Lutosławski died in Warsaw on February 7, 1994 at the age of 81, and was buried at the city's historic Powązki Cemetery.
The late American composer Steven Stucky wrote in 2013: "In life a person of refined manners … and great reserve about expressing his feelings (even in private), in his music Lutosławski could be deeply emotional."
Stucky added: "That combination, surface polish and powerful depths, is surely one reason that Lutosławski the man was so beloved in life and that Lutosławski the composer remains so beloved after he has gone. When he died in Warsaw in February 1994, he had been a composer for 75 years, from the age of six. He had 'caught' lots of souls in those 75 years. And, given the timeless, classic quality of his best works and the rigorous standard of artistic integrity he set himself, one suspects that he will be finding still more soul-mates … for many years to come."
Born in Warsaw in 1913, Lutosławski studied piano and composition with Jerzy Lefeld and Witold Maliszewski at the city's music conservatory. During World War II, he made a living playing in a piano duo in Warsaw cafes with fellow composer Andrzej Panufnik. His youthful compositions were destroyed during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
In his music, Lutosławski forged a highly personal idiom. While being an avant-garde composer, he created music that was accessible to wide audiences. He also developed a fine international career as a conductor of his own compositions.
Lutosławski’s output includes a wide variety of genres: four symphonies, Concerto for Orchestra, Musique funebre for string orchestra, Livre pour orchestre, the Cello Concerto, Preludes and Fugue for strings, Grave for cello and piano, 17 Polish Christmas Carols, the Piano Concerto, Chantefleurs et Chantefables for soprano and orchestra, and Subito for violin and piano.
Lutosławski was a member of several academies, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
He held honorary doctoral degrees from many universities in Poland and abroad. He also received the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish state distinction.
In the reminiscences of his friends, Lutosławski was described as an erudite fluent in several languages and keen to read the classics in the original.
He was always impeccably dressed and had a sense of humour. He did not like to talk about the message of his music. After a concert in Australia, a woman came up to him and said that his Chain series of compositions, dating from the 1980s, reminded her of the chains of communist oppression.
"I indeed had chains in mind, Madam," Lutosławski was said to have responded, "but the paper chains to decorate a Christmas tree."
(mk/gs)