Warren [Warren-Horne], (Edmund) Thomas

Warren [Warren-Horne], (Edmund) Thomas

He spent much of his life acquiring, copying and publishing music, both for the Catch Club and for his own benefit. He was responsible for the most complete collection of glees, canons, catches and madrigals published in the 18th century, which became known as ‘Warren’s Collection’ and was a standard source of such music for many years. In addition to hundreds of contemporary pieces it contained a number of older works. The Apollonian Harmony, probably also compiled by Warren, contained many 16th-century madrigals. His most ambitious effort, however, was a large anthology of Renaissance choral music in six volumes. 100 copies were projected in 1777, but after the proofs of the first volume had been printed the printer, Mary Welcker, broke the agreement; a copy of the proofs survives in the British Library. It is nothing less than astonishing for its date, embracing works by Isaac, Josquin, La Rue, Janequin, Clemens non Papa, Arcadelt, Rore, Marenzio, Vecchi and Wilbye. In Day’s words, Warren ‘came close to publishing the first large Denkmäler series’; Hyatt King called it ‘a late eighteenth-century equivalent of the historical anthology of Davison and Apel’. Warren also composed a few glees and catches of minor importance; most are included in his own published collections.

EDITIONS

A Collection of Catches, Canons and Glees, i–xxxii (London, ?1763–94)

A Collection of Vocal Harmony, i–ii (London, c1775)

Apollonian Harmony: a Collection of Scarce and Celebrated Glees, Catches, Madrigals, Canzonets, Rounds and Canons … Most of which are sung at the Nobleman’s Catch Club, i–vi (London, c1790)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY

Warrock, Thomas

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALAN BROWN

Warsaw

Capital city of Poland. Before 1526 it was the residence of the dukes of Mazovia and from 1596 the kings of Poland. It was taken by the Swedes in 1655–6 and 1702 and the Russians in 1794, passed to Prussia in 1795, and became part of Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 and of the Congress Kingdom from 1815; after the collapse of the November Uprising (1831) the Congress Kingdom lost its independence and was part of the Russian Empire until 1917. In 1919 Warsaw was again capital of reconstituted Poland. In World War II the city was almost completely destroyed and its population much reduced; rebuilding continued into the 1970s.

BARBARA PRZYBYSZEWSKA-JARMIŃSKA (1–3), ZOFIA CHECHLIŃSKA (4–6)

1. To 1596.

The earliest information on the court music of the dukes of Mazovia dates from the 14th century. In the second decade of the 15th century Stanisław Ciołek, author of many religious and secular texts, was active at the court of King Władysław Jagietto. Treatises dating from about 1440 in nearby Ciechanów testify that the concept of Ars Nova was known there (PL-Wn). In 1501 the chapel of Duke Konrad of Mazovia appeared in Kraków at the court of Sigismund (later King Sigismund I). It is also known that the lutenist Mikołaj Barzy was active at the Warsaw court of Duke Janusz III (c1526). The Mazovian bagpipes were renowned throughout Poland and there were many players in Warsaw, often engaged for family celebrations. From 1507 there also existed a literary brotherhood that sang at the church of St John.

After the death of Duke Janusz in 1526 and the annexation of Mazovia to Poland, the royal family stayed mainly in Warsaw and artistic and musical life developed at the court. In 1578, during the wedding of Jan Zamoyski and Krystyna Radziwiłł in the Ujazdów Palace, the drama Odprawa posłów greckich (‘The Dispatch of the Greek Envoys’) by Jan Kochanowski was performed; the final ode ‘Orfeusz Sarmacki’, for voice with lute accompaniment, was composed by the director of the royal chapel, Krzysztof Klabon.

Warsaw

2. 1596–1697.

