Bettina Skrzypczak was born in Poznan, Poland. She received her diploma in piano at Bydgoszcz in 1981 then began her studies at the Academy of Music in Poznan. In 1985 she received her MA in musicology and in 1988 her diploma in composition under Andrzej Koszewski. She took part in the composition courses organised in Kazimierz by the Polish section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, where teachers included Witold Lutoslawski, Luigi Nono, Henri Pousseur, and Iannis Xenakis. In 1988 she moved to Switzerland and continued her studies in Basel with electronic music under Thomas Kessler and composition under Rudolf Kelterborn, she also studied musicology in Fribourg. In 1990 she attended a course for computer music given by Klarenz Barlow in Cologne. From 1990 until 1992 she was a member of a free-improvisation group in Basel together with Walter Faehndrich. In 1992 she was a member of the programme committee and a lecturer at a Polish - Swiss Music Week in Wroclaw. She was appointed a position as lecturer in music history, theory and aesthetics of music at the Lucerne Conservatory in 1995 and in 1996 she was the artistic advisor for the Contemporary Music Festival in Cracow. In 1996 she was elected to the board of the Foundation 'Künstlerhauses' in Boswil. In 1999 she conceived and directed a composition seminar in Boswil under the title 'Chaos and Order in 20th Century Music' with Guest composer Dieter Schnebel, in the same year she received her doctorate from the Cracow Academy of Music.
Work list
Verba (1987)
Instrumentation: for orchestra (3.3.3.3(bcl).3/4.3.3.0/3perc.pf/12.12.10.8.6)
Instrumentation: for small orchestra (2.2.2.2/2.2.0.0/perc/6.6.4.4.2)
"In my compositions I attempt to trace the connections between various areas of life: the clandestine similarities between the inner and outer worlds, intellect and affect, art and science. There is also a tendency in the sciences at present to search within the diversity of phenomena for comprehensive principles, yet the experimentation of art follows different rules. Its methods are subjective, the result variation. One of the themes that I vary is the aspect of movement; music is without doubt the best art with which to do this, as it does not simply present movement it is itself movement. What does it mean to compose movement sequences? Several splinters of thought from the catalogue of possible answers: the gauging of physical (outer) and harmonic (inner) rooms; the transition between clarity and obscurity of form; the tension between the expansion of sound and the adventure of the microstructure; sound processes which become physical energy fluxes; the providing of impetuses to overcome the natural inertia of materials and thereby open new dimensions of thought and feeling…and the constant questions: where does sound come from? Where does movement come from? What is impulse, what is reverberation?"
Instrumentation: for soprano, baritone and 15 instruments (2.1.1(bcl).0/1.1.1.0/perc/pf/3.0.1.1.1)
Texts: Leonhard Euler, Boetius, Leonardo da Vinci, Jorge Luis Borges
For the 300th birthday of Leonhard Euler (1707-1783).
"I received a decisive impulse for my composition through a sentence from Leonhard Euler's lunar theory in which he states the impossibility of perfect knowledge – complex reality can only be measured in approximate values. From this perspective the boundary between scientific and artistic knowledge appears blurred in that Euler's statement can apply to both the research methods of science and the various artistic languages.
A further important thought for my composition is the variety of ways that can lead to knowledge; the life and work of Euler is a one good example. And thus the choice of authors from various epochs: Leonardo da Vinci, Leonhard Euler, Jorge Luis Borges and Boethius. Despite the varying perspectives, we find within their texts similar fundamental ideas. The room thereby created is ever expanding; new ways evolve.
A spatial component of my composition is outwardly apparent by the distribution of the ensemble into three groups, each of which forms a separate sounding body. The instrumental group either remains in constant dialogue with the voice or performs the role of commentator - it is so that the word becomes dissolved in sound.
The voice can be understood metaphorically as the voice of one searching."
Manuscript
Illuminationen (2008)
Instrumentation: for clarinet, violoncello and piano