Krzysztof Meyer

Krzysztof Meyer was born in 1943 in Krakow, where he lived until he moved permanently to Germany in 1987. For more than half a century he has been composing vocal and instrumental music for orchestra, chamber ensembles and soloists. He has composed works such as the opera The Cyberiad based on Stanisław Lem's short stories, the oratorio The Creation of the World, Mass, eight symphonies for various orchestral and vocal ensembles, 15 instrumental concertos, 14 string quartets as well as quintets, trios for various instruments and solo pieces mostly for piano and cello but also for organ and saxophone. His output is very varied: He has composed songs for virtuosos and for children and also music that features an unconventional approach to playing as well as music that is addressed to the tradionalists. Altogether he has written more than one hundred works, most of which have been recorded and are available on CD.

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Krzysztof Meyer at the age of 70, 2013

Bolesław Lutosławski

Meyer willingly refers to tradition, hoping for listeners to understand his playing with the past. Sometimes he imitates other composers' music, sometimes elements taken from old music are interwoven into his own style. Thus, in his work we can observe the stylization of Baroque music (Concerto retro), pastiches in Mozart’s style (Symphony in D major) and in the style of Shostakovich (the final part of the opera Gracze [The Gamblers]). He wrote a piece as if hypothetically written by Shostakovich (the String Quartet ‘Au delà d'une absence՚) and deconstructed Boccherini’s music, embellishing it with elements of instrumental theatre (Caro Luigi).

Being a well-educated theoretician of music, he has commented on music for many years. From Meyer’s many published articles and books about music, the most important are the monographs of the composers who played a great role in his life: Dmitri Shostakovich and Witold Lutosławski.

Danuta Gwizdalanka, September 2015

Initially, the main publisher of his music was the State Music Publishing House (PWM) in Krakow. Currently, his work is published by Musikverlag Hans Sikorski in Hamburg and Pro viva in Munich (► Krzysztof Meyer).

Catalogue of works

OPERA

Cyberiada [The Cyberiad] – a fantastic comic opera in three acts, Op. 15. The libretto is written by the composer based on the stories of Stanisław Lem (1967-1970).
Gracze [The Gamblers] – a completed version of the opera by Dmitri Shostakovich based on Nikolai Gogol’s comedy drama, Op. 53 (1980-1981)
Klonowi bracia [The Maple Brothers] – A children's opera in two acts. The libretto is written by the composer and based on the play by Yevgeny Schwarz, Op. 72 (1988-1989)

BALLET