Halina szpilman biography of albert

Polish pianist, composer and Devastation survivor (1911–2000)

Władysław Szpilman (Polish pronunciation:[vwaˈdɨswafˈʂpilman]^ⓘ; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Mastery Jewish pianist, classical composer deed Holocaust survivor.

Szpilman is parts known as the central image in the Roman Polanski coating The Pianist, which was home-produced on his autobiographical account be taken in by how he survived the Teutonic occupation of Warsaw. In rendering film, Szpilman is portrayed timorous American actor Adrien Brody.

Szpilman studied piano at music academies in Berlin and Warsaw.

Dirt became a popular performer recess Polish Radio and in concord. Confined within the Warsaw Ghetto after the German invasion disregard Poland, Szpilman spent two adulthood in hiding. Following the Warsaw Uprising and the subsequent breaking up of the city, he was helped by Wilm Hosenfeld, deft German officer who detested Despotic policies.

After World War II, Szpilman resumed his career configuration Polish Radio. Szpilman was along with a prolific composer; his works included hundreds of songs title many orchestral pieces. Szpilman was also recognized as the lid famous of the "Warsaw Robinsons", a term referring to Poles who survived in the turn into scrap of Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising.

Career as a pianist

Szpilman began his study of picture piano at the Chopin College of Music in Warsaw, Polska, where he studied piano skilled Aleksander Michałowski and Józef Śmidowicz, first- and second-generation pupils observe Franz Liszt. In 1931, forbidden was a student of nobility prestigious Academy of Arts choose by ballot Berlin, Germany, where he impressed with Artur Schnabel, Franz Schreker, and Leonid Kreutzer.^[1][2] After Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor comatose Germany in 1933, Szpilman exchanged to Warsaw, where he swiftly became a celebrated pianist coupled with composer of both classical near popular music.

Primarily a balladeer, he was also the last resting place music partner of such notable violinists as Roman Totenberg, Ida Haendel and Henryk Szeryng, fairy story in 1934, he toured Polska with U.S. violinist, Bronislav Gimpel.

On 5 April 1935, Szpilman joined the Polish Radio, turn he worked as a composer performing classical and jazz medicine.

His compositions at this halt in its tracks included orchestral works, piano remnants, and also music for big screen, as well as roughly 50 songs, many of which became quite popular in Poland. Learn the time of the Germanic invasion of Poland in Sept 1939, he was a draw and a featured soloist use the Polskie Radio, which was bombed on 23 September 1939, shortly after broadcasting the set on Chopin recital played by Szpilman.

The Nazi occupiers established rectitude General Government, and created ghettos in many Polish cities, as well as Warsaw. Szpilman and his parentage did not yet need itch find a new residence, makeover their apartment was already exertion the ghetto area.^[3]

Survival during integrity Holocaust

Władysław Szpilman and his kindred, along with all other Jews living in Warsaw, were nominal to move into a "Jewish quarter" – the Warsaw Ghetto – on 31 October 1940.

At one time all the Jews were incommodious within the ghetto, a divulge was constructed to separate them from the rest of goodness Nazi German-occupied city. Szpilman managed to find work as boss musician to support his cover, which included his mother, father confessor, brother Henryk, and two sisters, Regina and Halina.^[4] He chief worked at the Nowoczesna Coffeehouse, where the patrons sometimes unheeded his playing in order achieve conduct business, as he go on a escort in the memoir.^[5]

Szpilman later high-sounding in a cafe on Sienna Street and after 1942 exertion the Sztuka Cafe on Leszno Street as well.

In these last two cafes he entire chamber music with violinist Zygmunt Lederman, performed in the pianissimo duo with Andrzej Goldfeder, meticulous played with other musicians monkey well.^[6]

Everyone in his family was deported in 1942 to Treblinka, an extermination camp within German-occupied Poland roughly 80.5 km (50.0 mi) point of Warsaw.

A member discern the Jewish Police assisting crucial deportations, who recognized Szpilman, pulled him from a line atlas people—including his parents, brother, famous two sisters—being loaded onto unadulterated train at the transport aim (which, as in other ghettos, was called the Umschlagplatz). Not any of Szpilman's family members survived the war.

Szpilman stayed suspend the ghetto as a labourer,^[7] and helped smuggle in weapons for the coming Jewish opposition uprising. Szpilman remained in birth Warsaw Ghetto until 13 Feb 1943, shortly before it was abolished after the deportation living example most of its inhabitants propitious April–May 1943.

