Zygmunt Noskowski (2 May 1846 – 23 July 1909) was a Polish composer, conductor, and teacher.

Biography

Noskowski was born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and was originally trained at the Warsaw Conservatory studying violin and composition with

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...

, graduated with distinction in 1867. A scholarship enabled him to travel to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

where between 1872 and 1875, he studied with

Friedrich Kiel Friedrich Kiel (8 October 182113 September 1885) was a German composer and music teacher. Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his e ...

, one of Europe’s leading teachers of composition. After holding several positions -

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

and conductor of the Bodan Choral Society in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

, Noskowski returned to Warsaw in 1880 where he remained for the rest of his life, professor of composition at the Warsaw Conservatory and conductor of Warsaw Society of Friends and the Warsaw Philharmonic (1905-1908). He worked not only as a composer, but also became a famous teacher, a prominent conductor and a journalist. He was one of the leading figures in Polish music during the late 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. He taught virtually all of the important Polish composers of the next generation, including

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the inf ...

and

Grzegorz Fitelberg Grzegorz Fitelberg (18 October 1879 – 10 June 1953) was a Polish conductor, violinist and composer. He was a member of the Young Poland group, together with artists such as Karol Szymanowski, Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz. Life ...

. He served as head of the Warsaw Music Society from 1880 to 1902 and was considered Poland’s leading composer during the last decade of his life. He died in Warsaw. While Noskowski is best known for his orchestral compositions, he composed opera, chamber music, instrumental sonatas and vocal works of importance. Discussing Noskowski's chamber music, the famous critic and scholar Wilhelm Altmann wrote that it was "very effective and deserving of public attention and performance." Judging from the piano quartet written in 1879, one can hear that Noskowski had assimilated the recent musical developments taking place in Central Europe but the music, other than structurally, shows little or no influence of any of the major composers of the time, such as

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, or

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, who were then dominating the scene.

Selected works

*Symphony No. 1 in A major (1874–75) *String Quartet, Op. 9 (1875) *''Morskie Oko'', Concert Overture for Orchestra, Op. 19 (1879) *Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Elegiac" (1875–79) *Fantasy for String Quartet (1879) *Piano Quartet in D minor, Op. 8 (1880) *''Polonaise élegiaque'' in E minor, orchestra, Op. 22 No. 3 (1885) *''The Steppe'', symphonic poem, Op. 66 (1895) *''Marche funèbre'', Op. 53, orchestra (1897) *''Livia Quintilla'', opera (1898) *Symphonic Variations on Chopin's Prelude in A, Op. 28/7, subtitled "From the Life of a Nation" (1901) *Symphony No. 3 in F major, "From Spring to Spring" (1903) *''Wyrok'' (''The Judgment''), opera (1906) *''Zemsta za mur graniczny'' (''Revenge for the Boundary Wall''), opera based on a play by

Aleksander Fredro Aleksander Fredro (20 June 1793 – 15 July 1876) was a Polish poet, playwright and author active during Polish Romanticism in the period of partitions by neighboring empires. His works including plays written in the octosyllabic verse ('' Zemst ...

(1902–08)

Recordings

* 2008 : Piano Works vol. 1 - Acte Préalable AP018

- Valentina Seferinova: Impressions Op. 29; 3 Pieces Op. 35; Moments Melodiques Op. 36: Contes Op. 37; Feuille de Trefle Op. 44 * 2015 : Piano Works vol. 2 - Acte Préalable AP035

- Anna Mikolon : Craoviennes op. 2, Polnisches Wiegenlied op. 11, Les sentiments op. 14, Aquarelles op. 20, En pastel op. 30 * 2017 : Piano Works vol. 3 - Acte Préalable AP038

- Anna Mikolon: Images op. 27, Danses polonaises op. 23 a & 23 b, 3 Cracoviennes op. 5, 3 Morceaux op. 22, 3 Morceaux op. 26, 2 Morceaux op. 15 * 2018 : Piano Works vol. 4 - Acte Préalable AP041

- Anna Mikolon, Anna Liszewska: Cracoviennes op. 7, Danses masoviennes op. 38, Six Polonaises op. 42 * 2009 : Chamber Works vol. 1 - Acte Préalable AP023

- Four Strings Quartet: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 * 2013 : Chamber Works vol. 2 - Acte Préalable AP023

- Four Strings Quartet: String Quartet No. 3, Variations on a theme by Viotti, Humorous Quartet, Vis à vis for violin and cello * 2011 : Chamber Works vol. 3 - Acte Préalable AP024

- *Jolanta Sosnowska: Violin sonata in A minor, Violin miniatures * 2018 : Complete Songs vol. 1 – Acte Préalable AP042

- Bogumiła Tarasiewicz, mezzo-soprano; Karol Schmidt piano * 2018 : Complete Songs vol. 2 – Acte Préalable AP042

- Bogumiła Tarasiewicz, mezzo-soprano; Karol Schmidt piano * 2018 : Complete Songs vol. 3 – Acte Préalable AP042

- Bogumiła Tarasiewicz, mezzo-soprano; Karol Schmidt piano *Symphonic poem "Step" Orchestre des Champs Élysées - Philippe Herreweghe (2012 Narodowy Instytut Frederika Chopina / The Frederyk Chopin Institute

*Symphonic Works, Vol. 1: Symphony No. 1, Morskie Oka, and Pan Zolzikiewicz (Sterling 1083) *Symphonic Works, Vol. 2: Symphony No. 2, Variations on an Original Theme, and Odglosy paniątkowe (Sterling 1093) *Symphonic Works, Vol. 3: Symphony No. 3, From the Life of the Nation, Prelude to Act 2 of Livia Quintilla, and Elegiac Polonaise (Sterling 1101)

References

*Wronski, Witold, ''Zygmunt Noskowski'', Warsaw 1960 *Sutkowski, A, ''Zygmunt Noskowski'', Kraków, 1957 *Altmann, Wilhelm, ''Handbuch fûr Streichquartettspieler'', Heinrichshofen, Amsterdam, 1972 Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

External links

Zygmunt Noskowski Piano Quartet, Op.8 sound-bites and a short biograph
* * Concert Pianis
Valentina Seferinova

Grand Piano presented by the Polish society to Noskowski at the 25th anniversary of his work (Krall&Seidler, Warsaw ca. 1890)

Scores and books by Zygmunt Noskowski
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noskowski, Zygmunt 1846 births 1909 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century male musicians Chopin University of Music alumni Male conductors (music) Male opera composers Musicians from Warsaw Polish conductors (music) Polish male classical composers Polish opera composers Polish Romantic composers Composers from the Russian Empire Conductors (music) from the Russian Empire