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Andrzej Panufnik

Background information
Born September 24, 1914
Warsaw, Poland
Died October 27, 1991 (age 77)
Twickenham, London, England
Occupation(s) Composer, conductor, pedagogue

Sir Andrzej Panufnik (September 24, 1914 – October 27, 1991) was a Polish composer, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. Events 622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Warsaw (Warszawa; also known by other names) is the Capital and Largest city of Poland. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Twickenham is a suburb in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south west London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or Events 622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance A pianist (/'piənɪst/ is a Musician who plays the Piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces play with an ensemble or Orchestra Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or He became established as one of the leading Polish composers, and as a conductor he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the Warsaw Philharmonic orchestra after World War II. The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) one of Poland 's premier musical institutions was established in 1901 on World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including After his increasing frustration with the extra-musical demands made on him by the country's regime, he defected to England in 1954. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland He briefly became chief conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a post he relinquished after two years to devote all his time to composition. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England.

Contents

Biography

Childhood, and studies

Panufnik was born in Warsaw, the second son of a violinist mother and an amateur (but renowned) violin-maker father. Warsaw (Warszawa; also known by other names) is the Capital and Largest city of Poland. From an early age he was torn between an interest in music and a fascination with the mechanics of aeroplanes. His grandmother arranged piano lessons for him, but although he showed talent his studies were erratic. As a schoolboy he composed some successful popular tunes, but his father did not approve his son's pursuing a musical career. Eventually his father relented, permitting the boy to study music provided he matriculated. Panufnik failed the piano entrance examination for the Warsaw Conservatoire, but succeeded in gaining admission as a percussion student. He soon left the percussion class to concentrate on studying composition and conducting; he worked hard and completed the course in much less time than expected.

After graduating with distinction in 1936, his plans to travel to Vienna to study conducting for a year under Felix Weingartner were delayed by his being called up for National Service. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg Panufnik recalled how, on the night before his medical, he heard the Polish chant Bogurodzica on the wireless. Bogurodzica (The Mother of God is the oldest Polish religious hymn This entirely captivated him, and he sat up late into the night drinking copious quantities of black coffee. The result of this was that he failed his medical examination and was excused from military duties. Instead he used the year's hiatus earning money and reputation composing film music.

Panufnik travelled to Vienna in 1937 for his studies with Weingartner. He also fulfilled his intention of studying music by the composers of the Second Viennese School, but while he applauded Arnold Schoenberg's imposition of constraints in order to give artistic unity to a composition, dodecaphonic music did not appeal to him. The Second Viennese School is the term generally used in English -speaking countries to denote the group of Composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Panufnik returned to Poland before the end of his planned year-long stay, leaving shortly after the Anschluss when the political situation caused Weingartner to be removed from the Academy. The ( German: "link-up" also known as the, was the 1938 Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi

Panufnik also lived for some months in Paris and London, where he studied privately and composed his first symphony. He met Weingartner again in London, and the older conductor urged him to stay in England to avoid the consequences of the worsening international situation. Panufnik was determined to return to Poland.

Panufnik's war

During the German occupation of Warsaw during World War II Panufnik formed a piano duo with his friend and fellow composer Witold Lutosławski, and they performed in cafés around Warsaw. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Witold Lutosławski ( January 25 1913 &ndash February 7 1994 was one of the major European Composers This was the only way in which Poles could legitimately hear live music, as arranging concerts was impossible because the occupying forces had banned organised gatherings. Panufnik also composed some illegal Songs of Underground Resistance, which became popular among the Polish community. During this period he composed a Tragic Overture and a second symphony. Later, Panufnik was able to conduct charity concerts, at one of which his Tragic Overture was first performed. He fled from Warsaw with his ailing mother, leaving all his music behind in his apartment, just before the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The Warsaw Uprising ( Powstanie Warszawskie) was a World War II struggle by the Polish Home Army ( Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw When Panufnik returned to the ruins of the city in the spring of 1945 to bury his brother's body and recover his own manuscripts, he discovered that despite having survived the widespread destruction, all of his scores had been discarded onto a bonfire by the new tenant of his rooms.

Socialist Realism

After World War II Panufnik moved to Kraków, where he found work composing film music for the Army Film Unit. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Kraków, in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (ˈkrækaʊ M-W: krăk'ou krāk'ō is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland Most of this was for propaganda films; Panufnik later recounted how for one film, The Electrification of the Villages, the director was unable to find a house without a supply of electricity, and had to demolish pylons and remove infrastructure in order to film it being built.

