Wojciech Kilar


Wojciech Kilar was a Polish classical and film music composer. His film scores have won many honors including the best score award for the music to Ziemia obiecana in 1975, followed by the Prix Louis Delluc in 1980 for the music to Le Roi et l'Oiseau / The King and the Mockingbird, and an award at the Cork International Film Festival for the music to From A Far Country about the life of Pope John Paul II.
One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992 which received the ASCAP Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in Los Angeles, nominated also for the Saturn Award for Best Music in a science fiction, fantasy, or horror film in San Francisco in 1992. In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Film Music written for The Pianist, at France's 28th César Awards Ceremony in 2003, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. The film's soundtrack featured his "Moving to the Ghetto Oct. 31, 1940" with the other 10 tracks being works by Frédéric Chopin. The music in the movie includes pieces by Beethoven and Bach.

Biography

Wojciech Kilar was born on 17 July 1932 in Lwów. His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress. Kilar spent most of his life from 1948 in the city of Katowice in Southern Poland, married to Barbara Pomianowska, a pianist. Kilar was 22 years old when he met 18-year-old Barbara, his future wife.

Education

After studying piano under Maria Bilińska-Riegerowa and harmony under Artur Malawski, he moved from Kraków to Katowice in 1948, where he finished his music middle school in the class of Władysława Markiewiczówna, after which he went to the State College of Music in Katowice where he studied piano and composition under Bolesław Woytowicz, graduating with top honours and the award of a diploma in 1955 He continued his post-graduate studies at the State College of Music in Kraków from 1955 to 1958. In 1957 he took part in the International New Music Summer Course in Darmstadt. In 1959–60 a French government scholarship enabled him to study composition under Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Music career

Kilar belonged to the Polish Avant-garde music movement of the Sixties, sometimes referred to as the New Polish School. In 1977 Kilar was one of the founding members of the Karol Szymanowski Society, based in the mountain town of Zakopane. Kilar chaired the Katowice chapter of the Association of Polish Composers for many years and from 1979–81 was vice chair of this association's national board. He was also a member of the Repertoire Committee for the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music. In 1991 Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi made a biographical film about the composer titled Wojciech Kilar.
Having received critical success as a classical composer, Kilar scored his first domestic film in 1959, and went on to write music for some of Poland's most acclaimed directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Wajda. He worked on over 100 titles in his home country, including internationally recognised titles such as Bilans Kwartalny, Spirala, Constans, Imperativ, Rok Spokojnego Słońca, and Życie za Życie, plus several others in France and across other parts of Europe. He made his English-language debut with Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Dracula. His other English language features — Roman Polanski's trio Death and the Maiden, The Ninth Gate and The Pianist, and Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady — were typified by his trademark grinding basses and cellos, deeply romantic themes and minimalist chord progressions.
In addition to his film work, Kilar continued to write and publish purely classical works, which have included a horn sonata, a piece for a wind quintet, several pieces for chamber orchestra and choir, the acclaimed Baltic Canticles, the epic Exodus, a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra dedicated to Peter Jablonski, and his major work, the September Symphony.
Having abandoned Avant-garde music technical means almost entirely, he continued to employ a simplified musical language, in which sizable masses of sound serve as a backdrop for highlighted melodies. This occurs in those compositions that reference folk music and in patriotic and religious pieces.

Illness and death

During the summer of 2013, Kilar manifested signs of poor health, such as fainting and elevated blood pressure, but attributed those symptoms to his heart problems. However, in September he fell while on the street. He was admitted to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, though news of his illness was only publicly released after his death. He underwent a successful surgery to remove the tumor, which caused no serious side–effects; Kilar was very optimistic and continued to work after the operation. In addition, he underwent radiotherapy for six weeks, a process which left 81-year-old Kilar physically exhausted.
In early December 2013, Kilar left the hospital to return to his residence in Katowice. As he did not have any children, he was taken care of by his niece. He was also regularly visited by a Catholic priest and received the Holy Communion twice during the Christmas season. His condition deteriorated on 28 December and on the morning of Sunday, 29 December 2013, Kilar died. Following the cremation of his body, Kilar's funeral was held on 4 January 2014 at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Katowice. After the service, his ashes were laid to rest alongside those of his wife.

Works

Later in life, Kilar composed symphonic music, chamber works and works for solo instruments. January 2001 saw the world premiere of his Missa pro pace at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. The work was written to commemorate the Warsaw Philharmonic's centennial. In December 2001, it was performed again in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the presence of Pope John Paul II. His 1984 composition Angelus was used in the motion picture City of Angels; Orawa, from 1988, found its use in the Santa Clara Vanguard's 2003 production, "Pathways".
For most of his life, Kilar's output was dominated by music for film with a small but steady stream of concert works. Post 2000, he turned to "music of a singular authorship". Since his 2003 September Symphony, , a four-movement full scale symphony written for the composer's friend Antoni Wit, Kilar returned to absolute music. September Symphony was the first symphony by the composer since 1955's Symphony for Strings and Kilar considered it his first mature symphony.
From 2003, Kilar had been steadily producing large scale concert works. His Lament for unaccompanied mixed choir, his Symphony No.4 Sinfonia de Motu from 2005 written for large orchestra, choir and soloists, his Magnificat Mass from 2006, Symphony No.5 Advent Symphony from 2007 and another large mass, Te Deum premiered in November 2008. Kilar was quoted as saying that he believed he had discovered the philosopher's stone, and that "there was nothing more beautiful than the solitary sound or concord that lasted eternally, that this was the deepest wisdom, nothing like our tricks with sonata allegros, fugues, and harmonics."
Kilar's works have been performed by several major international orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Awards

Wojciech Kilar received numerous awards for his artistic activity and achievements, including prizes from the Lili Boulanger Foundation in Boston, the Minister of Culture and Art, the Association of Polish Composers, the Katowice province, and the city of Katowice. He was also awarded the First Class Award of Merit of the Polish Republic, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Prize in New York City, the Solidarity Independent Trade Union Cultural Committee Arts Award, the Wojciech Korfanty Prize, the "Lux ex Silesia" Prize bestowed by the Archbishop and Metropolitan of Katowice, and the Sonderpreis des Kulturpreis Schlesien des Landes Niedersachsen.
Kilar's film scores have also won him many honors. He received the best score award for the music to Ziemia obiecana at the Festival of Polish Films in Gdańsk in 1975. This was followed by the Prix Louis Delluc, which Kilar was awarded in 1980 for the music to an animated film titled Le Roi et l'Oiseau / The King and the Mockingbird,. One year later he collected an award at the Cork International Film Festival for the music to Papież Jan Pawel II / Pope John Paul II / Da un paese lontano: Papa Giovanni Paulo II.
Perhaps his greatest success came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, for which Kilar shared the 1993 ASCAP Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in Los Angeles, and was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Music in a science fiction, fantasy, or horror film in San Francisco in 1993.
In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Music written for a film, for The Pianist, at France's 28th César Awards Ceremony in 2003, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. On this movie's published soundtrack he composed "Moving to the Ghetto Oct. 31, 1940", with the other 10 tracks being works by Frédéric Chopin; the music in the actual movie also includes pieces by Beethoven and Bach.
The Polish State Cinema Committee honored Kilar with a lifetime achievement award in 1991, while in 1976 he was decorated with the Cavaliers' Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In November 2008 Kilar was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

List of major awards

Orchestral

Numerous solo piano pieces

Political views

During the 2007 election campaign for the National Assembly of the Republic of Poland, Wojciech Kilar made a number of statements of his support of the Law and Justice party.