Andrzej Panufnik

Sir Andrzej Panufnik (born September 24, 1914 in Warsaw , Russian Empire , † October 27, 1991 in Twickenham , Middlesex , England ) was a Polish-British composer .

Life

Andrzej Panufnik in 1990 with Witold Lutosławski

Andrzej Panufnik, who began composing as a child, studied composition and music theory with Kazimierz Sikorski from 1932 to 1936 at the Warsaw State Conservatory (today Fryderyk Chopin University for Music ) , then orchestral direction with Felix Weingartner in Vienna and 1938-1939 with Philippe Gaubert in Paris. During the German occupation of Poland he lived in Warsaw, where he gave charity concerts and underground concerts, sometimes together with Witold Lutosławski . All his compositions were destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising ; some he was able to reconstruct later.

After the war, Panufnik was the conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and 1946–1947 director of the Warsaw Philharmonic . As a guest conductor he has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchester National in Paris and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has received numerous awards in Poland and, together with Arthur Honegger, was elected Vice-President of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1950 . As head of a Polish cultural delegation, he was received by Mao Zedong in China in 1953 .

Despite this official recognition, Panufnik left Poland in 1954 in protest against the growing lack of freedom under the influence of Stalinism and emigrated to England. As a result, in Poland not only the performance of his works, but also the mention of his name was banned. He became a British citizen and served as musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1957 to 1959 . After that he lived as a freelance composer.

The first performance of his works in Poland after his emigration took place at the instigation of the Polish Composers Association in 1977. Several of his compositions premiered in Poland during the Warsaw Autumn of the same year. In 1984 he became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music , in 1987 of the Polish Composers' Union, from which he had been expelled in 1954.

In 1990 Panufnik visited Poland for the first time in 36 years on the occasion of the Warsaw Autumn Festival and conducted a concert with his own works here. In 1991 he was raised to the nobility by Elizabeth II and received an honorary doctorate from the Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy (now the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music). President Lech Wałęsa posthumously awarded him the Order of Polonia Restituta .

Panufnik composed numerous large orchestral works, including ten symphonies and concertos for piano, violin, bassoon and cello, as well as three string quartets and vocal music.

His daughter Roxanna Panufnik (* 1968) is also a composer.

Works

• Piano Trio , 1934, 1945, 1977
• Five Polish Peasant Songs , 1940, 1945, 1959
• Tragic Ouverture , 1942, 1945, 1955
• Lullaby , 1947, 1955
• Nocturne , 1947, 1955
• Divertimento , 1947, 1955
• Twelve Miniature Studies for piano, 1947, 1955–1964
• Sinfonia Rustica (1st symphony), 1948, 1955
• Old Polish Suite , 1950, 1955
• Concerto in Modo Antico , 1951, 1955
• Heroic Ouverture , 1952, 1969
• Quintetto Accadèmico , 1953, 1956
• Rhapsody , 1956
• Sinfonia Elegiaca (2nd Symphony), 1957, 1966
• Polonia , 1959
• Autumn Music , 1962, 1965
• Landscape , 1962, 1965
• Piano concerto , 1962, 1970, 1972, 1982
• Sinfonia Sacra (3rd symphony) , 1963
• Two Lyric Peaces , 1963
• Song to the Virgin Mary , 1964
• Homage to Chopin , 1966
• Jagiellionian Triptych , 1966
• Katyn Epitaph , 1967, 1969
• Reflections for piano, 1968
• Universal Prayer , 1968-1969
• Thames Pageant , 1969
• Concerto for violin and strings , 1971
• Triangles , 1972
• Winter Solstice , 1972
• Invocation for Peace , 1972
• Sinfonia Concertante (4th Symphony), 1973
• Sinfonika di Sfere (5th symphony), 1974–1975
• String Quartet No. 1 , 1976
• Love Song for mezzo-soprano and harp or piano, 1976
• Sinfonia Mistica (6th Symphony), 1977
• Dreamscape for mezzo-soprano and piano, 1977
• Metasinfonia (7th Symphony), 1978
• Concerto Festivo , 1979
• Concertino for timpani, percussion and strings , 1979–1980
• String Quartet No. 2 (Messages), 1980
• Paean 'For the 80th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother' for wind ensemble, 1980
• Sinfonia Votiva (8th Symphony), 1981, 1984
• A Procession for Peace , 1982-1983
• Arbor Cosmica , 1983
• Pentasonata for piano, 1984
• Concerto for bassoon and small orchestra , 1985
• Sinfonia della Speranza (9th Symphony), 1986, 1987
• String sextet 'Trains of Thought' , 1987
• 10th Symphony , 1988, 1990
• Harmony. A poem for Chamber Orchestra , 1989
• String Quartet No. 3 , 1990
• Prayer to the Virgin of Skempe , 1990
• Cello Concerto , 1991

Filmography

• 1937: Trzy etiudy Chopina (music advisor)
• 1938: Strachy
• 1996: Drzewa

Web links

• Biography ( memento from January 31, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) on panufniktrio.com
• Literature by and about Andrzej Panufnik in the catalog of the German National Library
• Andrzej Panufnik in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Andrzej Panufnik on Culture.pl (English)