Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish pianist and
classical composer
This is a list of classical music composers by era. With the exception of the overview, the Modernist era has been combined with the Postmodern.
Overview
Preset = TimeHorizontal_AutoPlaceBars_UnitYear
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto bari ...
of Jewish descent. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the 2002
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
film ''
The Pianist'', which was based on
Szpilman's autobiographical account of how he survived the
German occupation of Warsaw
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
and the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
Szpilman studied piano at music academies in Berlin and Warsaw. He became a popular performer on
Polish radio
Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland.
History
Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...
and in concert. Confined within the Warsaw ghetto after the
German invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
, Szpilman spent two years in hiding. Towards the end of his concealment, he was helped by
Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...
, a German officer who detested Nazi policies. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Szpilman resumed his career on Polish radio. Szpilman was also a prolific composer; his output included hundreds of songs and many orchestral pieces.
Career as a pianist
Szpilman began his study of the piano at the
Chopin Academy of Music in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, where he studied piano with
Aleksander Michałowski
Aleksander Michałowski (17 October 1938) was a Polish pianist, pedagogue and composer who, in addition to his own immense technique, had a profound influence upon the teaching of pianoforte technique, especially in relation to the works of Chopi ...
and
Józef Śmidowicz
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, first- and second-generation pupils of
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
. In 1931 he was a student of the prestigious Academy of Arts in Berlin, Germany, where he studied with
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...
,
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic plurality (a mixture ...
, and
Leonid Kreutzer
Leonid Kreutzer (13 March 1884 in St. Petersburg – 30 October 1953 in Tokyo) was a classical pianist.
Life and career
Kreutzer was born in St. Petersburg into a Jewish family. He studied composition under Alexander Glazunov and piano under Anna ...
.
After
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Szpilman returned to Warsaw, where he quickly became a celebrated pianist and composer of both classical and popular music. Primarily a soloist, he was also the chamber music partner of such acclaimed violinists as
Roman Totenberg
Roman Totenberg (1 January 1911 – 8 May 2012) was a Polish-American violinist and educator. A child prodigy, he lived in Poland, Moscow, Berlin, and Paris, before formally immigrating to the U.S. in 1938, at age 27. He performed and taught nat ...
,
Ida Haendel
Ida Haendel, (15 December 19281 July 2020) was a Polish-British-Canadian violinist. Haendel was a child prodigy, her career spanning over seven decades. She also became an influential teacher.
Early career
Born in 1928 to a Polish Jewish fami ...
and
Henryk Szeryng
Henryk Szeryng (usually pronounced ''HEN-r-ik SHEH-r-in-g'') (22 September 19183 March 1988) was a Polish violinist.
Early years
He was born in Warsaw, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy Jewish family. The surname "Szeryng" is a Polish ...
, and in 1934 he toured Poland with U.S. violinist,
Bronislav Gimpel
Bronislav Gimpel (January 29, 1911 – May 1, 1979)''The Penguin Dictionary of Musical Performers'', by Arthur Jacobs, Viking, 1990, was a Poland, Polish-American violinist, and teacher. He was born in Lviv, Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, part of ...
.
On 5 April 1935 Szpilman joined the
Polish Radio
Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland.
History
Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...
, where he worked as a pianist performing classical and jazz music. His compositions at this time included orchestral works, piano pieces, and also music for films, as well as roughly 50 songs, many of which became quite popular in Poland. At the time of the German
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in September 1939, he was a celebrity and a featured soloist at the Polskie Radio, which was bombed on 23 September 1939, shortly after broadcasting the last Chopin recital played by Szpilman. The
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
occupiers established the
General Government
The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
, and created
ghettos
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
in many Polish cities, including Warsaw. Szpilman and his family did not yet need to find a new residence, as their apartment was already in the ghetto area.
