Woytowicz, Bolesław (EN)

Woytowicz Bolesław, *5 December 1899 Dunaivtsi (Podolsk), †11 July 1980 Katowice, Polish composer, pianist, teacher and music activist. He grew up in a musical home, his father and grandfather were organists, and it was under their supervision that he took his first music lessons. In 1912–19, he studied at the male classical gymnasium in Kamianets-Podilskyi, from which he graduated with a gold medal; at the same time, he attended a secondary music school, where he studied with T. Hanicki. His first attempts at composition come from these years (string quartet, music to S.I. Nikolaev’s play Gorbun, cantata). In 1917–24, he studied Slavic philology and mathematics at the University of Kyiv. After moving to Warsaw, he studied mathematics and law at the University of Warsaw and completed one year of medicine. In Warsaw, he learned to play the piano under A. Wielhorski, and in 1920 he began studies at the F. Chopin Higher School of Music in Warsaw in the piano class of A. Michałowski and in the composition class of W. Maliszewski, F. Szopski and R. Statkowski. In 1924, he obtained a diploma in piano with the highest distinction, and in the same year, he started working at his alma mater, teaching piano and music theory. At the same time, he started giving concerts and performed in Poland and abroad, including in France, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Baltic countries, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States. In 1927, he participated in the 1^st International F. Chopin Piano Competition, obtaining a special diploma as a token of recognition. Starting from the next competition, he regularly sat on the jury and was also a juror in other piano competitions, including Bolzano, Montreal, Budapest, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

In 1930–32, Woytowicz stayed on a scholarship in Paris, where he continued studying composition with N. Boulanger while working in the local Association of Young Polish Musicians (board member). His stay in Paris shaped the composer’s stylistic preferences (neoclassicism) and his later attitude as a teacher. After returning from Paris, Woytowicz stayed in Warsaw, conducting composing, concert and teaching activities at the Higher School of Music, he was also active, among others, in TWMP and the Music Movement Organization (ORMUZ). During World War II, he ran the “Salon Sztuki” café in Warsaw at ul. Nowy Świat 27, where concert and underground activities of the musical community were concentrated. He organised concerts, thus helping artists who had no means of earning a living. The café featured, among others, K. Wiłkomirski, E. Umińska, I. Dubiska, the piano duo of W. Lutosławski and A. Panufnik, Z. Drzewiecki, J. Ekier, E. Bandrowska-Turska, A. Didur; Woytowicz himself also gave recitals. The cafe was also a meeting place for musicians conducting secret teaching and participating in resistance activities, it was a distribution point for banned leaflets and magazines, a “storage” for works of art, and even a weapons warehouse. In 1943, Woytowicz was arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned in Pawiak, where he spent four weeks (22 May–23 June 1943). After his release, he continued his underground activities and gave concerts in his café. In his Pamiętnik z powstania warszawskiego [A memoir of the Warsaw Uprising], M. Białoszewski immortalised one of Woytowicz’s recitals given at the end of August 1944: “What amazed me even more was that Woytowicz had organised a Chopin concert in a café on the ground floor on Nowy Świat. For the partisans. It was evening. The artillery fire began. Woytowicz was playing the Revolutionary Etude when the shells began to whistle and hit Nowy Świat. Right there. Woytowicz didn’t stop. No one moved.” (Michigan 1977, English transl. Madeline Levine). During the Warsaw Uprising, 22 manuscripts of the composer’s works were destroyed, including Piano Concerto, Concertino for orchestra and Symphony No. 1. Woytowicz described his experiences during the occupation in his memoirs published after the war (W okupowanej Warszawie). His activities during the war were also mentioned in literature. In the book Genealogia ocalonych. Szkice o latach 1939–1944, L. Bartelski recalled: “After the war, when Prof. Bolesław Woytowicz performed a gigantic program of playing four Beethoven sonatas, right after the concert, two young people appeared on the podium with a bouquet of white and red flowers. – This is for the occupation! – they said and left. The whole room stood up and applauded the great artist for a few minutes.” (Kraków 1974).

