He met Zygmunt Mycielski in Vilnius, where both men worked for the local Polish Radio station in the 1930s. Their friendship grew during the first post-war years in Kraków. While staying in Śledziejowice near Kraków in the summer of 1947, Mycielski composed music to Gałczyński’s poem Portret Muzy [Portrait of a Muse]. In 1949 he also wrote a small “pendant” – a choral song Kwiaty na tor [Flowers on the Tracks] to his friend’s lyrics. In addition, he dedicated his Silesian Overture to Gałczyński. The creative collaboration between the composer and the poet came at a time of socialist realism and both of Mycielski’s works to Gałczyński’s words are usually classified as socialist realist. However, a closer look at the scores gives some food for thought about the nature of the two compositions, by no means very typical of that period...