In the 1950s the poet worked as the head of the Polish Composers’ Union’s office. This was only an episode in his life, but there is no doubt that in that period Herbert grew closer to composers, including Zygmunt Mycielski. In the 1970s both men were also active in the opposition movement: in 1974 they prepared and signed the so-called Letter of the 15 demanding that Poles in the USSR be granted access to Polish culture and education. Mycielski valued Herbert’s poetry very highly. Herbert’s poems inspired his two important compositions: Six Songs for Orchestra (1978) and Eight Songs to Words by Zbigniew Herbert for baritone and piano (1984). Herbert was happy to agree to have his poems used by the composer. “My complete placet,” he wrote to him... Mycielski’s songs were heard, among others, at the Zbigniew Herbert Warsaw Poetry Festival in 2005 and found their way into the collection Głosy Herberta [Herbert’s Voices] published by Fundacja Zeszytów Literackich in 2008.