PMC SITES: JOANNA BRUZDOWICZ

Polish Music Center

POLISH COMPOSERS

JOANNA BRUZDOWICZ

Joanna Bruzdowicz, 2002, photo by Jorg Tittel.

(b. 1943, Warsaw)

Biography Manuscripts at USC List of Works
Essay on Her Music 2003 Paderewski Lecture

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Joanna Bruzdowicz comes from a musical family: her father was an architect and cellist, her mother—a pianist. Bruzdowicz started her musical career as a child prodigy when she began to compose at the age of six. Interestingly, she later dedicated much of her efforts to promoting music for the youth.

She studied at the Warsaw Music High School, at the State Higher School of Music (composition with Kazimierz Sikorski and piano with Irena Protasiewicz and Wanda Osakiewicz); she earned her M.A. in 1966. She traveled to Paris to continue her studies on a scholarship from the French government and became a student of Nadia Boulanger, Oliver Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer (1968-70). While in Paris, she joined the electro acoustic Groupe de Recherches Musicales and wrote her doctoral thesis Mathematics and Logic in Contemporary Music at the Sorbonne. After completing her studies in France, she settled in Belgium and established herself as a composer there (she recently moved to southern France).

Bruzdowicz was one of the Polish female students of the most famous teacher of composition in the 20th century, Nadia Boulanger (the group also included Grażyna Bacewicz, Anna Maria Klechniowska, Bernardetta Matuszczak, Barbara Niewiadomska, and Marta Ptaszyńska). Boulanger's advice was very firm and non-compromising: she insisted that composers have no right to self-pity or self-indulgence, but solely the right to work, work, work... This principle was internalized by her most talented students, such as Bacewicz, Bruzdowicz or Ptaszyńska, and expressed in their intensely focused work habits that resulted in the high volume and quality of their output.

As a composer she devoted her attention to opera, symphonic and chamber music, works for children, and music for film and television. She wrote four concerti and numerous chamber pieces, as well as over 25 hours of film music. Her compositions are featured on 12 CDs and over 20 LPs; she has been featured in TV programs produced in Belgium, France, Germany and Poland. Bruzdowicz's music has been praised for its "poetic palette of sound" and its qualities of being "ultramodern and refined" while remaining expressive and personal. Her output includes several operas which brought to the stage some of the greatest works of European literature (e.g. The Penal Colony, after Kafka, 1972; The Women of Troy after Euripides, 1973; and The Gates of Paradise, after Jerzy Andrzejewski, 1987).

Bruzdowicz with Wanda Wilk and Jürgen Tittel.
Photo by Maja Trochimczyk, 2001.

Bruzdowicz was the only Polish composer and the only woman selected to the final round of 12 composers who were invited to create a new Hymn for the Vatican (a French composer won). Her Stabat Mater written in 1993 for a special ceremony held at Forest Lawn Memorial in Glendale, California (unveiling in a restored theatre Jan Styka's monumental panorama of the Crucifixion, commissioned by Paderewski) was attended by the representatives of the city and county, and the Polish government, among over one thousand of guests. This choral work is dedicated to Wanda Wilk. In 2001 Bruzdowicz received the highest distinction from the Polish government, the Order of Polonia Restituta, for her contribution to Polish culture. Promoting Polish music is her passion and she produced hours of radio programs devoted to this subject for radio stations in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the U.S.

She is a co-founder of various musical organizations: Chopin-Szymanowski Association in Belgium, Jeunesses Musicales in Poland, GIMEP in France, International Encounters in Music in Catalonia. Thanks to her efforts numerous Polish composers received their first performances in Europe and the U.S. One of her most notable projects was a special concert held in December 1985 in the Year of European Music; the concert was devoted to the "forgotten Europe" that is its Eastern part. The Belgium Radio Orchestra performed works by Szymanowski, Shostakovich, Dvorak and Bartók. A live recording from this concert was reviewed across Europe. Active as a founder and board member of the Polish section of Jeunesses Musicales, she is also founder and President of the Frederic Chopin and Karol Szymanowski Society of Belgium and Vice-President of the International Federation of Chopin Societies.