Before 1603 the royal vocal and instrumental chapel was divided into two groups: the Polish musicians were directed by Klabon and the Italians by Luca Marenzio (c1595–7), Klabon (c1597–1601) and Giulio Cesare Gabussi (1601–2). In 1603 the two groups were combined. After this date the chapel consisted of between about 30 and 40 musicians, the majority of whom were Italians. It was directed successively by Asprilio Pacelli (1602–23), Giovanni Francesco Anerio (c1624–30), Marco Scacchi (1632–49), Bartłomiej Pękiel (informally from 1649, formally c1653–5) and Jacek Różycki (1657–96), who subsequently became maestro di cappella of the chapel of King August II.

During the reign of the Vasas kings, music at the Polish court reached its zenith. Famous musicians active at the court of Sigismund III (d 1632) included the organists Vincenzo Bertholusi, Giovanni Valentini (i), Tarquinio Merula and Angelo Simonelli, and the singers Francesco Rasi and Pellegrino Muti. At the court of Władisław IV (1632–48) were the singers Baldassare Ferri, Kaspar Förster, Margharita Basile-Cattaneo (sister of Andreana Basile-Baroni) and Vincenzo Scapitta. The chapel performed in the royal castle and in various churches and palaces.

The first known opera performance in Warsaw took place in 1628; Acis was an anonymous work, also known as Galatea (only a Polish summary of the text survives). During the reign of Władisław IV operas were frequently performed in the theatre in the royal castle; seven drammi per musica were given by the royal chapel between 1635 and 1641. Most of the librettos were written by the singer and royal secretary, Virgilio Puccitelli, and the music was by various members of the royal chapel under the direction of Marco Scacchi. Ballets were also frequently given at court celebrations, often with the participation of the king and queen. A lengthy interruption in the performance of opera and in musical life generally was caused by the Swedish invasion of 1655. During the reign of Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki (1669–73), at least one opera, La caduta del gran capitano Belisario, with text by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini and music by an unknown composer, was performed at the court. In 1691, during the reign of John III, in the rebuilt theatre in the royal castle, the première took place of the opera Per goder in amor ci vuol Costanza, composed by the royal musician Viviano Agostini (libretto by Giovanni Battista Lampugnani).

During Advent and Lent, Latin sacred dialogues were performed instead of operas; for instance, Bartłomiej Pękiel's Audite mortales, dialogues by Kaspar Förstev jr (pupil of Giacome Carissimi) and Philippe Friedrich Buchner. Sacred choral (including polychoral) works were sung in Warsaw churches; some of these works, composed by royal musicians at the turn of the 17th century, were published in the collection prepared by Wincenty Lilius, Melodiae sacrae (Kraków, 1604). The repertory of the royal chapel consisted partly of works by the maestri di cappella and musicians connected with the chapel, and partly of music by leading Italian and, especially after 1648, French and other composers. Among Polish musicians active at the royal court during the 17th century were Adam Jarzębski, composer of instrumental canzoni e concerti and a partially preserved mass, Marcin Mielczewski, who composed masses, church concertos and canzonas, Pękiel (author of Missa pulcherrima and monumental Missa ‘La Lombardesca’) and Jacek Różycki. These composers also wrote secular music, most of which is now lost. Scacchi wrote a number of theoretical works at the royal court during the 1640s, including Cribrum musicum (Venice, 1643), a treatise containing a critical examination of the psalms of Paul Siefert. In Xenia apollinea, a musical appendix to the treatise, Scacchi inserted short music examples in contrapuntal style composed by 49 members of the royal chapel then active in Warsaw.

It is known for certain that three churches had their own musical establishments in the 17th century: the collegiate church of St John, where a fine new organ was built in 1617, the Augustinian church of St Martin, whose organ dates from 1619 and whose first organist was Izajasz of Bochnia, and, from 1626, the Jesuit church. According to the description of Warsaw in rhyme by Adam Jarzębski, organs also existed by 1643 in the churches of St Anne, St Anthony (in the Praga district), the Holy Spirit and St Mary the Virgin. Among local organ builders were Albert Chrostkowski (or Gostkowski), Tomasz Gogola, Andrzej Lochmann and Jan Złocki.

