1980
Palester writes down his wartime recollections. Their ending is significant:
The war ended, we all felt the bitter taste of harm and counted the tragic losses, coming back to the ruins with our rucksacks full of manuscripts of new scores. Everything was beginning anew and I didn’t even think that what would come would not be better than what had passed…
Palester composes Sonata for piano no. 2.
1981
31 January – the Congress of the Polish Composers' Union restors Palester’s membership in the organisation.
Palester is invited to take part in the Polish Culture Congress, but declines the invitation due to ill health. In a telegram sent to the organisers, he writes:As far as I am concerned, for 30 years I’ve been trying, in my modest way, to fight, by means of words, for the principles which are dear to your hearts too.
Metamorposes for symphony orchestra is performed at the Warsaw Autumn. It is the premiere of the work written in 1966-68. Increasingly, the composer has to wait long for his works to be premiered; some of his compositions have not been premiered to this day.
Palester completes Etudes for piano and Symphony no. 5.
1982
Roman Palester’s and his wife Barbara’s deteriorating health is not conducive to composing. Palester now concentrates on rewriting and reviewing his old scores.
1983
Palester receives the honorary membership of the Polish Composers’ Union.
6 September – death of Barbara Palester, the composer’s wife.
26 September – Palester comes to Cracow to attented a concert of his works, the programme of which features the premiere of Te Deum. Cracow receives Palester very warmly; the composer is greeted with a standing ovation during the concert, which is followed by a meeting with members of the audience. In one of the interviews Palester says: I am returning convinced that we all, regardless of the place to which fate has led us – I’m thinking here of Polish artists – are doing the same job. The job for Polish culture Polish culture.
1984
Palester introduces the last changes to Symphony no. 5. He also continues to review his old compositions.
1985
Palester writes the last (third) version of his Violin Concerto. Despite a lack of an official ban, his works are still very rarely performed in Poland.
1986
5 May – Palester becomes a honorary member of the Polish Society for Contemporary Music.
1987
Palester begins writing his memoirs entitled Słuch absolutny (Perfect Pitch). They are to be an autobiography full of subjective digressions on history, art and music. Here is a fragment of chapter one entitled A memory from a different world:
Old age tears us away from the passing time, the viewing angle becomes wider, the thought more apt, we see numerous things we didn’t see in the past. Usually, this is by no means pleasant, because it is sad to see that life has changed neither for the better, nor for the worse; petty determinism – as Saint-Beuve says – some of our layers have turned to dead stone, some to fine powder… All this can be most brightly seen in absolute silence, before dawn…
Special concerts are organised to celebrate the composer’s eightieth birthday:
20 October – at the Royal Castle in Warsaw a concert devoted to Palester is held as part of the Portrait of a Composer cycle. The programme includesSuite for group of four, Monograms and String Trio no. 2.
21 October – anniversary concert at the Cracow Philharmonic Hall.
23 October – Polish Society for Contemporary Music organises a Meeting with Roman Palester. Unfortunately, the composer is unable to come and only sends his Letter to the listeners that will be read during the meeting, the programme of which features live performances of Duets for 2 violins andVarianti for 2 pianos, and playing of a recording of Symphony no. 5.
Palester completes the work on the cantata Letters to Mother.
1988
23 September – Palester’s Symphony no. 5 is performed at the Warsaw Autumn Festival.
Palester wrties his last compositions: arrangement of Christmas Carols and second version of Psalm V to words by Wespazjan Kochowski.
1989
5 August – Roman Palester dies in his apartment in Chardon-Lagache Street.
30 August – a funeral mass for the composer is celebrated at the Polish Church in Paris.
4 September – the composer’s body is cremated and the urn is buried at the Polish Cemetery in Montmorency where the tombs of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Cyprian Kamil Norwid are also to be found.