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Władysław Szpilman studied the piano in the early 1930s in Warsaw and [[Berlin]]. In Berlin, he was instructed by [[Leonid Kreutzer]] and [[Artur Schnabel]]. He studied composing with [[Franz Schreker]]. After Hitler's seizure of power he returned to Warsaw in 1933. |
Władysław Szpilman studied the piano in the early 1930s in Warsaw and [[Berlin]]. In Berlin, he was instructed by [[Leonid Kreutzer]] and [[Artur Schnabel]]. He studied composing with [[Franz Schreker]]. After Hitler's seizure of power he returned to Warsaw in 1933. |
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Szpilman composed since 1933 many classical pieces and some popular songs and soundtracks ("Wrzos" 1937, "Dr. Murek" 1939), toured Poland accompanying the |
Szpilman composed since 1933 many classical pieces and some popular songs and soundtracks ("Wrzos" 1937, "Dr. Murek" 1939), toured Poland accompanying the American violinst [[Bronislav Gimpel]], and since 1935 worked as a [[pianist]] for the Polish Radio until the [[German invasion of Poland 1939]] reached Warsaw. With [[Nazi Germany]] establishing [[ghettos]] in many Polish cities, he was forced to move to the [[Warsaw Ghetto]] with his family and continued to work as a pianist in restaurants. Szpilman remained in the ghetto until it was abolished after the [[deportation]] of most of its inhabitants—Szpilman was left as a labourer and helped smuggle weapons. He evaded being caught and killed by the Germans several times by luck. |
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When the rest of his family was deported to [[Treblinka]], an [[extermination camp]] in the east, Szpilman managed to flee from the transport loading site with the help of a friend who grabbed him from the crowd and shooed him away from the waiting train. He found places to hide in Warsaw, helped by members of the Polish underground. Several times he had to change hiding places, one of which was a bombed apartment building where he had to climb over a scorched corpse for months to reach his room. He maintained sanity by going over all the pieces he had ever played or composed in his head, paying meticulous attention to detail. Towards the end of the war, he found refuge in a ruined house in which the Germans suddenly made their headquarters. |
When the rest of his family was deported to [[Treblinka]], an [[extermination camp]] in the east, Szpilman managed to flee from the transport loading site with the help of a friend who grabbed him from the crowd and shooed him away from the waiting train. He found places to hide in Warsaw, helped by members of the Polish underground. Several times he had to change hiding places, one of which was a bombed apartment building where he had to climb over a scorched corpse for months to reach his room. He maintained sanity by going over all the pieces he had ever played or composed in his head, paying meticulous attention to detail. Towards the end of the war, he found refuge in a ruined house in which the Germans suddenly made their headquarters. |
Revision as of 03:53, 12 June 2006
Wladyslaw Szpilman (English spelling: Vladislav Szpilman; December 5, 1911–July 6, 2000) was a Polish pianist, composer, and novelist. He was born in Sosnowiec, Poland, to a Jewish family. He died in Warsaw.
History
Władysław Szpilman studied the piano in the early 1930s in Warsaw and Berlin. In Berlin, he was instructed by Leonid Kreutzer and Artur Schnabel. He studied composing with Franz Schreker. After Hitler's seizure of power he returned to Warsaw in 1933.
Szpilman composed since 1933 many classical pieces and some popular songs and soundtracks ("Wrzos" 1937, "Dr. Murek" 1939), toured Poland accompanying the American violinst Bronislav Gimpel, and since 1935 worked as a pianist for the Polish Radio until the German invasion of Poland 1939 reached Warsaw. With Nazi Germany establishing ghettos in many Polish cities, he was forced to move to the Warsaw Ghetto with his family and continued to work as a pianist in restaurants. Szpilman remained in the ghetto until it was abolished after the deportation of most of its inhabitants—Szpilman was left as a labourer and helped smuggle weapons. He evaded being caught and killed by the Germans several times by luck.
When the rest of his family was deported to Treblinka, an extermination camp in the east, Szpilman managed to flee from the transport loading site with the help of a friend who grabbed him from the crowd and shooed him away from the waiting train. He found places to hide in Warsaw, helped by members of the Polish underground. Several times he had to change hiding places, one of which was a bombed apartment building where he had to climb over a scorched corpse for months to reach his room. He maintained sanity by going over all the pieces he had ever played or composed in his head, paying meticulous attention to detail. Towards the end of the war, he found refuge in a ruined house in which the Germans suddenly made their headquarters.
His survival is credited in part to Wilm Hosenfeld, a German captain who had grown ashamed of his country's Nazi policies. Hosenfeld discovered Szpilman when the latter was searching for something to eat. Hosenfeld asked Szpilman who he was and demanded proof that he was a pianist, leading him to an old piano. At this point, Szpilman had not touched a piano for two and a half years, yet he played Chopin's Ballade No.1 in G minor, op. 23, fearing for his life. Hosenfeld provided Szpilman with food and army clothes to keep him from dying of cold when the Germans left Warsaw. When the Soviets captured Warsaw and Szpilman went out to greet his Polish rescuers, he was shot at and almost killed. He called out "I'm Polish!" to the soldiers. When they asked why he was wearing a German officer's coat, he answered "I was cold." Hosenfeld later died in Soviet captivity.
When Szpilman resumed his activities as the at Polish Radio in 1945, he did so by carrying on where he left off six years before: poignantly, he opened the first transmission of the station by playing, once again, Chopin's C Sharp minor Nocturne.
From 1945 to 1963 he held the position of Director of Music Department at Polish Radio. During these years he composed several symphonic works and about 500 songs, many of which still are popular in Poland today, including some children's songs, as well as music for radio plays and film. He also performed as a soloist and with the violinists Bronislav Gimpel, Roman Totenberg, Ida Haendel and Henryk Szeryng. In 1963, he and Gimpel founded the Warsaw Piano Quintet with which Szpilman performed world-wide until 1986.
In 1945, shortly after the war's end, Szpilman wrote a memoir about his survival in Warsaw. He published the book, Śmierć Miasta (Death of a City) in Poland, but it was suppressed by the Polish authorities, who did not like its perspective on the war, and the number of copies printed was small.
Szpilman's memoir was not reprinted for fifty years, until 1998 when it was published by Szpilman's son Andrzej, first in German as Das wunderbare Überleben (The Fantastic Survival) and then in English as The Pianist. This bestselling book was later published in 30 other languages, named "Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 1999", and in 2002 Roman Polański directed a screen version, also called The Pianist. Szpilman died before the film was completed, but his son Andrzej compiled a CD with the most popular songs Szpilman had composed under the title Wendy Lands sings the songs of the Pianist (Universal Music), and also a CD's "Original recordings of the Pianist" and "Wladyslaw Szpilman - Legendary recordings" (Sony classical).
The movie won three Oscars Academy Awards, the BAFTA best film award, and the Palme d'Or.
References
- The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 by Władysław Szpilman (2002) ISBN 0312311354