Grażyna Bacewicz composed the
First String Quartet in 1938. Its premiere took place in 1939 in Paris, where Bacewicz studied composition (under the academic supervision of Nadia Boulanger), and violin (under the supervision of André Touret and Carl Flesch). The
Second, finished in 1943, was created in the burning, war-time Warsaw. The
Third (1947),
Fourth (1947), and
Fifth (1955) were written in the era of socialist realism, an epoch of unease for many artists looking for their form of expression. The
Sixth (1960), presented during the 4th edition of the Warsaw Autumn festival, appeared together with new music in Poland and referred to dodecaphony. The last,
Seventh String Quartet was finished in 1965, and a year later was performed for the first time by the Bulgarian Dimoy Quartet at Łańcut Castle.
In an introductory text to the album, Adrian Thomas wrote:
Bacewicz, similarly to her better known colleagues, such as
Witold Lutosławski or
Andrzej Panufnik, focuses not only on the traumas caused by the war and politics of their times, but also changes of style occuring in 20th century music. Her string quartets are a barometer of these alterations.
Grażyna Bacewicz was born to a Polish-Lithuanian family in 1909 in Łódź. First she studied music (piano, violin, and composition) in her hometown, later in Warsaw (composition in the class of Kazimierz Sikorski, violin under the supervision of Józef Jarzębski, and piano under the supervision of Józef Turczyński). Subsequently, she continued her studies in Paris.
Before she became a distinguished composer, Bacewicz turned out to be a successful violinist. In 1935 she was distinguished during the 1st edition of the international Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. Bacewicz also co-operated with the
National Polish Radio Symphonic Orchestra, established by
Grzegorz Fitelberg, where she was the first violinist. Work in the orchestra gave the artist a chance to enrich her knowledge about instrumentation. In the 1950s she devoted herself exclusively to composition and teaching.
Bacewicz is one of the few female Polish composers. String music holds a vital place in her work. Apart from the string quartets, she also wrote seven violin concertos, two cello concertos, a viola concerto, five violin and piano sonatas, and two violin sonatas.