3. 1697–1795.

During the Saxon period Warsaw's operatic life became more active. In 1748 the Operalnia (the so-called Saxon theatre) opened as the first public opera house in Poland, playing without charge to the nobility and citizens alike. Operas, mostly Italian, were presented there twice a week. Between 1754 and 1763 at least 11 of Hasse's operas were performed in Warsaw (Zenobia had it's première there). Hasse himself visited the city with his wife Faustina Bordoni, certainly from autumn 1762 until spring 1763 and probably in the summers of 1759 and 1760. During Lent oratorios were performed in Warsaw churches.

During the reign of the last Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski (1764–95), the royal chapel was reformed as a court and theatre orchestra. The first conductors were Gaetano (Kajetan Majer, 1764) and Mattia Gherard (1765–7). In the spring of 1767 artistic activity in Warsaw was suspended for political reasons. During the next few years music for special court occasions was organized by Gaetano. In 1774 the public theatre reopened with the theatre orchestra conducted by Giuseppe Pasqua (1774–6) and Gaetano (1776–81). Between 1779 and 1781 a small ensemble of Czech musicians directed by Jan Stefani was active at the royal court. In 1781 the court and theatre orchestra was reconstituted, with about 30 musicians, conducted by Gaetano (1781, 1787–c1790), Gioacchino Albertini (1782–4), Pietro Perischini (1784–7), Stefano Ghinassi (1790–91), Antoni Hart (1791), Giuseppe Cervellini (1791–?). The last director of the orchestra, before its dissolution in 1795, was the Czech Antoni Weinert, who was also a composer.

During the 18th century an increasing number of Polish magnates maintained their own chapels, often consisting of musicians who also performed at the royal court and in the opera house. Magnates who kept chapels in the first half of the century included Teodor Potocki, Adam Poniński, Jan Skarbek, Janusz Antoni Wiśniowiecki and Józef Potocki, and in the second half of the century Fryderyk Michał Czartoryski, Antoni and Piotr Dunin, Jerzy Albert Mniszech, Krzysztof Antoni Szembek, Michat Wielhorski and M.K. Ogiński.

Apart from concerts in the royal castle and the Łazienki Park, private concerts were organized in the magnates' palaces. The first public concerts took place in the 1760s, and from 1779 concerts were organized in the new National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy). Foreign virtuosos who performed in Warsaw included the violinists Lolli, Pugnani and Viotti, the clarinettist Anton Stadler and the pianists J.L. Dussek and Joseph Wölfl. Paisiello stayed in Warsaw in 1784, when his oratorio La passione di Gesù Cristo was performed in the palace theatre during Lent. Cimarosa and Martín y Soler also visited the city.

On 11 July 1778 the first opera to a Polish libretto was publicly performed, Nędza uszczęśliwiona (‘Misery made Happy’) by Maciej Kamieński. Eight further works by Kamieński, all with strong Polish folk elements, received their premières between 1779 and 1795. From 1779 most operas were performed in the new National Theatre on Krasiński Place. Financial difficulties caused it to close in 1784, but from 1790 to 1794 a new ensemble was active under the direction of Wojciech Bogusławski (see fig.1). Operas were also given in the royal Łazienki Palace, in the palace's amphitheatre and Orangery, and (from 1770) in the royal Ujazdów Palace. Apart from many Polish works, notably the popular folk opera Cud mniemany czyli Krakowiacy i górale (‘The Supposed Miracle, or Kracovians and Highlanders’) by Jan Stefani, operas by Gluck, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Pergolesi, Mozart, Salieri and others were performed in Warsaw in the two decades before the partition of Poland in 1795.

In the second half of the 18th century native and foreign composers active in Warsaw also wrote symphonies, oratorios, sacred and secular cantatas and religious and patriotic works; among the latter the programmatic keyboard polonaises of M.K. Ogiński gained wide popularity. In the final decades of the century there were two music schools in Warsaw, and music was also taught at the Collegium Nobilium and in the monasteries of the Piarists and Theatines. In the 1770s the first music engraver, Jan Engel, and in 1787 the first music printer, Piotr Zawadzki, began working in Warsaw.

