1968 Warsaw
Sep 21, 1968 – Sep 29, 1968
Warsaw
Festival info
Start: Sep 21, 1968
End: Sep 29, 1968
Locations: Warsaw
Hosting member(s)
Held during the 12th International Festival for Contemporary Music Warszawska Jesień (Warsaw Autumn) *
Jury
Cristóbal Halffter
Miloslav Kabeláč
Ingvar Lidholm
Witold Lutosławski
Ivo Malec
Concerts
Saturday, 21 September 1968
Ton de Leeuw (Netherlands, b. 1926; d. 1996): Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1963) [18′];
Krzysztof Penderecki (Poland, b. 1933; d. 2020): Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra (1967) [12′] featuring Wanda Wiłkomirska;
Friedrich Cerha (Austria, b. 1926): Spiegel I for orchestra (1960/61) [12′] [world premiere];
György Ligeti (Austria, b. 1923 in Romania; d. 2006): Requiem for soloists, chorus, and orchestra (1963-65) [27′].
Sunday, 22 September 1968
Agustin Bertomeu (Spain, b. 1929): Pantalán for orchestra;
Günther Becker (West Germany, b. 1924; d. 2007): Stabil-Instabil for orchestra (1965) [12′];
Augustyn Bloch (Poland, b. 1929; d. 2006): Alejet, córka Jeftego [text: Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz], opera-mystere, for narrator, soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra (1967) [world premiere].
Tuesday, 24 September 1968, evening – Katowice Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mario di Bonaventura
Per Nørgård (Denmark, b. 1932): Iris for orchestra (1966) [12′];
Hiroaki Minami (Japan, b. 1934): Banka for soprano and orchestra (1963) [12′];
Klaus Huber (Switzerland, b. 1924; d. 2017): Tenebrae for orchestra (1966/67) [world premiere].
Wednesday, 25 September 1968, evening – Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio Katowice
Roger Reynolds (United States, b. 1934): Quick are the Mouths of Earth for chamber orchestra (1965) [19′];
Gerardo Gandini (Argentina, b. 1926; d. 2013): Cadencias II for chamber orchestra (1967);
Tadeáš Salva (Czechoslovakia [Slovakia], b. 1937; d. 1995): Canticum Zachariae for soprano and chamber orchestra (1963) [7′] [world premiere];
Carmelo Bernaola (Spain [Basque Region], b. 1929; d. 2002): Músicas de cámara (1967);
Harrison Birtwistle (United Kingdom [England]; b. 1934; d. 2022): Tragoedia for chamber orchestra (1965) [21′].
Thursday, 26 September 1968, afternoon **
Stanko Horvat (Yugoslavia [Croatia], b. 1930; d. 2006): Rondo for string quartet (1967) [12′] performed by the Warsaw String Quartet;
Miklós Kocsár (Hungary, b. 1933; d. 2019): Due lamenti [text: Federico García Lorca] for soprano and piano, performed by Erika Sziklay and Pianist: Ádám Fellegi;
Karl-Erik Wehn (Sweden, b. 1934; d. 1992): Manzit for clarinet, trombone, violoncello and piano (1962) performed by the Warsaw Music Workshop.
Vladan Radovanović (Yugoslavia [Serbia], b. 1932): Sferoon for fixed media electronic sounds (1960-64) [16′]
The following additional works were originally programmed but were not performed *
Antonio Tauriello (Argentina, b. 1931): Canti for violin and orchestra (1967);
Jacques Guyonnet (Switzerland, b. 1933; d. 2018): The Approach to the Hidden Man, op. 13, for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra (1967) [14′];
Fausto Razzi (Italy, b. 1932): Improvvisazione III for 2 sopranos, bass, and six instrumentalists (1967);
Karl-Birger Blomdahl (Sweden, 1916-6 June 1968): Altisonans for fixed media electronic sounds and video (1966) [1′] (This might have been presented during the 1969 ISCM World Music Days in Hamburg.);
Olivier Messiaen (France, b. 1908; d. 1992): Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for wind orchestra (1964) [c. 37′];
Kazimierz Serocki (Poland, b. 1922; d. 1981): Continuum for six percussionists (1966) [12′] (rescheduled and performed at the 1969 World Music Days);
Jacob Gilboa (Israel, b. 1920 in Czechoslovakia; d. 2007): Crystals for flute, viola, cello, piano/celesta, and percussion (1967) [6′] (also rescheduled and performed during the 1969 ISCM World Music Days where it was a world premiere);
Zbyněk Vostřák (Czechoslovakia, b. 1920; d. 1985): Kantáta na text F. Kafky, op. 34, [text: Franz Kafka] for chorus, winds, and percussion (1964) conducted by the composer (also rescheduled and performed at the 1969 Festival).
Notes
* According to Haefeli, the ISCM Swedish Section called for a boycott of the 1968 Festival in Warsaw as a result of the Polish military’s involvement in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, to which the sections of Argentina, Australia, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia agreed, while the sections of Denmark, Japan, and the USA condemned the aggression but refrained from boycotting the Festival. As a result, many works scheduled to be performed were cancelled and an extraordinary general assembly was held in Baden-Baden in October 1968, since with 12 sections missing it proved to be impossible to garner the participation of all the delegates in Warsaw.
** The 26 September concert was the final concert to feature works that were programmed for the 1968 ISCM World Music Days though Haefeli lists the festival as concluding on 29 September. Slonimsky erroneously lists the remainder of the concurrent 1968 Warsaw Autumn festival concerts as part of the 1968 ISCM Festival, which they were not though undoubtedly some ISCM delegates who actually attended attended these performances.
Other significant interpreters
Singers: Liliana Poli, Anna Malewicz-Madey, Halina Łukomska, Adam Hanuszkiewicz, Andrzej Hiolski, Ayako Kato, Irena Torbus-Mierzwiakowa.
Orchestras and Choruses: Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Polish Radio Chorus of Krakow.
Conductors: Andrzej Markowski, Karol Stryja, Gianpiero Taverna.
Sources
Anton Haefeli, Die Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM), Ihre Geschichte von 1922 bis zur Gegenwart (Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1982), b. 526-527 + footnotes on pp. 412 & 728 [in German] .
Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, Sixth Edition edited by Laura Kuhn (Schirmer Reference, 2001), pp. 622-625.
(annotated by Frank J. Oteri, in progress)