Zbigniew Preisner studied history and philosophy in Kraków; never having received formal music lessons, he taught himself about music by listening and transcribing parts from records. His compositional style represents a distinctively spare form of tonal neo-romanticism.
Preisner is best known for the music composed for the films directed by fellow Pole Krzysztof Kieślowski. His "Song for the Unification of Europe", based on the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 13, is attributed to a character in Kieślowski's Three Colors: Blue and plays a dominant role in the story. His music for Three Colors: Red includes a setting of Polish and French versions of a poem by Wisława Szymborska, a Polish Nobel Prize-winning poet.
After working with Kieślowski on Three Colors: Blue, Preisner was hired by the producer Francis Ford Coppola to write the score for The Secret Garden, directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland. Although Preisner is most closely associated with Kieślowski, he has collaborated with several other directors, winning a César in 1996 for his work on Jean Becker's Élisa. He has won a number of other awards, including another César in 1994 for Three Colors: Red and the Silver Bear at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival 1997 for The Island on Bird Street.
In 1998, Requiem for My Friend, Preisner's first large scale work not written for film, was premiered. It was originally intended as a narrative work to be written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and directed by Kieślowski, but it became a memorial to Kieślowski after the director's death. He composed the theme music for The People's Century, a monumental twenty-six part documentary made jointly in 1994 by the BBC television network in the United Kingdom and the PBS television network in the United States. He has also worked with director Thomas Vinterberg on the 2003 film It's All about Love and provided orchestration for David Gilmour's 2006 album On an Island. Silence, Night, and Dreams is Zbigniew Preisner’s new recording project, a large-scale work for orchestra, choir, and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job. The first recording was released in 2007 with the lead singer of Madredeus, Teresa Salgueiro, and boy soprano Thomas Cully from Libera.
Van den Budenmayer is a fictitious eighteenth-century Dutch composer created by Preisner and director Krzysztof Kieślowski for attributions in screenplays. Preisner said Van den Budenmayer is a pseudonym he and Kieślowski invented "because we both loved the Netherlands". Music by the Dutch composer plays a role in three Kieślowski films: The Decalogue, Three Colours: Blue, and Three Colours: Red . In the second of these, a theme from his musiques funèbres is quoted in "The Song for the Unification of Europe". Its E minor soprano solo is prefigured in the earlier film The Double Life of Veronique, where circumstances in the story prevent the solo from finishing.
Van den Budenmayer: Concerto en mi mineur
Zbigniew Preisner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
who have followed in your little bark
my ship that singing makes its way,
"Do not set forth upon the deep,
for, losing sight of me, you would be lost.
"The seas I sail were never sailed before.
nine Muses point me toward the Bears."
The lyrics to Zbigniew Preisner's song Van den Budenmayer: Concerto en mi mineur tell the story of a sailor who is warning those who are following his ship to be careful and not to venture out too far. He warns them that if they lose sight of him, they will be lost at sea. He goes on to explain that he is sailing in unfamiliar waters, but is being guided by the gods. Minerva fills his sails, and Apollo is his guide. The nine Muses point him towards the Bears.
Overall, the song is about the importance of guidance and how it can help us navigate through life's unknowns. The sailor is using his experience and knowledge to guide others, and in turn, he is being guided himself. The lyrics also suggest that there is something larger at play, whether that be fate or the gods, that is guiding us on our journeys.
Line by Line Meaning
O you, eager to hear more,
Attention, people who are curious and willing to listen further
who have followed in your little bark
Those who have followed a small boat in the vast ocean
my ship that singing makes its way,
My ship that carries me forward and sings as it goes
Do not set forth upon the deep,
Don't venture into the unknown waters
for, losing sight of me, you would be lost.
If you lose sight of me, you will also lose your way
The seas I sail were never sailed before.
The seas I sail are uncharted and never before navigated
Minerva fills my sails, Apollo is my guide,
The goddess of wisdom and the god of music lead and inspire me
nine Muses point me toward the Bears.
The muses, the source of artistic inspiration, direct me towards the stars of Ursa Major
Contributed by Adrian C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@kazia51
O wy,
dryfujący kruchą szalupą,
pragnący posłuchać
fal rozśpiewanych, co niosą łódź moją,
zrezygnujcie z rejsu, a powiadam,
mnie tracąc, siebie ocalicie.
Przecieram szlak, którym nikt nie podążał
Minerwa mym tchnieniem, Apollo kurs wyznaczy
Dziewięć Muz wskaże Niedźwiedzicę.
*
Pieśń z fragmentem poezji Dantego Alighieri, tak cudownie wyśpiewana w języku starowłoskim , nasycona magicznym brzmieniem...nieziemskim !
Słucham i słucham...<3
@ForTheWhalez
In 1995, Krzystof Kieslowski recieved a courteous letter from Oxford University Press. They were in the process of updating their music encyclopaedia, and could he please provide them with some details about Van den Budenmayer, the late 18th century Dutch composer whose music he had featured in his Dekalog, Double Life of Veronique and Three Colours trilogy. Their research had yielded nothing. Kieslowski replied equally courteously that Van den Budenmayer was a fictional character created by him and his composer, Zbigniew Preisner. Soon he received a second letter. Of course they understood his concern to protect his sources, but as this was to be the definitive series on classical music could he please provide them with at least some information. Kieslowski wrote a second letter, reiterating that the score had been written by Preisner, a 19 stone self-taught musician from Cracow. Still they did not believe him. After about half a year of this fruitless correspondence back and forth Kieslowski stopped replying.
@AYoonesi
That blew my mind
@jagajanowicz6423
Interesting😊
@jyotsnaakasha1907
"Αll my life Ι've felt Ι was in two places at the same time. Ηere and somewhere else."
@abhinavbaliyan3896
Maladaptive day dreaming
@3wydreamer147
@@abhinavbaliyan3896 thats right :)
@benaliend
@@abhinavbaliyan3896 it's a reference to the movie The Double Life Of Veronique
@edytab9904
This music is so beautiful it physically hurts.... in my opinion one of the most beautiful pieces ever composed
@alfredkirkham846
I must agree that this
music is so beautiful that it evokes physical pain. Mostly center in my chest. How is it that extraordinary beauty can cause pain
@BM-qp6pu
@@alfredkirkham846In melancholy there is also poetic beauty