Krzystof
Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933 – 2020) received an invitation from the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in 1968, at a time when his work was turning away from his earlier avant-garde experiments toward more universal values. Penderecki had debuted in 1959 at the Warsaw Autumn festival in Poland, after spectacularly winning all three prizes in the second National Competition for Young Composers—organized by the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP)—earlier that year. He had anonymously submitted three compositions: Stanzas, Emanations, and Psalms of David, using different handwriting to notate each score. Soon after this, Penderecki’s career as an avant-garde composer took off both in Poland and abroad. In October 1960, his Anaklasis premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in West Germany. This composition, written for forty-two string instruments and percussion, was commissioned by Heinrich Strobel, music director of Südwestrundfunk. The following year, Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, a composition that brought him the UNESCO prize and further international acclaim, premiered at the Warsaw Autumn festival. The 1960s saw numerous other premieres of his pieces behind the Iron Curtain: Fonogrammi (Venice), De Natura Sonoris (Royan), Dimensions of Time and Silence (Vienna), Emanations (Darmstadt), Polymorphia (Hamburg, Berlin), and Fluorescences (Donaueschingen). During that time, Penderecki also worked at the Polish Radio Experimental Studio, where he composed music for animated and feature films, documentaries, and theater. His Psalmus for tape (realized by Eugeniusz Rudnik), and radio opera Brydaga Śmierci for voice and tape (realized by Krzysztof Szlifirski, Eugeniusz Rudnik, and Bohdan Mazurek) are among the early autonomous electroacoustic compositions he created in the Studio. 

Penderecki’s residency in Berlin in 1968–69 took place between the premieres of his two landmark compositions. The first of these, St. Luke Passion (full title: Passio et Mors Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Lucam), premiered in March 1966 in Münster, prior to this DAAD residency. This monumental piece scored for large orchestra, narrator, soprano, baritone, bass, three choirs, and children’s choir was commissioned by Otto Tomek, music director of Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, to mark the 700th anniversary of Münster Cathedral. Penderecki’s Passion was praised for its remarkable musical horizons, extended vocal and instrumental techniques, and novel sound effects. It received the Grand Art Prize from the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The second piece, The Devils of Loudun—Penderecki’s first opera—was commissioned by Rolf Liebermann, artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera. Written during Penderecki’s DAAD residency in Berlin, it premiered in Hamburg in June 1969. This composition leaned more towards an expressionist, neo-romantic style and received rather mixed reviews. The continuous presence of Penderecki’s music in Germany and the ongoing institutional support he received there left a strong mark on post-war Polish–German relations.

Text: Monika Żyła