Warsaw

4. 1795–1918.

The first few years of the Prussian occupation saw a collapse of cultural life. Many of the city's inhabitants left, and the National Theatre was closed down by the Prussian authorities. In 1799 the theatre reopened with Józef Elsner as music director; in 1833 the opera company moved to the new Teatr Wielki (Wielki Theatre). The company's repertory during the period of Prussian occupation included works by Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi, Salieri, Cherubini, Mozart and Elsner. The auditorium of the National Theatre was also used for concerts given by musicians from Poland and abroad. In 1805, on the initiative of a group of Prussian administrators, a music society was established in Warsaw. Among the society's founding members, apart from many Poles, was E.T.A. Hoffmann, who was in Warsaw at that time. The society organized concerts (including the first performance in Warsaw of a Beethoven symphony), promoted music teaching and presented lectures on music. Its activities were ended by the arrival of Napoleon's troops in 1806. During the Napoleonic wars the repertory of the opera became dominated by the works of French composers (notably Dalayrac, Berton, Boieldieu and Paer), together with an increasing number of operas by Polish composers, such as Elsner and Kurpiński. From 1810 Kurpiński was second director of the opera, and after Elsner's resignation in 1824 Kurpiński became director, a position which he held until 1840.

The greatest flowering of culture, including music, in Warsaw occurred in the years between 1815 and 1830. Various types of educational institution were developed, including the Warsaw Lyceum, whose teaching staff included many professors from the university. Chopin was an alumnus of the Lyceum. In 1816 the university was founded. From the earliest years of the 19th century there had been attempts to open a public, professional music school. In 1811 the Warsaw Szkoła Dramatyczna (School of Drama), for actors and singers, was established at the National Theatre. In 1821, after many phases of reorganization, the Instytut Muzyki i Deklamacji (Institute for Music and Declamation) was created, becoming part of a department of fine arts within Warsaw University; the first director was Elsner. In 1826 the conservatory was subdivided into the Szkoła Główna Muzyki (Conservatory), devoted to theory, composition and instrumental performance and attached to the university, and a separate Szkoła Dramatyczna i Śpiewu (School of Drama and Singing), directed by C.E. Soliva from 1827. Both schools were closed in 1831 after the failure of the November Uprising. In spite of the relatively short period of its activity, the impact of the conservatory was enormous. Besides Chopin the school's graduates from this period included many others who were to become significant figures in music, among them Dobrzyński, T.N. Nidecki, Antoni Orłowski, August Freyer and Józef Sikorski.

At the Warsaw Opera, apart from operas by Polish composers, the repertory included works by Italian (above all Rossini and Cherubini), French (Boieldieu, Auber) and German composers (notably Weber's Der Freischütz). Concerts were dominated by soloists and chamber ensembles, and usually took the form of a loosely assembled programme of concert pieces by different performers. Besides Polish performers (such as Maria Agata Szymanowska, Lipiński and Chopin), Warsaw concerts presented the most celebrated European musicians, including Angelica Catalani (1819–20), J.N. Hummel (1828) and Paganini (1829). Concerts took place in the National Theatre and also in the halls of other institutions, including the Resursa Kupiecka (Merchants' Club, opened in 1820), which became one of the main centres of the city's concert life during the 19th century. From 1817 there were cycles of subscription concerts in such venues as the Merchants' Club and the Towarzystwo Dobroczynności (Charity Society, 1823); weekly chamber concerts were held in the Merchants' Club from 1830. Warsaw's musical life was stimulated by the foundation of several music societies. In 1814 Elsner initiated the Towarzystwo Muzyki Religijnej i Narodowej (Society of the Friends of Religious and National Music), which also organized concert series, in one of which, in 1825, Beethoven's Mass in C major was performed. In 1817 150 members of the society formed the Towarzystwo Amatorskie Muzyczne (Amateur Music Society). Throughout the 19th century Warsaw lacked a permanent orchestra other than the opera orchestra. Consequently, larger orchestral works were infrequently performed. This was the principal difference between concert life in Warsaw and that in the other major European musical centres.