Survival during the Holocaust
![Wladyslaw Szpilman Warsaw Uprising Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Wladyslaw_Szpilman_Warsaw_Uprising_Museum.JPG)
Władysław Szpilman and his family, along with all other Jews living in Warsaw, were forced to move into a "Jewish quarter" – the
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
– on 31 October 1940. Once all the Jews were confined within the ghetto, a wall was constructed to separate them from the rest of the Nazi German-occupied city. Szpilman managed to find work as a musician to support his family, which included his mother, father, brother Henryk, and two sisters, Regina and Halina. He first worked at the ''Nowoczesna'' Cafe, where the patrons sometimes ignored his playing in order to conduct business, as he recalled in the memoir.
[Wladyslaw Szpilman, ''The Pianist'' p.13-17, Orion Books, 2005.]
Szpilman later played in a cafe on Sienna Street and after 1942 in the ''Sztuka'' Cafe on Leszno Street as well. In these last two cafes he performed chamber music with violinist Zygmunt Lederman, performed in the piano duo with Andrzej Goldfeder, and played with other musicians as well.
Everyone in his family was deported in 1942 to
Treblinka
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
, an
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
within German-occupied Poland roughly northeast of Warsaw. A member of the
Jewish Police assisting
in deportations, who recognized Szpilman, pulled him from a line of people—including his parents, brother, and two sisters—being loaded onto a train at the transport site (which, as in other ghettos, was called the ''
Umschlagplatz
''Umschlagplatz'' (german: collection point or reloading point) was the term used during The Holocaust to denote the holding areas adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland where Jews from ghettos were assembled for deportation to Nazi dea ...
''). None of Szpilman's family members survived the war. Szpilman stayed in the ghetto as a labourer, and helped smuggle in weapons for the coming
Jewish resistance uprising. Szpilman remained in the Warsaw Ghetto until 13 February 1943, shortly before it was abolished after the
deportation
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
of most of its inhabitants in April–May 1943.
Szpilman found places to hide in Warsaw and survived with the help of his friends from Polish Radio and fellow musicians such as
Andrzej Bogucki
Andrzej Bogucki (11 November 1904 – 29 July 1978) was a Polish television, stage and film actor, as well as operetta singer and songwriter, sometimes referred to as "The Polish Chevalier".
Bogucki and his wife Janina née Godlewska (8 March ...
and his wife Janina, Czesław Lewicki, and Helena Lewicka supported by Edmund Rudnicki,
Witold Lutosławski
Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...
,
Eugenia Umińska
Eugenia Umińska (4 October 1910, Warsaw – 20 November 1980, Kraków) was a Polish violinist.
Student of the Chopin University of Music, Warsaw Conservatory. From 1915 to 1918, she was a member of the Warsaw Music Society, where she was a stud ...
,
Piotr Perkowski
Piotr Perkowski (17 March 1901 in Oweczacze (Овечаче, Ovechache, now Druzhne), Vinnytsia Oblast, now in Ukraine – 12 August 1990 in Otwock) was a Polish composer.
Perkowski studied at the Music Academy in Warsaw, and in Paris with Al ...
, and
Irena Sendler
Irena Stanisława Sendler (), also referred to as Irena Sendlerowa in Poland, ''nom de guerre'' Jolanta (15 February 1910 – 12 May 2008), was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who served in the Polish Underground Resista ...
. He evaded capture several times. Beginning in August 1944, Szpilman was hiding out in an abandoned building at Aleja Niepodległości Street 223. In November, he was discovered there by the German officer, Captain
Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...
. To Szpilman's surprise, the officer did not arrest or kill him; after discovering that the emaciated Szpilman was a pianist, Hosenfeld asked him to play something on the piano that was on the ground floor. Szpilman played Chopin's
Nocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor. After that, the officer brought him bread and jam on numerous occasions. He also offered Szpilman one of his coats to keep warm in the freezing temperatures. Szpilman did not know the name of the German officer until 1951. Despite the efforts of Szpilman and the
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...
to rescue him, Hosenfeld died in a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
prisoner of war camp in 1952.
