Marian Sawa (January 12, 1937 in

Krasnystaw Krasnystaw ( uk, Красностав, Krasnostav) is a town in southeastern Poland with 18 630 inhabitants (31 december 2019). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Chełm Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital o ...

– April 27, 2005 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) was a Polish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, musicologist, and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

Biography

Sawa graduated from the

Fryderyk Chopin The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the American Grammy and the UK's BRI ...

Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland in Feliks Rączkowski's organ class and

Kazimierz Sikorski Kazimierz Sikorski (June 28, 1895 – July 23, 1986) was a Polish composer. His arrangement of the "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" is currently used as the Polish national anthem. Biography Sikorski was born in Zurich, but studied in Warsaw, first mu ...

's composition class. As a pedagogue he worked in Warsaw music education at the higher and academic level: J.Elsner Music School, K.Szymanowski Music School, F. Chopin Music Academy and Kardynal Stefan Wyszynski University (theoretical and practical musicology). He toured as a soloist and an accompanist around the country and abroad. He recorded many LPs and CDs for such companies as

Polskie Nagrania Polskie Nagrania "Muza" ("Polish Records 'Muse' ", official name since 2005: "Polskie Nagrania Sp. z o.o", i.e., Polskie Nagrania Ltd.) is a Polish record label based in Warsaw. It has produced records in many genres including pop, rock, jazz, fol ...

, Veriton, Polonia Records, Arston, DUX, and Acte Preable. He was awarded many composition prizes, including First Prize at the Young Composers Competition ZKP(for Assemblage for orchestra), as well as civil prizes and distinctions (the prizes of the Ministry of Culture and Art, and the Ministry of National Education).

Compositions

Sawa composed around 1,000 pieces, including instrumental, vocal and vocal-instrumental works. He was a well-known and prolific organ composer (i.e. five organ concerts,

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s, fantasies, preludies, toccatas, passacaglias). Many of his works evolved from a religious inspiration, including numerous pieces for a mixed choir and a men's choir ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'', but also great cantata-oratorio forms (Via Crucis, Missa Claramontana, a few forms of Magnificat and Stabat Mater). In his music he often recalled

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

, Polish church songs and Polish folklore, sometimes combining them in one piece. Sawa's works have been recorded on over 40 CDs by, for example, Acte Preable and Musica Sacra Edition. His organ compositions have been performed by Andrzej Chorosiński, Joachim Grubich, Marietta Kruzel Sosnowska, Józef Serafin, Jan Szypowski, and Irena Wisełka-Cieślar. In 2006, on the first anniversary of Sawa's death, a Marian Sawa's Society was created, whose main goal is the promotion of the artist's works, publishing his works, and organizing concerts and festivals dedicated to his creative activity. After Sawa's death the owners of his works are Aleksandra and Radosław Sawa, who cooperate with the Marian Sawa's Society.

References

* Michael F. Runowski: Polnische Orgelmusik nach 1945. Saarbrücken: Verlag Dr. Müller (2009).
web pages of society – Towarzystwo im. Mariana Sawy in PolishŽivotopis web page in Polish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawa, Marian 1937 births 2005 deaths Polish classical composers Polish male classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers People from Krasnystaw 20th-century male musicians 21st-century male musicians