Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz never flirted with the avantgarde. He always followed his own path, that led along the borders of tradition. Only two of his works were ever performed during the "Warsaw Autumn" Festival, and – considering even the meanders of the Festival’s repertoire policy – this shows the conservative nature of Paciorkiewicz’s music. In 1961, his "The Earth’s Burden" song cycle was included in the repertoire of the "Warsaw Autumn" , while in 1986 - the "Second String Quartet". In the commentary to the latter, the composer himself wrote that the "form-shaping means applied in this work are contemporary, which does not imply any definite breaking of the bonds with the Centuries-long achievements in this field, but rather reflects the author’s care for melodic legibility (polyphony) and harmonic clarity."
He Studied the organ with Bronisław Rutkowski (1936-39) at the Warsaw Conservatory, and after the war, composition with Kazimierz Sikorski (graduated in 1951) at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź. In the years immediately after the war, he performed as a virtuoso organ-player and choirmaster, and later he devoted himself mainly to composition work and teaching. In 1945, he founded the Primary and Secondary Music School in Płock where he worked as the headmaster and teacher till 1949. He was also involved in the organisation of music life in the Mazowsze region (he founded, among others, choirs, and he was a teacher of music conductors). Between 1949-59 he lectured at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź. In 1954, he also commenced with teaching at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw – in the capacity of a professor since 1968. In the years 1963-69 he was Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Theory and Conducting, and between 1969-71 – Rector of the Warsaw Academy.
Zbigniew Bagiński, who studied composition between 1967-72, remembers Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz, his professor at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, in the "Ruch Muzyczny" Journal (Music Motion) (in 1998, following Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz’s death):
"It was a period of the triumphant expansion of radical trends in music, and hard times for artists who refused to yield to the ‘terror of the avant-garde’. Professor Paciorkiewicz – both as an artist and as a teacher – did not share the enthusiasm for the constant emergence of new trends. He put trust in the values inherited from the music of the past, including the music of great 20th-century composers. He encouraged his students to analyse the works of Bartók, Hindemith, Stravinsky, but also Bach (Goldberg Variations!) and Beethoven. Nevertheless, he did not impose any prohibitions. The pressure of the times was immense – many a times a young composer attempted occasionally to venture into the fashionable territory (for who could resist the temptation to be a little more modern in those pre-postmodern times). The Professor peacefully accepted those endeavours, without impatience or the slightest hint of anger. He trusted us, his students, and believed that we will find our own way, our own world of musical values, and he did not try to act on our behalf in these endeavours. Today I think that the Professor’s serenity, his warm smile, his understanding for other people’s weaknesses, inner peace and satisfaction with life, which in his case was certainly not without cares, troubles, and failures – all this was grounded in his faith in the lasting values handed down to us by our great predecessors. This faith was totally independent from the passing trends and fashions, and was reflected in his unchanging artistic ideals."
A concert – tribute to the work of Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz was organised in 1991.
"Significant changes have already taken place in music - «the avantgarde terror» has slowly turned into a memory of the past. The Professor’s music sounded very fresh, the work created some time ago as well as the most recent pieces; linked together – in spite even of their differences – by a common thread of solid workmanship, clarity of statement and love of tradition."
Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz received many prizes and distinctions, including: Award of the Minister of National Defence (1968 and 1974), Award of the Minister of Culture and Arts (1969 and 1978), the State Award of the Third Degree (1969), the Order of Merit to Cultural Life (1972), the Prime Minister’s Award for works for children and young people (1979). He was also decorated with the Knight’s and Officer’s Crosses of the Polonia Restituta Order, the Medal of the Commission of National Education, the Medal of Merits for the Warsaw Music Society, Gold Medal of Honour of Merits to the City of Warsaw.
