Abstract

The author discusses his inspirations and premises behind Polish Composers 1918-2000, which appeared in print in 2005, jointly published by the Warsaw and Gdańsk Academies of Music. It consists of two volumes – Essays and Biographical Entries. The former presents a wide panorama of social, political and cultural phenomena, which influenced the development of Polish music in the 20^th century. The second volume consists of around 1300 biographical entries. This paper contains remarks about the contents planned for the English version of the book. Two complementary sources of inspiration determined the book’s coming into being. The first, a belief that the accomplishments of Polish composers of the 20^th century are just as outstanding as they are little-known. The second inspiration comes from an observation that the list of the finest musical compositions of the 20^th century (289 items), compiled in 1992 by Leo Gerhartz from the European Radio Union, ranks Polish music as no. 12. It is represented by 10 compositions by 4 composers: Witold Lutosławski (5 compositions), Karol Szymanowski (2 compositions), Krzysztof Penderecki (2 compositions), and Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1 composition). At the outset of the research, two seemingly simple but essential questions had to be answered. The first one being who do we call a composer, and the other, who do we consider to be a Polish composer. In the author’s view, a composer is a person who has composed at least one musical composition, a piece which became known as an artistic fact. Here, “become known” means primarily a public performance of a piece. The author’s attention focused on the lives and works of the so-called classical composers. While searching for an answer to the question as to who can be considered a Polish composer, the author analyses statements made by outstanding Polish researchers. He shares their view that ‘Polishness’ should not be determined by nationality or language, but by participation in Polish culture, and an affiliation to it. The last part of the paper concerns the structure and contents of the English version of the book. It will be published jointly by the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk. The book will not be a simple and direct translation of the Polish version. The contents of the Essays volume will be different, and the Biographical Entries volume will include, first of all, the following entries: winners of Polish and international composition competitions, composers who have rendered great services to Polish musical culture, priests-composers or other persons, whose creative activities are closely linked to the music of the Catholic Church, and representatives of the younger generation of composers, who have become known after the year 2000. The goal of the planned book is an attempt at proving the thesis that the contribution of Polish composers to the European cultural achievements, their outstanding accomplishments in the area of culture, are of the highest value.