Borkowski, Marian (EN)

Borkowski Marian, *17 August 1934 Pabianice, Polish composer, musicologist, and pianist. He studied composition with K. Sikorski and piano with J. Ekier and N. Hornowska at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, graduating in 1965. In 1966, he completed his musicology studies at the University of Warsaw. Between 1966 and 1968, he continued his studies in Paris: composition with N. Boulanger and O. Messiaen at the conservatory, musicology with J. Chailley and B.S. Brook at the university; he also studied philosophy at the university and at the Collège de France. In 1972 and 1974, he participated in the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, and in 1973 and 1975 in courses at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where he worked under the guidance of G. Ligeti, I. Xenakis, K. Stockhausen, and F. Donatoni. Since 1968, he has been teaching at the State Higher School of Music (now the Chopin University of Music) in Warsaw, and since 1976 as an associate professor; he teaches composition. From 1975 to 1978, he was vice-dean, and from 1996, dean of the Faculty of Composition, Conducting, and Music Theory. From 1978 to 1981 and from 1987 to 1990, he was vice-rector of the academy. In 1989, he was awarded the title of professor. Since 1993, he has also been head of the Department of Music Theory. From 1971 to 1977, he served as president of the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union. Borkowski is the founder and artistic director of the Laboratory of Contemporary Music Festival in Białystok, and since 1995, he has been president of the Laboratory of Contemporary Music Association. He is a guest lecturer at conservatories in Paris, Siena, and Seoul, as well as at universities in the United States and Canada. He is a laureate of, among others, the Polish Composers’ Union Young Composers’ Competition (Warsaw, 1966), the G.B. Viotti Competition (Vercelli, 1969), the K. Szymanowski Composition Competition (Warsaw, 1974), and the International New Music Composition Competition (New York, 1990). He received the Ministry of Culture and Art Award three times (1976, 1980, 1982).

Initially, Borkowski’s work was dominated by stylistic tendencies, and the composer also drew on elements of folklore (piano works: Mazurkas, Toccata, Sonata). However, already in the 1960s, his own concept of musical time had a decisive influence on the way he structured his sound material, searching for individual solutions in terms of texture, sound quality, and formal construction; the emotional value of Borkowski’s music also underwent a dramatic deepening. The composer’s creative explorations, which were part of the trend of contemporary Polish composers, included aleatoricism, sonorism, and constructivism in the 1970s. Over time, a predilection for chamber ensembles became apparent, accompanied by a desire for fullness of sound; there was also an increasingly marked tendency to select means of artistic expression and themes; after 1982, symbolic meanings and the sphere of the sacred gained prominence. Sensitivity to the sonoristic properties of sound means that the composer focuses his attention on the functionality and adequacy of notation, using new forms of musical notation; this is an important part of Borkowski’s achievements.

Literature: Z. Bargielski Rozmowa z kompozytorem, “Literatura” 1973 No. 12; R. Lasocki Marian Borkowski – “Images II” na dowolny instrument smyczkowy w wersji na skrzypce solo, «Prace specjalne Akademii Muzycznej w Katowicach» series II No. 3, Katowice 1985; T. Kobierzycki Wielopoziomowość muzyki. Studium o muzyce Mariana Borkowskiego, in: Muzyka i psychika, Warsaw 1994; C. Zechowski Musica Speranza, “Heksis”, Warsaw 1995 No. 1.