Eugeniusz Knapik (born July 9, 1951, in

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River ...

) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

and composer of classical music best known for his 1980 chamber piece String Quartet No. 1. Knapik studied composition and piano with

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. He became a ...

(1933–2010) and Czesław Stańczyk at the University of Music in Katowice. ".

Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Adam Mickiewicz Institute ( pl, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza) is a government-sponsored organization funded by Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and headquartered at ''ulica Mokotowska 25'' (the Sugar Palace) in Warsaw. Named ...

. Retrieved on June 1, 2009. As a pianist he has recorded widely, specialising mainly in 20th-century music. He has won numerous prizes for his compositions, including at the Festival of Polish Piano Interpretation in

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specifi ...

, and the International Chamber Music Competition in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

.Eugeniusz Knapik
. Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej. Retrieved on June 1, 2009. Along with Andrzej Krzanowski and

Aleksander Lasoń Aleksander Lasoń (born 10 November 1951) is a Polish composer and teacher. He was born in Siemianowice Śląskie. He studied composition under professor Józef Świder's at The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He is professor at ...

, Knapik is generally seen as a leading member of the composers who emerged in Poland during the mid-1970s. This group was collectively named

Stalowa Wola Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Poland ...

after the city at which they stated their manifesto at a 1975 festival of music which was sub-titled "From young composers to a young City". Their statement read, "The work of the composers who entered their artistic lives at the festivals in Stalowa Wola was a kind of opposition to the 1950s and 60s avant-garde: opposition towards novelty for novelty's sake, and towards total destruction. This opposition was a spontaneous, intuitive, deep-rooted reaction, which we only later became fully aware of." Knapik is often seem as a composer ''out of his time'', in that his music is heavily influenced by the musical

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

s of the late

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

era, in particular by the work of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). More recent influences include Górecki,

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ...

(b. 1933) and

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyma ...

(1913-1994). He has borrowed from 19th and 20th century English language poetry for both libretto and inspiration, a fact which sets him apart from most of his Polish contemporaries.Thomas, 292 Today, Knapik teaches at the Katowice Academy of Music, where he is professor and director of composition.Eugeniusz Knapik
.

Warsaw Autumn Festival Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, 2003. Retrieved on June 1, 2009.

Selected works

*''Sonata'' for Violin and Piano, 1971 *''Psalms'' for soloists, choir and orchestra, 1973–75 *''String Quartet No. 1'', 1980 *''Hymn'' for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano, 1980 *''The Minds of Helena Troubleyn'', Cycle of three Operas, 1987-96 *''Up into the Silence'' for soprano, baritone, string quartet and orchestra, 1996-2000 *''Introduction to Mystery'' for Tenor, Mixed Choir and Symphony Orchestra, 2005 *''La Liberta chiama la liberta'', opera, 3rd Part of the Trilogy ''The Minds of Helena Troubleyn'', 2010

Notes

References

* Thomas, Adrian. "Polish Music since Szymanowski". In: ''Music in the Twentieth Century''. Cambridge and New York:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

, 2005.

External links

Eugeniusz Knapik at PWM Edition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapik, Eugeniusz 20th-century classical composers Polish composers People from Ruda Śląska 1951 births Living people Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis International Rostrum of Composers prize-winners Polish male classical composers 20th-century male musicians