The Spiritual Triumph of Wladyslaw Szpilman: Resistance in the Face of Tragedy
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Early life
"Theatre Square in Warsaw", c. 1925, Jewish Historical Institute
BIRTH OF A PRODIGY
Born December 5th, 1911, Wladyslaw Szpilman grew up in a family of musicians.
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He studied piano at Warsaw’s Chopin Higher School of Music from 1926-30 and Berlin’s Akademie der Künste from 1930-33. He made his first stage debut in 1932.
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POLISH STATE RADIO
In 1935, Szpilman became the house pianist for Polish State Radio in Warsaw. |
"I was about halfway when the howl of sirens sounded from the loudspeakers installed on lamp-posts, in windows and over shop doorways. Then I heard the radio announcer’s voice. ‘This is an alarm warning for the city of Warsaw … Be on the alert! Now on their way are…’ " |
"Wladyslaw Szpilman plays F. Chopin: Nocturne C sharp-minor Op. posth." 1997 Source: Andrzej Szpilman
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The last live broadcast heard on Polish radio before German occupation was Szpilman’s performance of Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor on September 23, 1939.
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"Shells were exploding close to the broadcasting centre all the time I played, and buildings were burning very close to us. I could scarcely hear the sound of my own piano through the noise. After the recital I had to wait two hours before the shelling died down enough for me to get home. My parents, brother and sisters had thought I must be dead, and welcomed me like a man risen from the grave."
-Wladyslaw Szpilman, The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945