Henryk Górecki

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Czernica, Silesia, Poland (1933 – 2010)

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (born December 6, 1933 in Czernica, Silesia, Poland. Died 12 November 2010 in Katowice, Poland) was a Polish composer of classical music. Though his earlier work in the late 1950s and 1960s were characterised by a dissonant modernism influenced by Nono, Stockhausen and contemporaries Penderecki and Serocki, he moved in the mid 1970’s towards a ‘pure’ sacred minimalist sound encapsulated by the 1976 Symphony No. 3. Gorecki has since progressed through several distinct styles, from the reverence of Beatus Vir (1979), to the meditative Miserere (1981), to the spiritualism of Good Night (1990).

He was married to pianist Jadwiga Ruranska and has two children - Anna, also a pianist, and Mikołaj, a composer.

Attending the Katowice State Higher School of Music from 1952, Gorecki studied under the composer Bolesłav Szabelski, a former student of Karol Szymanowski. His first public performances were held in Katowice in February 1958, and showed clear influence from both Szymanowski and Bartók. By 1961 he had progressed to the modernism of Webern, Xenakis and Boulez and was at the forefront of the Polish avant-garde, with his Symphony No. 1 gaining international acclaim at the Paris Biennial Festival of Youth.

While continuing his studies in Paris, Górecki was influenced by contemporary composers such as Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen, composers which were at the time suppressed by the Polish government.

In 1975 Górecki was appointed Professor of Composition at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice, but resigned his post in 1979, in protest against the government’s refusal to allow Pope John Paul II to visit the city.

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1		Lento - Cantabile-Semplice			76
2		II Lento e largo - Tranquillissimo			73
3		Song II (Lento e Largo)			61
4		Symphony No. 3, Op. 36, "Symfonia Piesni Zalosnych" (Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs):…			46
4		II Lento E Largo - Tranquillissimo.			46
6		Piece in the Old Style 1			39
7		Piece in the Old Style 3			37
8		I. Lento - Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile			32
8		II. Lento E Largo - Tranquillissimo			32
8		I Lento - Sostenuto tranquillo ma cantabile			32
11		Lento - Cantabile - Semplice			30
12		Symphony No. 3: I. Lento - Sostenuto tranquillo ma cantabile			27
13		Symphony No. 3: II. Lento e Largo - Tranquillissimo			23
14		Symphony No. 3, Op. 36, "Symfonia Piesni Zalosnych" (Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs):…			20
15		Symphony No. 3: III. Lento - Cantablile semplice			19

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