BRUZDOWICZ MANUSCRIPTS AT USC

Joanna Bruzdowicz was the second composer to offer her manuscripts to our collection; she was preceded in this sign of generosity only by Witold Lutosławski. The manuscripts of her works were included in the Manuscript Exhibition held at the PMC in October 2000.

Bruzdowicz deposits her scores at USC, December 2003.
Photo by Darren Schenck.

1. Trio dei Due Mondi for violin, cello and piano (1980) Manuscript score, in black ink, 26 pp. Donated in 1986.
2. Tre Contre Tre for flute, oboe, viola and three percussions (1979) Manuscript score in black ink, 20 pp. Donated in 1986.
3. Piano Concerto, for piano and orchestra (1974). Dedicated to Desire N'Kaoue. Commissionned by French government for l'Orchestre Colonne in Paris. First orchestral draft, manuscript score in pencil, with annotations and title page in ink, 60 pp. PWM music paper, 26 staves. Donated in 2003.

4. Marlos Grosso Brasileiras , "Chant d'amitié" for flute, violin, harpsichord and tape (1980). Commissioned by "Trio Baroque", Brussels. Manuscript score in pencil, 32 pp. Unmarked music paper, 14 staves. Donated in 2003.

THE MUSIC OF JOANNA BRUZDOWICZ
Essay by Maja Trochimczyk

The roots of Joanna Bruzdowicz's music (b. 1943) can be located in the tradition of the colorful, lively and expressive neoclassicism of Grazyna Bacewicz (also a student of Kazimierz Sikorski in Warsaw and Nadia Boulanger in Paris), flavored by inspiration from the Polish school of sonorism (Penderecki, Lutoslawski). Her musical narratives are filled with kaleidoscopically shifting ideas and melodies; the moods alternate between somber reflection, sweet lyricism, and exuberant outbursts of joy. Her writing for strings is particularly idiomatic, with poignant monologues by soloists, especially the cello, transforming the instrument into an almost-human voice at the verge of signification. Bruzdowicz's music is always meaningful, always associated with poetic or natural imagery, with ideas borrowed from classic literary texts or reflecting her personal fascinations. According to the eminent Polish music critic Tadeusz Kaczynski (Ruch Muzyczny, no. 13, 19 June 1988; p. 11), her works span "a range of moods, character, condensation of music material, dramaturgy, style and compositional technique."

Bruzdowicz's early international recognition stemmed primarily from her operas, The Penal Colony based on a story by Kafka (1972, rev. version 1986), The Women of Troy based on Eurypides's play (1973, Polish version 1979), and The Gates of Paradise based on a historical novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski depicting the tragic story of the Children's Crusade in the 13th century (1986). The operas feature similar dark, tragic subjects. The composer has explained her attraction to these themes in the following words: "I have been interested in subjects pertaining to the fate that people have prepared for themselves. . . I feel that the subject is highly pertinent because we are entering a new era of civilization in which there is less room for individuality, in which fanaticism is flourishing and in which the human being is being transformed into a robot. . . Today, I believe, one must speak out about the dangers that threaten us, we must strive to inspire the viewers and listeners to reflect about these issues."

The second version of The Penal Colony was staged in 1986 in Liège, Belgium; the nightmarish imagery and horrid events in Kafka's story found a faithful and equally disturbing interpretation in Bruzdowicz's music, praised by an array of international music critics. Jacques Mairel in Le Soir (13 October 1986) noted her expressive use of Sprechgesang and electronic sounds for "reinforcing the expressionist climate and horror of the librettowith the electronics submersing us in atmospheres of false serenity or harsh horror." German musicologist Detlef Gojowy (Die Welt, 11 October 1986) considered her "sound textures of perverse beauty" to be morally ambivalent in the setting of a story filled with such disturbing ideas and imagery, while praising her terse rhetoric blurring the borders between speech and song in the service of expression.

Bruzdowicz at USC.
Photo by Maja Trochimczyk, 2001.

