The Invisible Man: Roman Palester and his Place in Post-war Polish Music.

Abstract

Roman Palester (1907 –1989) was as one of the most promising and well-known composers in Poland during the inter-war period. Yet, following the creation of the Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa [Polish People’s Republic] (PRL) between 1945-52, the tightening of political control over art in 1949, and Palester’s defection to the West in 1951 he has all but disappeared from Polish musical life. This study seeks to address Palester’s absence from the musical scene by exploring how Palester, as a composer in exile, negotiated the politics of the Cold War in both Eastern and Western Europe, and what effect this had on his life, career, and music. This will be achieved by tracking Palester’s life from his early years as a student in Warsaw, through the Second World War, the instigation of a communist regime in Poland, his defection to France and later Germany, his work at Radio Free Europe (RFE), and his brief reintroduction to Poland in the 1980s. Palester’s evolving compositional voice will also be examined: exploring his use of neoclassicism, his brief foray into folklorism, the development of his own form of twelve-tone technique, experimentation with ‘limited aleatorism’, expressionist tendencies, and attempts to synthesise these various techniques into a singular compositional voice. This will be achieved by critically discussing a select number of Palester’s pivotal musical works: Psalm V, Requiem, Symphony No. 3, Preludes for Piano, La Mort de Don Juan, and Symphony No. 5. The findings of this study show that the unique political environment of the Cold War and Palester’s exile had a profound impact on his career and reception but suggest that his musical style was shaped primarily by his own artistic principles.