Polish Radio
Szpilman started playing for Polish Radio in 1935 as their house pianist. In 1939, on 23 September, Szpilman was in the middle of broadcasting when Germans opened fire on the studio and he was forced to stop playing. This was the last live music broadcast that was heard until the war's end. When Szpilman resumed his job at Polish Radio in 1945, he did so by carrying on where he left off six years before: poignantly, he opened the first transmission by once again playing Chopin's ''
Nocturne in C-sharp Minor'' (''Lento con gran espressione'').
![Powazki Szpilman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Powazki_Szpilman.JPG)
From 1945 to 1963, Szpilman was director of the Popular Music Department at Polish Radio. Szpilman performed at the same time as a concert pianist and chamber musician in Poland, as well as throughout Europe, Asia, and America. During this period, he composed several symphonic works and about 500 other compositions that are still popular in Poland today. He also wrote music for radio plays and films and in 1961, he created the International Song Contest in Sopot, Poland, which has been produced every summer for more than 50 years.
Szpilman and
Bronislav Gimpel
Bronislav Gimpel (January 29, 1911 – May 1, 1979)''The Penguin Dictionary of Musical Performers'', by Arthur Jacobs, Viking, 1990, was a Poland, Polish-American violinist, and teacher. He was born in Lviv, Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, part of ...
founded the Warsaw Piano Quintet in 1963 with which Szpilman performed more than 2000 concerts worldwide until 1986 in such places as
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
in London;
Salle Pleyel
The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...
and
Salle Gaveau
The Salle Gaveau, named after the French piano maker Gaveau, is a classical concert hall in Paris, located at 45-47 rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It is particularly intended for chamber music.
Construction
The plans for th ...
in Paris;
Herkules Saal in Munich; as well as the
Salzburger Festspiele
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
, Brahmstage Baden-Baden, Musikhalle Hamburg a.o.
Compositions
From his early Berlin years, Szpilman never gave up the will to write music, even when living in the Warsaw Ghetto. His compositions include orchestral works, concertos, piano pieces, but also significant amounts of music for radio plays and films, as well as around 500 songs. More than 100 of these are very well known as hits and evergreens in Poland. In the 1950s, he wrote about 40 songs for children, for which he received an award from the Polish Composers Union in 1955.
His son Andrzej commented in 1998 that Szpilman's works did not reach a larger audience outside Poland, attributing this to the "division of Europe into two halves culturally as well as politically" after the war. His father "shaped the Polish popular music scene over several decades—but the western frontier of Poland constituted a barrier" to music from the Eastern bloc countries. (Andrzej Szpilman's "Foreword" to the 1999 edition of ''The Pianist'', p. 8)
Szpilman's compositions include the suite for piano "Life of the Machines" 1932, Violin Concerto 1933, "Waltzer in the Olden Style" 1937, film soundtracks: "Świt, dzień i noc Palestyny" (1934), ''
Wrzos'' (1938) and ''
Doctor Murek
''Doktór Murek'' (English: ''Doctor Murek'') is a 1939 Cinema of Poland, Polish drama film directed by Juliusz Gardan. It is based on two novels by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz.
Cast
* Franciszek Brodniewicz - doctor Franciszek Murek
* Nora Ney (a ...
'' (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 are now published in printed editions by Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock Music Publishers in New York, Berlin and London.
In 1961, he initiated and organized
Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in So ...
produced in Poland every summer, now for more than 50 years. He founded the Polish Union of Authors of Popular Music.
The book
''The Death of a City'' (original "Śmierć miasta") was written by Wladyslaw Szpilman and elaborated by Jerzy Waldorff shortly after the war ended, and first printed in 1946 by publishing house ''Wiedza'',
The book was censored by
Stalinist authorities for political reasons.
For example, the nationality of benevolent German officer
Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...
was changed to
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
. As the East German dissident singer-songwriter
Wolf Biermann
Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976.
Early life
Biermann was b ...
observed in his epilogue for the 1999 English-language edition: "Directly after the war it was impossible to publish a book in Poland which presented a German officer as a brave and helpful man," and an Austrian hero would be "not quite so bad." Biermann added caustically, "In the years of the Cold War Austria and East Germany were linked by a common piece of hypocrisy: both pretended to have been forcibly occupied by Hitler's Germany."
