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POLISH COMPOSERS

STANISŁAW SKROWACZEWSKI

(b. 1923, Lwów)

Biography List of Works Manuscripts


BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Stanisław Skrowaczewski, born on 3 October 1923 in Lwów (now: Lviv, Ukraine), studied piano, conducting and composition at the Lwów Music Academy and at the Cracow Conservatory. In 1946 he took over as conductor the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra. A year later he won the Szymanowski Composition Prize and went to Paris where he completed his studies under Nadia Boulanger, Arthur Honegger and Paul Kletzki. He returned to Poland in 1949 and was appointed conductor of the Katowice State Philharmonic Orchestra (until 1954). From 1955 to 1957 he was principal conductor of the Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1956 he won first prize in the International Conductors' Competition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. As a result of this success, he was appointed one of the leading conductors of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Skrowaczewski left Poland in 1960 and took over from Antal Dorati at the head of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (which later became the Minnesota Orchestra). He retained this position until 1979 when he resigned in order to concentrate on being a guest conductor and on composing. He took up a permanent position again from 1984 to 1991 as principal conductor of the Orchestra in Manchester. In 1987 and 1988 he was also musical director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (Minnesota). It is to him that we owe the first public performances of Jacob Druckman's Incenters (1973), and Krzysztof Penderecki's The Dream of Jacob (1974). His compositions include symphonies, instrumental works, chamber and film music, but he prefers not to conduct them himself, serving instead as a champion of new music. In 1998, his recording of Bruckner's Symphony no. 9 (conducting the Minnesota Orchestra) received the Golden Note Award for the best original recording in its category.


MANUSCRIPTS AT USC

  • Violin Concerto op. 18 (1940). Manuscript score in black inkwith annotations in red, 7 pages on unidentified music paper. The first seven pages of the work; the remainder was destroyed during the war.

  • Symfonia na smyczki [Symphonie pour cordes] op. 25 (1948-49). Manuscript score in pencil and blue ink on PWM music paper, 20 staves.

  • Uwertura [Overture] for orchestra (1954). Manuscript score in ink, with a title page and the list of instruments; 33 pages, on PWM music paper - bifolios bound with a string through the middle.

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    Copyright 1999-2001 by the Polish Music Center
    Send your comments and inquiries to:polmusic@usc.edu

    Edited and updated in July 2000 by Maja Trochimczyk. Updated on 28 June 2001.