At a ceremony in Warsaw on Monday, French Ambassador Etienne de Poncins recalled Stankiewicz’s lifelong commitment to promote Messiaen’s music and praised his contribution to bringing French and Polish nations closer together.
Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was one of the most important figures in 20th century music.
In his thank-you remarks, Stankiewicz, 79, recalled that his interest in the music of Messiaen goes back to the 1950s. In the 1970s, he had the chance to meet Messiaen and subsequently started research on his life and work. He has written extensively on Messiaen’s output and organized several festivals in his tribute.
After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIII-A, south of the town of Görlitz (today's Polish town of Zgorzelec). It was there that he had close contact with Polish writer and theatre director Zdzisław Nardelli, who helped him get a job in the camp library and organized the historic premiere of his Quartet for the End of Time.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Stankiewicz described Messiaen’s visit to the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1989 as an unforgettable moment. “The concert of his music ended with a 15-minute standing ovation. The composer later said he deeply regretted coming to Poland so late in his life”, he said.
(mk)