Wlodzimierz Kotonski

From PSeME

Kotoński Włodzimierz, composer and academic teacher, b. 23 August 1925 in Warsaw. He studied composition with Piotr Rytel at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw (1945-51), and privately with Tadeusz Szeligowski (1950-51). He also studied piano with M. Klimont-Jacynowa. In the 1950s he conducted research into Polish folk music at the State Institute of Art; the results were published in the book Góralski i zbójnicki [Highlander and Highland Robber Dances] (PWM Polish Music Publishers, Cracow 1956). In 1957-61 Kotoński participated in the International Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt. In that period he began experimenting with electronic transformations of sound. His quest for new sound qualities resulted in the first electronic composition in Poland - Etiuda na jedno uderzenie w talerz (Study on one cymbal stroke - musique concréte, 1959). Since 1958, the composer has regularly collaborated with the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio. He also worked at other electronic music centres: the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Studio in Cologne (1966-67), Groupe de Recherches Musicales ORTF in Paris (1970), the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden Studio in Freiburg (SWF - 1979), the Stiftelsen Elektroakustik Musik i Sverige in Stockholm (EMS - 1984), and Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB - 1986). In 1970-71 he conducted his study in Berlin as a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst scholarship holder. Since 1967 he has taught composition at Warsaw's Music Academy (since 1972 - as an associate professor; since 1983 and 1990 he has held the state titles of professor), as well as directing the Electronic Music Studio in that academy. Among his students there have been such composers as: Paweł Szymański, Hanna Kulenty, Stanisław Krupowicz, Tadeusz Wielecki, Edward Sielicki, Jacek Grudzień. As a visiting professor, Kotoński also taught composition and electronic music at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm (1971), the State University of New York in Buffalo (1978), the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (1982), the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem (1990) and in Seoul (1994-95). In 1974-76 he was the musical editor-in-chief in the Polish Radio and the general music manager in the Polish Radio and Television. In 1983 he became president of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM/SIMC), Polish Section, a post he held till 1989. Kotoński was granted the Minister of Culture and Arts Award (1973, 1989 and 2000), the award of the Polish Composers' Union for 1976, and the Prize of the Chairman of the Radio and Television Committee (1979). In 1963, he published his book entitled Instrumenty perkusyjne we współczesnej orkiestrze [Percussion Instruments in the Modern Orchestra] (PWM, Cracow 1963; 2nd ed. – 1981; Hungarian transl.: A modern zenekar ütöhangszerei, Zenemükiadó, Budapest 1967; German transl.: Schlaginstrumente im modernen Orchester, Schott, Mainz 1968). In 1989, he published the monograph Muzyka elektroniczna [Electronic music] (PWM, Cracow 1989; 2nd ed. – 2002), and in 1999 – Leksykon współczesnej perkusji [A Lexicon of the Contemporary Percussion] (PWM, Cracow 1999).

Włodzimierz Kotoński, a classic of electroacoustic music, was the first composer to work in the newly founded (in 1957) Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio – known throughout the world as an important centre of writing for tape. He was the author of the first autonomous piece for tape composed in Poland - Etiuda konkretna na jedno uderzenie w talerz [Study on one cymbal stroke - musique concréte] (1959). This 2’41” long composition was based on one stroke with a soft stick on a medium-sized cymbal (selected from among many such pre-recorded strokes). The recorded sound was then submitted to complex transformations, and the resulting rich sound material was used to create a work with precisely planned structure of each element. Kotoński’s Study was one of the purest models of concrete music, of art in search of new means of expression, which adopted the most recent electro-acoustic inventions. The piece was performed at the 1960 “Warsaw Autumn”, and was later presented on many occasions in Poland and abroad, also becoming a handbook example. Włodzimierz Kotoński is now listed in course books as one of Poland’s leading composers of new music. Apart from the Study, he composed numerous other pieces for tape. His compositions for traditional instruments also frequently use electronic sounds either pre-recorded on tape or produced in concert as “live electronic music”. Kotoński is also the author of the fundamental publication Electronic Music, which appeared in Polish in 1989.