Authors
WITOLD szalonek
An outstanding composer and teacher. One of the leading composers of avant-garde music in Poland and Europe. He was born on 2nd March 1927 in Czechowice- Dziedzice, and died on 12th October 2001 in Berlin. From his childhood, Witold Szalonek was particularly sensitive to the sounds around him. In 1949, he took up studies with Wanda Chmielowska (piano), and later (after a hand injury) – with Bolesław Woytowicz (composition) at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice.
He continued his education with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. From 1967, he was a composition teacher at his alma mater in Katowice. He also stayed on a DAAD scholarship in West Berlin. He conducted seminars and courses, teaching his own composition techniques at music schools and universities, including in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Poland and Slovakia. In 1972, he was nominated for the post of rector of the Katowice State Higher School of Music, but he resigned from this position. A year later, he won a competition for the post of professor at the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin, where he took the composition class over from Boris Blacher. In Germany, he founded the Karol Szymanowski Society, aiming to promote Polish music. Witold Szalonek is considered one of the precursors of Polish sonorism.
After his Neoclassical – folkloric period, from the early 1960s he researched techniques of producing new types of sound on traditional instruments, woodwinds in particular. He discovered the so-called ‘combined tones’, that is, multiphonics with unique sound colours, obtained with appropriate embouchures and special fingering. In his compositions from the 1980s and 1990s, he combined innovative sound effects with elements of early music and classical forms. Witold Szalonek’s accolades include, among others, an honorary doctorate of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, the Polish Composers’ Union Award ‘for lifetime achievement’, and the Kulturpreis Schlesien from the Land of Lower Saxony.
Translated by Michał Szostało
He continued his education with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. From 1967, he was a composition teacher at his alma mater in Katowice. He also stayed on a DAAD scholarship in West Berlin. He conducted seminars and courses, teaching his own composition techniques at music schools and universities, including in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Poland and Slovakia. In 1972, he was nominated for the post of rector of the Katowice State Higher School of Music, but he resigned from this position. A year later, he won a competition for the post of professor at the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin, where he took the composition class over from Boris Blacher. In Germany, he founded the Karol Szymanowski Society, aiming to promote Polish music. Witold Szalonek is considered one of the precursors of Polish sonorism.
After his Neoclassical – folkloric period, from the early 1960s he researched techniques of producing new types of sound on traditional instruments, woodwinds in particular. He discovered the so-called ‘combined tones’, that is, multiphonics with unique sound colours, obtained with appropriate embouchures and special fingering. In his compositions from the 1980s and 1990s, he combined innovative sound effects with elements of early music and classical forms. Witold Szalonek’s accolades include, among others, an honorary doctorate of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, the Polish Composers’ Union Award ‘for lifetime achievement’, and the Kulturpreis Schlesien from the Land of Lower Saxony.
Translated by Michał Szostało