In 1998, Szpilman's son
Andrzej
Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew.
Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej
* Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer
* Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ...
published new extended edition of his father's memoir, first in German translation from Karin Wolff as ''Das wunderbare Überleben'' (The Miraculous Survival) by a German publishing house
Ullstein Verlag
The ''Ullstein Verlag'' was founded by Leopold Ullstein in 1877 at Berlin and is one of the largest publishing companies of Germany. It published newspapers like '' B.Z.'' and ''Berliner Morgenpost'' and books through its subsidiaries ''Ullstein B ...
; and then in English translation by Anthea Bell as ''
The Pianist'' with Epilogue by Wolf Biermann. In March 1999 Władysław Szpilman visited London for Jewish Book Week, where he met English readers to mark the publication of the book in Great Britain. It was later published in more than 35 languages, named ''Best book of the year'' by ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Sunday Times'', ''Boston Globe'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Economist'', ''Library Journal'', won Annual Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize 2000, ''Best book of the year 2001'' by magazine ''Lire'' and ''Elle'' (Paris) in 2002. New Polish edition, ''Pianista : warszawskie wspomnienia 1939–1945'' (Kraków: Znak, 2000) became a number 1 on the bestseller list by Polish newspaper ''
Rzeczpospolita
() is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...
'' for 3 years in 2001–2003.
As it reached a much larger audience, Szpilman's memoir was widely praised. Britain's ''
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
'' described it as "a compelling, harrowing masterpiece"; it is "one of the most powerful accounts ever written" of the era declared another leading British daily. The book's description of the famed Warsaw teacher and writer
Janusz Korczak
Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ...
has been described as "overwhelmingly powerful and poignant." Korczak declined to save himself from deportation to Treblinka, instead walked with the children of his orphanage to the deportation site and ultimately escorting them "into the next world," as Szpilman related:
The 1999 English-language edition also includes excerpts from Wilm Hosenfeld's diary (1942–44). Biermann's Epilogue gives further insight into Hosenfeld's deeds and his character. He aided several other would-be victims in Warsaw; Hosenfeld nonetheless died (in 1952) after seven years in Soviet captivity, despite the efforts of Szpilman to help him.
Although it concludes with his survival, Szpilman declined to conclude his memoir on a happy note. In the final paragraphs, he walks the streets of an abandoned and devastated Warsaw: "A stormy wind rattled the scrap-iron in the ruins, whistling and howling through the charred cavities of the windows. Twilight came on. Snow fell from the darkening, leaden sky." As one reviewer noted, "these final sentences distill the style of this astonishing and unforgettable book. Concise yet highly evocative; measured and somewhat detached, yet possessing a poeticism and a consistent spiritual tenor and strength."
Film adaptation
In 2002, the Polish-French film-maker,
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
, directed a screen version of the book. The movie won three
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in 2003 – Oscars for best director; best actor, and best adapted screenplay, the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Best Film Award, and the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
. Polanski escaped the Kraków Ghetto and survived the Nazi genocides but his mother was killed by the German occupiers. Polanski's film closely follows the book's style and details.
Adrien Brody
Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...
accepting the Oscar for
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporatio ...
''
The Pianist'' said – ..."This film would not be possible without the blueprint provided by Wladyslaw Szpilman. This is a tribute to his survival"...
Szpilman's son,
Andrzej Szpilman, compiled and released a CD with the most popular songs Szpilman had composed under the title ''Wendy Lands Sings the Songs of the Pianist'' (Universal Music). Other CDs with the works of Szpilman include ''Works for Piano and Orchestra by Władysław Szpilman'' with Ewa Kupiec (piano), John Axelrod (director), and the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...
(2004) (Sony classical) and the ''Original recordings of The Pianist'' and ''Władysław Szpilman-Legendary recordings'' (Sony classical). In November 1998, Szpilman was honored by the president of Poland with a Commander's Cross with Star of the
Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...
.
