The Prague Post
December 1st, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

A bond forged in flames

Memorial concert links pivotal figures in Czech, Polish history
Stage Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 3rd, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Four months before Jan Palach, Ryszard Siwiec staged a fiery, suicidal protest at a packed stadium in Warsaw.
National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice


When: Sunday, Sept. 7, at 8
Where: Rudolfinum
Tickets: 440-600 Kč, available at the venue
Everyone in Central Europe knows of Jan Palach, the Czech student whose despair over the Soviet-led invasion of August 1968 drove him to commit suicide by setting himself on fire on Wenceslas Square in January 1969. But few people outside of Poland know that a similar fiery protest took place in Warsaw four months earlier.
Ryszard Siwiec, a 60-year-old accountant horrified over Poland’s participation in the invasion, set himself on fire as a political protest Sept. 8, 1968. It was a desperate act, but well-targeted: He was at the harvest festival celebration in Dziesięciolecia Stadium, a showcase event for the communists that attracted foreign dignitaries and nearly 100,000 spectators. Like Palach, Siwiec died in a hospital several days later.
Though he left both written and tape-recorded statements explaining the reasons for his self-immolation, they were suppressed by the communists, who were able to portray Siwiec as a victim of mental illness. It wasn’t until Palach’s suicide made worldwide headlines four months later that interest in Siwiec’s death developed, and the truth came out.
In a fitting complement to this season of 40th anniversary commemorations, Siwiec is being honored in Prague on Sunday with a concert performance by one of Poland’s finest orchestras, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice. Leading the orchestra will be 31-year-old Polish conductor Łukasz Borowicz, who was in town recently making preparations for the performance. Over coffee at Café Slavia, he talked about the program that he chose.
“I asked myself what would be best for a solemn occasion like this,” Borowicz said. “I felt it had to have three elements: Music dedicated to the events of 1968; contemporary works, somehow similar in character, from Poland and the Czech Republic; and one universal work, an international symbol of humanity’s desire to be free.”
The first came from Karel Husa, a Pulitzer Prize–winning Czech composer who left the country in 1948 and went on to build a brilliant international career. His Music for Prague 1968, written as a recounting of and reaction to the invasion, has become a standard work in the modern repertoire, played thousands of times around the world before Husa returned to Prague to conduct it in February, 1990. It’s filled with sounds of alarm — church bells, trombones imitating air-raid sirens, oboes tapping out Morse code — capped by a theme of resistance and hope, originally from a 15th-century Hussite song, though better-known for Smetana’s use of it in his Ma Vlast cycle.
“I’ve been in touch with Husa and found him to be a very open-minded person, very nice to young people,” Borowicz said. “The contact makes the situation extraordinary; now the music is really close to me.”
For the second piece, Borowicz turned to Polish composer Tadeusz Baird, one of the founders of Warsaw Autumn, a contemporary music festival started during the 1950s that became fertile meeting ground for Polish and Czech composers. “I talked to a number of Czech composers who told me how significant it was for them to go to the Warsaw festival every year,” Borowicz said.
From Baird’s many works, Borowicz chose Concerto Lugubre, written in 1975 as a requiem for the composer’s mother, who died the previous year. It’s one of the few concertos written for viola, a dark-toned instrument that reinforces the somber tone of the work. The soloist will be Ryszard Groblewski, 25, Poland’s most promising young viola player and already the winner of several prestigious international competitions.
And for the close, Borowicz settled on Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, with its themes of courage, despair and heroic triumph. “It was one of the few pieces that were allowed to be played in the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation,” Borowicz noted. “So it’s always been close to Polish hearts as an expression of freedom.”
This concert represents a significant bridge in Czech-Polish relations, and a linking of two tragic events that hold a special place in each country’s heart. But for all the emotion connected with Siwiec, Palach and the music, there will probably be no more emotional person in the hall that night than Borowicz.
“I’ve always dreamed about conducting in Prague, especially at a prestigious place like the Rudolfinum,” he said. “When I think of all the famous conductors and composers who have been in that hall … well, it’s an honor to bring Polish music here.”

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (3/09/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.