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Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (Polish: [ˈkʂɨʂtɔf pɛndɛˈrɛt͡skʲi] ; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima,[1] Symphony No. 3, his St Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. His oeuvre includes four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works.[1]

Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki

(1933-11-23)23 November 1933

29 March 2020(2020-03-29) (aged 86)

Kraków, Poland

Born in Dębica, Penderecki studied music at Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Music in Kraków. After graduating from the academy, he became a teacher there and began his career as a composer in 1959 during the Warsaw Autumn festival. His Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra and the choral work St. Luke Passion have received popular acclaim. His first opera, The Devils of Loudun, was not immediately successful. In the mid-1970s, Penderecki became a professor at the Yale School of Music.[2] From the mid-1970s his composition style changed, with his first violin concerto focusing on the semitone and the tritone. His choral work Polish Requiem was written in the 1980s and expanded in 1993 and 2005.


Penderecki won many prestigious awards, including the Prix Italia in 1967 and 1968; the Wihuri Sibelius Prize of 1983; four Grammy Awards in 1987, 1998 (twice), and 2017; the Wolf Prize in Arts in 1987; and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1992.[3] In 2012, Sean Michaels of The Guardian called him "arguably Poland's greatest living composer".[4] In 2020 the composer's Alma Mater, the Academy of Music in Kraków, was named after Krzysztof Penderecki.[5]

Career[edit]

1933–1958: early years[edit]

Penderecki was born on 23 November 1933 in Dębica, the son of Zofia and Tadeusz Penderecki, a lawyer. Penderecki's grandfather, Robert Berger, was a highly talented painter and director of the local bank at the time of Penderecki's birth; Robert's father Johann, a German Protestant, moved to Dębica from Breslau (now Wrocław) in the mid-19th century. Out of love for his wife, he subsequently converted to Catholicism.[6][7] Penderecki's grandmother Stefania was an Armenian[8] from Stanislau in Austria-Hungary (present-day Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine).[6] Penderecki used to go to the Armenian Church in Kraków with her.[9] He was the youngest of three siblings; his sister, Barbara, was married to a mining engineer, and his older brother, Janusz, was studying law and medicine at the time of his birth. Tadeusz was a violinist and also played piano.[7]


The Second World War broke out in 1939; Penderecki's family moved out of their apartment, for the Ministry of Food was to operate there. After the war, Penderecki began attending grammar school in 1946. He began studying the violin under Stanisław Darłak, Dębica's military bandmaster who organized an orchestra for the local music society after the war. Upon graduating from grammar school, Penderecki moved to Kraków in 1951, where he attended Jagiellonian University.[10]


He studied violin with Stanisław Tawroszewicz and music theory with Franciszek Skołyszewski. In 1954, Penderecki entered the Academy of Music in Kraków and, having finished his studies on violin after his first year, focused entirely on composition. Penderecki's main teacher there was Artur Malawski, a composer known for his choral and orchestral works, as well as chamber music and songs. After Malawski's death in 1957, Penderecki took further lessons with Stanisław Wiechowicz, a composer primarily known for his choral works.[11] At the time, the 1956 overthrow of Stalinism in Poland lifted strict cultural censorship and opened the door to a wave of creativity.[12]

1958–1962: first compositions[edit]

Upon graduating from the Academy of Music in Kraków in 1958, Penderecki took up a teaching post at the academy. His early works show the influence of Anton Webern and Pierre Boulez (Penderecki was also influenced by Igor Stravinsky). Penderecki's international recognition began in 1959 at the Warsaw Autumn with the premieres of the works Strophen, Psalms of David, and Emanations, but the piece that truly brought him to international attention was Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (see threnody and atomic bombing of Hiroshima), written in 1960 for 52 string instruments. In it, he makes use of extended instrumental techniques (for example, playing behind the bridge, bowing on the tailpiece). There are many novel textures in the work, which makes extensive use of tone clusters. He originally titled the work 8' 37", but decided to dedicate it to the victims of Hiroshima.[13]


Fluorescences followed a year later; it increases the orchestral density with more wind and brass, and an enormous percussion section of 32 instruments for six players, including a Mexican güiro, typewriters, gongs and other unusual instruments. The piece was composed for the Donaueschingen Festival of contemporary music of 1962, and its performance was regarded as provocative and controversial. Even the score appeared revolutionary; the form of graphic notation that Penderecki had developed rejected the familiar look of notes on a staff, instead representing music as morphing sounds.[12] His intentions at this stage were quite Cagean: 'All I'm interested in is liberating sound beyond all tradition'.[14]