In 1820–21 Kurpiński published in Warsaw the first Polish music journal, Tygodnik muzyczny (‘Musical Weekly’). Music publishing developed from the beginning of the 19th century. In 1803 Elsner opened a lithographic press, through which he published the series Wybór pięknych dzieł muzycznych i pieśni polskich (‘Selected Beauties of Music and Polish Songs’, 1803–5), consisting of pieces intended for amateurs. Music publishers from this period included I.J. Cybulski, Franciszek Klukowski and Antoni Brzezina, who published the two rondos of Chopin, opp.1 and 5. Most of the publications comprised piano miniatures, fashionable dances, operatic extracts, songs and works written for teaching purposes. Music published abroad was also available in Warsaw; in 1829 Brzezina imported to Poland all the published works of Beethoven. The growth in the city's musical life, and above all the spread of amateur music making, brought with it an increasing need for musical instruments. Warsaw was home to firms producing string instruments, guitars, wind instruments and, above all, pianos. The most celebrated piano manufacturers during the first 30 years of the 19th century were Antoni Leszczyński and Fryderyk Buchholz. Chopin had a piano by Buchholz in his Warsaw apartment.

The main musical figures in Warsaw during this period were Elsner and Kurpiński. They were also active as composers, writing operas for the Warsaw stage, composing cantatas for various special occasions in the city and creating works in other genres, many of which had their first performance in Warsaw. Other significant musicians included Józef Stefani, Soliva and Franciszek Lessel. Chopin's career began during this period, as did the careers of other pupils of Elsner, such as Dobrzyński.

After the failure of the November Uprising in 1831 most of Warsaw's intelligentsia emigrated. The Kingdom of Poland lost its autonomy and came under the direct administration of the government in St Petersburg, which tightened the existing mechanism of censorship. Although Warsaw University, the conservatory and other educational institutions were closed by the authorities, efforts were made, not least by teachers and graduates of Elsner's school, to sustain musical activity in the city. The central position in the city's musical life was still occupied by the Warsaw Opera at the Wielki Theatre (fig.2). After Kurpiński's departure in 1840 the company's directors included Nidecki (1840–52), J.L. Quattrini (1858–93), Moniuszko (1858–72), Minchheimer (1882–90), Cezar Trombini (1875–81 and from 1891), Josef Rebicek (1883–91) and Emil Młynarski (1898–1903). The repertory was dominated by Italian composers, above all, Verdi, whose operas proved very popular, and by French or French-domiciled composers, especially Meyerbeer. Operas by Polish composers, among them Moniuszko, Żeleński, Statkowski, Noskowski and Paderewski, were also given. German operas were rarely performed. Prior to 1918 the only Wagner operas to be performed in Warsaw were Lohengrin (1879), Tannhäuser (1883), Die Walküre (1903) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1909).

Music teaching after 1830 was mainly in private homes. Music was, however, taught at the School of Singing at the Wielki Theatre (1835–41), directed by Kurpiński, at special courses in choral singing at the Merchants' Club (1835) and at the music school of the Institute for the Blind (from 1842). After protracted attempts to gain the approval of the Russian authorities, the Music Institute began its activities in 1861 as an institution for the training of professional musicians. Its first director (to 1879) was Apolinary Kątski. The school went through several phases of restructuring and was subsequently renamed the Warsaw Conservatory (from 1915), the Higher Music School (from 1946) and, from 1979, the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music. The Music Institute had its own chorus and orchestra drawn from its students, and these groups gave public concerts. In addition, from 1887 Stanisław Barcewicz organized chamber concerts given by professors of the institute. Among the professors a central role was played by Noskowski, who taught composition from 1888 to 1909; his students included most of the Polish composers of the next generation. In 1884 a music school was opened under the auspices of the Warsaw Music Society.

