Panufnik, Sir Andrzej
Panufnik, Sir Andrzej
Panufnik, Sir Andrzej, eminent Polish-born English conductor and composer; b. Warsaw, Sept. 24, 1914; d. London, Oct. 27, 1991. His father was a Polish manufacturer of string instruments, his mother an Englishwoman who studied violin in Warsaw. He began his musical training with his mother; after studying composition with Sikorski at the Warsaw Cons, (diploma, 1936), he took conducting lessons with Weingartner at the Vienna Academy of Music (1937–38); subsequently completed his training with Gaubert in Paris, and also studied in London (1938–39). He returned to Warsaw in 1939, remaining there during the Nazi occupation, playing piano in the underground. After the liberation, he conducted the Krakow Phil. (1945–46) and the Warsaw Phil. (1946–47); he then left his homeland in protest of the Communist regime (1954), settling in England, where he became a naturalized British subject (1961). After serving as music director of the City of Birmingham Sym. Orch. (1957–59), he devoted himself to composition. His wife, Scarlett Panufnik, publ. Out of the City of Fear (London, 1956), recounting his flight from Poland; his autobiography was publ, as Composing Myself (London, 1986). In 1988 he appeared as a guest conductor of his own works with the N.Y. Chamber Sym. and in 1990 with the Chicago Sym. Orch. In 1991 he was knighted. In his early years, he belonged to the vanguard group of Polish composers. He made use of advanced techniques, including quarter tones, and made certain innovations in notation; in several of his orch. works, he left blank spaces in the place of rests to indicate inactive instrumental parts. In his later music, he adopted a more circumspect idiom—expressive, direct, and communicative. His compositions to 1944 were destroyed during the Warsaw uprising.
Works
orch.: Tragic Overture (1942; Warsaw, 1943; reconstructed 1945; rev. 1955); Nocturne (1947; Paris, 1948; rev. 1955); Lullaby for 29 Strings and 2 Harps (1947; Kraków, 1948; rev. 1955); Divertimento for Strings, after trios by Felix Janiewicz (1947; Kraków, 1948; rev. 1955); 10 syms.: No. 1, Sinfonica Rustica (1948; Kraków, 1949; rev. 1955), No. 2, Sinfonica Elegiaca (Houston, Nov. 21,1957; rev. 1966), No. 3, Sinfonia Sacra (1963; Monte Carlo, Aug. 12, 1964), No. 4, Sinfonia Concertante, for Flute, Harp, and Strings (1973; London, May 20,1974), No. 5, Sinfonia di Sfere (1974–75; London, April 13,1976), No. 6, Sinfonia Mistica (1977; Middlesborough, England, Jan. 17, 1978), No. 7, Metas-infonia, for Organ, Timpani, and Strings (Manchester, England, Sept. 9,1978), No. 8, Sinfonia Votiva (1981; Boston, Jan. 28,1982; rev. 1984), No. 9, Sinfonia di Speranza (1986; London, Feb. 25, 1987), and No. 10 (1989; Chicago, Feb. 1,1990); Old Polish Suite for Strings (1950; Warsaw, 1951; rev. 1955); Concerto in modo antico for Trumpet and Orch. (Kraków, 1951; rev. 1955); Heroic Overture (Helsinki, July 27, 1952; rev. 1969); Rhapsody (1956; BBC, London, Jan. 11, 1957); Polonia (London, Aug. 21, 1959); Piano Concerto (Birmingham, England, Jan. 25,1962; rev. 1970, 1972, and 1982); Landscape for Strings (1962; rev. version, Twickenham, Nov. 13, 1965); Autumn Music (1962; rev. 1965; Paris, Jan. 16, 1968); Jagiellonian Triptych for Strings (London, Sept. 24, 1966); Katyn Epitaph (1967; N.Y., Nov. 17, 1968; rev. 1969); Concerto for Violin and String Orch. (1971; London, July 18, 1972); Concerto Festivo (London, June 17, 1979); Concertino for Timpani, Percussion, and Strings (1979–80; London, Jan. 24, 1981); A Procession for Peace (1982–83; London, July 16, 1983); Arbor Cosmica, 12 evocations for 12 Strings or String Orch. (1983; N.Y., Nov. 14, 1984); Concerto for Bassoon and Small Orch. (1985; Milwaukee, May 18,1986); Harmony (N.Y., Dec. 16,1989); Cello Concerto (1991; London, June 24, 1992). chamber: Piano Trio (1934; Warsaw, 1935; reconstructed 1945; rev. 1977); Quintetto Accadèmico for Flute, Oboe, 2 Clarinets, and Bassoon (1953; rev. 1956); Triangles for 3 Flutes and 3 Cellos (BBC-TV, April 14,1972); 3 string quartets: No. 1 (London, Oct. 19,1976), No. 2, Messages (St. Asaph’s Cathedral, North Wales, Sept. 25, 1980), and No. 3, Wycinanki (1990; London, April 15, 1991); String Sextet, Trains of Thought (1987; London, Feb. 21, 1988). Piano : 12 Miniature Studies (1947; rev. 1955–64); Reflections (1968; London, April 21, 1972); Pentasonata (1984; Aldeburgh, June 23,1989). vocal: 5 Polish Peasant Songs for Soprano or Treble Voices, 2 Flutes, 2 Clarinets, and Bass Clarinet (1940; reconstructed 1945; Kraków, 1945; rev. 1959); Song to the Virgin Mary for Chorus or 6 Solo Voices (London, April 26, 1964; rev. 1969); Universal Prayer for Soloists, Chorus, 3 Harps, and Organ (1968–69; N.Y., May 24,1970); Thames Pageant, cantata for Young Players and Singers (1969; Twickenham, Feb. 7, 1970); Winter Solstice for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Timpani, and Glockenspiel (Kingston-upon-Thames, Dec. 16,1972); Invocation for Peace for Treble Voices, 2 Trumpets, and 2 Trombones (Southampton, England, Nov. 28, 1972); Love Song for Mezzo-soprano and Harp or Piano (1976; also for Mezzo-soprano, Harp or Piano, and Strings, London, Nov. 28, 1991); Dreamscape for Mezzo- soprano and Piano (London, Dec. 12, 1977); Prayer to the Virgin of Skempe for Voice or Chorus, Organ, and Piano or Instruments (1990; 1st perf. at the composer’s funeral, St. Mary’s Church, Twickenham, Nov. 5, 1991).
Bibliography
T. Kaczyński, A. P. i jego muzyka (Warsaw, 1994).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire