Composer. Often cited with Krzystof Penderecki and Henryk Gorecki as a leader of Poland's post-World War II musical avant-garde. Born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland, he began music studies during the Nazi occupation and afterwards at the State College of Music in Warsaw (1947 to 1951). His early compositions, including the First and Second Symphonies (1950, 1952), a Piano Concerto (1949), and the Concerto for Orchestra (1953), adhered to "socialist realism" dictates under Stalinism, but after 1956 he embraced serialist technique with a vengeance. Baird's "Four Essays for Orchestra" (1958) won first prize at the UNESCO International Composers' Tribunal in Paris. He also founded the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, first held in 1956. Notable among his opuses are "Four Love Sonnets" (texts by Shakespeare, 1956), the String Quartet" (1957), "Variations without a Theme for Orchestra" (1962), "Sinfonia Breve" (1968), Symphony No. 3 (1969), "Concerto Lugubre" (1975), and "Voices from Afar - three songs for baritone and orchestra" (1981). In the 1970s Baird settled into a more conservative style, emphasizing the lyrical element and respect for tradition that was always present in his work. "Musical opinion calls me a 'romantic', and I admit to it", he said in an interview shortly before his death at 53. "I do not belong with people who like to ruin and destroy".
Composer. Often cited with Krzystof Penderecki and Henryk Gorecki as a leader of Poland's post-World War II musical avant-garde. Born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland, he began music studies during the Nazi occupation and afterwards at the State College of Music in Warsaw (1947 to 1951). His early compositions, including the First and Second Symphonies (1950, 1952), a Piano Concerto (1949), and the Concerto for Orchestra (1953), adhered to "socialist realism" dictates under Stalinism, but after 1956 he embraced serialist technique with a vengeance. Baird's "Four Essays for Orchestra" (1958) won first prize at the UNESCO International Composers' Tribunal in Paris. He also founded the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, first held in 1956. Notable among his opuses are "Four Love Sonnets" (texts by Shakespeare, 1956), the String Quartet" (1957), "Variations without a Theme for Orchestra" (1962), "Sinfonia Breve" (1968), Symphony No. 3 (1969), "Concerto Lugubre" (1975), and "Voices from Afar - three songs for baritone and orchestra" (1981). In the 1970s Baird settled into a more conservative style, emphasizing the lyrical element and respect for tradition that was always present in his work. "Musical opinion calls me a 'romantic', and I admit to it", he said in an interview shortly before his death at 53. "I do not belong with people who like to ruin and destroy".
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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TADEUSZ BAIRD
1928 - 1981
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