Bujarski, Zbigniew (EN)

Bujarski Zbigniew, *22 August 1933 Muszyna, †13 April 2018 Kraków, Polish composer. In 1955–58, he studied conducting, and in 1956–60 composition under S. Wiechowicz at the State Higher School of Music in Krakow. From 1961 to 1967, he worked at the Philharmonic in Rzeszów as a musical speaker and literary director. In 1964, he received second prize for Kinoth at the G. Fitelberg Competition in Katowice, and in 1967 a distinction at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for Contraria. From 1972, he was a lecturer at the State Higher School of Music in Krakow. From 1980, he taught composition at the Academy of Music in Krakow. In 1978–1986, he was the dean of the faculty of composition, conducting and music theory, and from 1992, he held the position of professor at this university. Awards: 2^nd prize Tribune Internationale des Compositeurs UNESCO, Paris 1978 for Musica domestica (published in Krakow 1978, 1981); MKiS 2^nd degree 1979, 1987; ZKP and the city of Krakow 1984; A. Jurzykowski award, New York 1991.

Bujarski belonged to the generation of Polish avant-garde composers from the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, when there was a revolution in compositional techniques and a radical change in the aesthetic attitude of the creators. Bujarski’s early work (Krzewy płonące, Synchrony No. 1 and No. 2, Chamber Composition, Kinoth) is characterised primarily by exploration in the field of sonorism within the framework of free serialism, the use of unconventional articulation, acoustic effects, the expansion of the performing apparatus, the use of sound and reproduction equipment, the abandonment of time signatures for rhythmic freedom. This period ends with the oratorio El Hombre, written in 1969–73.

The orchestral and chamber works created since 1977: Musica domestica, Similis Greco, Concerti per archi No. 1 and No. 2, 3 string quartets, the cycle Lęk ptaków, demonstrate exceptional stylistic coherence and constitute a new stage in the evolution of Bujarski’s musical language, subject to further selection and significant concentration, achieved, among others, by reducing the executive apparatus. In parallel to the instrumental compositions, significant vocal-instrumental works were created: Narodzenie (1981) for choir and orchestra, to the Old Slavic text of the “ABC prayer” (the oldest Slavic poetic work), closing the cycle with the ambiguous title Similis Greco, as well as song cycles with orchestra: Ogrody and Five Songs.

From his earliest works, Bujarski’s interests focused on string instruments, which were the field of his sonoristic experiments, from which an original system of organising sound material with a scale extended to quartertones gradually emerged. Delving deep into the musical matter, the composer freely shaped the form, spanning it on many levels, and created constellations of subtle colours from linear threads. The composer’s “painterly” imagination is explained by his second passion – painting. Presenting the attitude of a constantly searching innovator, Bujarski reconciled modernity with distant tradition, referred to classical patterns of Greek culture, to the elaborate forms of baroque, and touched upon age-old topics related to human existence.

Literature: T. Malecka Musica domestica Zbigniewa Bujarskiego, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1978 No. 18/19; T. Malecka Zbigniew Bujarski od “El Hombre” do “Narodzenia”, in: Przemiany techniki dźwiękowej, stylu i estetyki w polskiej muzyce lat 70., ed. L. Polony, Kraków 1986; Świat muzyki Zbigniewa Bujarskiego. Twórczość pieśniowa, in: Krakowska szkoła kompozytorska 1888–1988, ed. T. Malecka, Kraków 1992; Odnawianie tradycji w muzyce Zbigniewa Bujarskiego, in: Muzyka polska 1945–1995, ed. K. Droba et al. Kraków 1996; R. Pilch-Żabicka Muzyka instrumentalna Zbigniewa Bujarskiego, MA theses under supervision of dr A. Jarzębska, UJ 1992 (typescript).