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'[[Witold Lutosławski]] began composing Musique funèbre (Polish: Muzyka żałobna) (English: Funeral Music) in late 1954 and completed it in 1958. The piece features [[string orchestra]] orchestration, consisting of four violins, two violas, two cellos, and two basses. Its first performance occurred on March 26, 1958 in [[Katowice]] by the National Polish Radio Orchestra under the direction of Jan Krenz, who commissioned the piece to honor its dedicatee, [[Béla Bartók]].<ref>[http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/VEPM/lutos/luto-wrk.html Main Published Works]</ref> It received a notable performance later that year at the [[Warsaw Autumn]] Festival {{harv|Thomas|2005|loc=90}}. In 1959 it won both the Polish Composers' Union Prize as well as 1st prize from the UNESCO International Composers' Council. It appears that the piece might be approaching 20th-century canonical status based on its number of performances by major orchestras throughout the world{{harv|Anon.|n.d.}}{{Failed verification|date=November 2014}}<!--Does not mention the work approaching anything, let alone "20th-century canonical status", nor does it suggest this might be a conclusion drawn from the number of performances, which are at least listed.-->: *In 2014 it was performed at least twelve times in leading musical countries such as China (Hongzhou); France (Paris); Germany (Berlin, Köln, Hamburg, Rostock); United Kingdom (London); and United States (Chicago). *In 2013 (Lutosławski's centennial) it was performed at least twenty-nine times in fifteen leading music countries such as Austria (Vienna); Finland (Helsinki); France (Paris); Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Erfurt, Leipzig, Munich); Japan (Tokyo); Luxemburg (Luxemburg); Mexico (Guanajuato); Netherlands (Amsterdam); Poland (Warsaw); Portugal (Belém); Slovenia (Ljubljana); Spain (Madrid); Switzerland (Luzern, Warth-Weiningen); United Kingdom (London, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; St Asaph Cathedral, Wales;); United States (Cleveland, Philadelphia); ==Structure== {{refimprove-section|date=November 2014}} The composition consists of one movement with the following four sections: #Prologue #Metamorphoses #Apogeum #Epilogue It has a duration of c. 13'30". ===Prologue=== Typical of 20th-century music, the piece uses mixed meter, in this case beginning in 5/2 then shifting for a measure to 3/2 with a steady pulse of half-note = 88. Within such a fluid meter Lutosławski begins by presenting the principal [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone]] idea horizontally and unambiguously in the first cello [F↑B↓Bb↑E↓Eb↓A↓Ab↑D↓Db↓G↓Gb↑C]. Significantly, the [[twelve-tone row]] consists of only two intervals: [[tritone]]s and (descending) [[Semitone|half-steps]] {{harv|Thomas|2005|loc=97}}. Both of these intervals are associated with lament and funeral topics. Lutosławski initially treats the row [[Canon (music)|canonically]], answering this ''dux'' with a ''comes'' in the second cello, whose time interval is one beat (half-note) and pitch interval is six half-steps higher. ===Metamorphoses=== This section features a technique that Lutosławski would later call "chain form," which also occurs in his "Passacaglia" from his Concerto for Orchestra. Chain form describes a technique in which a composer "braids" two independent strands of music. In Metamorphoses, Lutosławski braids three strands—an early example of what he would later call "chain form" {{harv|Stucky|2013}}. In any event, the row from the Prologue undergoes twelve transformations. The series is successively presented a fifth lower according to the circle of fifths. The texture thickens as a result of increasingly intense uses of “foreign” sounds entwining these pitches, which take on the role of a cantus firmus, with an ever-expanding range of sounds. ===Apogeum=== Although the apogeum is relatively short, clocking in at less than 1 minute and consisting of a mere twelve bars, it is nevertheless structurally significant. It consists of a succession of 32 twelve-tone chords. Significantly, "It is in chords such as these that Lutosławski found the key to his future development" {{harv|Thomas|2005|loc=97}}. By this Thomas is referring to Lutosławski's future preference for writing twelve-tone chords that present systematic vertical intervallic configurations. In any event, in this piece the wide registration gradually collapses inward onto a single pitch that initiates the final movement. ===Epilogue=== The dodecaphonic canon of the first movement appears in this final section. As the final movement, its canons mirror symmetrically the canons of the first movement, thus clearly honoring Bartók's preferences for such palindromic structures. The symmetry is reinforced as the canons of the final movement reverse the order of the first movement {{harv|Chłopecki|n.d.}}. ==References== {{Reflist}} * {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anon.|n.d.}}|reference=Anon. (n.d.). "[http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/7734 Witold Lutosławski: Publisher: Chester Music: Musique funèbre <nowiki>[Muzyka zalobna<nowiki>]</nowiki> (1958)]". MusicSalesClassical.com (accessed 12 November 2014).}} * {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Chłopecki|n.d.}}|reference=Chłopecki, Andrzej (n.d.). "[http://www.lutoslawski.org.pl/en/composition,49.html Funeral Music]", translated by Agnieszka Wilga. The Witold Lutosławski Society, www.lutoslawski.org website (accessed 12 November 2014).}} *{{citation|last=Skowron|first=Zbigniew|year=2001|title=Lutosławski Studies|place=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press}} * {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Stucky|2013}}|reference=Stucky, Steven (2013). "[http://woven-words.co.uk/essays/musique_funebre Essay: Lutosławski: Musique funèbre (1954–58)]". Woven-Words.co.uk (accessed 12 November 2014).}} *{{citation|last=Thomas|first=Adrian|year=2005|title=Polish Music since Szymanowski|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press}} ==External links== *http://onpolishmusic.com/tag/muzyka-zalobna/ *http://www.lutoslawski.org.pl/en/composition,49.html *http://woven-words.co.uk/essays/musique_funebre *http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/7734 [[Category:Compositions by Witold Lutosławski]] [[Category:1958 compositions]]'