Eugeniusz Rudnik (28 October 1932 – 24 October 2016) was a modern Polish composer,
electronics engineer and
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...
and a pioneer of electronic and electro-acoustic music in Poland.
Early life
Rudnik was born on 28 October 1932 in
Nadkole
Nadkole is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Łochów, within Węgrów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Łochów, north-west of Węgrów, and north-east of Warsaw
W ...
.
In 1967 he graduated from the Faculty of Electronics on Warsaw University of Technology. From 1955 he worked for
Polish Radio
The Polish Radio (PR; Polish: ''Polskie Radio'', PR) is a national public-service radio broadcasting organization of Poland, founded in 1925. It is owned by the State Treasury of Poland. On 27 December 2023, the Minister of Culture and Nationa ...
, at first as the manager of plumbers, carpenters and painters.
Career
In 1958 Rudnik started working in the
Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio, the fourth such facility in Europe, founded and directed by Józef Patkowski. Between 1967 and 1968, he worked in the Studio for Electronic Music of the
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
(; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...
in Cologne, when he cooperated with Włodzimierz Kotoński by the implementation of Klangspiele. In the late 1960s and 1970s Rudnik co-created some of Norwegian composer
Arne Nordheim
Arne Nordheim (20 June 1931 – 5 June 2010) was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. ...
's works, including "Colorazione" and "Solitaire" (1969).
Rudnik was one of the first Polish electroacoustic music producers and co-founder of the so-called Polish school of electroacoustic music and author of innovative solutions of spatial sound projection, composer of Skalary (1966). He was also author of one of the first poliversional tracks to tape in the world, and the first Polish track quadraphonic ''Vox Humana'' (1968) carried out in Studio WDR in Cologne. His work has defined and confirmed the role of sound producer as a co-author of the works of electroacoustic music.
As a composer Rudnik created almost 100 works in studios of electronic music in Warsaw, Stockholm, Cologne, Paris, Bourges, Baden-Baden, Brussels and Ghent. They were presented on various radio stations throughout Europe and in many countries, as well as at many festivals in Warsaw, Wrocław, Finland, Zagreb, Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, Arles, and other sites. In 2006, he was a central figure in Warsaw edition of Audio Art Festival. His composition Homo Ludens was presented in 1985 at the prestigious world exhibition of contemporary art
Documenta VII in Kassel.
Awards and honours
He won many awards. In addition to the ones already mentioned, they include one at the First International Electronic Music Competition for "Dixi" (1968), first prize at the
Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France) for ''Mobile'' (1972), third prize in Bourges for ''Ostinato'' (1973), second prize in Bourges for ''Homo Ludens'' (1984).
He was named Chairman of the Committee on Radio and Television "for his outstanding achievements in the field of creativity and execution of experimental electronic music for programs of Polish Radio and Television". He received the Warsaw Golden Badge of Honour for services to Warsaw (1987), an honorary radio award at the Festiwal Mediów "Człowiek w zagrożeniu" in
Łódź
Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
for the "eternal and universal values of the human being documenting the threats of modern civilization" (1991), the Euphonia d'or prize in Bourges, also for ''Mobile'', the Golden Microphone Award for "valued worldwide achievements in the field of radio art and experimental autonomous music" (1993) and the first prize (shared with Maria Brzezińska) at the XVII Międzynarodowy Katolicki Festiwal Filmów i Multimediów in
Niepokalanów
Niepokalanów monastery (so called ''City of the Immaculate Mother of God'') is a Roman Catholic religious community situated in Teresin, Sochaczew County, Teresin (near the Warsaw-Łowicz railway line, about 42 km to the west from the capital of ...
, and at the "Dwa Teatry" festival in
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
for ''Przyjaciółki z Żelaznej ulicy'' (2002).
In 2000 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. On 27 October 2012, at the Soundedit Festival, Rudnik received Człowiek ze Złotym Uchem award for "pioneering work in the field of music production". He died on 24 October 2016, four days before his 84th birthday.
[tmw/kk,]
Pionier polskiej muzyki elektronicznej nie żyje. Eugeniusz Rudnik miał 84 lata
, tvn24.pl (24 October 2016). Accessed 2 December 2019).RIP: Eugeniusz Rudnik
tinymixtapes.com; accessed 28 October 2016.