The composer adapted the text for The Gates of Paradise herself, shortening long statements and introducing actor-doubles for the singers in the six main roles (Monk, James, Alexis, Robert, Blanca, and Maud). The opera's cast also included three acting roles, a chorus of adolescents, fourteen musicians, and a sound technician for the electronic tape. Detlef Gojowy, in a review in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, called the 1988 performances of The Gates of Paradise the high point of the Opernwoche, praising Bruzdowicz's perfect use of speech, song, electronics, and choreography in the staging of the tragedy of the Children's Crusade. The composer explained her motivation to compose this opera, "dedicated to all the children of the world," in the following words (in conversation with Ludwik Erhardt in Polish Music/Polnische Musik, 1986):

"In The Gates of Paradise, situated in the 13th century, the children who set out for Jerusalem to liberate the grave of Christ from pagan hands were actally condemned to death by starvation and exhaustion or to be enslaved by Turkish and Arab slave traders. . . in later centuries there was no lack of similar situations created for political, religious and social reasons. . . With so much evil in the world, with so many unresolved political, religious and social problems that carry the threat of war, of a new disaster, or at least the threat of revolution in many countries, I believe that we should all give our attention to the rearing of children and to the role children play in every society."

With her social conscience, Bruzdowicz could have been easily seduced by a "politically-correct" or "engaged" approach to composing. She was protected from this danger by her musical talent, overflowing with melodic, textural, and rhythmic ideas. An influential French music critic and conductor, Antoine Golea, wrote an enthusiastic appreciation of her abilities (published in the Poland magazine as "Originality But Not at any Price"), stating:

I am firmly convinced hers is a genuine talent, strong, original and not striving for originality at any price. . . All of this is lucid and original, rich in genuine musical invention and, as the need arises, dramatic, but always constructed and developed in accordance with the principles of the real composers of all times, independent of fashion, solicitous of technical honesty and valuing what must still be called 'inspiration.'

According to Golea, Bruzdowicz's music has features of "classical modernity" and the emotional and formal balance of her works is coupled with melodious and engaging sound material.

These traits are especially prominent in her chamber music. Her Trio dei Due Mondi (1980) successfully juxtaposes European avant-garde gestures with South-American dance rhythms and elements of jazz. In her String Quartet No. 2 Cantus Aaeternus (1988) for an actor reciting text fragments from a wide range of poetry in several languages, and four string instruments, the layers of the music reflect Bruzdowicz's talent for expressive textual settings and her experience with opera and film music. The Violin Sonata No. 2, subtitled Spring in America (1994), follows a neoclassical outline of three movements (Fast-Slow-Fast), while subdividing each of the movements into a series of musical moments of exquisite beauty. In the course of the work, the composer leads the listeners through ever-changing landscapes of sonorous textures, motives, and patterns.

Poster design Bozenna and Lukas Bogucki, from a photo by Jorg Tittel, 2003.

The composer's recent renown stems from her collaboration with the distinguished French film director, Agnès Varda, sometimes called the "Grandmother of the New Wave" of experimental and socially engaged cinema. The director's approach to filmmaking may be summarized in her statement, "In my films, I always wanted to make people see deeply. I don't want to show things, but to give people the desire to see." According to film critic Pauline Kael, Varda "has consistently interspersed unique documentaries with an incredibly varied range of features, from neo-realism to surrealism, from giddy free-form improv to rigorous control, to hybrids that can only be called 'Vardian.'" Several of the films that Bruzdowicz scored for Varda received international awards; the most notable titles are: Sans Toit, ni Loi (known in English as Vagabond, 1985), a fictional documentary about a female drifter, awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival; Jacquot de Nantes (1991), selected for recognition by the Cannes Festival; and The Gleaners and I, a documentary and first-person video essay by Varda (2001), the winner of the best non-fiction film awards from the New York, Los Angeles and Boston film critics associations, the U.S. National Society of Film Critics (and over 40 international film awards). Bruzdowicz's music for The Gleaners and I is elegant, discreet, and refined, highlighting the mood of quiet reflection about the vagaries of human life which permeates Varda's inspiring documentary. In addition to working with Varda, Bruzdowicz has also scored films by Gilles Katz and Yves Angelo.

