The “Invisible Generation” of Polish Composers Born at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The Example of Michał Spisak and Karol Rathaus
The “Invisible Generation” of Polish Composers Born at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The Example of Michał Spisak and Karol Rathaus

Summary/Abstract: The essay looks at the careers and music of selected Polish composers born at the turn of the twentieth century, who – under various circumstances – chose to live and work abroad, and consequently became forgotten in their native country during the dark, communistic regime. Their artistic oeuvre was neither debated nor analyzed, treated as degenerated and ignored, especially in the realm of Polish musicological discourse before 1990s. Can we talk about these composers as the representatives of the “invisible generation”? On the examples of Michał Spisak and Karol Rathaus but also Aleksander Tansman, Roman Palester and Andrzej Panufnik the chapter discusses the possibility of applying the term “invisible generation” to these – seemingly different – Polish composers, whose reception in their fatherland in the post WW reality was overshadowed by the political situation.

• Details
• Contents