Henryk Górecki

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010 Was A Polish Composer Of Contemporary Classical Music. According To Critic Alex Ross No Recent Classical Composer Has Had As Much Commercial Success As Górecki. Górecki Became A Leading Figure Of The Polish Avant-Garde During The Post-Stalin Cultural Thaw. His Webernian-Influenced Serialist Works Of The 1950s And 1960s Were Characterized By Adherence To Dissonant Modernism And Drew Influence From Luigi Nono Karlheinz Stockhausen Krzysztof Penderecki And Kazimierz Serocki. He Continued In This Direction Throughout The 1960s But By The Mid-1970s Had Changed To A Less Complex Sacred Minimalist Sound Exemplified By The Transitional Symphony No. 2 And The Hugely Popular Symphony No. 3 Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs . This Later Style Developed Through Several Other Distinct Phases From Such Works As His 1979 Beatus Vir To The 1981 Choral Hymn Miserere The 1993 Kleines Requiem Für Eine Polka And His Requiem Good Night. He Was Largely Unknown Outside Poland Until The Mid-To Late 1980s And His Fame Arrived In The 1990s. In 1992 15 Years After It Was Composed A Recording Of His Third Symphony Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs—recorded With Soprano Dawn Upshaw Conductor David Zinman And Released To Commemorate The Memory Of Those Lost During The Holocaust—became A Worldwide Commercial And Critical Success Selling More Than A Million Copies And Vastly Exceeding The Typical Lifetime Sales Of A Recording Of Symphonic Music By A 20th-Century Composer. As Surprised As Anyone At Its Popularity Górecki Said "Perhaps People Find Something They Need In This Piece Of Music ... Somehow I Hit The Right Note Something They Were Missing. Something Somewhere Had Been Lost To Them. I Feel That I Instinctively Knew What They Needed." This Popular Acclaim Did Not Generate Wide Interest In Górecki's Other Works And He Pointedly Resisted The Temptation To Repeat Earlier Success Or Compose For Commercial Reward. Some Of Górecki's Music Has Been Adapted For Film Soundtracks Most Notably Fragments Of His Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs. They Are Featured In Peter Weir's 1993 Film Fearless Julian Schnabel's 1996 Biographical Drama Film Basquiat Shona Auerbach's 1996 Film Seven Jaime Marqués's 2007 Film Ladrones Terrence Malick's 2012 Experimental Romantic Drama To The Wonder Paolo Sorrentino's 2013 Art Drama Film The Great Beauty Felix Van Groeningen's 2018 Biographical Film Beautiful Boy And Terrence Malick's 2019 Historical Drama A Hidden Life. It Has Also Appeared On Television In Numerous TV Shows Including The American Crime Drama Television Series The Sopranos American TV Series Legion Crime Thriller Television Series The Blacklist As Well As The Historical Drama The Crown. Górecki's Music Covers A Variety Of Styles But Tends Towards Relative Harmonic And Rhythmical Simplicity. He Is Considered To Be A Founder Of The So-Called New Polish School. Described By Terry Teachout He Said Górecki Has "more Conventional Array Of Compositional Techniques Includes Both Elaborate Counterpoint And The Ritualistic Repetition Of Melodic Fragments And Harmonic Patterns." His First Works Dating From The Last Half Of The 1950s Were In The Avant-Garde Style Of Webern And Other Serialists Of That Time. Some Of These Twelve-Tone And Serial Pieces Include Epitaph 1958 First Symphony 1959 And Scontri 1960 Mirka 2004 P. 305 . At That Time Górecki's Reputation Was Not Lagging Behind That Of His Near-Exact Contemporary And His Status Was Confirmed In 1960s When "Monologhi" Won A First Prize. Even Until 1962 He Was Firmly Ensconced In The Minds Of The Warsaw Autumn Public As A Leader Of The Polish Modern School Alongside Penderecki. Danuta Mirka Has