{"id":11834,"date":"2023-08-14T14:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T14:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/?p=11834"},"modified":"2023-08-14T14:22:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T14:22:27","slug":"what-did-robbie-robertson-have-to-do-with-krzysztof-penderecki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/2023\/08\/14\/what-did-robbie-robertson-have-to-do-with-krzysztof-penderecki\/","title":{"rendered":"What Did Robbie Robertson Have to Do With Krzysztof Penderecki?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Robbie
L-R Robbie Robertson; Krzysztof Penderecki (Photo Kingkongphoto\/Kontrola\/Wikipedia )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Canadian rock legend, Robbie Robertson, who died this week<\/a>, was best known for his performances as a solo artist, as a member of The Band and as the lead guitarist for Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n

What classical music lovers may not know is that Robertson was also intimately influenced by the 20th-century Polish composer Kryzsztof Penderecki.<\/p>\n

Background<\/h3>\n

Robbie Robertson grew up on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve near Toronto, Ontario. Robertson co-founded The Band along with fellow Canadians Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and American Levon Helm. They found early fame as the backing band for artists such as Bob Dylan and Ronnie Hawkins before going solo with their first album, Music from Big Pink, in 1968.<\/p>\n

The Story<\/h3>\n

While touring with Dylan and working on his own musical projects in the 1960s, Robertson developed a fascination with the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki.<\/p>\n

\u201c[His music] stirred a nerve that inspired me to write him a letter of appreciation,\u201d Robertson described, citing his appreciation for works including St. Luke\u2019s Passion (1966), Polymorphia (1961) and Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima (1961).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pen pals for a while,\u201d he told the CBC in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Last [Operatic] Waltz<\/h3>\n

In 1976, The Band held their last concert, \u201cThe Last Waltz.\u201d The performance used sets from the San Francisco Opera\u2019s La Traviata and showcased performances by rock legends including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Muddy Waters.<\/p>\n

The concert was immortalized in Martin Scorsese\u2019s 1978 documentary of the same name. After the project was over, Scorsese and Robertson became collaborators on films including \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street\u201d (2013), \u201cGangs of New York\u201d (2002), and \u201cShutter Island\u201d (2010).<\/p>\n

Robertson and Penderecki<\/h3>\n

When it came time to score Scorsese\u2019s psychological thriller, \u201cShutter Island,\u201d Robertson revisited his early admiration for Penderecki\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Marty [Scorsese], I think Penderecki\u2019s music could be a centrepiece for this movie,\u201d Robertson recounted. Scorsese agreed, and Robertson anchored the film\u2019s drama around the Passacaglia from Penderecki\u2019s Third Symphony.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The admiration between Robbie Robertson and Krzysztof Penderecki was mutual.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he heard some recordings of The Band I sent over,\u201d Robertson said in 2020, \u201che wrote me back with such kind words of how our different styles of music had deep connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relationships between classical composers and rock musicians are few and far between, with many music lovers in both camps shunning the relationship between the two styles. The deep respect between these two vastly different artists demonstrates shared musical values that transcend stylistic differences.<\/p>\n

Final Words<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe will miss Krzysztof but his sound will live on and on forever,\u201d Robertson wrote on Facebook following Penderecki\u2019s death in 2020.<\/p>\n

Penderecki might have written a similar tribute for Robertson, who died on August 9th at age 80.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The admiration between Robbie Robertson and Krzysztof Penderecki was mutual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":11835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[86,193,2,3],"tags":[316,315],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/08\/Robbie-Robertson-Krzysztof-Penderecki.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11834"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11839,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11834\/revisions\/11839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11834"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}