Panufnik accepted the post of Principal Conductor with the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra. He also reconstructed some of his music that had been lost, starting with the Tragic Overture which was still fresh in his mind. Encouraged by this he also reconstructed his Piano Trio and Polish Peasant Songs. However, his first symphony did not prove so easy and, disappointed with the result, Panufnik decided that he would thereafter concentrate on composing new works.

Appointed Music Director of the defunct Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, traditionally Poland's leading orchestra, Panufnik set about engaging musicians and finding premises. When beauraucratic obstacles made the reconstitution of the orchestra difficult (for example, the lack of available living accommodation for the musicians) he resigned in protest. At this time he also fulfilled conducting engagements abroad, including guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Berlin Philharmonic (in German: Die Berliner Philharmoniker) is an Orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. He was instructed to include his Tragic Overture as a reminder to Germany of their recent actions in Warsaw.

Around this time he started composing again, writing his Circle of Fifths for piano (published as Twelve Miniature Studies). His Lullaby for string orchestra and two harps was inspired by the combination of the River Thames and the night sky while he was visiting London. The Thames ( is a major River flowing through southern England. In its use of quarter tones and dense textures this broke new ground, both for Panufnik and for Polish music. A quarter tone is an interval about half as wide (aurally or logarithmically as a Semitone, which is half a Whole tone. Panufnik also composed a Sinfonia Rustica, deciding to give it a name rather than the designation "Symphony No. 1" out of feeling for his two lost works in the genre.

Panufnik became Vice-President of the newly constituted Union of Socialist Composers (ZKP—Związek Kompozytorów Polskich), accepting the post after being urged to do so by his colleagues. However, in this capacity he found himself manoeuvred into positions which he did not support, at conferences whose nature was political rather than musical. At one of these conferences he met Zoltán Kodály who privately expressed a similar feeling of artistic helplessness to Panufnik's. Zoltán Kodály ( Hungarian: Kodály Zoltán, ˈkodaːj ˈzoltaːn December 16 1882 &ndash March 6 1967 was a Hungarian Composer, Ethnomusicologist He also encountered composers such as the English Alan Bush, who were sympathetic to the aims of Stalinist Socialism, and other composers on the political far-left such as Benjamin Frankel. Alan Dudley Bush ( 22 December 1900 &ndash 31 October 1995) was a British Composer and Pianist. Benjamin Frankel ( January 31 1906 &ndash February 12 1973) was a British composer

Adding to Panufnik's discomfiture, in the postwar period the government became increasingly interventionist in the arts. As a consequence of events in the Soviet Union, particularly the Zhdanov decree in 1948, it was dictated that composers should follow Soviet Realism, and that musical compositions, like all works of art, should reflect "the realities of Socialist Life". The Zhdanov Doctrine (also called zhdanovism or zhdanovschina, Russian: доктрина Жданова ждановизм ждановщина was a Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism Panufnik later mused on the nebulous nature of Soviet Realism, quoting a Polish joke of the time that it was "like a mosquito: everyone knew it had a prick, but no-one had seen it". In this climate Panufnik, who was not a member of the Communist Party, attempted to tread an acceptable path by composing works based on historical Polish music; to this end he wrote his Old Polish Suite.

His Nocturne was singled out for criticism, and later General Włodzimierz Sokorski, Secretary of Culture, announced that Panufnik's Sinfonia Rustica had "ceased to exist". Panufnik later described the symphony as "a patently innocent work", and he found it particularly galling that one of the panel that decided on the work's proscription had earlier been on the panel that had awarded it first prize in the Chopin Competition. The work was nevertheless published by the State Publishing House and, as Adrian Thomas has shown, performances of the work continued sporadically in Poland. While his compositions were branded at home as formalist, Panufnik was promoted abroad as a cultural export, both as composer and conductor. The authorities awarded him their highest accolade, Standard of Labour First Class.

In 1950, Panufnik visited Russia as part of a Polish delegation to study Soviet teaching methods. He met Dmitri Shostakovich, whom he had befriended at previous conferences, and Aram Khatchaturian. Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Russian: ru Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович ( &ndash 9 August 1975 was a Russian Composer Aram Khachaturian ( Armenian: Արամ Խաչատրյան Aram Xačatryan; Russian: Аpaм Ильич Xaчaтypян Aram Il'ič Hačaturjan During conversations with lesser composers, Panufnik was pressed to say what he was working on. Feeling the need to say something acceptable, he casually mentioned that he had an idea for a Symphony of Peace. This was seized upon, and on returning to Poland he was granted a stay in quiet surroundings so that he could finish the piece (Panufnik interpreted this as an order to complete it). He wrote a three movement work, ending with a setting of words by his friend, the poet Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Panufnik hoped to work his own conception of peace into the composition, rather than the official Soviet ideology. The piece was not a success.