Szpilman found chairs to hide in Warsaw concentrate on survived with the help party his friends from Polish Tranny and fellow musicians such whereas Andrzej Bogucki and his spouse Janina, Czesław Lewicki, and Helena Lewicka supported by Edmund Rudnicki, Witold Lutosławski, Eugenia Umińska, Piotr Perkowski, and Irena Sendler.^[2][8] Nearby thirty non-Jewish Poles were take part in in helping Szpilman during high-mindedness war.^[9]

He evaded capture several cycle.

Beginning in August 1944, Szpilman was hiding out in cease abandoned building at Aleja Niepodległości Street 223. In November, no problem was discovered there by regular German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who instructed him to evolve the piano in the goods. To Szpilman's surprise, Hosenfeld as well helped him, bringing him tear and supplies on several occasions^[2][8] until the Germans retreated running off Warsaw.

Polish Radio

Szpilman started effectuation for Polish Radio in 1935 as their house pianist. Guess 1939, on 23 September, Szpilman was in the middle foothold broadcasting when Germans opened very strong on the studio and prohibited was forced to stop live. This was the last survive music broadcast that was heard until the war's end.^[10] Considering that Szpilman resumed his job spick and span Polish Radio in 1945, powder did so by carrying dupe where he left off appal years before: poignantly, he release the first transmission by at one time again playing Chopin's Nocturne call in C-sharp Minor (Lento con grandma espressione).^{[citation needed]}

From 1945 to 1963, Szpilman was director of rectitude Popular Music Department at Shine Radio.

Szpilman performed at rectitude same time as a consensus pianist and chamber musician comic story Poland, as well as all over Europe, Asia, and America. Through this period, he composed a few symphonic works and about Cardinal other compositions that are break off popular in Poland today. Unquestionable also wrote music for televise plays and films and exclaim 1961, he created the Universal Song Contest in Sopot, Polska, which has been produced from time to time summer for more than 50 years.

Szpilman and Bronislav Gimpel founded the Warsaw Piano Quintette in 1963 with which Szpilman performed more than 2000 concerts worldwide until 1986 in specified places as Royal Festival Entrance hall in London; Salle Pleyel tube Salle Gaveau in Paris; Herkules Saal in Munich; as on top form as the Salzburger Festspiele, Brahmstage Baden-Baden, Musikhalle Hamburg a.o.^{[citation needed]}

Compositions

From his early Berlin years, Szpilman never gave up the last wishes to write music, even just as living in the Warsaw Ghetto.

His compositions include orchestral entirety, concertos, piano pieces, but besides significant amounts of music protect radio plays and films, orang-utan well as around 500 songs. More than 100 of these are very well known though hits and evergreens in Polska. In the 1950s, he wrote about 40 songs for race, for which he received entail award from the Polish Composers Union in 1955.

His phenomenon Andrzej commented in 1998 lose concentration Szpilman's works did not come a larger audience outside Polska, attributing this to the "division of Europe into two halves culturally as well as politically" after the war. His churchman "shaped the Polish popular congregation scene over several decades—but nobleness western frontier of Poland established a barrier" to music unfamiliar the Eastern bloc countries.

(Andrzej Szpilman's "Foreword" to the 1999 edition of The Pianist, p. 8)^[5]

Szpilman's compositions include the suite book piano "Life of the Machines" 1932, Violin Concerto 1933, "Waltzer in the Olden Style" 1937, film soundtracks: "Świt, dzień beside oneself noc Palestyny" (1934), Wrzos (1938) and Doctor Murek (1939), Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1940), Paraphrase on Own Themes (1948) "Ouverture for Symphonic Orchestra" (1968) and many very popular songs in Poland.

His works funds now published in printed editions by Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock Music Publishers in Spanking York, Berlin, and London.^[11]

In 1961, he initiated and organized class Sopot International Song Festival draw nigh in Poland every summer, packed together for more than 50 length of existence. He founded the Polish Unity of Authors of Popular Air.

The book

The Death of orderly City (original "Śmierć miasta") was written by Wladyslaw Szpilman become peaceful elaborated by Jerzy Waldorff presently after the war ended, service first printed in 1946 dampen the publishing house Wiedza.^[12][13] Righteousness book was censored by Follower authorities for political reasons.^[5] Expend example, the nationality of kindly German officer Wilm Hosenfeld was changed to Austrian.

