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Born in 1943 in Kraków, he
studied composition at the city’s State Higher School of Music,
initially with Stanisław Wiechowicz and, after Wiechowicz’s death, with
Krzysztof Penderecki. He also studied composition and piano with Nadia
Boulanger in France (1964, 1966 and 1968). In 1966–68 he appeared as a
pianist with the contemporary music group mw2.
After graduation he took up teaching. From 1966 to 1987 he taught at the
Music Academy in Kraków, serving as its Deputy Rector (1972–75) and
Head of the Department of Music Theory (1975–87). Since 1987 he has been
a professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He has
also lectured on contemporary music in many countries.
He is the author of the first Polish monograph on Shostakovich (its new,
enlarged edition, published in 1999, has been translated into several
languages, including Russian) as well as a two-volume book on W. Lutosławski
(with Danuta Gwizdalanka, Kraków 2003–2004).
In 1985–89 he served as President of the Main Board of the Polish
Composers’ Union. He is a member of Akademie der Künste in Mann-heim.
In 1991–92 he was composer-in-residence with the Cologne Philharmonic
Orchestra and in 1996 at the Seattle Festival.
Krzysztof Meyer is a winner of numerous awards and distinctions, including
the Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis (1984), the annual Award of the Polish
Composers’ Union (1992), the Alfred Jurzykowski Award (New York, 1993)
and the Johann-Stamitz-Preis (Mannheim, 1996).
Selected works (since 1980): String Quartets Nos. 6–11 (1981, 1985,
1985, 1989, 1994, 2001), Symphony No. 6 (1982), Flute Concerto No. 2
(1983), Violin Concerto No. 2 (1996), Cello Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 (1984,
1995), The Gamblers, a completion of Shostakovich’s opera after Gogol
(1981), Piano Trio (1981), Canzona for cello and piano (1981), Hommage ą
Johannes Brahms for orchestra (1982), Sonata for Cello and Piano (1983),
Concerto for Harp and Cello (1984), Clarinet Quintet (1986), Musica
incrostata for orchestra (1988), Vielitchalnaya for a cappella choir
(1988), Maple Brothers, opera for children after B. Szwarc (1989), Piano
Concerto (1989), Piano Quintet (1991), Concerto for Saxophone (1992),
String Trio (1993), Misterioso for violin and piano (1994), Mass for mixed
choir and orchestra (1996), Farewell Music for orchestra (1997), Clarinet
Trio (1998), The Creation, oratorio (1999), Capriccio interrotto for
violin and piano (2000), Impromptu multicolore for two pianos (2000),
Cinque colori for flute, violin, cello, percussion and piano (2001),
Clarinet Concerto (2001), Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano (2002),
Symphony for the Passing of Time (2002–03), Sonata for Cello and Piano
No. 2 (2003–04), Duetti concertanti per fagotto e pianoforte (2004),
Metamorphoses for saxophone and piano (2004), String Quartet No. 12
(2004–05).
String Quartet No. 1 was written in 1963. In the first movement, the
musical material is made up of long sound planes consisting of aural
patches or the same notes repeated as fast as possible. Against
a background of these planes, which rarely comprise all the four
instruments, single points, far separated from one another in time, appear.
They are of crucial importance in shaping the energy and expressive
features of this movement. The second movement is an anti-thesis of the
first: long notes of timbral significance appear against background aural
points which are distant from one another. In contrast to the first
movement, the dynamics does not employ planes here, hence the numerous
sforzati and constant contrasts between pp and ff. The third movement is
the summing up and synthesis of the first two. Its formal concepts are a
continuation of the problems which I tackled for the first time in my
Piano Sonata No. 2.
The work was premiered at the 9th ‘Warsaw Autumn’ Festival, on
26 September 1965, by the no longer existing Musical Workshop Quartet
(Stanisław Kawalla, Maria Brylanka, Artur Paciorkiewicz, Janina Chyła).
Duration – ca. 13 min.
Krzysztof Meyer
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