While he was writing the Symphony of Peace, he was struck by the beauty of an Irish woman he met called Marie Elizabeth O'Mahoney, who was known as "Scarlett" because of her likeness (both physical and temperamental) to Scarlett O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind. Scarlett O'Hara (full name Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler) is the Protagonist in Margaret Mitchell 's 1936 novel Gone with Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell Marsh ( November 8 1900 – August 16 1949) popularly known as Margaret Mitchell was an American This is about the 1936 American Novel. For the film see Gone with the Wind (film Gone with the Wind is a 1936 American Even though she was honeymooning with her third husband, she and Panufnik started an affair. A honeymoon is the traditional holiday taken by newlyweds to celebrate their marriage in intimacy and seclusion Panufnik soon discovered she was epileptic, but in spite of his doubts the couple were married in 1951 and soon had a baby daughter, Oonagh. Panufnik now had a young family to support, and so threw himself into his lucrative work for the Film Unit. For one film he again turned to old Polish music, and he eventually adapted this score for the concert work Concerto in modo antico.

In 1952 Panufnik composed a Heroic Overture, based on an idea he had conceived in 1939 inspired by the struggle of Poland against Nazi oppression. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He submitted this work (without divulging its true meaning) for the 1952 pre-Olympic music competition in Helsinki, and it won. Helsinki (in Finnish;) or Helsingfors (in Swedish;) is the Capital and largest city of Finland. However, at home this overture was also branded "formalist".

In the spring of 1953, Panufnik led the Chamber Orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour of China, where he met prime-minister Zhou Enlai and, briefly, Chairman Mao. The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) one of Poland 's premier musical institutions was established in 1901 on Zhou Enlai ( (5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976 was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from 1949 until his death in January 1976 Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led While he was on this tour, he heard that Oonagh had been drowned while Scarlett had an epileptic attack while she was bathing her. After returning to Warsaw he was asked to write a letter that the government could send to western musicians, ostensibly from Panufnik, to sound them out as to their sympathies with the Polish "Peace Movement". Panufnik described this as effectively an order to spy for Moscow, and as the last in a "succession of final straws". Thus in 1954 Panufnik no longer felt able to reconcile his patriotic desire to remain a Polish composer in Poland with his contempt for the musical and political demands of the government. He decided to migrate to Britain in order to highlight the conditions in which Polish composers were being forced to work. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

Bernard Jacobson described the events of Panufnik's escape from Poland as being straight out of a John le Carré novel. John le Carré is the Pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England "Scarlett", whose father lived in Britain, easily obtained permission to travel to London, and while she was there she covertly asked Polish émigré friends to help. They contrived a conducting engagement in Switzerland as cover. Panufnik was anxious not to arouse suspicion by appearing too eager to accept the invitation when it arrived. While Panufnik was fulfilling the engagement, the Polish Legation in Switzerland became aware of his impending escape, and urgently recalled him to the Polish Embassy. Panufnik gave members of the Secret Police who were following him the slip during an alarming night-time taxi-ride through Zürich. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the He eventually boarded a flight for London, and was granted political asylum on arrival. His defection made international headlines. The Polish government branded him a traitor, immediately suppressing his music and any record of his conducting achievements. The People's Republic of Poland or Polish People's Republic ( Polish: Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL Russian Adrian Thomas has recently shown that a few subsequent Polish performances nevertheless did occur. Before he left Poland, but to all practical purposes, with his departure Panufnik became a nonperson, and remained so until 1977. Examples There are many possible meanings associated with the term nonperson.

Life in the west

Having left Poland without any money or possessions, income from occasional conducting engagements made it hard for Panufnik to make ends meet. He received financial support from fellow composers including Ralph Vaughan Williams and Arthur Benjamin; Panufnik was as heartened by the gesture of professional solidarity as much as by the money. Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music For the mathematician see Arthur T Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 Sydney &ndash 10 April 1960 London His old friend the pianist Witold Małcużyński also helped by finding for Panufnik a wealthy patron. Witold Małcużyński ( August 10, 1914 near Warsaw - July 17, 1977 Majorca) was a Polish pianist who specialized "Scarlett" Panufnik published a book about Panufnik's life in Poland and his escape, but its surmises and inaccuracies distressed Panufnik.

