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By David F. Dawes
“IF YOU CAN live without music for two or three days, then don’t write . . . It might be better to spend time with a girl or with a beer . . .
If you cannot live without music, then write.”
While this admonition to his students, attributed to Henryk Górecki, might denote a flippant attitude toward his craft, his music demonstrated
otherwise.
The renowned Polish composer, who passed away November 12, ranged stylistically
from the fringes of the avant-garde to the heights of sacred expression.
Marking his death, Katowice Music Academy head Eugeniusz Knapik stated that Górecki’s music “is like a huge boulder that lies in our path and forces us to make a spiritual
and emotional effort.”
In the years following the passing of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Górecki rose to prominence as a challenging composer influenced by Karlheinz
Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bela Bartók, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez.
In the 1970s, however, his music took an unexpected turn. His Symphony No. 2, marking the birth of scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, incorporated text from several biblical Psalms.
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He released Beatus Vir in 1978, to celebrate his countryman Karol Wojtyla’s appointment as pope.
Other notable compositions included a requiem, Good Night; and a hymn, Miserere, inspired by police violence against Solidarity protesters.
Górecki came into conflict with Poland’s government officials, and was a member of an anti-Communist group called the
Catholic Intellectuals Club.
His most popular composition – which sold more than a million copies – was Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust.
The text featured a 15th century lament; a prayer of protection for the Virgin
Mary written by a girl in a Gestapo prison; and a folk song expressing the grief of a Silesian mother.
“Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music,” the composer said, adding: “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.”
His work has been favourably compared to mavericks such as Charles Ives and
Olivier Messiaen, and sacred music composers Arvo Pärt and John Tavener.
In a 1994 interview, Górecki stated: “I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing
for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a
certain effort into it.”
December 2010
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