Czesław Marek (1891–1985) was a Polish composer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, and piano teacher who settled in Switzerland during World War I.

Life

Born in the town of Przemyśl in Eastern Galicia, near Lwów (now

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

in Ukraine), Marek studied in that city and then later in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he became a private pupil of

Theodor Leschetizky Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky, pl, Teodor Leszetycki; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915 was an Austrian- Polish pianist, professor, and composer born in Landshut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land of ...

. He studied composition with

Karl Weigl Karl Ignaz Weigl (6 February 1881 – 11 August 1949) was a Jewish Austrian composer and pianist, who later became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Weigl was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a bank official who was als ...

and later, in Strasbourg, with

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...

. He was appointed to a Piano professorship in Lwów in 1914 but three months later the German invasion of Galicia and their battles with the Russian armies forced Marek and his parents to flee to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, where he was assisted by

Alexander Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton S ...

. In January 1915 he travelled to Switzerland and settled in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, where he became friendly with

Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary f ...

and married the violinist Claire Hofer. Up to 1924 he made a sustained attempt to carve out a career as a concert pianist. Though he afterwards withdrew from the concert stage, Marek continued to teach and compose. He died in Zurich aged 94.

Music career

Among his most significant compositions are the fugal ''Triptychon'', op. 8 (1913, rev. 1923) for piano, the one-movement ''Sinfonia'', op. 28, for large orchestra, which won first prize in the Polish section of the

1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition The 1928 International Columbia Graphophone Competition was a competition part-sponsored by the Columbia record company in honour of the centenary of the death of Franz Schubert. Its original aim was to encourage composers to produce completions ...

celebrating the centenary of Schubert's death, and two Polish song-cycles for voice and chamber orchestra on folk texts. In the 1930s he produced a number of works for harp, including a transcription of

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's ''Ondine'' for two harps; he also wrote several works in a jazz style. He ceased to compose during the 1940s but in 1972 published ''Lehre des Klavierspiels'' on the art of piano-playing. The first part of this work originally appeared in 1961 under the title ''Was ist "musikalisch"?.'' Posthumous interest in Marek's music has grown; recordings of the majority of his works were issued on compact disc in the late 1990s (on the Guild label) and are now also available digitally.See, for example
''Czeslaw Marek: Orchestral Works;'' ''Czeslaw Marek: Piano Works;'' ''Czeslaw Marek: Songs and Choral Music;'' and ''Czeslaw Marek: Chamber Works and Piano Music'' (compilation albums).
Nussbaumen, Switzerland: Guild GmbH. Retrieved September 5, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marek, Czeslaw 1891 births 1985 deaths 20th-century composers 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century male musicians Male classical pianists People from Przemyśl Polish composers Polish classical pianists

Life

Music career

Further reading

References