Max Kowalski (

Kowal Kowal may refer to: *Kowal (surname) Kowal is a Polish surname meaning "wikt:smith, smith". It may refer to: * Andrzej Kowal (born 1971), Polish volleyball coach * Aneta Kowal (born 1991), American model * Austin Kowal (born 1985), American artis ...

10 August 1882 –

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

4 June 1956) was a composer, singer and singing teacher. Kowalski was born in

, Poland. He moved with his family to Germany in 1883, a year after he was born. He studied law in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

, obtaining a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

and worked as a lawyer in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. There he studied singing as well as composition with

Bernhard Sekles Bernhard Sekles (20 March 1872 – 8 December 1934) was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue. Life and career Bernhard Sekles was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of Maximilian Seckeles and Anna (née Bischheim). The fami ...

and published his first work, a musical version of

Albert Giraud Albert Giraud (; 23 June 1860 – 26 December 1929) was a Belgian poet who wrote in French. Biography Giraud was born Emile Albert Kayenbergh in Leuven, Belgium. He studied law at the University of Leuven. He left university without a deg ...

's ''

Pierrot Lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a me ...

'' (independently from

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

's work of the same year), in 1912-13. He continued to compose and published until 1934, writing a large number of Lieder which were widely performed in Germany. In 1938, he was forced to give up his law practice. His wife, Anna, had been imprisoned three times from 1937 first in

Preungesheim Preungesheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the ''Ortsbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. I ...

prison then in KZs

Moringen Moringen is a town in the district Northeim, in the southern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. The town consists of the center Moringen and eight surrounding villages, Fredelsloh being one of them. History The town and its villages were founded over ...

, Lichtenburg und Ravensbrück. Anna committed suicide on 25 October 1938 although she had exit papers and immigration papers for Britain. From 11 to 27 November 1938 Max Kowalski was imprisoned in the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

as part of an effort to force Jews to emigrate so their property could be confiscated. Kowalski emigrated with his daughter to London, where he first worked as a piano tuner and synagogal cantor. Later he established himself as a singing teacher. He continued to compose, but none of his later songs was published. He died in 1956 in

Recordings

*''Lieder by Max Kowalski'', Wolfgang Holzmair, Thérèse Lindquist.

Bridge Records Bridge Records is an independent record label that specializes in classical music located in New Rochelle, New York. History A classical guitarist, David Starobin recorded the Boccherini Guitar Quintet in E minor in the 1970s. This was his first ...

, New Rochelle, New York 2015containing essay: Kowal, 'Max Kowalski by Michael Kowal' *''Songs of Max Kowalski'',

Simon Wallfisch Simon Wallfisch (born 22 May 1982) is a British-German classical singer and cellist. Life and career Simon Joseph Lasker Wallfisch was born in London in 1982 to a family of professional musicians: his father is British cellist Raphael Wallfisch ...

, Camille Butcher, Edward Rushton 2023

Nimbus Records Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs. Description Nimbus was founded in 1972 by t ...

Literature

* Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, (Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor) New York: G. Schirmer, 1958

External links

Guide to the Papers of Max Kowalski (1882-1956)
at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

. 1882 births 1956 deaths Polish composers Emigrants from Congress Poland to Germany {{Poland-composer-stub