The Poetry of Zbigniew Herbert as Inspiration for Zygmunt Mycielski’s Compositions

Abstract

An important role in Zygmunt Mycielski’s compositional oeuvre was played by works inspired by the poetry of Polish twentieth-century authors: Czesław Miłosz, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Paweł Hertz and Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński. The composer was a friend of these poets and their oeuvre had a strong impact on his musical imagination. This is also true of the oeuvre of Zbigniew Herbert, whose poems inspired two compositions by Mycielski – Six Songs for Orchestra (1978) and Eight Songs to Words by Zbigniew Herbert for baritone and piano (1984). The article focuses on both pieces in the light of their links to Herbert’s poetry, with the author presenting a broader context of their origin.

Keywords

• Zygmunt Mycielski
• Zbigniew Herbert
• Between Music and Poetry
• Songs to Words by Zbigniew Herbert