Knapik, Eugeniusz (EN)

Knapik Eugeniusz, *9 July 1951 Ruda Śląska, Polish composer and pianist. In 1970–77, he studied composition with H.M. Górecki and piano with Cz. Stańczyk at PWSM (now Academy of Music) in Katowice, where he has been working since 1979 at the Faculty of Composition, Theory and Conducting. In 1979–1989, he was a member of the repertoire committee at the Contemporary Music Festival “Warszawska Jesień.” In 1976, he received a scholarship from the French government to study composition with O. Messiaen in Paris. In 1996–2020, he was the head of the Department of Composition and Music Theory, and in 2000 he received the title of professor. In 2002–2008, he was a rector of the Academy of Music in Katowice; thanks to Knapik’s efforts, a new building of the Academy of Music in Katowice was built. As a pianist, he has performed many times in Poland and abroad as a soloist and chamber musician, mainly in contemporary repertoire, among others, at the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warszawska Jesień,” Saint-Denis Festival in Paris, Octobre en Normandie in Rouen, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Goulbenkian Festival in Lisbon and SIMC in Rotterdam. He has made numerous premieres and recordings of Polish and world contemporary music. He was the first performer in Poland of the entire cycle of Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus by O. Messiaen. In 1988, he was invited by the opera house La Monnaie in Brussels to collaborate with the librettist and poet Jan Fabre, which resulted in several opera works. Piano and composition awards: in 1976 the 10^th Polish Piano Festival in Słupsk, the ZKP Young Composers’ Competition (2^nd prize), in 1977 the International Chamber Music Competition in Vienna (3^rd prize), in 1979 the Composing Competition of the “Młodzi Muzycy Młodemu Miastu” Festival in Stalowa Wola’ at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers: honourable mention in 1978, 1^st place in 1984 (for String Quartet).

Moreover, several of Knapik’s pieces served as musical material for ballet performances (String Quartet, Frankfurt 1990, Partita, Brussels 1993, scenes from the opera trilogy The Minds of Helena Troubleyn and Wyspy, Amsterdam 1995, String Quartet and Partita, Antwerp 1995).

Awards and distinctions: 1^st place at the UN£ESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for String Quartet [No. 1]; honorary member of ZKP 1984; Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, 2008, Diapason d’Or award, Paris 2012 for the recording Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen, gold medal for Merit to Culture “Gloria Artis” 2019.

Knapik is one of the first composers of his generation to create his individual style and compositional workshop, characterised by simplicity, economy and balance of the elements of a musical work. The inspiration from the poetry of French symbolism (P. Valéry) has an important influence on his work. Knapik’s works, especially those created in the 1970s, are characterised by excellent technique, effective instrumentation and clear form. They are permeated with a romantic atmosphere, which in later compositions (Hymn, Versus I or Wyspy) gives way to seriousness, concentration and a kind of fervour. Knapik gives up impressive instrumental phrases, rich colours and displaying feelings. Notation is becoming more and more transparent and precise, and elements of rhythmic aleatorism appear less and less often. In Knapik’s work, new means are assimilated into the tradition of European music: melody once again becomes – next to colours – an equal element of shaping the form. The evolution of Knapik’s creative path consisted in moving away from avant-garde aesthetics and post-sonoristic tendencies (La flûte de jade or Le Chant) and moving towards attempts to synthesise them with post-modern experiences of the end of the 20^th century and the use of romanticising means and ways of expression (opera trilogy The Minds of Helena Troubleyn). A new phase of Knapik’s work began with this opera. It features a visible fascination with works of great composers of the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, including R. Strauss, G. Mahler, A. Scriabin, K. Szymanowski and even M. Ravel. However, the most important element is texture: the composition restores the role of double instrumental (vocal) parts, which is important for the instrumentation, increases the role of the melicus (hence also linearity and counterpoint), the colours are seen through the prism of sonorism, and even minimalism (repetition) or neoclassicism (sharpness of the rhythmic drawing). Knapik uses huge sound masses, the space covers not only the height scale of the music but also the physical range of the arrangement of sound sources on the stage and/or platform, clearly becoming a form-creating factor. Knapik shows the paradoxes of combining tonal and non-functional harmony as well as impressionistic and expressionistic means, following the example of Szymanowski. Various elements of Knapik’s music influence the organisation of the flow of musical time in his works in different ways. This is a characteristic feature of Knapik’s music, especially works created in the 21^st century. The composer perceives musical works primarily as emanations of ethics, in which he addresses the idealistic issues of moral categories.

Literature: M. Janicka-Słysz Eugeniusza Knapika spojrzenia na siebie i na muzykę, in: “Studio” 1995 No. 1; S. Kosz Eugeniusz Knapik – „Wyspy”, in: Muzyka polska 1945–1995 (ed. K. Droba, T. Malecka, K. Szwajgier), Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, Kraków 1996; S. Kosz Eugeniusz Knapik: „Inspiracji szukam w dźwięku”, in: “Opcje”, cultural quarterly, 1996, No. 4; I. Bias Eugeniusz Knapik. Kompozytor i pianista, Akademia Muzyczna w Katowicach, Katowice 2001; Thomas Adrian, Knapik Eugeniusz, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second Edition (ed. S. Sadie), vol. 13, Macmillan Publishers Limited, London 2001; Kompozytorzy polscy 1918–2000, II, ed. M. Podhajski, Gdańsk-Warsaw2005; A. Thomas Polish Music since Szymanowski, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; K. Droba Spotkania z Eugeniuszem Kanpikiem. Akademia Muzyczna w Katowicach, Katowice 2011; K. Baculewski Współczesność cz. 2: 1975–2000, “Historia Muzyki Polskiej” VII, Sutkowski Edition, Warsaw 2012.