Another noteworthy piece of this period is the Canon for 52 strings and 2 tapes. This is in a similar style to other pieces in the late 1950s in its use of sound masses, dramatically juxtaposed with traditional means although the use of standard techniques or idioms is often disguised or distorted. Indeed, the Canon brings to mind the choral tradition and indeed the composer has the players sing, albeit with the performance indication of bocca chiusa (with closed mouth) at various points; nevertheless, Penderecki uses the 52 'voices' of the string orchestra to play in massed glissandi and harmonics at times – this is then recorded by one of the tapes for playback later on in the piece. It was performed at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1962 and caused a riot although curiously the rioters were young music students and not older concertgoers.[15]


At the same time, he started composing music for theater and film. The first theater performance with Penderecki's music was Złoty kluczyk (Golden Little Key) by Yekaterina Borysowa directed by Władysław Jarema (premiered on 12 May 1957 in Krakow at the "Groteska" Puppet Theater). In 1959, at the Cartoon Film Studio in Bielsko-Biała, he composed the music for the first animated film, Bulandra i diabeł (Coal Miner Bulandra and Devil), directed by Jerzy Zitzman and Lechosław Marszałek.[16]


In 1959, he wrote the score for Jan Łomnicki's first short fiction film, Nie ma końca wielkiej wojny (There is no End to the Great War, WFDiF Warszawa). In the following years he created over twenty original musical settings for dramatic and over 40 puppet performances, and composed original music for at least eleven documentary and feature films as well as for twenty-five animated films for adults and children.[17]

Personal life[edit]

Penderecki had three children, firstly a daughter Beata with pianist Barbara Penderecka (née Graca), whom he married in 1954; they later divorced.[32] He then had a son, Łukasz (b. 1966), and daughter, Dominika (b. 1971), with his second wife, Elżbieta Penderecka (née Solecka), whom he married on 19 December 1965.[33] He lived in the Kraków suburb of Wola Justowska. He was also a keen gardener, and established a 16-hectare arboretum near his manor house in Lusławice.[34][35]


Penderecki died at his home in Kraków, Poland, on 29 March 2020, after a long illness.[36] He was buried at the National Pantheon in Kraków on 29 March 2022.[37]

1959: 2nd Competition for Young Polish Composers in Warsaw organised by the Composers' Union – Penderecki was awarded the top three prizes for the works he anonymously submitted: Stanzas, Emanations, and Psalms of David;

[46]

1961: Prize of the International Tribune of Composers in Paris for Threnody;[47]

UNESCO

1966: Grand Art Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia for St. Luke Passion;

[48]

1967: Prix Italia for the St. Luke Passion; Sibelius Gold Medal;[46]

[48]

1968: for the Dies Irae in memory of the victims of Auschwitz;[48] Grammy Trustees Award for significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording;[49]

Prix Italia

1972: ;[46]

City of Kraków Award

1977: (Germany/Austria)[50]

Herder Prize

1978: Prix for Magnificat (France)[48]

Arthur Honegger

1983: (Finland);[51] Polish National Award[52]

Wihuri Sibelius Prize

1985: Premio Lorenzo Magnifico (Italy)[52]

[48]

1987: (Israel);[52] Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition[53]

Wolf Prize in Arts

1990: Grand Cross of Merit of the ;[48][52] Chevalier de Saint Georges;[46]

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

1992: Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Adagio – 4 Symphony;[54] Austrian Medal for Science and Art;[46]

University of Louisville

1993: distinguished Citizen Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study at , Bloomington, Prize of the International Music Council / UNESCO for Music;[52] Cultural Merit of the Principality of Monaco[52]

Indiana University

1995: Member of the (Dublin);[46] honorary citizen of Strasbourg;[46] Primetime Emmy Award of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences;[46] Pro Baltica Prize[50]

Royal Irish Academy of Music

1996: Primetime of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)[50]

Emmy Award

1998: Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance; Composition Prize for the Promotion of the European economy, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters;[46] corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich;[46] Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (Lithuania)[46]

[53]

1999: music Prize of the City of (Germany);[46] Honorary Board of the Vilnius Festival '99[46]

Duisburg

2000: as "Living Composer of the Year";[46] honorary member of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna;[55] Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic;[46]

Cannes Classical Award

2001: for Art (Spain);[56] Grammy for Best Choral Performance for Credo;[46] Honorary Professor of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts[46]

Prince of Asturias Award

2002: State Prize of (Germany), Romano Guardini Prize[57]

North Rhine-Westphalia

2003: ;[58] Preis der Europäischen Kirchenmusik (Germany), Freedom of Dębica, Eduardo M. Torner Medal of the Conservatorio de Musica del Principado Asturias in Oviedo, Spain; honorary director of the Choir of the Prince of Asturias Foundation, Honorary President of the Apayo a la Creación Musical, Judaica Foundation Medal;

Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria

2004: – Music (Japan)[50]

Praemium Imperiale

2005: ;[59] Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis[60]

Order of the White Eagle (Poland)

2006: (Latvia)[61]