In 1945, Woytowicz was first appointed vice-rector of the State Higher School of Music in Kraków (currently the K. Penderecki Academy of Music), but at his own request he moved to the State Higher School of Music in Katowice (currently the K. Szymanowski Academy of Music), where he was, among others, a rector (1946) and dean of the Faculty of Theory and Composition, and also headed the piano department (1962–63). From 1963, he also lectured at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków, and temporarily also in Warsaw (1958–61). He continued his teaching work until his retirement in 1975 and educated many composers (including W. Kilar, W. Szalonek, J. Świder, R. Twardowski, and T. Baird) and pianists (including M. Sikora- Wojtacha, M. Szraiber and Z. Śliwiński). Next to B. Szabelski, Woytowicz is considered the creator of the so-called Silesian composition school. After World War II, he was active in ZKP (1951–54 vice-president; board member several times), he was involved in the work of the Council of Higher Artistic Education at the Ministry of Culture and Art, the program council of PWM piano publishing house, the TiFC Scientific Council, and also as the author of ministerial curricula at higher music schools. He was also involved in editorial work and prepared several piano pieces for publication, including those by L. van Beethoven, C. Debussy, E. Grieg, I. Albéniz and F. Liszt.

Woytowicz received several artistic awards and state decorations, including the 2^nd prize at the Kronenberg composition competition for Piano Concerto (1932), Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1937), gold medal for Powrót at the International Paris Exhibition (1937), 1^st degree state award for the Symphony “Warsaw” (1948), 1^st degree State Artistic Award for the professorial team that prepared candidates for the 4^th International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1950), Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1952), 1^st composition prize at the 2^nd Polish Music Festival for the String Quartet No. 2 (1955), twice the 1^st degree Award of the Minister of Culture and Art (1964, 1965), twice the ZKP Award (1958 for lifetime achievement; 1980 for contributions to Polish musical life during the Nazi occupation) and many others.

Woytowicz’s compositional work was influenced by the work of K. Szymanowski and by French neoclassicism, which the composer had direct contact with during his stay in Paris and studies with N. Boulanger. His works are characterised by an economy of means of expression, logic and architectural discipline, as well as a tendency to ‘polyphonise’ the musical course (he used the fugue form in his most important compositions: Symphony No. 2 and No. 3 and String Quartet No. 2). At the same time, there is often an emotional element in them, and sometimes even elements of programming (Funeral Poem “In the memory of Marshal Piłsudski,” Symphony No. 2 “Warsaw”), always subordinated to the overarching structural logic.

In the post-war years, Symphony No. 2 gained great importance; it was written in 1945, called “Warsaw” after the melody of Warszawianka quoted in it (“Oto dziś dzień krwi i chwały…”). It is the first Polish symphony written after World War II. In this work, the composer took up the concept of a great symphony, where creative discipline goes hand in hand with formal monumentalism (the symphony lasts approximately 40 minutes) and dramatic expression resulting from non-musical inspiration, in this case from the theme of war (in musicological literature, this symphony is classified as groups of so-called “war symphonies” quite numerously represented in Polish music in the first post-war decade, cf. A. Thomas, B. Bolesławska, T. Tarnawczyk). The formal structure of the work comes from the classical tradition: the first movement of the work, Sinfonia, refers to the form of a sonata-allegro with a long, slow introduction and two extended themes following it. Theme 1, Moderato (Lugubre), has the character of a funeral march, while the cantilena theme 2, Lamento (quasi recitativo), is characterised by the presence of solo lines of woodwind instruments. The development work already occurs within extended themes, so the actual development (in the form of a fugue) is short and based only on the material of the 2^nd theme. The final reprise leads to a dramatic climax, the tension of which is relieved by a calm coda (Largo). The omnipresent mood of sadness and mourning in this part is directly associated with the drama of the past war. The remaining parts of the symphony are more optimistic, referring rather to the fight for freedom (hence the quotations from Warszawianka in the second part – Scherzo), and are more rhythmic and dynamic. In Part 3, Woytowicz masterfully uses contrapuntal techniques; in a two-theme fugue, after the exposition of the first and second themes, they are combined in a dense polyphonic weave. The composer interrupted the polyphonic flow twice by introducing chorale episodes – between the expositions of the first and second theme and in the extended coda. The last movement, Finale, is based on the dance rhythms of the Krakowiak (in the first phase) and the Oberek (in the second). Woytowicz also introduces a quote from his song from the times of the occupation (Pieśń braci pancernych). The material uniformity of the cycle was emphasised by the composer by deriving the themes of all parts from the material of the themes of part 1. The musical values and the skilfulness of the polyphonic language of the piece remain a testimony to Woytowicz’s excellent compositional skills. At the same time, the monumental nature of the work, combined with the sublime but at the same time uplifting tone of its final movement, meant that at the Congress of Composers and Music Critics in Łagów Lubuski in 1949, the Symphony “Warsaw” was considered a positive example of art that fit into the aesthetics of socialist realism imposed on creators.