Bruzdowicz's strong ties to California include the 1993 premiere of her cantata Stabat Mater for chorus a capella at the unveiling of Jan Styka's monumental panorama of the Crucifixion at the Forest Lawn Memorial in Glendale. The work was commissioned by the Polish Music Center and is dedicated to Mrs. Wanda Wilk. The composer donated manuscripts of two works to the PMC Manuscript Collection: Tre Contre Tre, for flute, oboe, viola and three percussionists (1979) and Trio dei Due Mondi, for violin, cello and piano (1980). She completed her donation and received the title of PMC Benefactor (value of donation exceeding $10,000), in December 2003, by presenting the PMC with two additional manuscripts of her Piano Concerto and Marlos Grosso Brasileiras. Due to her residence in Belgium and now France, her critical recognition has continued to flourish in Europe, with articles published primarily in French and German-language periodicals.

LIST OF WORKS

THEATER MUSIC (OPERA, BALLET)

In der Strafkolonie (The Penal Colony - La Colonie Pénitentiaire), 60'

A one-act musical drama after Franz Kafka

Commissioned by the Opera of Prague, Narodni Divadlo in 1967.

First performed in 1972 by the Opera of Tours, France.

1 bariton, 1 tenor, 2 actors, 3 mimes, symphony orchestra (for 45 or 19 musicians) plus 2 tapes.

Editor: CHOUDENS, Paris

First performance of the new version: October 9th, 1986, Belgium, " Le Petit Téâtre de l`Opéra Royal de Liège"

1 bariton, 1 tenor, 2 actors, orchestra recorded on tape + electronic music on tape + wind quintet - Live.

Les Troyennes (The Women of Troy - Die Troerinnen), 80'

Musical tragedy after Euripides

Commissioned by "Centre Lyrique Populaire de France".

First performed in "Théâtre Gérard Philipe", Paris.

2 sopranos, 1 mezzo, 1 bariton, 2 actors, choir of 12 singers, ensemble of 9 musicians plus 2 tapes

Editor: CHOUDENS, Paris

First performance of the new Polish version: July 20th, 1979, by the "Great Theater of Opera" in Warsaw ("Trojanki")

Le Petit Prince, 60'

Ballet after the book by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry in 28 scenes

First performed in Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Instrumental (12 musicians) and electronic music, mixed on one tape. Live-interpretation possible.

The Gates of Paradise (Bramy Raju), 120'

Musical drama after Jerzy Andrzejewski

Commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Culture in 1987.

First performance in November 1987, Teatr Wielki-Opera in Warsaw

1 soprano, 1 mezzo-alto, 4 tenors, 2 baritons, 8 actors, 14 young singers (15-18 years old), Ensemble of 14 musicians plus one tape (electronic music)

Waiting for Anaïs (En attendant Anaïs), 80'

Musical for children - 1987. Story and poems by Myriam Fuks and Tamara Danblan. Commissioned by Théâtre Résidence Palace in Brussels.

First performance: Dec. 6th, 1987 in Théâtre Résidence Palace.

2 singers (1 woman, 1 child), 3 dancers, 2 musicians (guitar and clarinette-saxophone) on the stage. Music on tape performed by 2 guitars, 1 piano, 2 percussion, 1 double bass, 1 saxophone-clarinette

Tides and Waves (1991-1992), 140'

Opera-musical in two acts. Story by Jürgen Tittel and Joanna Bruzdowicz. Libretto by J.Tittel, J.Bruzdowicz and Hermine Furest-Garcia. Under the patronage of UNESCO.

First performance of excerpts: Paris and Barcelona, June 1, 1997, on board of the warship Wodnik in Gdańsk-Westerplatte, Poland.

