Twórczość Eugeniusza Morawskiego w oczach krytyków i kompozytorów
Eugeniusz Morawski’s output in the eyes of critics and composers

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to present and synthesize the image of Eugeniusz Morawski’s output as presented by the Polish press and Polish composers. Morawski is an unknown composer, absent from the concert programs. His works were performed during composer’s lifetime and caused mixed and extreme reactions from the critics. His first successful concert – performance of now lost symphony-poem „Vae victis” in Salle Gaveau, Paris, was barely noted in Polish press. The first performance of symphonic poem „Don Quichotte” in 1912 caused vivid, yet mixed reactions. An important review was written by Aleksander Poliński, who criticized Morawski for being stylistically dependent on Richard Strauss’s style. Other reviews, some of them anonymous, were positive. The composer was praised for his talent and he was predicted to become a huge success in the future. Later on, his works were infrequently performed. In 1925, the symphonic poem „Nevermore” was performed in Warsaw under direction of Grzegorz Fitelberg. The work was very well received by the critic Karol Stromenger. Yet Morawski’s greatest success was his ballet „The maid of Świteź”, presented in Warsaw’s Great Theatre in May 1931. In 1933 Morawski received for this work the musical prize from the Ministry of Religious Beliefs and Publick Enlightment, winning the competition with Karol Szymanowski’s „Symphony no.4”. The event was discussed in great detail by the press. Some of the reviewers praised this work as Morawski’s masterpiece, others criticized it as worthless and clumsily written. The ballet was presented again in 1962 under the direction of Bohdan Wodiczko. A critic and a composer Stefan Kisielewski praised the word for its great orchestral effects and eerie climate. The article also uses extracts of letters of a composer Szymon Laks, essays of Stefan Kisielewski, and unpublished material from Polish Composers Union archive – letters of Grażyna Bacewicz and Włodzimierz Sokorski.

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