After the failure of the November Uprising there were fewer concerts given in public halls, but this was offset by an increase in the number of concerts given in churches. These church performances included large-scale choral works such as Haydn's Die Sieben letzten Worte, which was given in Warsaw Cathedral in 1834. From 1836 to 1838 a weekly series of concerts was directed by J.W. Krogulski at the Piarists' church. In these concerts professional musicians were joined by many amateur performers to perform works such as Elsner's oratorio Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. During the 1830s there were also weekly concerts at the new Merchants' Club, at one of which, in 1834, Haydn's The Creation was performed. The same year a permanent string quartet was established at the Merchants' Club; its regular concerts included complete multi-movement works, a new practice in Warsaw's concert life. From the mid-1830s many renowned Polish and foreign artists appeared in Warsaw, among them Vieuxtemps, Giuditta Pasta, Liszt, Henryk and Józef Wieniawski, Anton Rubinstein and Paderewski. In the second half of the 1850s there was some loosening of political control by the Russian authorities and a corresponding increase in musical activities. In 1856 a new concert hall was built in the Dolina Szwajcarska where foreign, and especially German, orchestras performed.

In the second half of the 19th century a number of professional symphony orchestras were founded (among them one by Dobrzyński in 1856 and one by Noskowski in 1881), but their lack of funds meant that they lasted only a few years. This situation changed only in 1901 with the creation of the Warsaw PO. From that date there were regular orchestral concerts whose programmes increasingly featured contemporary works. From 1906 there were a series of concerts devoted to music by the group of composers known as Młoda Polska (Young Poland), represented by Szymanowski, Grzegorz Fitelberg, Ludomir Różycki and Apolinary Szeluto. In 1871 the Warsaw Music Society was established on the initiative of W. Wiślicki. Among the founding members were Moniuszko, Józef Sikorski, Józef Wieniawski and Jan Kleczyński. The society organized numerous concerts and had its own choirs and an amateur string orchestra, to which were added at the beginning of the 20th century chamber and vocal ensembles and a small symphony orchestra. From 1884 it supported a music school, which was initially directed by Noskowski and later by Minchheimer. By the beginning of the 20th century the school had attained a status comparable with the Music Institute. An important aspect of the society's activities was the collection of manuscripts and other materials of Polish composers, and the creation of the first museum of Polish musical culture. In 1897 it expanded its activities to include the publication of the works of Moniuszko, and in 1910 it started publishing the works of Karłowicz.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there was a flourishing of amateur choirs in Warsaw. The most important of these were Lutnia, established in 1886 and directed for nearly 50 years by Piotr Maszyński, Echo (1898) and Harfa. The repertory of these choirs consisted mainly of male partsongs, as in the German Liedertafel. The development of these choirs brought a need for works for such ensembles. One of the significant composers for this medium was Maszyński.

In the second half of the 19th century two important musical journals were established in Warsaw: Ruch muzyczny (‘Musical Movement’), edited from 1857 to 1862 by Sikorski; and Echo muzyczne (‘Musical Echo’), later known as Echo muzyczne, teatralne i artystyczne, edited from 1877 to 1907 by Kleczyński and others. The most significant music critics were Józef Sikorski, Antoni Sygietyński, Józef Kenig, Maurycy Karasowski and Jan Kleczyński. From the beginning of the 19th century there was a growing interest in early Polish music. In 1807 Elsner had begun to collect source materials, and a few years later Kurpiński began to do likewise, publishing some of his materials in Tygodnik muzyczny. In 1818 the Pamiętnik warszawski (‘Warsaw Diary’) published the Poczet muzyków (‘Fellowship of Musicians’) by Ignacy Potocki, which was the first published dictionary devoted to Polish music. Sikorski, through his writings for Ruch muzyczny, presented ways and methods of collecting historical materials. 1860 saw the publication in Warsaw of Kazimierz Łada's Historia muzyki, the first book devoted to the history of music in Poland. Warsaw's important music-publishing firms in the second half of the 19th century were Sennewald, Friedlein, and Gebethner & Wolff. They published predominantly Polish works, the majority piano pieces and songs. The most important composers active in Warsaw at that time were Moniuszko, Żeleński, Noskowski, Wieniawski, Pankiewicz, Karłowicz and Statkowski.

