Zygmunt Noskowski Polish composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, conductor and teacher.

Biography

Zygmunt Noskowski was born in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 and was originally trained at the Warsaw Conservatory studying violin and composition. A scholarship enabled him to travel to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 where between 1864 and 1867, he studied with Friedrich Kiel

Friedrich Kiel

Friedrich Kiel was a German composer and music teacher.Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the famous scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his exceptional works from receiving the consideration they deserved...

, one of Europe’s leading teachers of composition. After holding several positions abroad, Noskowski returned to Warsaw in 1880 where he remained for the rest of his life.

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 Szymanowski

Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...

 and Grzegorz Fitelberg

Grzegorz Fitelberg

Grzegorz Fitelberg was a Polish conductor, violinist and composer. He was a member of the Młoda Polska group, together with artists such as Karol Szymanowski, Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz....

. 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 Nowkowski'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, Liszt

Liszt

Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...

, or Wagner, who were then dominating the scene.

List of Selected Works

• Symphony No. 1 in A Major, WoO (1874-1875)
• Morskie Oko, Concert Overture for Orchestra, Op. 19
• Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Elegiac" (1875/9)
• A Polish Elegy for Orchestra in E minor (1885)
• The Steppe, a symphonic poem, Op. 66
• March funebre for orchestra, Op. 53 (1897)
• Symphony No. 3 in F Major, "From Spring to Spring", WoO (1903)
• Symphonic Variations on Chopin's Op. 28 No. 7 Prelude
• Livia Quintilla, an opera (1898)
• Wyrok (The Judgment), an opera
• Zemsta za mur granicmy (Revenge of the Boundary Wall), an opera
• String Quartet (1875)
• Fantasy for String Quartet (1879)
• Piano Quartet in D minor, Op.8 (1880)

Recordings

• Valentina Seferinova: Piano Works vol. 1: CD ; Impressions Op. 29; 3 Pieces Op. 35; Moments Melodiques Op. 36: Contes Op. 37; Feuille de Trefle Op. 44; - Acte Préalable AP0188.
• Four Strings Quartet: Chamber works vol. 1: CD ; String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 Acte Préalable AP0234.
• Jolanta Sosnowska: Chamber Works vol. 3: CD ; Violin sonata in A minor, Violin miniatures Acte Préalable AP0248.

External links

• Zygmunt Noskowski Piano Quartet, Op.8 sound-bites and a short biograph