Death and tributes
Szpilman died of natural causes in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
on 6 July 2000, aged 88. He is buried at
Powązki Military Cemetery
Powązki Military Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquial ...
. On 25 September 2011, Polish Radio’s Studio 1 was renamed for Władysław Szpilman. On 4 December 2011, a commemorative plaque to Szpilman, engraved in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and English, was unveiled at 223 Niepodległości Avenue in Warsaw, in the presence of his wife Halina Szpilman and son Andrzej, and Wilm Hosenfeld's daughter Jorinde Krejci-Hosenfeld. The next day, on the exact centenary of Szpilman's birth, Polish President
Bronisław Komorowski
Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015.
Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercised ...
met Szpilman's widow and son, and Krejci-Hosenfeld.
Uri Caine
Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956, Philadelphia, United States) is an American classical and jazz pianist and composer.
Biography
Early years
The son of Burton Caine, a professor at Temple Law School, and poet Shulamith Wechter Caine, Caine began ...
, an American classical and jazz pianist and composer, created his own interpretations of Szpilman’s works in a variety of genres. The CD of Caine's concert was released on 24 February 2014.
Recordings
* CD "F.Chopin – Works" - National Edition – F.Chopin – Piano trio und Introduction und Polonaise – W. Szpilman, T. Wronski, A. Ciechanski, Muza Warsaw 1958 and 2002
* CD "J. Brahms – Piano Quintett" The Warsaw Piano Quintett, Muza Warsaw 1976
* CD "Wladyslaw Szpilman – Ein musikalisches Portrait" Works by Szpilman, Rachmaninov und Chopin, Alinamusic Hamburg 1998
* CD Władysław Szpilman – Portret
CD Box-SetPolskie Radio Warszawa 2000
* CD Wladyslaw Szpilman. The Original Recordings of the Pianist. Sony Classical 2002
* CD The Pianist
oundtrackSony Classical 2002
* CD Songs of Wladyslaw Szpilman – sings Wendy Lands, Universal Music USA 2003
* CD Works For Piano & Orchestra Sony Classical 2004
* CD Władysław Szpilman – Legendary Recordings
CD Box-SetSony Classical 2005
Selected published works
* Władysław Szpilman: ''Suite. The Life of the Machines for Piano (1933).'' Boosey & Hawkes Berlin/New York 2004
* Władysław Szpilman: ''Concertino, Piano and Orchestra, Piano parts,'' Schott Mainz 2004
* Władysław Szpilman: ''Concertino, Piano and Orchestra, Partitur'' Schott Mainz 2004
* ''My memories of you. 16 selected songs by The Pianist Władysław Szpilman'' Boosey & Hawkes Berlin/New York 2003
See also
*
9973 Szpilman (
main belt asteroid
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
)
*
Andrzej Bogucki
Andrzej Bogucki (11 November 1904 – 29 July 1978) was a Polish television, stage and film actor, as well as operetta singer and songwriter, sometimes referred to as "The Polish Chevalier".
Bogucki and his wife Janina née Godlewska (8 March ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Władysław Szpilman information and biographyIn Loving Memory Of Władysław SzpilmanInformation on Szpilman's works at Boosey & Hawkes"Szpilman's Warsaw: The History behind ''The Pianist''" at the United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumInterview with Dr. Halina Grzecznarowska-Szpilman, widow of Władysław Szpilman, first partInterview with Dr. Halina Grzecznarowska Szpilman, widow of Władysław Szpilman, second partWładysław Szpilmanat culture.pl
*
ttp://culture.pl/en/article/uri-caine-plays-szpilman-the-polish-gershwin Uri Caine – performance of songs by Władisław Szpilman*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szpilman, Wladyslaw
1911 births
2000 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery
Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Jewish classical pianists
Jewish classical composers
Musicians from Warsaw
People from Sosnowiec
Polish classical composers
Polish male classical composers
Polish classical musicians
Polish classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Polish film score composers
Male film score composers
Jewish Combat Organization members
Polish songwriters
Polish male writers
Warsaw Ghetto inmates
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century male musicians