Order of the Three Stars

2008: for Katyn, Commander of the Order of the Three Stars (Latvia), Order of Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile), Golden Medal of the Minister of Culture (Armenia), Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland;[62] Thorunium Medal[63]

Polish Academy Award for Best Film Score

2009: ;[64] Merit of Armenia[46]

Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

2011: Viadrina Prize for contributions to Polish-German cooperation (, Frankfurt);[65][66] Grand Cross of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (Malta)[48]

Viadrina European University

2012: [67]

Paszport Polityki Award

2014: , 1st Class (Estonia)[68]

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana

2015: [69]

Per Artem ad Deum Medal

2017: Grammy for Best Choral Performance; New Culture of New Europe Award at the Krynica Economic Forum.[70]

[53]

Penderecki was an honorary doctor and honorary professor of several universities: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., University of Glasgow, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, Seoul National University, Universities of Rochester, Bordeaux, Leuven, Belgrade, Madrid, Poznan and St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota), Duquesne University, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, University of Pittsburgh (PA), University of St. Petersburg, Beijing Conservatory, Yale University and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster (Westphalia) (2006 Faculty of Arts).[71]


He was an honorary member of the following academies and music companies: Royal Academy of Music (London), Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Royal Swedish Academy of Music (Stockholm), Academy of Arts (London), Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires), the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, Academy of Arts in Berlin, Académie Internationale de Philosophie et de l'Art in Bern, and the Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-lettres et Arts in Bordeaux.[52] In 2009, he became an honorary citizen of the city of Bydgoszcz.[72]

List of Polish composers

Music of Poland

Lusławice

Schwinger, Wolfram; trans. William Mann (1989). Krzysztof Penderecki: His Life and Work – encounters, biography and musical commentary. London, England: Schott.  978-0-946535-11-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

ISBN

Bylander, Cindy (2004). Krzysztof Penderecki: a bio-bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.  978-0-313256-58-5. OCLC 56104435.

ISBN

Croan, Robert (7 October 1988). . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 43. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"Composer is deft as conductor"

Croan, Robert (7 October 1988). . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 43. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"Penderecki makes his Pittsburgh debut"

Diehl, Jackson (10 July 1988). . Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. pp. 73, 74. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com. continued on page 74

"Penderecki doesn't let Marxism limit style"

Guerrieri, Matthew (29 October 2013). . The Boston Globe. Boston. p. G6, G7. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com. continued on page G7

"An unending path"

Hinson, Mark (8 October 2004). . Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee, Florida. p. 50. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"The master conducts his masterwork"

Johnson, Christopher (7 April 1985). . Tampa Bay Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. p. 73. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"Krzysztof Penderecki is a composer caught in crossfire of critics"

Maciejewski, B. M. (1976). Twelve Polish Composers. London, England: Allegro Press.  978-0-950561-90-5. OCLC 3650196.

ISBN

Miller, Margo (19 January 1986). . The Boston Globe. Boston. p. 121. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"Penderecki to conduct Requiem"

Robinson, Ray (1983). Krzysztof Penderecki: a guide to his works. Princeton, New Jersey: Prestige Publications.  978-0-911009-02-6. OCLC 9541916.

ISBN

Rosenberg, Donald (24 November 1983). . The Akron Beacon Journal. Akron, Ohio. p. 75. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

"Polish composer's music elicits strong reaction"

Thomas, Adrian (1992). "Penderecki, Krzysztof". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). . London, England. ISBN 978-0-333-73432-2.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

New Grove Dictionary of Opera

Thomas, Adrian (2008). Polish Music since Szymanowski. Cambridge University Press.  978-1-139-44118-6.

ISBN

. Der Bundespräsident (in German). 22 March 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.

"Rede: Trauerstaatsakt für Krzysztof Penderecki"

Archived 9 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine (Drowned In Sound, 2012)

"Penderecki's violin revolution in Poland"

by Bruce Duffie (March 2000)

Krzysztof Penderecki interview

by Galina Zhukova (2011), Журнал reMusik, Saint-Petersburg Contemporary Music Center.

Interview with Krzysztof Penderecki

Video interview by Louisiana Channel, Denmark, 2013.

"Krzysztof Penderecki: Turning history into avant-garde".

(in French and English). IRCAM.

"Krzysztof Penderecki (biography, works, resources)"

Culture.pl

Krzysztof Penderecki

on Cdmc website

Krzysztof Penderecki's biography

at IMDb

Krzysztof Penderecki

discography at Discogs

Krzysztof Penderecki

on Culture.pl

Not Just 'The Shining': 13 Soundtracks Featuring Krzysztof Penderecki

Pendereckis' film & theatre music (Polish only)

Musical Trace

digital garden from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute launched on 29 March 2021 for the anniversary of his death.

Penderecki's Garden