... if one bar, one second of my music
gives pleasure to someone,
this already means great happiness to me
(from a letter to Seweryn Różycki)
Michał Spisak (1914-1965)

All his short life was the testimony of victory of evangelical "cheerful mind over faint body". Paresis of legs due to childhood poliomyelitis was overcome by his immeasurable passion for music to such a degree that, as a student of the Silesian Conservatory in the violin class led by Józef Cetner, he was able to perform even such difficult pieces like "Myths" by Karol Szymanowski, and, in the composition class led by Aleksander Brachocki, he exceeded the syllabus by a few dozen items and in 1937 he obtained the diploma with distinction. Following this the Silesian Music Society granted him, as the most talented graduate of the Conservatory, a scholarship for the continuation of the composer's studies in Paris.

There he was admitted to her class by Nadia Boulanger - an extraordinary person with exceptional knowledge of music, broad intellectual horizons and rarely found pedagogic talent, who was respected by the most prominent composers of the time. Meeting her was an especially lucky coincidence for him. It was she who, recognising his talent from the very first encounters, regarded him as her favourite student and conducted his first Paris works. She often demonstrated his works at her lectures and contributed to prolonging his scholarship in France. She showed him all the charms of Stravinsky's music, and finally bestowed motherly affection on him and maintained close relationship with him till the end of her life.

When, as a 23-year-old man, he was in France, Spisak actively participated in the activity of the Association of Young Polish Musicians. He did not suspect, however, that the war's outbreak in 1939 would  make him stay in this country as his second homeland and Paris would become the place of his artistic activity till the end of his life. It was there that almost all of his numerous pieces - symphonic, chamber and solo - were created.

Already in the first years after the war,  Spisak's pieces, composed during the war, started to appear on  European stages, and when performed in Poland they aroused sensation -  even more increased by the fact that their author had been unknown so far - winning him the opinion of one of the most interesting Polish composers of the young generation. The triumphant march through our stages was made by such compositions as impetuous "Toccata for orchestra" and "Suite for strings orchestra"  - presented during many concert tours in the conductor repertoire of outstanding Paweł Klecki and Jan Krenz - keen enthusiast of Spisak's music. Great Grzegorz Fitelberg immediately performed "Symphony concertante no. 1" at the world premiere in Katowice, next reaching for "Divertimento", also called by the composer "Light Music no. 1". Two pieces for wind instruments: "Trio" and "Quintet" have been performed up till present probably all over the world as an example of excellent chamber music, and his great "Concert for bassoon and orchestra" still enjoys  the highest esteem among virtuosos of this instrument - likewise "Concertino for trombone and orchestra". Considering distinguished violinist, Eugenia Umińska, as the first performer, he created "Sonata for Violin and Orchestra" - one of Michał Spisak's greatest works, deserving to be entered in gold letters into the register of Polish virtuoso violin literature. "Suite for two violins", dedicated to two ladies of Polish violinism, Eugenia Umińska and Irena Dubiska, undeniably aspires to this register.

It is difficult to list all of the several tens of Spisak's works. Let's also focus on his most spectacular composing successes. Among them there are prizes received at international competitions. In 1953 at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels,  "Serenade for orchestra", composed in 1939, was awarded Grand Prix.
Two years later at the Competition for New Official Olympic Hymn - again Grand Prix! - as one single prize out of 392 compositions sent. Formal performance of Spisak's "Olympic Hymn for mixed choir and orchestra"  to the lyrics of Pindar's Ode took place a few times with great publicity: in 1955 at the 50th session of the IOC in Paris, then at the Mediterranean Olympic Games in Barcelona, at 7th Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo and in 1956 during 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne and in Stockholm. The hymn was also distributed in the form of records.

In 1957 repeated participation in the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels brought him,  - competing against 237 pieces from 38 countries - Premier Grand Prix for "Concerto giocoso per orchestra da camera". So far this excellent work has been regarded as the most representative of Spisak's style.

There are also Polish prizes:
- Special award (as the only one - there were no prizes) for "Improvisazione per violino e pianoforte" at the 2nd H. Wieniawski International Composers Competition in Poznań in 1963 and  - as a special sign of respect from his colleagues from the Association of Polish Composers (APC) whose active member he was:
- Music Prize of  the APC awarded to him in 1964 for his musical creation and for his contribution to the modern Polish music and
- A state honour Krzyż Kawalerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski (Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta), was granted to him by the State Council on the APC's application.

What is Michał Spisak's music like? It has all the features typical of  the so called French Neoclassicism and adopted from Nadia Boulanger who preferred care for perfection of technique with conciseness and clarity of form and avoiding excess emotionality typical of the 19th century Romantics. His music is thus easily recognised by its emanating energy resulting from spontaneous musical activity, saturated with action-packed  musical plots, boiling with volubility of "electrified" rhythmic which is intensified by impulsive motor activity diversified with sudden "percussive" accents and dynamic contrasts, clear pallet of sharp harmonic sounds and orchestra shades with clarity of instrumental fabric. Listeners associate these features with dominating moods of joy, cheerfulness, positive energy, optimism. In comparison with them,  slow lyrical parts of Spisak's works are like desirable moments of blissful calmness, rest or short reflection.

What is characteristic of his music is the fact that there is no place for pessimism that in everyday life was overcoming him together with the progressing disability and worsening health condition.
When composing he did not search for originality at any expense - it was proved by his honest statement quoted as motto to this essay. Till the end he stayed faithful to his once chosen style, which in the history of music - combining Baroque traditions with Vienna classicism - had its culmination in France in the interwar period.
And although after the war the young generation of composers represented totally new trends - Spisak consciously did not follow in their footsteps. However, his works had never been regarded as conservative. On the contrary - in the confrontation with the revolutionary aesthetic and technical demonstrations, they always won and still do, invariably gaining respect of both  traditionalists as well as  advocates of progress in music. Such an esteem was deserved only by a composer who in his works proved commendable faithfulness to his own aesthetic ideals and the extreme creative honesty.
Unquestionably such was, and still is for us, Michał Spisak.

prof. Leon Markiewicz