• Duration: 18'
• Instrumentation: 3343-4331-batt (3esec)-archi
• Year: 1944
• Type: parts, score

''The first sketches for ''Grunwald'', the last of Jan Maklakiewicz's symphonic poems were made in July and August 1939. Later that same year the composer finished the piano sketch of the entire work. The difficult conditions of occupation and the lack of any opportunity to perform new work meant that the composer laid it aside for a few years before working on its completion. He only started instrumentation of the poem on 14 September 1943, after making some revisions and additions, and finished it after two months, on November 16. The composer did not complete his poem with a commentary explaining his non-musical content, probably thinking that the title, which symbolizes one of the most important and well-known events in the history of our nation, is sufficiently meaningful. The title suggests that the most important moments of the famous battle contribute to the content of the poem. The reference to the Polish military victory decided the heroic and optimistic nature of the work, in spite of the tragic circumstances in which it arose. ''Grunwald'' is a one-movement composition, which takes 16-19 minutes in performance depending on the interpretation. In the piece there is a marked fragmentation of form, resulting from the use of serialism in its construction. In the successive fragments one can observe illustrative components, expressing - as may be guessed the armys prayer and song, the thunder of the cavalry, signals calling the attack, the clash of arms, the tumult of battle, the mourning of the dead on the battlefield, and the glory of victory. There are also motifs from ,,Bogurodzica'', whose role in the piece is very important, motifs of the Easter song Przez Twoje święte Zmartwychpowstanie'' (''By your holy resurrection'') and, finally, the first phrase of Maklakiewiczs ''Polish Mass'' (with the text W tym świętym miejscu'', (''In this holy place''), which appear right at the beginning of the poem. In the construction of the work, in addition to the above-mentioned serialist principles, some elements of sonata form are used. Maklakiewicz showed the real virtuosity of his compositional technique in the instrumentation of ''Grunwald'', creating a work with an extremely wide range of colours. The premiere of the work took place just a few weeks after the war ended, on 30 May 1945, in the Krakow Philharmonic, conducted by Zygmunt Latoszewski. In the first post-war years the work was performed in many Polish cities as well as abroad, including on May 16, 1946, in Moscow, under the direction of Kazimierz Wiłkomirski, in London by the BBC Orchestra conducted by Constant Lambert, in Liege (early February 1948) under the direction of Zygmunt Latoszewski. Over the years the popularity of ''Grunwald'' decreased. Unjustly so, for it is one of the best symphonic poems in Polish literature. [Maria Wacholc, Jan Adam Maklakiewicz, Warsaw 2000].