Polish Classical Composers

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Polish Classical Composers
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Do you know these names? They are the most known
Polish composers of classical music! We would
like you to get familiar with them. Have a nice
time!
K. Penderecki
F. Chopin
S. Moniuszko
W. Kilar
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FRYDERYK CHOPIN
Frédéric François Chopin, (March 1,
1810  October 17, 1849) is one of the most
famous, influential and admired composers for the
piano, and Poland's most significant composer. He
was born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, of French
and Polish parentage in the village of Zelazowa
Wola, Poland. In Warsaw he was hailed as a child
prodigy for his keyboard and composition skill.
He left for Paris at the age of 20, having
already composed his two piano concertos, and
never returned to Poland. In Paris, he made a
career as a performer and teacher as well as a
composer, and adopted the French variant of his
name, "Frédéric-François". In 1836 he met the
French writer George Sand, with whom he had a
relationship for nine years until 1847. After
suffering from poor health for much of his life,
his condition forced him to give up performing
and teaching shortly before he died.
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Monument in Warsaw
Chopin's compositions, which are almost
exclusively for the piano, include the Funeral
March piano sonata and the twenty-four etudes and
are widely considered to be amongst the pinnacles
of the piano repertoire. Although some of his
music is among the most technically demanding for
the instrument, Chopin's style emphasizes poetry,
nuance, and expressive depth rather than mere
technical display. He is often cited as one of
the mainstays of Romanticism in
nineteenth-century classical music.
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Stanislaw Moniuszko
Stanislaw Moniuszko was born on the 5th May 1819
in Obiel in Belarus. He was a famous conductor
and composer. He was taught how to play piano by
August Frezer and Dominik Stefanowicz. He left
for Berlin where he continued to learn his future
profession. He returned to Poland and married
Aleksandra Mueller. He worked as an organist and
a piano teacher. He became famous thanks to his
very good performances. In 1848 he composed his
most famous work, Halka. This opera was a great
success. He became the first conductor of Polish
Opera in the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. The January
Uprising slowed down his career, but he composed
another famous work The Haunted Manor in
1865. He died on the 4th June 1872 of a heart
attack. He is considered the creator of the
Polish National Opera.  
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Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki is a Polish composer and
conductor of classical music. Penderecki's
international recognition began in 1959 at the
Warsaw Autumn Festival with the premiere of
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 (notes close
together played at the same time). His the most
famous opuses are Operas The Devils of Loudun,
Paradise Lost, The Black Mask, Ubu Rex,
Symphonies Symphonies 1-8 and Lacrimosa, Polish
Requiem, Cello Concerto, Credo.
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Wojciech Kilar
Wojciech Kilar is a Polish classic and film music
composer. Kilar was born in July 17, 1932 in
Lwów, Poland now L'viv, Ukraine. He studied in
Katowice and later on in Paris with Nadia
Boulanger. He won several prices for his works
and belongs (together with Krzysztof Penderecki
and Henryk Górecki to the Polish avant-garde of
the Sixties. His orchestral work Krzesany
(Climbing up the mountains) from 1974 became
famous, but since the mid 1970s he has become
well known as a composer of film scores,
increasingly in Hollywood (working with Roman
Polanski). Kilar remains faithful to the style he
defined for himself in these works to this day.
Having abandoned avant-garde technical means
almost entirely, he continues to employ a
simplified musical language, in which sizeable
masses of sound serve as a backdrop for
highlighted melodies that are often emotionally
potent. This occurs in those compositions that
reference folk music (especially Polish
Highlander folk melodies) and in patriotic and
religious pieces that reflect the composer's deep
religious faith and devotion to his country. The
building blocks for Kilar's film music are
similar, and this specialization has helped the
composer gain far-reaching fame throughout the
world. Although it was his cooperation with
Francis Ford Coppola on DRACULA (1992) that
consolidated the composer's position in the film
world, it seems that the films of Krzysztof
Zanussi have inspired Kilar to the highest levels
artistic achievement.