Shown That Górecki's Compositional Techniques In The 1960s Were Often Based On Geometry Including Axes Figures One- And Two-Dimensional Patterns And Especially Symmetry. Thus She Proposes The Term "geometrical Period" To Refer To Górecki's Works Between 1962 And 1970. Building On Krzysztof Droba's Classifications She Further Divides This Period Into Two Phases 1962–63 "the Phase Of Sonoristic Means" And 1964–70 "the Phase Of Reductive Constructicism" Mirka 2004 P. 329 . During The Mid-1960s And Early 1970s Górecki Progressively Moved Away From His Early Career As Radical Modernist And Began To Compose With A More Traditional Romantic Mode Of Expression. His Change Of Style Was Viewed As An Affront To The Then Avant-Garde Establishment And Though He Continued To Receive Commissions From Various Polish Agencies By The Mid-1970s Górecki Was No Longer Regarded As A Composer That Mattered. In The Words Of One Critic His "new Material Was No Longer Cerebral And Sparse Rather It Was Intensely Expressive Persistently Rhythmic And Often Richly Colored In The Darkest Of Orchestral Hues". Apart From Two Brief Periods Studying In Paris And A Short Time Living In Berlin Górecki Spent Most Of His Life In Southern Poland. Henryk Górecki Was Born On 6 December 1933 In The Village Of Czernica In Present-Day Silesian Voivodeship Southwest Poland. The Górecki Family Lived Modestly Though Both Parents Had A Love Of Music. His Father Roman 1904–1991 Worked At The Goods Office Of A Local Railway Station But Was An Amateur Musician While His Mother Otylia 1909–1935 Played Piano. Otylia Died When Her Son Was Just Two Years Old And Many Of His Early Works Were Dedicated To Her Memory. Henryk Developed An Interest In Music From An Early Age Though He Was Discouraged By Both His Father And New Stepmother To The Extent That He Was Not Allowed To Play His Mother's Old Piano. He Persisted And In 1943 Was Allowed To Take Violin Lessons With Paweł Hajduga A Local Amateur Musician Instrument Maker Sculptor Painter Poet And Chłopski Filozof Peasant Philosopher . During The Last Decade Of His Life Górecki Suffered From Frequent Illnesses. His Symphony No. 4 Was Due To Be Premiered In London In 2010 By The London Philharmonic Orchestra But The Event Was Cancelled Due To The Composer's Ill Health. He Died On 12 November 2010 In His Home City Of Katowice From Complications Arising From A Lung Infection. Reacting To His Death The Head Of The Karol Szymanowski Academy Of Music Professor Eugeniusz Knapik Said "Górecki's Work Is Like A Huge Boulder That Lies In Our Path And Forces Us To Make A Spiritual And Emotional Effort". Adrian Thomas Professor Of Music At Cardiff University Said "The Strength And Startling Originality Of Górecki's Character Shone Through His Music ... Yet He Was An Intensely Private Man Sometimes Impossible With A Strong Belief In Family A Great Sense Of Humour A Physical Courage In The Face Of Unrelenting Illness And A Capacity For Firm Friendship". He Was Married To Jadwiga A Piano Teacher. His Daughter Anna Górecka-Stanczyk Is A Pianist And His Son Mikołaj Górecki Is Also A Composer. He Was Survived By Five Grandchildren. Górecki Was Awarded The Order Of The White Eagle By The President Of The Republic Of Poland Bronisław Komorowski Poland's Highest Honour Just A Month Before His Death. The Order Was Presented By The Wife Of President Komorowski In Górecki's Hospital Bed. Earlier Górecki Was Awarded The Order Of Polonia Restituta II Class And III Class And The Order Of St. Gregory The Great. The World Premiere Of The Fourth Symphony Took Place On 12 April 2014. It Was Performed As Originally Scheduled In 2010 By The London Philharmonic Orchestra At The Royal Festival Hall London But With Andrey Boreyko Conducting Instead Of Marin Alsop. read less