Ludomir Różycki - Gra Fal
Pianist: Valentina Seferinova ([ Ссылка ])
Published in 1906

Biography
Ludomir Różycki (1883 - 1953) was born to a musical family. His father was a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, and his mother was musically talented. Naturally, Różycki would study at the Warsaw Conservatory with Aleksander Michałowski who taught piano technique, Gustaw Rogulski and Michał Biernacki who taught theory, and with Zygmunt Noskowski who taught composition. He graduated the conservatory in 1904 with high honors. He later went on to study with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

After graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory, Różycki's compositional career took off. His symphonic scherzo "Stańczyk" premiered in 1904 at the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted at the time by Emil Młynarski. In 1905, he, along with Karol Szymanowski, Grzegorz Fitelberg, and Apolinary Szeluto, founded the "Publishing Company of Young Polish Composers" (Spółkę Nakładową Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich). The group was primarily concerned with composing and promoting new Polish music abroad.

In 1907, he moved to Lviv (Lwów) where he taught piano at the Galicia Music Society and conducted for the opera. He had applied to teach at the Oslo Conservatory, but was rejected. It worked out for the best because in 1912, just a few years later, he won an award for his symphonic poem "King Cophetua" (Król Kofetua) in a compositional competition organized for the 10th anniversary of the Warsaw Philharmonic. He moved to Berlin the same year and used Berlin as a base from which to go on trips to Switzerland, Italy, and France.

In 1918, he settled in Warsaw where he would remain for most of his life. For ten years after his return, he focused on composition and then became a professor at what is now the Frederic Chopin University of Music. At the same time, he led a renewal of organizational and publishing activity for the publishing company.

During the Nazi occupation, the cultural life of Poland was carried out in underground movements. The musical life was no different. Różycki contributed as a pianist and accompanist in this underground movement. After the Warsaw Uprising, most of Warsaw was reduced to ashes, along with many of Różycki's works. After the destruction of Warsaw, he took shelter in Kraków and settled in Katowice. He spent the rest of his life reconstructing the pieces that had been destroyed.

Play of the Waves
Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind to most people upon reading the title is the 2nd symphonic sketch in Debussy's 'La Mer,' which has the title Jeux de vagues (Play of the Waves). The two pieces are obviously very different, but they share some commonality. Both pieces feature a sublime portrait of the sea but they have their lighter segments. Debussy's sketch puts more emphasis on 'Play' than does Różycki's. In this sense, Różycki draws more from Strauss, injecting contrasting moments of chaos, darkness, playfulness, and serenity.

Despite their differences, they both drew inspiration from very similar sources. Debussy loved the sea and based 'La Mer' on his experiences there [1]. Similarly, Różycki was said to have taken a cruise around the Baltic, but the most tangible evidence of inspiration comes from the subtitle the work "following after Boecklin." This points to the painting pictured at (0:03) entitled "Playing in the Waves" (or "In the Play of the Waves"), which uses symbolist imagery to tell a funny story about when a friend of Boecklin held his breath too long and resurfaced, scaring some women nearby [2]. Of course with Boecklin, it is never that simple. The mood of the painting is multifaceted with the nymphs in the background displaying glee, the triton (representing Boecklin's friend) erupting in satisfied laughter, the look of genuine concern on the face of the nymph in the foreground, and the scandalized look of shock and terror on the face of the centaur (evidently representing a member of the moral purity movement [2] - interestingly the sky ought to look cheerful, but the centaur blocks the majority of the most optimistic portion of the sky that is lit up with lighter colors). The lasting impression is equally multifaceted.

The music itself stretches the gut-twisting impression out across time. In the music, one can hear all of the elements of the painting, but with Różycki, the darker elements are brought to the foreground. The joke that Boecklin puts at the foreground is sent backwards, and the shock of the nymph, the anxiety of the omnipresent deep, dark blue sea, and the disapproving judgement of the lumbering centaur are brought forward.

[1] “Arnold Böcklin, In the Play of the Waves [Im Spiel Der Wellen] (1883).” German History Docs.
[2] K. Spence, "Debussy at Sea." The Musical Times Vol. 120, No. 1638, pp. 640-642, Musical Times Publications Ltd, 1979.

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