Chłopecki, Andrzej (EN)

Chłopecki Andrzej, *21 January 1950 Bydgoszcz, †23 September 2012 Warsaw, Polish musicologist, music critic, journalist, organizer and animator of musical life, teacher. In 1964–1969 he studied piano at the State Secondary Music School in Bydgoszcz and from 1969 to 1974 he studied musicology at the University of Warsaw, obtaining his diploma (1975) on the basis of a thesis on the Passion by K. Penderecki, written under the supervision of Z. Lissa. He was a scholarship holder of, among others, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (1980, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1994), the Paris-based Fondation pour une Entraide Intellectuelle (1980), Das Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (1984), and the Alban Berg Foundation (1986) in Vienna. In 1975 he began working at the Main Music Editorial Office of Polish Radio and Television, where until 1977 he was an editor, and in 1977–81 head of the contemporary music section. Dismissed from the radio during martial law, from 1982 to 1992 he worked at the Warsaw branch of PWM Edition. In 1991 he was re-employed at Polish Radio Programme 2, from 1992 as head of the contemporary music section, as well as a commentator and commissioning editor. He lectured at the Academy of Music in Kraków (1982–91), at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice (from 1996), at the Postgraduate Studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (from 1999), and at the Faculty of Theatre Studies of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw (from 2009).

In his scholarly and journalistic work, Chłopecki dealt with 20th- and 21st-century music, primarily with the output of Polish composers: K. Penderecki, W. Lutosławski, P. Szymański, T. Sikorski and others, as well as issues of modernism, in particular the work of A. Berg, to which he devoted his doctoral dissertation written under the supervision of M. Tomaszewski (2006).

One of the most creative strands of his musicological activity was music journalism and concert reviews published in, among others, “Ruch Muzyczny”, “Tygodnik Powszechny”, “Odra”, “Jazz Forum”, and “Studio”. His individual style of hosting radio programs, as well as his gift for concise punchlines and his ability to formulate bold and accurate – though not devoid of subjectivity – diagnoses, made him a leading figure in music criticism and essay writing, a guide to contemporary music. A significant merit of his brilliant and widely read columns published in the monthly “Res Publica Nowa” (cycle Dziennik ucha, 1993–97), and later in the daily “Gazeta Wyborcza” (Słuchane na ostro, 2001–11), was the introduction of issues crucial to the musical world into the sphere of public debate.

Chłopecki was active in many social organizations, creative associations, and institutes, and took part in the work of numerous committees and advisory bodies. He was a member of the Polish Composers’ Union (from 1975), the Polish Journalists’ Association (1978–81), and the Polish section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (1980–89 board member, 1989–95 member of the audit committee). In 1982–89 he was a music consultant to the Independent Culture Committee of the “Solidarity” trade union; from 1991 to 1993 a member of the Promotion Council of the Culture Foundation in Warsaw; from 1993 a member of the program council of “Musiktexte. Zeitschrift für Neue Musik” in Cologne; from 1999 a member of the Program Committee of the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn” (with a break in 2003). He was a founding member of the Polish-Japanese Cultural Conference (1994), the Witold Lutosławski Society (1997), and the Friends of the Warsaw Autumn Foundation (1997; from 2001 its president). He was a member of the Polish Phonographic Academy (from 2000), the Program Council of the Grand Theatre – National Opera in Warsaw (from 2001), the Program Council of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (from 2005), and the Program Council (chairman in 2006–10) of the Polish Audiovisual Publishing House (since 2009 the National Audiovisual Institute). Chłopecki’s activities in promoting Polish music were reflected, among other things, in the commissioning of compositions in his role as head of the radio’s contemporary music editorial office, contributing to the creation of works of significant importance for the history of Polish music. He successfully promoted Polish compositional output abroad as the creator of original concert projects carried out by Polish Radio in cooperation with foreign broadcasters, as a jury member of the International Rostrum of Composers (from 1994), author of broadcasts for Deutschlandfunk in Cologne, as well as numerous articles in the German press (mainly “Musiktexte”) and participant in many international conferences. He created a scholarship program for young composers and performers from Central and Eastern Europe, served as artistic director of festivals presenting contemporary music (including the 2006 festival of music by P. Szymański and Musica Polonica Nova in Wrocław, from 2010). He served on the juries of composition and performance competitions, including the jury awarding the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis for participants of the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, the jury of the “Masterprize” composition competition organized by the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the jury of the Public Media Award “Opus” (2009).

Chłopecki received many awards and distinctions, including in 1994 the Polish Radio S.A. Management Board Award for the promotion of Polish music; in 1998 a special prize of the Great Culture Foundation Award Chapter; in 2000 a nomination for the Fryderyk 1999 award for the phonographic project Hommage à Lutosławski (released by Polish Radio); in 2001 the Honorary Badge of Polish Radio; in 2003 the Mozart Medal of the International Music Council and the Honorary Badge of the Polish Composers’ Union; in 2005 the Silver Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture and the 80th Anniversary Medal of Polish Radio; in 2006 the Order for Merits to Lithuania; in 2007 the Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture and the Prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for the promotion of culture; in 2008 the Golden Microphone; in 2009 a special prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

Chłopecki’s books began to be published only after his death. Those published to date confirm the significant importance of his writing in interpreting phenomena and shaping the face of contemporary music within the framework of the “Warsaw Autumn” festival, as well as in broadening the understanding of the meanings of the music of W. Lutosławski. The monograph devoted to the early works of A. Berg (from 1900–13) is an outstanding musicological achievement by Chłopecki, filling a significant gap in Polish scholarship.

Literature: K. Naliwajek-Mazurek Andrzej Chłopecki — zarys biografii, in: Warszawska Jesień w tekstach Andrzeja Chłopeckiego, eds. M. Szoka, K. Naliwajek-Mazurek and M. Długosz, Warsaw 2013.