Major compositions:
• "Sonata for organs" (1946-47)
• "Variations" for string quartet (1946)
• "Ten Kurpie Songs" for mixed choir (1948)
• "Kurpie Suite" for small symphony orchestra (1948)
• "Overture" for great symphony orchestra (1949)
• "Ode to Youth" [version 1] cantata for 4 solo voices, mixed choir and great symphony orchestra (1950)
• "Quintet for wind instruments" (1951)
• "Piano Concerto no. 1" (1951-52)
• "Symphony no. 1" (1953)
• "Ten Silesian Songs" for mixed choir (1954)
• "Piano Concerto no. 2" (1954)
• "Sonata for violin and piano" (1954)
• "Violin Concerto" (1955)
• "Cut-outs from Sea Foam", small cantata for children’s choir and wind quintet (1956)
• "Symphony no. 2" (1957)
• "Fantasia" for violin and piano (1957)
• "The Legend of Warsaw", ballet (1959)
• "Four Caprices (Quasi una sonata)" for clarinet and piano (1960)
• "String Quartet no. 1" (1960)
• "The Earth’s Burden" (version 1) for voice and piano (1960-61)
• "Fatherland" for mixed choir and symphony orchestra (1961)
• "Ushiko", radio opera (1962)
• "Music" for harp and 5 wind instruments (1963)
• "Reed Trio" (1963)
• "Popular Overture" for small symphony orchestra (1963)
• "Maiden from the Window", opera (1964)
• "Trio for flute, viola and harp" (1965-66)
• "Adagio and allegro" for string orchestra (1966-67)
• "Music" for mezzo-soprano and string orchestra (1966)
• "The Earth’s Burden" (version 2) for soprano and orchestra (1967)
• "Ligea", radio opera (1967)
• "Organ Concerto no.1" (1967)
• "Divertimento" for clarinet and string orchestra (1968)
• "Soldier’s Fantasy" for great wind orchestra (1968)
• "Gothic Fantasy" for organ (1968)
• "Postlude" for organ (1969)
• "Concerto for trombone and symphony orchestra" (1971)
• "Little Suite" for 4 horns (1971)
• "Toccata no. 1" for organ (1971)
• "Six Miniatures" for 4 trombones (1971-72)
• "Piano Quintet" (1972)
• "De revolutionibus", oratorio for 4 solo voices, reciting voice, mixed choir, boy’s choir, organ concertante and great symphony orchestra (1972)
• "Missa brevis" for mixed choir and organ (1973)
• "Sonata for cello and piano" (1974)
• "Toccata no. 2" for organ (1975)
• "Concerto for viola and orchestra" (1975-76)
• "Triptychon per organo" (1976-77)
• "Orpheus in the Woods", cantata for mixed choir (1977)
• "Chamber Music" for two brass quartets (1978)
• "Ave Regina Caelorum" for mixed choir (1978)
• "Concerto alla barocco" for harpsichord and small symphony orchestra (1978)
• "Concerto for harp, flute and string orchestra" (1979-80)
• "Preludes" for wind quintet (1980)
• "Ode to Youth", cantata for 4 solo voices, mixed choir and great symphony orchestra (1980-81)
• "String Quartet no. 2" (1982)
• "Concerto for oboe and symphony orchestra" (1982)
• "Andante" for violin and organ (1984)
• "Concerto for two violins and orchestra" (1984)
• "Polish Litany" for mixed choir (1984)
• "Three Little Preludes and Fugues" for organ (1984-85)
• "Warsaw Triptych", 3 songs for mixed choir (1985)
• "Two Chorales" for organ (1985)
• "Reflexions" for trumpet and organ (1987)
• "Decet" for wind quintet and string quintet (1987-88)
• "Concerto for organs and string orchestra no. 2" (1987-88)
• "Sonata for viola and piano" (1987-88)
• "Aria" for viola and organ (1988)
• "Flute Quintet" (1988)
• "Symphony no. 3" (1989)
• "Concerto for viola, organ and orchestra" (1989-90)
• "Sequence" for organs (1990)
• "Lauda Sion", dialogues for organ and harp (1990)
• "Ave Maria" for mixed choir and organ (1991)
• "Concerto for cello and chamber ensemble" (1991)
• "Andante calmato" for cello and organ (1991)
• "Symphony no. 4" (1992)
• "Psalm 150 Laudate dominum" for 5 solo voices or a 5-part mixed choir and organ (1993)
• "Caprice" for solo clarinet (1995)
• "Andante" for violin and viola (1996)