Pałłasz, Edward (EN)

Pałłasz Edward, *30 August 1936 Starogard Gdański, †22 December 2019, Polish composer. In 1964, he graduated in musicology from the University of Warsaw. Previously, he had studied at the Faculty of Mechanics and Technology of the Gdańsk and Warsaw Universities of Technology. He was an autodidact in composition. In 1954–62, he worked in student theatres in Gdańsk (Bim-Bom) and Warsaw (STS); the first musical compositions for the theatre come from this period. In 1964–66, he was the musical director of the Komedia Theatre in Warsaw. In 1969–75, he lectured at the PWST in Warsaw. In 1984–88, he was vice-president, and in 1988–93 president of the ZAiKS Authors’ Society. In 1997–2003, he again served as vice-president, and in 2003–2009 president of the ZAiKS Authors’ Society. In 1981–96, he was a member of the Repertoire Committee of the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn,” in 1979–97 a member of the Main Board of the Polish Composers’ Union (1979–81 treasurer, 1981–83 vice-president). He was a co-founder of Komitet Porozumiewawczy Stowarzyszeń Twórczych i Naukowych [Coordinating Committee of Creative Associations and Scientific Societies] (1980) and a member of the Culture Council under the President of the Republic of Poland L. Wałęsa. In 1995–98, he was the general director of Polskie Radio Program II. In 1999–2012, he was deputy general and artistic director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera. In 2010–2013, he was the chairman of the Programme Council of Polskie Radio; in 2013–2019, the chairman of the Council of the ZAiKS Society. He received the Prix de musique folklorique of Radio Bratislava (1973) for Łado, Łado and six times the 1^st prize: in 1974 at the Polskie Radio competition for Pod borem czarna chmara, in 1976 at the G. Fitelberg Competition in Katowice for Symphony “1976”, in 1988 at the K. Szymanowski Competition for Three Kashubian Songs, in 1984 at the Guido d’Arezzo Competition in Arezzo for De Beata Virgine Maria Claromontana, in 1990 at the competition in Trento for Brandelli di cielo, in 1991 at the J. Maklakiewicz Competition for Girl with Flaxen Hair. Furthermore, in 1979, the Prime Minister’s Award for works for children, in 1986 the President of the Polish Radio and Television Award for his compositions for radio, in 1989 the 1^st degree Ministry of Culture and Art award. In 1998, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; in 2005, he received the title Honorowy Wielki Splendor awarded by the Artistic Team of the Polish Radio Theatre; in 2012, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta; in 2017, he received the title of Honorary Member of the ZAiKS Society of Authors.

Pałłasz’s work, regardless of genre divisions, develops in two trends. The first is utility music, including radio and television pieces, cycles for children, and arrangements of folk melodies. These compositions are characterised by simplicity of means and a clear stylistic tendency. The second trend, encompassing mainly instrumental works, also choral and chamber, is characterised by a far-reaching radicalism of sound solutions, originating from the procedures of post-dodecaphony (Apostrophe for piano quartet), aleatorism (Nine Events), sonorism in its vitalistic version (Symphony “1976”), classicising (Violin Concerto) or post-impressionistic (Two Dreams of Life and Death, Girl with Flaxen Hair). The extensive section of pieces inspired by folk or early music includes both simple stylisations and more sophisticated forms created by combining procedures and techniques modelled on Renaissance polyphony with sonoristic workshop (De Beata Virgine…), variations on folk melodies (Łado, Łado) or improvisational passages (Three Kashubian Folk Tales).

Literature: T. Marek Edward Pałłasz “Symphony 1976” and Edward Pałłasz „Violin Concerto”, “Polish Music” 1977 no. 3 and 1979 no. 3; M. Wacholc O twórczości Edwarda Pałłasza, “Życie Muzyczne” 1981 no. 9; E. Szczepańska Edward Pałłasz – Symfonia „1976”, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1984 no. 25; Edward Pałłasz Na własną nutę, Iskry 2018.