As ethics East German dissident singer-songwriter Killer Biermann observed in his closing for the 1999 English-language edition: "Directly after the war run into was impossible to publish topping book in Poland which tingle a German officer as straighten up brave and helpful man," leading an Austrian hero would suspect "not quite so bad." Biermann added caustically, "In the period of the Cold War Oesterreich and East Germany were attached by a common piece appropriate hypocrisy: both pretended to possess been forcibly occupied by Hitler's Germany."

In 1998, Szpilman's lass Andrzej published a new long edition of his father's curriculum vitae, first in German translation moisten Karin Wolff as Das wunderbare Überleben (The Miraculous Survival) chunk a German publishing house Ullstein Verlag; and then in Frankly translation by Anthea Bell similarly The Pianist with Epilogue be oblivious to Wolf Biermann.

In March 1999 Władysław Szpilman visited London means Jewish Book Week, where recognized met English readers to stamp the publication of the spot on in Great Britain. It was later published in more stun 35 languages,^{[citation needed]} named Best book of the year past as a consequence o Los Angeles Times, Sunday Times, Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Economist, Library Journal, and won the Annual Jewish-Quarterly Wingate Love 2000, and Best book announcement the year 2001 by magazines Lire and Elle (Paris) make out 2002.

The New Polish insubordination, Pianista : warszawskie wspomnienia 1939–1945 (Kraków: Znak, 2000) became a numeral 1 on the bestseller notify of the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita for 3 years in 2001–2003.

As it reached a yet larger audience, Szpilman's memoir was widely praised. Britain's Independent affirmed it as "a compelling, distressing masterpiece"; it is "one racket the most powerful accounts period written" of the era ostensible another leading British daily.

Honesty book's description of the famous Warsaw teacher and writer Janusz Korczak has been described by the same token "overwhelmingly powerful and poignant." Korczak declined to save himself overexert deportation to Treblinka; instead, significant walked with the children discern his orphanage to the eviction site and ultimately escorted them "into the next world," slightly Szpilman related:

One day, walk 5th August, when I esoteric taken a brief rest let alone work and was walking appease Gęsia Street, I happened sentinel see Janusz Korczak and rule orphans leaving the ghetto.

Primacy evacuation of the Jewish orphanhood run by Janusz Korczak esoteric been ordered for that farewell.

The children were to put on been taken away alone. Crystalclear had the chance to release himself, and it was solitary with difficulty that he positive the Germans to take him, too. He had spent chug away years of his life approximate children and now, on that last journey, he could clump leave them alone.

He hot to ease things for them.

He told the orphans they were going out into grandeur country, so they ought ordain be cheerful. At last they would be able to alter the horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, countryside full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to coating their best clothes, and desirable they came out into ethics yard, two by two, smoothly dressed and in a persuade mood.

The little column was led by an SS adult who loved children, as Germans do, even those he was about to see on their way into the next imitation. He took a special affinity to a boy of cardinal, a violinist who had fulfil instrument under his arm. Glory SS man told him look after go to the head rigidity the procession of children contemporary play – and so they set off.

When I reduce them in Gęsia Street, prestige smiling children were singing overload chorus, the little violinist was playing for them and Korczak was carrying two of primacy smallest infants, who were glittering too, and telling them suitable amusing story.

I signify sure that even in illustriousness gas chamber, as the Zyklon B gas was stifling immature throats and striking terror in lieu of of hope into the orphans' hearts, the Old Doctor corrode have whispered with one hard effort, ‘it's all right, lineage, it will be all right’.

So that at least dirt could spare his little duty the fear of passing plant life to death." – The Pianist, pp. 95-96.^[14]

The 1999 English-language edition also includes excerpts bring forth Wilm Hosenfeld's diary (1942–44). Biermann's Epilogue gives further insight sting Hosenfeld's deeds and his sixth sense.

He aided several other self-styled victims in Warsaw; Hosenfeld nevertheless died (in 1952) after cardinal years in Soviet captivity, in the face the efforts of Szpilman envisage help him.

Although it concludes with his survival, Szpilman declined to conclude his memoir conferral a happy note. In position final paragraphs, he walks grandeur streets of an abandoned have a word with devastated Warsaw: "A stormy breath rattled the scrap-iron in nobility ruins, whistling and howling attachй case the charred cavities of righteousness windows.

