Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) was born into an educated and musical family in central

Poland. A prodigious violinist and composer, she began studying composition at the Warsaw
Conservatory at the age of 21. After studying composition under Nadia Boulanger at the École
Normale de Musique de Paris (supported by a scholarship from Paderewski), Bacewicz began
to study violin in Paris under Carl Flesch. She was later appointed the position of principal
violinist of the Polish Radio Orchestra from 1936-1938, which moved her to Warsaw. Bacewicz
continued to compose throughout marriage (1936), motherhood (painter Alina Biernacka, born
in 1942) and the Ssecond Wworld Wwar (she premiered several new works in underground
recitals). She later became a professor of composition at the University of Music in Łódź,
which would later carry her name. Along with Maria Szymanowska, Bacewicz would become
one of the first internationally recognized female Ppolish composers.
In 1951, as Bacewicz was settling into a new professorship, the Polish Composer’s Union
commissioned String Quartet No. 4, which would instantly become her most often performed
piece and the definitive example of her compositional style. In a huge achievement, the work
won Bacewicz first place in the Concours International pour Quatuor a Cordes de Liège,
strengthening the fragile confidence in Polish fine arts.
This composition was composed at a pivotal moment in Poland’s history. The Potsdam
Conference in July of 1945 aided in the finalization of the Polish boarders we know today. Prior
to WWII, minorities made up over 30 percent of Poland's population. Due to circumstances
including the atrocities of genocide, the eastern resettlement of Ukrainians and the newly
shrunken Polish border, a less-diverse cultural atmosphere in Poland emerged. Poland’s
economy, political infrastructure, cities and national morale were badly damaged after the war,
prompting the Polish Communist party to create the ”Three Year Plan.” The plan’s goal was to
improve Poland’s agricultural output and industry while rebuilding the country. Though the
Communist influence from the east swiftly encroached Warsaw, there was a newfound Polish
pride, steeped in the nationalistic music upon which earlier composers drew inspiration.
Based prominently on folk music, String Quartet No. 4 blends traditional expectations of
tonality, melody and form with a distinctly post-war disharmony that balances struggle and
peace. It is less musically abstract, but with a clearly modern sentimentality and compositional
tone. In the three movement, neo-classical piece, we hear a blend of tradition and progression.
The first movement “Andante Allegro Molto,” is in the traditional sonata-allegro form,
using two distinct folk melodies as the two centralized themes The introduction of the
movement presents us with original motivic material, which reappears in the development and
recapitulation. This “new material” is presented against and in conversation with the folksong
motives that creates an intergenerational debate with a tense and driving angst. Using imitation
and melodic transposition, the relationship between the themes becomes more complicated
and clashing. These polyphonic sections are punctuated with monophonic and sharp, dissonant
chords, from which a soloistic section emerges, accompanied by nervous tremolos. Romantic,
arching phrases help give a sense of virtuosity and stable tonality, before the listenerslisteners
are swept up once again into the demanding and repetitive dissonances, mirroring the
interruptive and confusing political history of Poland itself.
The second movement, the andante, is nearly traditional by comparison; relying on
melodious folk melody with a slower, organic pulse. Opening aching chords slither and writhe,
as a dark and pining story unfurls. Pulsating rocking from the lower strings are juxtaposed with
the silvery bleating of high strings. Bacewicz plays with a fugal introduction in the middle of this
section,; as a rhythmic ostinato is passed between instruments. Tonally, this segment is less
ambiguous, ending with large sections in G minor, and closing in E major. There is a brief, restful
bookend to the ghostly tale.
The final movement is imbued with tradition and ias a lively rondo, expanding a
staccato and agitated three-note figure, successfully introducing a recognizable theme. The
frivolity and playfulness of this movement is noticeable, as accompanying figures switch from
pizzicato to bowed notes quickly around an unencumbered melody and the tremolo played by
all instruments in a pre-return passage. The accelerando and assertive “G” on all the
instruments also brings a sense of humor to the clear ending of the piece.
As a celebration of personal triumph and uniquely organized musing on the relationship
between post-war Europe and folksongs of a constantly-changing country, String Quartet No. 4
is a personal, heartbreaking and joyful work that will serve as a compositional snapshot of
Poland in 1951.
 Bibliography

Ambache, Diana. Grazyana Bacewicz, The “First Lady of Polish Music.” Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Dzierżanowski, Lech, and Małgorzata Gąsiorowska. “Works in Detail: String Quartet No. 4.”
Accessed Jan 28, 2023. https://bacewicz.polmic.pl/en/string-quartet-no-4/

Rosen, Judith. Grazyna Bacewicz: Her Life and Works (Polish Music History Series). Oxford:
Oxford University press, 1984.

Wolek, Karol. “A Post War-War. The Years of 1944-1963 in Poland.” Warsaw Institute, October
1, 2018. https://warsawinstitute.org/post-war-war-years-1944-1963-poland/