Andrzej Panufnik

Extract

Andrzej Panufnik was born in Warsaw on September 24, 1914. His father, Tomasz, was the most eminent Polish constructor of stringed instruments, and author of many scientific books concerning the construction of musical instruments. Some of his books are in the library of the British Museum. Tomasz influenced in many ways the early musical ideas of his son, and this influence has lived on in one way in Andrzej's mature musical output. His father at first designed his instruments on the old Italian model—‘Antica’ was his name for them. He also later designed a new type of violin which he called ‘Polonia’—the Polish instrument. Andrzej's mature music falls into three categories: ‘Antica’, music based on compositions by seventeenth-century Polish composers, ‘Polonia’, music based partly on original Polish folk tunes, and ‘Independent’, music which he calls unrelated, free, but which at times does reflect the other two in spirit, simply because he cannot alter his nature. The works in this latter class have no direct connection with either of the other two.