12 singers, chorus (singers-dancers) orchestra of 20 musicians able to play classic music and jazz.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

Impressions (1966), 20'

for 2 pianos and symphony orchestra (fl + pic, ob, 2 cl, bsn, 2 h, 2 trp, trb, 3 perc, strings)

First performance: 1969, Warsaw

Suite in memoriam Sergei Prokofiev (1966-67), 12'

for orchestra (2 fl,2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bsn, 3 h, 2 trtp, trb, 2 perc, str, pf)

First performance: 1967, Białystok, Poland

Eclairs (1969), 8'

for orchestra (2 fl, 2 ob-soloist, 2 bsn-soloist, 2 h, str)

First performance: 1969, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Publisher: CHOUDENES, Paris

Jour d'ici et d'ailleurs (1971), 20'

Poem of Paule Cornish-Miguel for mixed choir, vocal quartet, 1 speaker and ensemble (cl, bsn, trp, trb, 2 pf, 2 perc)

First performance: 1975, Warsaw, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerzy Witkowski, conductor

Symphonie (1975), 18'

For large symphony orchestra; Commissioned by Festival "Printemps Musical de Paris" (3 fl, 3 ob, 3 cl, 3 bsn, 4 h, 3 tr, 3 trb, tb, 4 perc, cel, pf, 8 I vl, 8 II vl, 8 vle, 8 vlc, 6 cb)

First performance: April 30th, 1975, Paris, Orchestre de Paris, Mihai Brediceanu, conductor

Published by composer

I Piano Concerto (1974), 17'

For piano and symphony orchestra.

Commissioned by "Concerts Colonne"

(2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bsn, 4 h, 3 trp, 2 trb, tb, 4 perc, 8 I vl, 8 II vl, 8 vle 8 vlc, 6 cb, cel)

First performance: Febr. 23, 1975, Paris, Orchestre Colonne, Désiré N'Kaoua, piano, Jean-Sebastian Bereau, conductor.

Publisher: CHOUDENS, Paris

I Violin Concerto (1975), 17'

For violin and symphony orchestra; Commissioned by Radio France (3 fl, 3 ob, 3 cl, 2 bsn, 4 h, 2 trp, 2 trb, tb, hp, pf, 8 I vl, 8 II vl, 8 vle, 8 vlc, 6 cb, cel)

First performance: Feb. 11th, 1978, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, violin, Alain Savouret, conductor.

Publisher CHOUDENS-PWN, Paris/Cracow.

Record: "Bruzdowicz-Penderecki" CD PAVANE-RECORDS Lódź Philharmony Orchestra Krzysztof Jakowicz, violin, Andrzej Markowski, conductor

Aquae sextiae (1978), 10

Suite for wind instruments. Commissioned by Minister of Culture of France for Festival of Aix-en-Provence (soloists: 2 trp, 1 trb, 1 h, 1 tb; Ensemble 4 h, 3 trp, 4 trb, 2 buggles, 2 sax-b, 1 sax-cb)

First performance: July 12, 1978, Aix-en-Provence, Ensemble Ars Nova (Paris).

Concerto for Double Bass (1982), 18'

for double bass and symphony orchestra. Commissioned by the Minister of Culture of France for Fernando Grillo. (3 fl, 3 ob, 3 cl, 3 bsn, 4 h, 3 trp, 3 trb, 1 tb, 4perc, cel, pf, 10 I vl, 8 II vl, 8 vle, 8 vlc, 6 cb)

First performance. March 1984, Lódź (Poland), Fernando Grillo and The Lódź Philharmony Orchestra, Andrzej Markowski, conductor.

Recording: Bruzdowicz-Penderecki" CD PAVANE-RECORDS. Live recording in Lódź, 1984.

Publisher CHOUDENS-PWN, Paris/Cracow.

Four Seasons Greetings (1988/89), 65'

for string chamber orchestra and soloists

I: Spring - two violins

II: Summer - Piano 4 hands

III: Autumn - Flute

IV: Winter - Marimba

First performance: April 2, 1989, Poznań (Poland)

"The Cry of the Phoenix" Concerto for Cello and Symphony Orchestra (1994), 22'

dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising 1944 (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bsn, 4 h, 3 trp, 2 trb, 1tb, pf+hrp, 3 perc, 8 I vl, 8 II vl, 8 vle, 6 vcl, 6 cb,)

First performance: 16 September 1994, Lublin, Poland, with Tomasz Strahl - cello.

Symphony No. 2 - "Concertino for Orchestra" (2007)

First Performance: 20 April 2007, Katowice, "2nd Festival of World Premieres." Performed by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, dir. Ruben Silva

CHAMBER MUSIC

Wind Quintet (1966), 12'