Krzysztof_Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki

[pen-duh-ret-skee; Pol. pen-de-rets-kee]

Krzysztof Penderecki (born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor of classical music.

Career

Early years

After taking private composition lessons with Franciszek Skolyszewski, Penderecki studied music at Krakow University and the Academy of Music in Krakow under Artur Malawski and Stanislaw Wiechowicz. Having graduated in 1958, he took up a teaching post at the Academy. Penderecki's early works show the influence of Anton Webern and Pierre Boulez (he has also been influenced by Igor Stravinsky). Penderecki's international recognition began in 1959 at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 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 Hiroshima), written for 52 string instruments. In it, Penderecki makes use of extended instrumental techniques (for example, playing on the "wrong" side of the bridge, bowing on the tailpiece). There are many novel textures in the work, which makes great use of tone clusters (many notes close together played at the same time). The work was originally titled 8' 37", (the duration of the fatal bombing of Hiroshima) perhaps in a nod to John Cage, but Penderecki changed the title after his publisher suggested he give it a more colorful name.

The St. Luke Passion

Year	Song title	Work	Instrumentation
1968:	"Miserere mei, Deus"	Saint Luke Passion	Chorus

The St. Luke Passion (1963–66) brought Penderecki further popular acclaim, not least because it was a major and devoutly religious work, written in an avant-garde musical language, composed within Communist Eastern Europe. Western audiences saw it as a snub to the Soviet authorities and were keen to give it their support. Various different musical styles can be seen in the piece. The experimental textures, such as were seen in the Threnody, are balanced by the baroque form of the work and the occasional use of more traditional harmonic and melodic writing. Penderecki makes use of serialism in this piece, and one of the tone rows he uses includes the BACH motif, which acts as a bridge between the conventional and more experimental elements. The Stabat Mater section towards the end of the piece concludes on a simple major chord of D major, and this gesture is repeated at the very end of the work, which finishes on a triumphant E major chord. These are the only tonal harmonies in the work, and both come as a surprise to the listener; Penderecki's use of tonal triads such as these remains a controversial aspect of the work.

1970s-present

Around the mid-1970s, while he was a professor at the Yale School of Music Penderecki's style began to change. The Violin Concerto No. 1 largely leaves behind the dense tone clusters with which he had been associated, and instead focuses on two melodic intervals: the semitone and the tritone. Some commentators went so far as to compare this new direction to Anton Bruckner. This direction continued with the Symphony No. 2, Christmas (1980), which is rather straightforward from a harmonic and melodic standpoint for a composer who had been one of the most experimental in Europe. It makes frequent use of the tune of the Christmas carol Silent Night.

In 1980, Penderecki was commissioned by Solidarity to compose a piece to accompany the unveiling of a statue at the Gdańsk shipyards to commemorate those killed at anti-government riots there in 1970. Penderecki responded with the Lacrimosa, which he later expanded into one of the best known works of his later period, the Polish Requiem (1980-84, revised 1993). Here again the harmonies are quite lush, although there are moments which evoke his earlier work in the 1960s. The tendency in recent years has been towards more conservative romanticism, however, as seen in works like the Cello Concerto No. 2 and the Credo.

Some of Penderecki's music has been adapted for film soundtracks. The Shining (1980) features six pieces of Penderecki's music: "Utrenja - Ewangelia", "Utrenja - Kanon Paschy", "The Awakening of Jacob", "De Natura Sonoris 1", "De Natura Sonoris 2", "Kanon" and "Polymorphia." The Exorcist (1973) features "Polymorphia" as well as "String Quartet" and "Kanon For Orchestra and Tape"; fragments of the "Cello Concerto" and "The Devils of Loudon" are used in the film as well. Writing about The Exorcist, the film critic for The New Republic wrote "even the music is faultless, most of it by Krzysztof Penderecki, who at last is where he belongs. David Lynch has used Penderecki's music in the soundtracks of the movies Wild at Heart (1990) and Inland Empire (2006). Penderecki's piece, "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima," was also used during one of the final sequences in the film Children of Men.

In 2001, Penderecki was awarded with the Prince of Asturias Prize in Spain, one of the highest honours given in Spain to individuals, entities, organizations or others from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, arts, humanities, or public affairs. Penderecki received an honorary doctorate from the Seoul National University, Korea in 2005, as well as from the University of Münster, Germany in 2006. His notable students include Chester Biscardi and Walter Mays. Andrzej Wajda used some fragments of Penderecki's works in the latest film "Katyń".