Musique funèbre [Muzyka zalobna] | Witold Lutosławski

Chester Music is the publisher of this work in all territories except Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, China, countries of the former Czechoslovakia, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Romania, Hungary and the whole territory of the former USSR, where the copyright is held by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (PWM).

Orchestration
str
Duration14 min

CategoryString Orchestra
Topic
- Life and death (incl. memorial)
- Young and amateur performers

Composer
Witold Lutosławski

Performances
- 13th February 2025, Stadthaussaal, Winterthur, Switzerland
- 2nd March 2025, Colyer Fergusson Hall University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
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Programme Note

This work for strings is dedicated to the memory of Bela Bartók. Musique Funebre is a one-movement work made up of four linked sections: ‘Prologue’, ‘Metamorphosis’, ‘Apogeum’ and ‘Epilogue’. The first is constructed in the form of alternating canons based on a 12-tone row based exclusively on tritones and minor seconds. The ‘Metamorphosis’ builds up to a violent presto, while the ‘Apogeum’. The centre of the work leads to a central unison by contraction of the pitches used. The final ‘Epilogue’ begins fortissimo, after which the canons reappear until only a solo cello remains.

Musique Funebre was written at the invitation of Jan Krenz in 1958 and first performed by the Great Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and Television conducted by Jan Krenz on 26 march 1958 in Katowice.

© Witold Lutoslawski