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.
@psadow1
Dante, Paradiso, II, 1-9.
O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,
desiderosi d'ascoltar, seguiti
dietro al mio legno che cantando varca,
[tornate a riveder li vostri liti:]
Non vi mettete in pelago, ché forse,
perdendo me, rimarreste smarriti.
L'acqua ch'io prendo giá mai non si corse;
Minerva spira è conducemi Appollo,
è nove Muse mi dimostran l'Orse.
O you who are in your tiny boat,
eager to hear more, following
behind my ship that advances, singing,
[go back, if you are to see your shores again.]
Do not put yourselves to sea, for if
you lose me, you too will be forever lost.
The waters I travel have never yet been crossed;
Minerva breathes, and Apollo guides me,
it is the nine Muses who show me the North Star.
@eneselverdi
Türküler söyleyerek yol alan gemimi,
dinlemek için söylenenleri
küçük bir tekneyle izleyen sizler,
kıyılarınıza dönün yeniden,
açılmayın enginlere, çünkü gözden yitirince beni
yolunuzu şaşırırsınız belki.
Yol aldığım sulardan kimse geçmedi,
Minerva rüzgârım, Apollon kaptanım şimdi,
Kutup yıldızını gösteren, dokuz esin perisi(müzler).
Dante - İlahi Komedya, Cennet, 2. Kanto, 1-9
@dorianrawls1927
Just because you cannot understand a movie does not make it "bad".
it's hermetic and complex, mystical, but if you take the time to listen to Kieslowski's explanations about it and watch a few videos from actual movie critics you'll see that it's one of the most refined, well-thought, emotional and beautiful movies ever made...
A few hints :
- Jung's Synchronicity, and the correlated concept of serendipity
- Kieslowski's concern with the notion of blind chance and choices. There's a couple of videos out there where he and others explain his questionings
- Responsibility of one's choices (Sartre) and moral uncertainty
- metafiction : pay more attention to Tcheckov's rifle patterns, reflexions, and the speculation on the art of filmmaking in the movie. The very word speculation has a very important meaning here... The art of gaze and reflexion. See the work on noise and music editing in the scene where Véronique investigates on the tape she's been sent by mail, on the director as a puppeteer...
- the film posits and does not solve, it's up to you to make up your own mind.
- the role of music, extradiegetically as well a intradiegetically
- it is an introduction to the bleu blanc rouge trilogy and foreshadows all of the concepts and formal experiments found in Bleu and Rouge.
It can be seen as a quadrilogy since Véronique is a transition movie when Kieslowski's started the final stage of his career in France. The concepts are as follows :
- Véronique : Responsibility of one's moral acts and being careful because you cannot predict the impact your deeds will have on others.
- Bleu : Liberty. The price we pay to be free (including from our own past).
- Blanc : Equality, or getting even
- Rouge : Fraternity and solitude.
Have a blast...
@zombiebombi5027
+Shoshana xxx
Bo nie można?
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.
@lulu10357
I’ve been looking for this song for More then 18 years... I am sooooo happy I found it ❤️
@shakuntalalivneh8742
Same with me!
@beautyspaceonearth
but why?why you cant find it?
@heldermoreira9698
Same with me, looking for years...
@petervankessel9487
Same for me
@GILDASODRE51
Yesssssss. The same with me!!!
@melaniebailly3145
This was played in january 2012 at my father 's funeral. I hope he reached a happier shore, a happier place... I miss you Daddy, in spite of everything ...
@vlefteris
I'm sure he did...
@camilaxcastillo
Just heard it in a HBO special and remembered it from my childhood ! I came straight here and here it is !!!! So beautiful ! So haunting and wise .
@marxista
same!