Symphony No. 3 “Piano concertante” (1963), created 18 years later, is ideologically related to the concept of K. Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 4 – a symphony with a concertante piano. It is composed of nine short and strongly contrasted parts, developed according to the principle of the arch form. The material of the work combines elements of the twelve-tone technique with elements typical of Woytowicz’s earlier work. The composer himself referred to the symphony as “one great four-theme fugue,” which was to refer both to the polyphonic structure of the piece and to the thematic connections between the subsequent parts, which include: Intrada, Dramatis Personae, Fugue I, Scherzo I, Canto I, Canto II, Scherzo II, Fugue II and Coda. This symphony is also a summary of the composer’s current creative techniques and an attempt to assimilate them with newer sonoristic tendencies. The composer wrote the solo part with himself in mind, and he was also the first performer of the work.

Among Woytowicz’s chamber works, the most important are two string quartets and piano pieces. His etudes for piano (two cycles) refer to the tradition of concert etudes, in which, apart from technical problems, the nature of the composition is important, as indicated by the titles of individual pieces – Polonaise, Siciliana, Lullaby, Scherzo, Nocturne, Canon enigmaticus, etc. In Woytowicz’s etudes, even with non-dance titles, the stylization of the rhythms of the krakowiak, mazurka and polonaise is clearly visible, and the composer often introduced folk melodies as a theme for variations (also creating bitonal structures – 10 etudes). String Quartet No. 1 was written during the composer’s studies in Paris and gained the recognition of N. Boulanger and French critics. String Quartet No. 2, composed 21 years later, is dominated by a synthesis of baroque and classicist (and even romantic) stylistic elements with newer harmonic and tonal means and a new type of sound. In this quartet, the composer combined the principle of contrasting themes and thematic work with the polyphonic technique – in the first movement, the introduction of both themes and their development against the background of the counterpoint of the remaining voices resembles the double fugue technique. This pure form, as an extended fugue with four themes, appears in the finale of the work, which is another example of the composer’s contrapuntal mastery.

A love for the classical and romantic repertoire was visible in Woytowicz’s pianism. The pianist was an excellent performer of works by F. Chopin, sonatas and concertos by L. van Beethoven and W.A. Mozart, but also romantic and 20^th-century works; his repertoire included compositions by A. Scriabin, K. Szymanowski, D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev, as well as I. Albéniz and G. Gershwin. Keenly interested in editorial work, he edited and fingered several piano pieces for PWM. He gave concerts in Poland and abroad, both before and after World War II. He ended his concert activity in 1964 with a performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, performing the solo part in his Symphony No. 3. He devoted his last years to teaching. Woytowicz’s role in the Polish musical life of the 20^th century must be appreciated. He was active not only as a composer and pianist but also as a teacher and music activist. His sister, Stefania Woytowicz-Rudnicka, was the singer.

