Witold Szalonek (1927-2001)
Born in Czechowice-Dziedzice (Upper Silesia) in 1927, died in Berlin in 2001. In 1949-56 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice: piano with Wanda Chmielowska and composition with Bolesław Woytowicz. In 1962-63 he continued his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1967 he began to teach composition at the Katowice State Higher School and in 1970-74 was in charge of the Department of Composition and Theory. At the end of 1970 he was invited by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst to work as artistin-residence at West Berlin's Hochschule der Künste. In 1973 he won the competition to succeed Boris Blacher as Professor of Composition there.
He conducted numerous seminars and courses in composition in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Finland and Slovakia. In 1990 he received an honorary doctor's degree from the Wilhelmian University in Münster. He also won the annual award of the Polish Composers' Union (1994).
His works were featured in major new music festivals such as the International Summer Courses in Darmstadt, iscm World Music Days, 'Warsaw Autumn', 'Time of Music' in Viitasaari, Gulbenkian Music Festival in Lisbon, 'Inventionen' in Berlin, 'Alternatives' in Moscow and 'Contrasts' in Kiev.
In 1963 Szalonek discovered and classified the so-called 'combined sounds' generated by the woodwind instruments. He was also the author of theoretical studies on a wide range of subjects, including 'combined sounds', sonorism, Chopin and Debussy.

Selected works: Confessions, triptych for reciting voice, mixed choir and chamber orchestra to words by Kazimiera Iłłakowicz (1959), Concertino per flauto ed orchestra da camera (1962), Les Sons for symphonic ensemble (1965), Quattro monologhi per oboe solo (1966), Mutazioni for chamber orchestra (1966), Proporzioni for flute, viola and harp (1967), Mutanza for piano (1968), Improvisations sonoristiques for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano (1968), 1+1+1+1 per 1-4 strumenti ad arco (1969), Aarhus Music for wind quintet (1970), Connections for ten instruments (1972), Three Sketches for harp (1972), Concerto for Strings (1971-75), Musica concertante per violbasso ed orchestra (1977), Proporzioni III per violino, violoncello e pianoforte (1977), Trio per oboe, clarinetto e fagotto (1978), Take the game... for six percussionists (1981), Alice's Unknown Adventures in the Fairy Land of Percussion for one percussionist (1981) Little b-a-c-h Symphony for piano and symphony orchestra (1981), d. p.'s Five Ghoulish Dreams for solo alto saxophone (1985), Inside? - Outside? for bass clarinet and string quartet (1987), Toccata e corale per organo (1988), version for piano (1990), Elegia on the Death of a Friend for clarinet and piano (1989), Invocazioni per due chitarre (1992), Medusa's Head for one to three flutes in C or one to three recorders (1992), Sept epigrammes modernes according to G. Hoffnung for saxophone quartet (1993), Symphony of Rituals for string quartet (1991-96), Medusa's Dream of Pegasus for horn and recorder (1997), Hautbois mon amour for oboe solo, two harps, timpani and string orchestra (1999), Poseidon and Medusa for two piccolo flutes, alto flute, crotales and bass flute (2001).

Symphony of Rituals is introduced by a ritual of tuning the instruments, realized in an ascending order (...). This ritual should be understood as an act initiating the way to achieve the Unity of musician with his instrument. (...) The tuning ad libitum goes to the ritual of practising the sound structures, organized in sections (...). These sections include the musical phrases which - as during the everyday practice of preparing a piece - can be selectively practised ad libitum in fragments or played in any order as a whole.
(...) However, each musician should work out the given material in the individual way in which he usually plays his instrument and a particular work.
(...) After tuning and practising there comes the ritual of interpreting the musical thought: of presenting it to the listeners united with the musicians in a mystical act of shared creation of the 'musical state' - which is a spiritual act. Considering this aspect, the last movement of the piece, entitled Finale alla danza, should be understood as a ritual of dance, without any stage choreography - so coming up only in a listener's own imagination.
Witold Szalonek [from the score]