Lucia Dlugoszewski facts for kids

Lucia Dlugoszewski was a talented artist. She was born in 1925 and passed away in 2000. Lucia was a composer, a poet, and a choreographer. She was also a performer and an inventor! She created over 100 musical instruments. One of her most famous inventions was the timbre piano. This special piano used bows and picks instead of hammers to make unique sounds.

Early Life and Learning

Lucia Dlugoszewski grew up in Detroit. Her parents were immigrants from Poland. She started playing the piano when she was just six years old. She studied at the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts. Later, she went to Wayne State University. There, she studied science, including physics.

In 1950, Lucia wanted to go to medical school. But she didn't get in. So, she decided to move to New York City. She lived there for the rest of her life. In New York, she continued her music studies. She took piano lessons from Grete Sultan. She also studied music with famous composers like Edgard Varèse. Before 1950, Lucia had not written much music. But in New York, she started creating many experimental pieces. Lucia was married to the dancer and choreographer Erick Hawkins.

Amazing Music Compositions

Lucia Dlugoszewski's music has been recorded by important music labels. These include Nonesuch Records and Folkways. Her music has been heard by many people.

In 1975, she wrote a piece called Abyss and Caress. It was for a trumpet and a small orchestra. The famous New York Philharmonic orchestra asked her to write it. A well-known conductor, Pierre Boulez, led its first performance.

In 1977, Lucia won a special award. It was the Koussevitzky International Recording Award. She was the first woman to win it! She won for her piece Fire Fragile Flight. This work was for 17 different instruments. It became a very popular piece for an orchestra in Philadelphia.

Lucia worked closely with the dancer Erick Hawkins. She wrote music for his dance group. She also created music for other modern dance groups. Her dance music includes Journey of a Poet. This piece was performed by the famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. She also wrote Taking Time to be Vulnerable for Pascal Denichou.

Lucia also wrote music for movies. She contributed to the 1962 film Guns of the Trees. She also made music for the 1945 film Visual Variations on Noguchi.

Lucia once said that writing music for films and dances was good. It let many people hear her music. But she also felt that audiences couldn't always focus only on her music.

Lucia Dlugoszewski wrote many pieces for different instruments. Here are some of her works:

Inventing Instruments

Lucia Dlugoszewski loved to invent new musical instruments. She used many of them in her performances. She once said she had built or designed at least 100 instruments! She often worked with sculptor Ralph Dorazio. He built instruments based on her ideas.

Lucia was inspired by her teacher, Edgard Varèse. He used electronic tools to make new sounds. Lucia wanted to create sounds that were "ego-less." She wanted listeners to simply hear the sound for its own sake.

Most of Lucia's inventions were percussion instruments. These included pianos, drums, and rattles. She made many new instruments from plastic. She used them for her 1961 work, Eight Clear Places. Her most famous invention is the timbre piano. It uses bows and picks to play the strings.

After the early 1960s, Lucia stopped inventing new instruments as much. She focused on exploring all the possibilities of the many instruments she already had.

Her Unique Philosophy

Lucia Dlugoszewski had many different influences. Some of them came from Eastern cultures. For example, she was inspired by Noh drama and haiku poetry.

She believed in the power of subtle sounds in music. The composer Virgil Thomson called her music "music of great delicacy." Lucia's music is special because it uses silence. It also uses gentle, quiet sounds. This is interesting because much of her music is for percussion instruments.