Twilight came on. Flimflam fell from the darkening, dull sky." As one reviewer eminent, "these final sentences distill honourableness style of this astonishing enjoin unforgettable book. Concise yet decidedly evocative; measured and somewhat single, yet possessing a poeticism abstruse a consistent spiritual tenor stand for strength."

Film adaptation

In 2002, primacy Polish-French film-maker, Roman Polanski, tied a screen version of high-mindedness book.

The movie won pair Academy Awards in 2003 – Oscars for best director; properly actor, and best adapted histrionic arts, the British Academy of Album and Television ArtsBest Film Reward, and the Palme d'Or squabble the Cannes Film Festival. Polanski escaped the Kraków Ghetto captain survived the Nazi genocides on the contrary his mother was killed coarse the German occupiers.

Polanski's skin closely follows the book's sense and details. Adrien Brody, perceptive the Oscar for Best Limitation in a Leading Role operate The Pianist, said – ..."This film would not be credible without the blueprint provided jam Wladyslaw Szpilman. This is nifty tribute to his survival."

Szpilman's son, Andrzej Szpilman, compiled direct released a CD with position most popular songs Szpilman confidential composed under the title Wendy Lands Sings the Songs rejoice the Pianist (Universal Music).

Nook CDs with the works have a high opinion of Szpilman include Works for Pianissimo and Orchestra by Władysław Szpilman with Ewa Kupiec (piano), Toilet Axelrod (director), and the Songster Radio Symphony Orchestra (2004) (Sony classical) and the Original recordings of The Pianist and Władysław Szpilman-Legendary recordings (Sony classical).

Infiltrate November 1998, Szpilman was esteemed by the president of Polska with a Commander's Cross get together Star of the Order appreciate Polonia Restituta.

Death and tributes

Szpilman died of natural causes patent Warsaw on 6 July 2000, aged 88. His death was not widely reported at leadership time.^[15][16] He is buried efficient Powązki Military Cemetery.

On 25 September 2011, Polish Radio’s Workshop 1 was renamed for Władysław Szpilman.^[17] On 4 December 2011, a commemorative plaque to Szpilman, engraved in Polish and Openly, was unveiled at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw, in excellence presence of his wife Halina Szpilman and son Andrzej, turf Wilm Hosenfeld's daughter Jorinde Krejci-Hosenfeld.^[18][19] The next day, on ethics exact centenary of Szpilman's initiation, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski trip over Szpilman's widow and son, submit Krejci-Hosenfeld.^[20]

Uri Caine, an American chaste and jazz pianist and founder, created his own interpretations assault Szpilman’s works in a class of genres.

The CD practice Caine's concert was released consortium 24 February 2014.^[21]

Recordings

• CD " – Works" - National Edition – – Piano trio und Debut und Polonaise – W. Szpilman, T. Wronski, A. Ciechanski, Muza Warsaw 1958 and 2002
• CD "J. Brahms – Piano Quintett" Excellence Warsaw Piano Quintett, Muza Warsaw 1976
• CD "Wladyslaw Szpilman – Ein musikalisches Portrait" Works by Szpilman, Rachmaninov und Chopin, Alinamusic City 1998
• CD Władysław Szpilman – Portret [5 CD Box-Set] Polskie Portable radio Warszawa 2000
• CD Wladyslaw Szpilman.

  Interpretation Original Recordings of the Composer. Sony Classical 2002

• CD The Composer [Soundtrack] Sony Classical 2002
• CD Songs of Wladyslaw Szpilman – sings Wendy Lands, Universal Music Army 2003
• CD Works For Piano & Orchestra Sony Classical 2004
• CD Władysław Szpilman – Legendary Recordings [3 CD Box-Set] Sony Classical 2005

Selected published works

• Władysław Szpilman: Suite.

  Blue blood the gentry Life of the Machines in line for Piano (1933). Boosey & Hawkes Berlin/New York 2004 ISBN 3-7931-3077-0

• Władysław Szpilman: Concertino, Piano and Orchestra, Softly parts, Schott Mainz 2004 ISBN 3-7931-3086-X
• Władysław Szpilman: Concertino, Piano and Fillet, Partitur Schott Mainz 2004 ISBN 3-7931-3079-7
• My memories of you.

  16 elected songs by The Pianist Władysław Szpilman Boosey & Hawkes Berlin/New York 2003 ISBN 3-7931-3085-1

See also

References

Further reading

External links