Vladislav Shpilman

Vladislav Shpilman

Jewish-Polish pianist, composer and diarist
Date of Birth: 05.12.1911
Country: Poland

Biography of Władysław Szpilman

Władysław Szpilman was a Polish-Jewish pianist, composer, and memoirist. He gained widespread fame as the main character in Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist," which was based on his autobiographical book about surviving the Holocaust. In the film, Szpilman was portrayed by Adrien Brody.

Vladislav Shpilman

Early Life and Education:
Władysław Szpilman was born on December 5, 1911, in Sosnowiec, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. He studied piano in Warsaw and Berlin in the early 1930s, completing his piano studies with Arthur Schnabel and composition studies with Franz Schreker.

Vladislav Shpilman

Career and Holocaust Survival:
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Szpilman returned to Warsaw, where he quickly became a renowned pianist and composer, excelling in both classical and popular music. During his Polish tours with violinist Bronisław Gimpel, he composed numerous musical works and soundtracks.

Vladislav Shpilman

On April 1, 1935, Szpilman began working at Polish Radio, playing jazz and classical music until Warsaw was occupied by the Germans, and Polish Radio ceased broadcasting on September 1, 1939. The Nazi-controlled General Government set up ghettos in many Polish cities, including Warsaw. Fortunately, Szpilman and his family did not need to seek a new place to live as their apartment was already within the ghetto area. Szpilman worked as a pianist in restaurants within the ghetto, barely earning enough money to support his family of six.

Szpilman remained in the Warsaw Ghetto until it was liquidated after the deportation of most of its inhabitants. He was left behind as a forced laborer and aided in smuggling weapons, narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Nazis. While the rest of his family was deported to Treblinka, an extermination camp in the east, Szpilman managed to hide with the help of a friend and avoid the forced loading onto the awaiting train. Unfortunately, none of his family members survived the war.

Post-War Career:
When Szpilman resumed his work at Polish Radio in 1945, he opened his first performance with Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor, specifically from the part that he was interrupted six years earlier on September 23, 1939, when German bombs hit the Polish Radio studio. From 1945 to 1963, Szpilman served as the Director of the Music Department at Polish Radio. During this time, he composed several symphonic works and around 500 songs, some of which remain popular in Poland to this day. He also composed music for radio plays and films, including the suite for piano "Life of the Machines" (1932), Violin Concerto (1933), soundtracks for the documentaries "Swit, dzien i noc Palestyny" (1934), the melodrama "Wrzos" (1938), and the drama "Dr. Murek" (1939).

In the 1950s, Szpilman wrote about 40 songs for children, which earned him an award from the Union of Polish Composers in 1955. In 1961, he initiated and organized the Sopot International Song Festival and founded the Polish Union of Popular Music Authors. In addition to his solo performances, he played with violinists Bronisław Gimpel, Roman Totenberg, Ida Haendel, and Henryk Szeryng. In 1963, Szpilman and Gimpel founded the Warsaw Piano Quintet, with which Szpilman performed worldwide until 1986.

Later Life and Legacy:
Shortly after the war, Szpilman wrote an autobiography about his survival in Warsaw. His book, titled "The Death of a City," was banned during the Stalinist regime but was later published in a literary adaptation by Jerzy Waldorff after destalinization in the 1950s. In 1998, his son Andrzej republished his father's work in Germany as "The Miraculous Survival" and in England as "The Pianist." In March 1999, Szpilman visited London during the Jewish Book Week and met with English readers to celebrate the release of his bestseller in England. The book has since been translated into more than 30 languages.

In 2002, Roman Polanski directed a film based on Szpilman's book, also titled "The Pianist." Unfortunately, Szpilman did not live to see the film's release, as he passed away on July 6, 2000, at the age of 88. The film received three Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

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