On the Trail of an Auditory Imagination. Witold Lutosławski’s Music in Radio Plays Produced by Polish Radio

Wioleta Muras

Abstract

Lutosławski’s music for radio remains one of the least studied areas of his functional composition work. he started working for Polish radio in 1945. Initially head of the classical Music department, he soon became the composer of music for radio plays. he continued writing music for radio broadcasts until 1960, even though his full-time work for Polish radio had ended in 1958. over that period, about 86 broadcasts featuring his music were aired, from which 33 recordings (in Warsaw archives) and 46 scores (in Basel) have survived. the incomplete state of preservation of the sources continues to hinder the reconstruction of this repertoire, including establishing the precise chronology and the names of the authors and directors. despite these difficulties, in many cases it has been possible to verify a large amount of information concerning this output. one document of outstanding value to be discovered in the course of research into Lutosławski’s works for radio is a draft of his text Rozważania Teoretyczne [Theoretical Reflections]. this is the only surviving source written by the composer himself in which he shares his thoughts about the role of music in a radio play with regard to his own composition practice.

When writing his musical settings, Lutosławski based the character of the music on the type of programme. the decisive criterion was the target audience. In broadcasts for children, the music has more illustrative features, which appeal to the imagination of young listeners. For adult audiences, the various music conventions he employed were determined by the genre and subject matter of the work. Programmes from the cycle Poezja i muzyka [Poetry and music] were usually complemented with short intermezzi, which underscored the mood of the poetry and filled in the breaks between the recited stanzas. the subjects of other broadcasts can be categorised as mythological, historical/legendary, folkloric and grotesque. a varied repertory of formal and stylistic solutions, combined with a variety of functions performed by the music, contributed to the individual character of the musical layer. the music ranged from very simple melodies and tonal harmonies, sometimes deliberately archaic, to music in neoclassical style and a modern idiom (explorations in harmonies and sonorities). It is impossible to identify any line of development to the composer’s technique. Many of the scores certainly gave him scope for experimenting with textures, rhythms, harmonies, etc. In addition, writing them was an important source of income for the composer, which was especially important in the post-war years.