Panufnik visited the United States to attend a performance of his Symphony of Peace conducted by Leopold Stokowski. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Leopold Stokowski (born Leopold Anthony Stokowski though on occasion The performance made Panufnik decide to scrap the Symphony of Peace, which he felt he had written under duress. When he returned to England he discarded the choral movement and recast the rest of the piece as his Sinfonia elegaica. This also was performed under Stokowski with considerable success.

Panufnik had found it frustratingly difficult to get permission to travel to the States. In the wake of McCarthyism, the staff at the American Embassy in London were unhelpful, and treated him with suspicion: Panufnik was surprised to have to supply fingerprints, and he was pointedly asked more than once whether he had ever been a member of the Polish Communist Party. McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s The irony of this difficulty, after his recent public defection to the west, was not lost on Panufnik.

Shortly after settling in Britain Panufnik was given an exclusive publishing contract with the prestigious firm of Boosey and Hawkes. They could get no answer from the Polish State publishers as to their long term intentions for Panufnik's existing works, all of which had appeared under their imprint. Panufnik was therefore advised to introduce small revisions into all his existing works in order to avoid copyright problems when Boosey and Hawkes took these works into their catalogue. Just after he completed this task, he heard that the Polish State Publishers had finally confirmed that they had no further interest in their catalogue of Panufnik's music. Panufnik bemoaned the time wasted, and indeed the surviving original scores (copies of which had already been sent to some libraries in the West, including Harvard University) show that Panufnik's revisions unfortunately excised some of the more radical passages in these works. Nevertheless, all his music before 1955 continues to be performed in the revised editions.

For two years from 1957 to 1959 Panufnik's financial situation eased slightly when he was appointed Principal Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The orchestra was keen to keep him, but preparing for fifty concerts a year prevented Panufnik from devoting enough time to composing.

In 1959 Panufnik fell in love with Winsome Ward, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1960. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. During this time, Panufnik had fulfilled a commission for his Piano Concerto, and another for his Sinfonia Sacra. He met Camilla Jessel, then aged twenty, who had worked as a personal assistant in the United States. The British MP Neil Marten (who had been the person at the British Foreign Office responsible for looking after Panufnik's defection) suggested that Jessel could help him with his correspondence. Harry Neil Marten ( 3 December 1916 &ndash 22 December 1985) was a British Conservative Party politician Panufnik accepted, and she rapidly discovered that he had not replied to letters offering conducting engagements and enquiring about commissions. This released time for Panufnik, allowing him to devote more time to composition. In 1963, Panufnik entered his newly completed Sinfonia Sacra for a prestigious international competition in Monaco for best orchestral work: it won first prize.

After the death of Winsome Ward in 1963, Panufnik and Jessel were drawn increasingly together, and they were married in November 1963. They moved into a house near the Thames in Twickenham, Greater London. Twickenham is a suburb in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south west London. His works were in demand by such major figures as Leopold Stokowski who conducted the first performance of Universal Prayer, Yehudi Menuhin who commissioned a violin concerto, and Mstislav Rostropovich who commissioned a cello concerto. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Leopold Stokowski (born Leopold Anthony Stokowski though on occasion Yehudi Menuhin Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (April 22 1916 – March 12 1999 was an American -born Violinist and conductor who spent WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich KBE ( Russian: Мстисла́в He also received commissions from orchestras as far afield as London, Boston and Monte Carlo. Panufnik did not return to Poland until 1990. He was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II He died in Twickenham, aged 77. Twickenham is a suburb in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south west London.

His daughter Roxanna Panufnik by his second wife Camilla is also a composer. Roxanna Panufnik (born 1968 is a British Composer of Polish heritage

Works

The manuscripts and parts of a number of early compositions were lost as a consequence of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Panufnik reconstructed some of these in 1945.

Orchestral

Concertante

Vocal

Ballets

While Panufnik's music has been used often for dance, two ballet scores were prepared by the composer using adaptations of existing works with new material. Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical Sir Philip Sidney ( November 30, 1554 &ndash October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures

Chamber

Instrumental

Pieces for Young Players

References

External links

Preceded by
Olgierd Straszyński		 Music directors, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
1946–1947		 Succeeded by
Jan Maklakiewicz
allmusic (previously All Music Guide) is a Metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. Olgierd Straszyński (1903 Warsaw – 1971 Warsaw was a Polish conductor. The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) one of Poland 's premier musical institutions was established in 1901 on Jan Adam Maklakiewicz ( November 24, 1899, Chojnata, Congress Poland – February 8, 1954, Warsaw was a Polish
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