ew and certainly not a foreshadowing of the mature musical language he would later use, the control of form and color which is a major element in the composer's mature works is already evident. To receive his diploma in composition from the Warsaw Conservatory, Lutoslawski wrote two requiem movements. One, the Requiem Aeternum, was his first composition with chorus. Unfortunately, like so much of his early work, it has been lost. The second, a Lacrymosa for soprano and orchestra, survives in manuscript and has even been published in an arrangement for voice and organ.
Shortly after receiving his diploma, Lutoslawski began work on what was to be his first major composition, the Symphonic Variations. Completed in 1938, the Variations were quite a contrast in style and language from his earlier student compositions. In the Variations, Lutoslawski gave free reign to his developing sense of harmony, color and texture. Although his teacher, Maliszewski, told the young composer that he did not like the piece, he never said it was a bad piece of music. Indeed, this piece showed a remarkable command of form, color, texture, and orchestration. The harmonic language was basically tonal, with some polychordal sections. Although Lutoslawski's early influences were of the romantic school, like Szymanowski and Maliszewski, he was beginning to find his own unique musical language. This was ultimately just a small step along the road to his mature musical vocabulary.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and the first in a series of political changes that were to shape Polish culture began. The new, more experimental Polish composers were forced to go underground. Lutoslawski made his living primarily by playing piano in cafTs. Much of his playing during this time was done in collaboration with his old Conservatory classmate, Andrzej Panafnik, in a piano duo. Strangely enough, this period produced the Variations on a T...