ethnic minorities living in the Empire such as Jews and Ukrainians who did not reciprocate the same sentiment. SDN was founded by Roman Dmowski, Jan Ludwik Popławski, and Zygmunt Balicki, to represent the National Democracy movement at elections. It was a political opponent of the Polish Socialist Party advocating armed resistance. In 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drozdowo, Podlaskie Voivodeship
Drozdowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Piątnica, within Łomża County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Piątnica, east of Łomża (on the opposite side of the river Narew), and west of the regional capital Białystok. The first mentions of Drozdowo come from as far back as 1417. By the middle of the 19th century, the town and surrounding land belonged to the estates of the szlachta Lutosławski family. Starting from 1864, Drozdowo had a functional brewery, the product of which quickly became well known in the area, thanks to access to pristine water and expert workers. Drozdowo beer was awarded first prize at competitions in Warsaw in 1867 and Vienna in 1873, opening the markets for it both in the Polish Kingdom and abroad. It was later awarded first prize at similar competitions in Philadelphia in 1876 and Paris in 1878. Drozdowo was on the fronts of World War I and II. Already after WW I the extent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The White Eagle (Poland)
The Order of the White Eagle () is the highest honour of the Poland, Republic of Poland and formerly the Second Polish Republic and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and one of the oldest state decorations in the world still in use. It was officially instituted on 1 November 1705 by Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and bestowed on eight of his closest diplomatic and political supporters. It has since been awarded to the most distinguished Polish people, Poles for their merits and occasionally to the heads of state of foreign countries. The Order of the White Eagle is attached to an azure sash slung over the left shoulder to the right side. The star of the Order, formerly embroidered, is worn on the left side of the chest. Unlike other Polish high decorations, the Order of the White Eagle does not have different classes or crosses. History The badge of the Order of the White Eagle was originally a red vitreous enamel, enamel oval gold medal wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a membership society, and while it no longer has its own orchestra, it continues a wide-ranging programme of activities which focus on composers and young musicians. Since 1989, the RPS has promoted the annual Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for live music-making in the United Kingdom. The RPS is a registered UK charity No. 213693, located at 48 Great Marlborough Street in London. The current chief executive of the RPS is James Murphy, and its current chairman is John Gilhooly. History In London, at a time when there were no permanent London orchestras, nor organised series of chamber music concerts, a group of thirty music professionals formed the ''Philharmonic Society of London'' on 6 February 1813. The idea was that by cooperat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grawemeyer Award For Music Composition
The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition () is an annual prize instituted by Henry Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985. Subsequently, the Grawemeyer Award was expanded to other categories: ''Ideas Improving World Order'' (instituted in 1988), ''Education'' (1989), ''Religion'' (1990) and ''Psychology'' (2000). The prize fund was initially an endowment of US$9 million from the Grawemeyer Foundation. The initial awards were for $150 000 each, increasing to $200 000 for the year 2000 awards. After the economic crash of 2008, the prize was reduced to $100,000. The selection process includes three panels of judges. The first is a panel of faculty from the University of Louisville, who hosts and maintains the perpetuity of the award. The second is a panel of music professionals, often involving conductors, performers, and composers (most frequently the previous winner). The final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solidarity (Polish Trade Union)
Solidarity (, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( , abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”''), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state. The union's membership peaked at 10 million in September 1981, representing one-third of the country's working-age population. In 1983 Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the union is widely recognized as having played a central role in the end of communist rule in Poland. This led to the appointment of the first noncommunist Prime Minister since the 1940s. In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-authoritarian social movement, using methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change. The Government attempted in the early 1980s to destroy the union through the imposition of mart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formalism (music)
In music theory and especially in the branch of study called the aesthetics of music, formalism is the concept that a composition's meaning is entirely determined by its form. Aesthetic theory Leonard B. Meyer, in ''Emotion and Meaning in Music'' (1956), distinguished ''"formalists"'' from what he called ''"expressionists"'': "...formalists would contend that the meaning of music lies in the perception and understanding of the musical relationships set forth in the work of art and that meaning in music is primarily intellectual, while the expressionist would argue that these same relationships are in some sense capable of exciting feelings and emotions in the listener" (Meyer 1956, p. 3). (The term "expressionism" is also used to define a ''musical genre'' typified by the early works of Schoenberg. The two terms are not necessarily related.) Meyer applied the term formalist (p. 3) to Eduard Hanslick who, in his later years, championed the music of Brahms over th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
