Ludomir Różycki - Bolesław the Brave: A Symphonic Poem Op. 8 (Makowski)

Ludomir Różycki - Bolesław Śmiały wg poematu S. Wyspiańskiego
Published in 1906
Conductor: Szymon Makowski
Orchestra: Lower Silesia Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Painting in the Thumbnail: Juliusz Knoor - Bishop Stanisław Szczepanowski Putting a Curse on King Bolesław Śmiały / Biskup Stanisław Szczepanowski rzucający klątwę na króla Bolesława Śmiałego
Biography
Ludomir Różycki (1883 - 1953) was born to a musical family. His father was a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, and his mother was musically talented. Naturally, Różycki would study at the Warsaw Conservatory with Aleksander Michałowski who taught piano technique, Gustaw Rogulski and Michał Biernacki who taught theory, and with Zygmunt Noskowski who taught composition. He graduated the conservatory in 1904 with high honors. He later went on to study with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Academy of Arts in Berlin.
After graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory, Różycki's compositional career took off. His symphonic scherzo "Stańczyk" premiered in 1904 at the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted at the time by Emil Młynarski. In 1905, he, along with Karol Szymanowski, Grzegorz Fitelberg, and Apolinary Szeluto, founded the "Publishing Company of Young Polish Composers" (Spółkę Nakładową Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich). The group was primarily concerned with composing and promoting new Polish music abroad.
In 1907, he moved to Lviv (Lwów) where he taught piano at the Galicia Music Society and conducted for the opera. In 1912, just a few years later, he won an award for his symphonic poem "King Cophetua" (Król Kofetua) in a compositional competition organized for the 10th anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic. He moved to Berlin the same year and used Berlin as a base from which to go on trips to Switzerland, Italy, and France.
In 1918, he settled in Warsaw where he would remain for most of his life. For ten years after his return, he focused on composition and then became a professor at what is now the Frederic Chopin University of Music. At the same time, he led a renewal of organizational and publishing activity for the publishing company.
During the Nazi occupation, the cultural life of Poland was carried out in underground movements. The musical life was no different. Różycki contributed as a pianist and accompanist in this underground movement. After the Warsaw Uprising, most of Warsaw was reduced to ashes, along with many of Różycki's works. After the destruction of Warsaw, he took shelter in Kraków and settled in Katowice. He spent the rest of his life reconstructing the pieces that had been destroyed.
Bolesław the Brave
The story of King Bolesław and St. Stanisław of Szczepanów was a source of constant fascination for Polish artists. Replete with the fantastical, the sacred, and the profane, the legends surrounding the conflict between these two giants are treasure troves of inspiration. Legend has it that the conflict began with a land dispute in which the Bishop of Kraków bought some land from someone who passed away soon after. When the King ruled in favor of those who claimed the Bishop never bought it, St. Stanisław raised the man from the dead so he could testify that the Bishop of Kraków did, in fact, purchase the land.
Various accounts detail St. Stanisław's criticisms of the Kings brutal treatment of deserters' wives during a war in Ruthenia, while others reveal his scathing attacks against the King's sexual immorality. When the conflict reached its highest point, the Bishop excommunicated the King, who retaliated by ordering the Bishop to be killed. When none of his men would dare fulfill their duties in slaying their spiritual leader, the King did so himself in the middle of mass. Both men are venerated in Polish culture, one as the Patron Saint of Poland and the other as a Brave and Generous King. Questions of tyranny and treachery shroud their memories, but such ambiguities make for great literature.
Stanisław Wyspiański wrote a poem detailing the events from King Bolesław's perspective which inspired Ludomir Różycki to write this symphonic poem. In a way, it is Różycki's must Russian symphonic poem, as one can detect similarities between it and Gliere's Ilya Muromets Symphonies particularly in the interplay between woodwinds and unison brass. Of course, all of Różycki's signature trademarks are present in this piece. There are fast slowing of rhythms that transition between triplets to eighth notes and then to quarter and half notes to create melodies and textures. Różycki's deep dour-ridden sound painting plagues the piece, and tremolos dot the landscape. In the form of the piece, the conflicts between grand royalty and powerful sainthood are depicted with unison chants, militaristic fanfares, and cataclysmic violence.

[@johns.4708]

Two tuba color... unique. Good writing for them too. Excellent tone poem.

[@douglasyiuchinglok307]

Could you please upload it to IMSLP?

[@polishscores]

When I get some time I will.