Conductors can also compose and quite good - an example of that is Hanryk Czyż (1923-2003). However a few people know that this famous conductor, teacher, and director of Lodz Philharmonic was to be, in accordance to his father will, an … official. Fortunately war interfered with those plans. Thanks to his music abilities he managed to escape Nazi labour camp. After the war he studies law and philosophy and finished his education in the class of composition and conduction in Poznan Conservatory. He lead many orchestras – in Lodz, Katowice, Düsseldorf and Warsaw, for five years he was the leading conductor in Krakow Philharmonic. As a tireless promoter of contemporary music he recorded for many labels. He published books that popularised music, ran a TV series entitled “Nie taki diabeł straszny” (The Devil is not so black). He composed throughout his whole life. In addition to his orchestra and chamber compositions he also wrote an opera and even a musical. His „Canzona di barocco” for string orchestra from 1983 refers to baroque music with not only the title but also with its form. The moody piece with a light colour, although possessing a 20th century musical language, brings to mind a baroque sonatas. Czyż’s “Canzona” is a musical retrospection. A chronicle of a family presented on a background of troubling events could be a canvas of its story. Days and nights pass, we can observe the changing seasons. Sadness and grief appears, we observe dying nature. The last leaf of life falls down with the sound of the final note.