Autonomous pieces of art
* 1965 – Kolaż
* 1965 – Korzeń
* 1965 – Lekcja
* 1966 – Skalary – studium technologiczne
* 1967 – Dixi
* 1968 – Metamorfoza – muzyka ilustracyjna
* 1968 – Vox Humana
* 1969 – Rondo
* 1970 – My
* 1971 – Divertimento
* 1972 – Mobile
* 1972 – Mobile (wersja czterokanałowa)
* 1973 – Ostinato
* 1973 – Ready made
* 1973 – Wokale
* 1974 – Etiuda monotematyczna
* 1974 – Muzyka baletowa
* 1974 – Nature morte avec l’oiseau (wersja czterokanałowa)
* 1974 – Nature morte avec l'oiseau
* 1974 – Ostinato (wersja czterokanałowa)
* 1974 – Ring
* 1974 – Ring II
* 1975 – Gołębie Warszawy (nagranie czterokanałowe)
* 1975 – Nokturn
* 1976 – Cztery poematy
* 1977 – Ready made'77
* 1978 – Polak melduje z kosmosu
* 1979 – Etude de l'aspirine parisienne
* 1979 – Moulin diabolique
* 1979 – My
* 1979 – Nous
* 1979 – Omagio all'anonimo
* 1980 – Tryptyk – pamięci Franco Ewangelisty
* 1982 – Berceuse
* 1982 – Elegia – ofiarom wojny
* 1982 – Elegy to the victims of the war
* 1984 – Ekecheiria – szkic do portretu Mistrza
* 1984 – Homo ludens – balet radiowy nie pozbawiony elementów autobiografii
* 1984 – Kamienne epitafium – pamięci księdza Jerzego Popiełuszki
* 1984 – Szkic do portretu Mistrza
* 1986 – Podzwonne – pamięci Andrzeja Markowskiego
* 1989 – Gilotyna – dg
* 1990 – Annus miraculi
* 1990 – Via crucis – epitafium poświęcone pamięci polskich oficerów zamordowanych w kwietniu i maju 1940 przez NKWD i pogrzebanych we wsi Katyń koło Smoleńska
* 1992 – Pan Jezus niewierzących
* 1992 – Ptacy i ludzie – etiuda koncertowa na czworo artystów, troje skrzypiec, dwa słowiki, nożyczki i garncarkę ludową
* 1994 – Panichida – pamięci Jerzego Bienieckiego
* 1995 – Annus mirabilis
* 1995 – Diewuszka, wasze dokumienty
* 1995 – Interludia
* 1995 – Przyjaciółki z Żelaznej ulicy – radiowa ballada dokumentalna
* 1995 – Sekunda wielka – mała suita dokumentalna dla dorosłych
* 1995 – Theme G-M-E-B
* 1997 – Divertimento
* 1997 – Martwa natura z ptakiem, zegarem, strzelcem i panną
* 1997 – Pourqoi Cocteau – epitafium na śmierć Wielkiego Aktora George'a Genicot
* 1997 – Rumor
* 1998 – Homo radiophonicus – radiowa ballada dokumentalna
* 1999 – Jesień Ludów
* 1999 – Peregrynacje Pana Podchorążego albo nadwiślańskie żarna – radiowa ballada dokumentalna
* 2001 – Die Wandlung des Herrn Fähnrich oder die Mühlsteine an der Weichsel - Eine dokumentarische mehrspachige Rundfunk Ballade
* 2002 – Śniadanie na trawie w grocie Lascaux
* 2004 – Agonia pastoralna
* 2004 – Johna pamięci rapsod frywolny
* 2004 – Manewry albo Dama i huzary – liryczny poemat dźwiękowy lub dźwiękowy poemat liryczny
* 2005 – Ecce homo
* 2005 – Epitafium – zamęczonym w kamiennym piekle Gross Rosen
* 2007 – Epilogos
* 2007 – Neomobile
* 2008 – Larum – „Dlaboga, co się stało z Wami Żołnierze?”
* 2010 – Dzięcielina pałała na taśmę
References
Bibliography
* Archives of Bolesław Błaszczyk 2008;
* G. Michalski; Eugeniusz Rudnik, in: Ruch Muzyczny nr 7, 1970,
* J. Bieniecki: Bajadery Eugeniusza Rudnika, in: Teatr Polskiego Radia, nr 1, 1997,
* D. Mazurowski; Z E.R. rozmowa niesymetryczna, in: Estrada i Studio, nr 1, 2, 2000.
* A. Beksiak
The Erotically Audacious Electronic Eugeniusz
on: Culture.pl, November 2012. Retrieved 29-05-2014
* F. Lech
ERdada for tape – Eugeniusz Rudnik
on: Culture.pl, May 2014; retrieved 29-05-2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudnik, Eugeniusz
Polish composers
Polish electronics engineers
Place of death missing
1932 births
2016 deaths