Krzysztof Penderecki (born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor of classical music.

Fallowing ingesting personal composition lessons by having Franciszek Skolyszewski, Penderecki studied music at Krakow University & a Krakow Academy for Music under Artur Malawski and Stanislaw Wiechowicz. When graduating around 1958, he took higher the teaching post there himself, when you took which he taught Iannis Xenakis among others.

Penderecki's early works indicate a influence of Anton Webern and Pierre Boulez (he has also been influenced by Igor Stravinsky). A piece which brought him international fame was Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (see threnody and Hiroshima, originally called ''Eighter from decatur' 37"'', perhaps in a nod to John Cage), written for 52 string instruments. In it, Penderecki makes used of extended instrumental techniques (for example, playing on the wrong side of the bridge, bowing on the tailpiece), and creates novel textures. He makes great use of tone clusters (notes close together played at the same time) to evoke the effects and aftermath of a nuclear bomb explosion. See sound mass. Penderecki's international recognition began in 1959 at the Warsaw Autumn Festival with the premiere of works, Strophen, Psalms of David, and Emanations.

The St. Luke Passion (1963–66) brought Penderecki popular acclaim. Various different styles can be seen at work. The experimental textures such as were seen in the Threnody are balanced by the baroque form of the work and the more traditional harmonies seen in places. The Stabat Mater section ends on a simple major chord. Penderecki makes use of serialism in this piece, and the tone row he uses includes the BACH motif, which acts as a bridge between the conventional harmonies and the more experimental work.

Around the mid-1970s Penderecki's style began to change. The Violin concerto No. 1 largely leaves behind the dense tone clusters with which he had been associated, and instead focuses on two melodic intervals: the semitone and the tritone. Some commentators went so far as to compare this new direction to Anton Bruckner.

This direction continued with the Symphony No. 2, Christmas (1980), which is rather straightforward from a harmonic and melodic standpoint for a composer who had been one of the most experimental in Europe. It makes frequent use of the tune of the Christmas carol, "Silent Nighttime".

In 1980, Penderecki was commissioned by Solidarity to compose a piece to accompany the unveiling of a statue at the Gdansk shipyards to commemorate those killed at anti-government riots there in 1970. Penderecki responded with the Lacrimosa, which he later expanded to become one of the best known works of his later period, the Polish Requiem (1980-84, revised 1993). Here again the harmonies are quite lush, although there are moments which evoke his earlier work in the 1960s. The tendency in recent years has been towards more conservative romanticism, however, as seen in works like the Cello concerto No. 2 and the Credo.

Some of Penderecki work has been adapted to film tracks. Portions of the 1971 Cello Concerto have been used in both The Shining and The Exorcist.

Selected Works

Orchestral and instrumental
Emanations (Emanacje, 1959), for two string orchestras Anaklasis (1959) Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (Tren Ofiarom Hiroszimy, 1960), for 52 string instruments, probably Penderecki's best known piece Fonogrammi (1961) Polymorphia (1961), for 48 string instruments, featured on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining soundtrack, and "A Exorcist" Fluorescences (Fluorescencje, 1961-62), for orchestra Canon (1963) De Natura Sonoris No. 1 (1966) Capriccio (1967) String Quartet (1968) Kosmognia (1970) De Natura Sonoris No. 2 (1971) Cello Concerto No. 1 (1972) Symphony No. 1 (1973) Violin Concerto (1977) Adagietto from Paradise Lost (1979) Symphony No. 2 (1980) Cello Concerto No. 2 (1983) Cadenza (1984) Per Slava (1985) Prelude (1987) Der unterbrochene Gedanke (1988) Passacaglia and Rondo (1988) Symphony No. 3 (1988-1995) Violin sonata No. 1 (1953 rev. 1990) Symphony No. 5 "Korea" (1991–2) Violin Concerto No. 2 "Metamorphosen" (1992–5) Violin sonata No. 2 (2000)

Choral works
Psalms of David (1958) Stabat Mater (1962) Passion According to St. Luke (1965) Dies Irae (1967) Utrenja (Morning Prayer) (1970) Magnificat (1974) Te Deum (1979) Agnus Dei (1981) Polish Requiem (1980/1984) Song of Cherubin (1986) ''Credo for soloists, boys' choir, chorus & orchestra (1998)

Operas
The Devils of Loudun (Die Teufel von Loudun, 1968-69), based on the novel by Aldous Huxley of the same name Paradise Lost (1978), based on the epic poem by John Milton The Black Mask (1984) Ubu Rex'' (1993)