5. 1918–45.

Concert life in Warsaw between the wars was very lively. The Warsaw PO, directed from 1923 to 1934 by Fitelberg, performed works from the classical symphonic repertory and contemporary works. For example, between 1923 and 1925 the Polish premières were given of Honegger's Pacific 231, and Le roi David, Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Piano Concerto, and Malipiero's Impressioni dal vero; there were also numerous premières of Polish works. Performers included the most eminent Polish musicians and numerous leading artists from abroad. The Society of the Friends of Early Music, founded in 1926, organized concerts of early music, and a wide range of concerts was organized by the conservatory, which reopened in 1919 and was directed, successively, by Młynarski (1919–22), Melcer-Szczawiński (1922–7), Szymanowski (1927–9) and Eugeniusz Morawski-Dąbrowa (1932–9). The conservatory was closely associated with the musical life of the city and its teachers included many of those actively involved in the city's concert life. The music school of the Warsaw Music Society was named after Chopin (from 1919). From 1928 it was directed by Wieniawski, who inaugurated the first Wieniawski Violin Competition in 1935. Before World War II three Chopin competitions took place in Warsaw (in 1927, 1932 and 1937). The programming at the Warsaw Opera became more adventurous after World War I, with Polish works occupying an important place in the repertory. Many premières of Polish ballets and operas were given, including Szymanowski's Hagith (1922) and Król Roger (1926). In addition there were performances of Wagner's operas, some of which were performed for the first time in Poland, Beethoven's Fidelio and many of Mozart's operas. After 1931 the opera went through a period of financial crisis, as a result of which the repertory again became more conservative.

Among the numerous musical societies active in Warsaw during this period were the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne (Warsaw Music Society) and the Polish Society for Contemporary Music. In 1930 the Stowarzyszenie Kompozytorów Polskich (Association of Polish Composers) was formed. The previous year Towarzystwo Wydawnicze Muzyki Polskiej (Polish Music Publishing Society), the first Polish publishing house devoted exclusively to music, was established. In 1934 the Instytut Fryderyka Chopina was formed to collect materials for the projected complete edition of Chopin's works. During the interwar period many amateur choirs remained active in Warsaw. Various musical journals were published in Warsaw, among them Muzyka (1924–38), Muzyka polska (1934–9), Muzyka współczesna (‘Contemporary Music’, 1936–9), Kwartalnik muzyczny (‘Musical Quarterly’, 1928–33) and Polski rocznik muzykologiczny (‘Polish Musicological Yearbook’, 1935–6).

The outbreak of World War II destroyed the city's musical life. All institutions of higher education, including the conservatory, the Warsaw PO and the Warsaw Opera were closed, and the publication of books, journals and music forbidden. It was also forbidden to perform any works by Chopin or Moniuszko. Most of the manuscripts and printed volumes in the city's libraries were burnt, including the autograph score of Szymanowski's ballet Harnasie, and autograph scores by Karłowicz. In spite of restrictions, musicians gathered in secret societies and organized clandestine concerts. Orchestral concerts took place in the conservatory from 1942 to 1944. Above all, musical life was sustained in cafés and through concerts in private houses, hundreds of which were given during the course of each year. The repertory for these concerts consisted mainly of chamber pieces and solo works. There were also performances in churches. The only ‘official’ music school was the so-called Staatliche Musikschule, which was intended to provide teaching at a basic level, but which in reality provided a full conservatory programme. In addition to this there was also an underground conservatory which taught piano, singing and music theory. In each of these schools there were professors from the pre-war conservatory. Many of the works written during the war by Warsaw composers were destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The most characteristic musical manifestation of the resistance was the development of street songs with strong political overtones.

