1980

5 February

Baird is invited to join the Organising Committee for the Celebrations of Karol Szymanowski’s 100th Birthday.

May

An artistic trip to Germany for a presentation of Baird’s opera Tomorrow in Darmstadt. In addition to attending a concert of his works, Baird delivers a lecture at the Robert Schumann Institute in Düsseldorf.

Presentation of Baird’s Tomorrow in Darmstadt

July/August

Holidays in Tunisia.

After my visit to Kairouan, a holy city for the Muslims, I have finally understood why the art of Islam leaves me cold. Art must have as its theme a human being (or a humanised God), and this cannot be replaced by the most perfect geometry, calligraphy and ornamentation. 

16 August–9 September

The composer takes part in the Lucerne International Festival, dedicated to Polish music.

October

Baird travels to Munich to attend a concert of his works (three quartets) and a lecture entitled Thomas Mann und Musik. During the trip he also visits Emsdetten and Rheine, places familiar to him from his traumatic wartime experiences.

Background

2 March

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz dies in Warsaw.

Before the poet’s death the composer managed to discuss with him changes in the lyrics to the Voices from Afar – a work that would turn out to be Baird’s last composition.

11 July

Death of Bolesław Woytowicz, a composer and teacher.

It was his contact with Woytowicz during the war that had a considerable impact on Baird’s artistic formation.

When I showed my early pieces to the Professor, he became interested in me, talked to me a lot about these subjects and gave me a lot of advice, but never – neither then nor later – did he give me any lesson that could be called a composition lesson.

I owe him a lot when it comes to awakening and then consolidating and developing my interests. In fact, he set the direction for my non-musical education to which I have remained faithful to this day.

1981

16–17 February

Baird is in Halle for a meeting of Polish and German composers.

August

The composer and his wife spend their holidays in Bulgaria.

Baird becomes an honorary member of the Polish Composers’ Union.

1 September

Baird feels unwell after a dinner with friends. When his condition does not improve, he is taken to hospital, when doctors diagnose him with cerebral aneurysm.

2 September

The composer dies in the Banach Street hospital in Warsaw.

8 September

Tadeusz Baird’s funeral in the Powązki Cemetery, section 1-VI-2. Father Jan Twardowski speak during the ceremony:

Now, when Tadeusz Baird is gone, when he has escaped our eyes, we begin to look for him more deeply, ask who he was, what he achieved, what gap we find ourselves in, whom Polish culture has lost? [...] Tadeusz Baird was one of the greatest lyricists in 20th century music. So sensitive to poetry! “God, my God, have mercy on me! “Whenever I want to live, I scream!” We know these words from the Five Songs of Halina Poświatowska. One of the many quests of his whole oeuvre, which may be one big diary of a soul, a diary that fell silent so suddenly.

"Tadeusz Baird - A Portrait", ending

Background

9 January

Death of Kazimierz Serocki, Baird’s close friend, co-founder of Group 49 and the Warsaw Autumn. Strangely enough, Baird and Serocki were to die in the same year.