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![]() composer, b. 28th December 1907 in Śniatyń (now Sniatyn, Ukraine), d. 25th August 1989 in Paris. He started learning the piano at the age of seven; he studied this instrument in the Music Institute in Cracow (1919-21), then with Maria Sołtys in Lvov Conservatory (1921-25). From 1925, he studied history of art at the Philosophical Department of Warsaw University. Simultaneously, from 1928 he studied with Kazimierz Sikorski in Warsaw Conservatoire, graduating in 1931 with a degree in music theory and composition. As his debut, Palester chose the Warsaw performance (in the same year) of Muzyka symfoniczna [Symphonic Music] (1930), which later brought him a tremendous success at the Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in London. worksRoman Palester’s music is virtually absent from present-day Polish musical life, which, considering its artistic value, is one of the painful paradoxes of contemporary Polish history. It is also absent from the panorama of Polish music in the last fifty years, if we look at concert programmes in Polish philharmonic halls, at music records, critical articles about these concerts and records, as well as musicological research. All the same, directly after World War II Palester was the main representative of Polish musical world abroad, and he was then regarded as the most eminent Polish composer, even – as a successor to Szymanowski. When he was leaving for Paris in 1947, then, he did not do it to further his career or seek popularity. What is more, his departure was fully legal, approved of by the authorities, and he intended to maintain regular contact with the mother country. His prolonged stay abroad, however, could not be accepted by the communist authorities, which began to persecute him in the hope that it would force him to return. In 1948, Palester refused to participate in the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace in Wrocław, the communists’ propaganda exercise attended even by Pablo Picasso himself. Palester was present, however, a year later at the National Assembly of Composers and Music Critics in Łagów in Poland, where the new socialist-realist style in art was officially decreed as obligatory, also in music. Palester himself was then called a formalist by the minister of culture, which amounted to a public reprimand. |
kompozycje
Sonatina for violin and cello (1929)
String Quartet No. 1 (1929-30)
Three Songs to words by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna for soprano and piano (1930)
Psalm V for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra (1930-31)
A Dance from Osmołoda for symphony orchestra (1932)
Children’s Symphony for 7 instruments (1932)
Symphony No. 1 for great orchestra (1934-35)
Variations for chamber orchestra (1935)
Little Overture for symphony orchestra (1935)
Łowicz Folksong for piano (1935)
Freight Train for piano (1935)
Canon for piano (1935)
Concerto for piano and orchestra (1935-36)
String Quartet No. 2 * (1936)
Sonatina for three clarinets (1936)
Song of the Land ballet in three scenes (1937)
Polish Dances from the ballet Song of the Land for orchestra (1937)
Symphonic Suite (1937-38)
Concertino for alto saxoophone and string orchestra (1938)
Sonata for two violins and piano * (1939)
Divertimento for 6 instruments (1939-40)
Concerto for violin and orchestra * (1939-41)
Sonatina for piano for 4 hands (1940)
Symphony No. 2 (1941-42)
Concertino for piano and orchestra (1942)
Wedding Cakes wedding poem for women’s choir and chamber orchestra (1942)
String Quartet No. 3 * (1942-44)
M. K. Ogiński’s Polonaises for small orchestra * (1943)
Two Studies for piano (1943)
Requiem for 4 solo voices, mixed choir and orchestra * (1945-49)
Serenade for two flutes and string orchestra * (1946)
String Trio No. 1 (1946)
Nocturne [1st version] for string orchestra * (1947)
Little Serenade for flute, violin and viola (1947)
Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra (1948)
Divertimento for 9 instruments (1948)
Wedding Suite for small instrumental ensemble * (1948)
Symphony No. 3 for two string orchestras (1948-49)
The Vistula [1st version] a cantata for reciting voice, mixed choir and instrumental ensemble (1948-49)
Symphony No. 4 [1st version] (1948-52)
Threnodies [1st version] – three fragments after Jan Kochanowski for voice and instrumental ensemble * (1950-51)
Missa brevis for mixed unaccompanied choir * (1951)
Passacaglia for orchestra (1953)
Nocturne [2nd version] for string orchestra (1954)
Adagio for string orchestra * (1954)
Preludes for piano (1954)
Variazioni per orchestra [1st version] (1955)
Polish Dances from the ballet Song of the Land for violin and piano (1955)
Concertino per clavicembalo e dieci strumenti su temi di vecchie danze polacche * (1955)
Music for two pianos and orchestra * (1956-59)
Concerto for violin and orchestra [2nd version] (1957-59)
Study 58 for chamber orchestra * (1958)
Piccolo Concerto per orchestra da camera * (1958)
String Trio No. 2 (1959)
Don Juan’s Death musical action in one act * (1959-61)
Threnodies [2nd version] three fragments after Jan Kochanowski for voice and instrumental ensemble * (1962,1973)
Don Juan’s Death three symphonic fragments for orchestra (1963)
Varianti for two pianos * (1963-64)
Duets for two violins * (1965)
Metamorphoses for orchestra (1966-68)
Reed Trio * (1967)
Variazioni per orchestra [2nd version] (1968)
Sonata for Violin and Cello * (1968)
Suite for Four for oboe, violin, viola and cello (1969)
Sonata No. 1 for piano * (1970-71)
Symphony No. 4 [2nd version] * (1972)
Variations for piano * (1972)
Passacaglia for piano * (1973)
String Quartet No. 3 [2nd version] (1974)
Expressions for piano * (1974-75)
Three Poems by Czesław Miłosz for soprano and 12 instruments * (1975-77)
Concerto for viola and orchestra (1975-78)
Concertino for alto saxophone and string orchestra [2nd version] (1977-78)
Symphony No. 5 * (1977-81)
Monograms chamber concerto for soprano and piano * (1978)
The Vistula [2nd version] cantata for reciting voice, mixed choir and instrumental ensemble (1979)
Hymnus pro gratiarum actione for children’s choir, 2 mixed choirs and instrumental ensemble * (1979)
Studies for piano (1979-81)
Sonata No. 2 for piano * (1980)
Concerto for violin and orchestra [3rd version] (1984-85)
Letters to My Mother cantata for baritone and small orchestra (1984-87)
Trio for flute, viola and harp (1985)
The Vistula [3rd version] cantata for reciting voice, mixed choir and two pianos (1985)
Symphonic Suite [2nd version] (1986)
Carols for mixed choir (1988)
Carols for solo soprano with instrumental accompaniment (1988)
Psalm V [2nd version] for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra (1988)
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literatura wybrana
Helman Zofia Roman Palester. Twórca i dzieło [Roman Palester. The Artist and His Work], Musica Iagellonica, Kraków 1999
Helman Zofia Palester Roman In: Komponisten der Gegenwart (eds. Hanns-Werner Heister, Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer), edition text + kritik, München 1992-
Helman Zofia Palester Roman In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second Edition (ed. Stanley Sadie), vol. 18, Macmillan Publishers Limited, London 2001
Janicka-Słysz Małgorzata Krakowskie lata Stefana Kisielewskiego i Romana Palestra [The Cracow Years of Stefan Kisielewski and Roman Palester] In: Krakowska szkoła kompozytorska 1888-1988 [The Cracow School of Composers 1888-1988] (ed. Teresa Malecka), Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, Kraków 1993
Tarnawska-Kaczorowska Krystyna (red.) Muzyka źle obecna [Misrepresented Music], Sekcja Muzykologów Związku Kompozytorów Polskich, Warszawa 1989
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