6. From 1945.

From 1956 there was a gradual thaw in Poland's cultural climate, with a resulting increase in international musical contacts. Western artists who visited the city included Yehudi Menuhin (1957), the Cleveland Orchestra under Szell (1957), the Hallé Orchestra under Barbirolli (1958) and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy (1959). Warsaw musicians, including those of the Warsaw PO, were now permitted to undertake international tours. 1956 was also the year of the first Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music, organized by the Union of Polish Composers. From 1958 the Warsaw Autumn Festival has taken place in September each year, with the exception of 1982, when the festival was cancelled due to the artists' boycott during the period of martial law. The festival had an enormous significance for the work of Polish composers, enabling them to become familiar with the achievements of composers from other countries. From the late 1950s Warsaw musical life became more vibrant, and various other musical ensembles were formed, including the Fistulatores et Tubicinatores Varsoviensis (1965), specializing in the performance of early music, and the contemporary group Warsztat Muzyczny (Music Workshop), formed by Zygmunt Krauze in the same year. The National PO offered subscription symphony concerts, concerts by foreign orchestras, chamber concerts and solo recitals. Among the most significant conductors of the Philharmonic were Witold Rowicki (1950–55 and 1958–77), Bohdan Wodiczko (1955–8) and Kazimierz Kord (since 1977). Apart from the Philharmonic Warsaw has several other concert halls, including the halls of the Chopin Academy of Music, and the large concert studio, named after Witold Lutosławski, at Polish Radio. Concerts are also organized by other institutions and societies. 1957 saw the inauguration of the Studio Muzyki Eksperymentalnej (Studio for Experimental Music), founded and directed (until 1985) by Józef Patkowski within Polish Radio; this studio has enabled composers to create electronic music and musique concrète.

The first postwar opera performance took place in December 1945. From 1948 the opera was known as the Warsaw State Opera. Its performances, prior to the opening of the rebuilt Wielki Theatre, took place in the temporary surroundings of the Roma Hall. The Warsaw State Ensemble of Travelling Opera was established in 1959 to give performances in smaller cities and towns outside Warsaw. The Komedia Muzyczna (Musical Comedy, from 1949) and the Państwowa Operetka (State Operetta) have continued the tradition of light musical theatre in Warsaw. Since 1958 there has also been the annual festival known as the Jazz Jamboree. An important place in Warsaw's musical culture has been occupied by the Warszawska Opera Kameralna (Warsaw Chamber Opera, 1961), founded and directed by Stefan Sutkowski. In addition to staged productions, which since 1991 have included an annual Mozart festival and since 1993 a festival of Baroque opera, the Warsaw Chamber Opera also gives many concerts, with the emphasis on Polish music. Since 1992 it has also been associated with the foundation Pro Musica Camerata, which publishes music, and the Sutkowski Edition, which publishes books on music. The Warsaw Chamber Opera also houses a centre for the documentation of Polish music.

The music school of the Warsaw Music Society reopened in 1945, but in 1948 the state government closed down its higher education courses, and in 1950 it nationalized the school and severed its links with the Warsaw Music Society. In the autumn of 1945 the former conservatory reopened as the State Higher Music School. In addition, Warsaw had a series of music schools offering instruction at a lower level. In 1948 a department of musicology was established at Warsaw University under the direction of Zofia Lissa; in 1957 it became the Institute of Musicology of Warsaw University. Musicological studies have also been undertaken by the Catholic Academy of Theology, which was renamed the Cardinal Wyszyński Catholic University in 1999. A department for the history and theory of music was established within the Institute of the Arts in 1949; initially this came under the Ministry of Culture and Arts, but since 1959 it has been part of the Polish Academy of Sciences and is devoted to musical research. For many years the department was directed by the influential musicologist J.M. Chomiński. It publishes the quarterly journal Muzyka.

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