Tadeusz Kassern was born in Lviv in 1904 and from 1922 lived in Poznan. Since his early youth he was drawn to music, especially composition, but began making his living as a lawyer. As a composer he had his first notable success in 1928. His impressionistic Concerto for Voice and Orchestra won second prize in a competition organized by the Association of Young Polish Musicians Society in Paris, for which the judges included Ravel, Roussel, Honegger and Schmitt. After a two-month stay in Paris in 1930, Kassern began composing pieces in neoclassical style, also venturing into other neo-styles.