Literature: Bolesław Woytowicz’s statement on his own composition technique, “Kwartalnik Muzykologiczny” 1948 No. 24; Z. Lissa Trzy rozmowy z Bolesławem Woytowiczem, “Kuźnica” 1949 No. 3; Z Bolesławem Woytowiczem po powrocie z USA, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1961 No. 9; W okupowanej Warszawie, “Przegląd Lekarski” XXV, 2^nd series, 1969 No. 1 

M. Gliński Bolesław Woytowicz, “Muzyka” 1937 No. 3; K. Regamey Bolesław Woytowicz, “Muzyka Polska” 1937 No. 3; Z. Mycielski II Symfonia Woytowicza, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1946 No. 6; Z. Mycielski Kwartet Woytowicza, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1947 No. 11; W. Bacewiczówna, Bolesław Woytowicz. Laureat Państwowej Nagrody Muzycznej, “Odrodzenie” 1949 No. 4; W. Rudziński Kantata „Prorok” Bolesława Woytowicza, “Muzyka” 1954 No. 5–6, Russian transl. in Izbrannye statjipolskich muzykowedow, vol. 2, Moscow 1969; K. Wilkowska-Chomińska Etiudy fortepianowe Bolesława Woytowicza, SM vol. 5, Kraków 1956; Bolesław Woytowicz, in: 30 lat Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Muzycznej w Katowicach. 1929–1959, Kraków 1960; L. Markiewicz Nowa symfonia B. W, RM 1964 No. 14; T. Marek Contemporary Polish Music for Piano by Bolesław Woytowicz, “Polish Music” 1967 No. 2; K. Kopeczek-Michalska Jawne i tajne życie koncertowe w Warszawie w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej, “Muzyka” 1970 No. 3; E. Dziębowska Muzyka w Warszawie podczas okupacji, in: Warszawa lat wojny i okupacji 1939–1944, ed. K. Dunin-Wąsowicz, vol. 2, Warsaw 1972; J. Bauman Związki twórczości B. Woytowicza i K. Szymanowskiego, in: Oddziaływanie Szymanowskiego na śląską kulturę muzyczną, ed. K. Musioł, Katowice 1980; J. Bauman Bolesław Woytowicz w pierwszą rocznicę śmierci, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1981 No. 14; E. Wybraniec Bolesław Woytowicz (1889–1980), Katowice 1981; J. Bauman Bolesław Woytowicz, in: Sylwetki artystów katowickich. Muzyka, ed. B. Gieburowska, Katowice 1987; J. Bauman-Szulakowska Koryfeusze śląskiego neoklasycyzmu. B. Szabelski i B. Woytowicz w orbicie wpływów dzieła K. Szymanowskiego, in: Wokół kategorii narodowości, wielokulturowości i uniwersalizmu w muzyce polskiej, ed. A. Matracka-Kościelny, Warsaw 2002; S. Dybowski Woytowicz Bolesławs, in: idem Słownik pianistów polskich, Warsaw 2003; M. Dziadek, B. Mika, A. Kochańska „Musica polonica nova” na Śląsku. Oddział Związku Kompozytorów Polskich w Katowicach 1945–2003, Katowice 2003, A. Thomas Polish Music since Szymanowski, Cambridge 2005; T. Tarnawczyk, Optymistyczna i monumentalna. Symfonia w muzyce polskiego socrealizmu, Łódź 2013; Okupacyjne losy muzyków. Warszawa 1939–1945, album’s concept, selection of materials and ed. E. Markowska, K. Naliwajek-Mazurek, Warsaw 2014; K. Naliwajek-Mazurek Music in Nazi-Occupied Poland between 1939 and 1945, “Musicology Today” Vol. 13, 2016; B. Bolesławska The Symphony and Symphonic Thinking in Polish Music Since 1956, Abingdon 2019; R. Suchowiejko Muzyczny Paryż à la polonaise w okresie międzywojenny. Artyści – wydarzenia – konteksty, Kraków 2020.