Leopold Stokowski Pics

Leopold

Stokowski

Male

Slim

Grey

London, England, UK

Aries

13 September 1977

Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England, UK

Heart Attack

White

Long white hair

English

Stokowski was the son of the English-born Polish cabinetmaker Kopernik Józef Bolesławowicz Stokowski and his Irish wife Annie Marion Stokowska, née Moore. There is some mystery surrounding his early life. For example, he spoke with a slightly Eastern European accent, though born and raised in London.[1] In addition, on occasion, he gave his birth year as 1887 instead of 1882, as in a letter to the Hugo Riemann Musiklexicon in 1950, which also gave his birthplace as Krakow, Poland. Nicolas Slonimsky, editor of Baker`s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians received a letter from a Finnish encyclopedia editor that said, "The Maestro himself told me that he was born in Pomerania, Germany, in 1889." However, his birth certificate (signed by J. Claxton, registrar at the General Office, Somerset House, London, in the parish of All Souls, County of Middlesex) gives his birth on April 18, 1882, at 13 Upper Marylebone Street (now New Cavendish Street), in the Marylebone District of London. He was named after his Polish grandfather Leopold, who died in the county of Surrey on January 13, 1879, at the age of 49.[2] The "mystery" surrounding his origins and accent is clarified in Oliver Daniel`s 1000-page biography "Stokowski - A Counterpoint of View" (1982) wherein (Chapter 12) he reveals that Stokowski came under the influence of his first wife, the pianist Olga Samaroff, who, for professional and career reasons, "urged him to emphasize only the Polish part of his background" once he became domiciled in the USA. Stokowski trained at the Royal College of Music, which he entered in 1896 at age thirteen, making him one of the youngest students to do so. In his later life in America he would perform six of the nine symphonies composed by fellow organ student Ralph Vaughan Williams. He sang in the choir of St. Marylebone Church and later became Assistant Organist to Sir Henry Walford Davies at The Temple Church. At the age of 16, he was elected to membership in the Royal College of Organists. In 1900 he formed the choir of St. Mary`s Church, Charing Cross Road, where he trained the choirboys and played the organ. In 1902 he was appointed organist and choir director of St. James`s Church, Piccadilly. He also attended The Queen`s College, Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1903. In 1905, Stokowski began work in New York City as the organist and choir director of St. Bartholomew`s Church. He was very popular amongst the parishioners who included members of the Vanderbilt family, but eventually resigned the position in pursuit of a career of orchestra conductor. He moved to Paris for additional study before hearing that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra would be needing a new conductor when it returned from a hiatus. So, in 1908, he began his campaign to obtain the position, writing multiple letters to the orchestra`s president, Mrs. C. R. Holmes, and traveling to Cincinnati for a personal interview. Eventually he was granted the post and officially took up his duties in the fall of 1909. That was the year of his official conducting debut in Paris with the Colonne Orchestra on May 12, 1909 when he accompanied his wife-to-be, the pianist Olga Samaroff, in Tchaikovsky`s 1st Piano Concerto. His London debut took place the following week on May 18 with the New Symphony Orchestra at Queen`s Hall. Stokowski was a great success in Cincinnati, introducing the idea of "pop concerts" and conducting the United States premieres of new works by such composers as Edward Elgar whose 2nd Symphony was given there on November 24, 1911. However, in early 1912, he became sufficiently frustrated with the politics of the orchestra`s board that he tendered his resignation. There was a dispute over the resignation, but on April 12 it was finally accepted. Two months later, Stokowski was appointed director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and made his Philadelphia debut on October 11, 1912. This position would bring him some of his greatest accomplishments and recognition. It has been suggested that Stokowski quit at Cincinnati knowing full well that the job in Philadelphia was already his, or as Oscar Levant suggested in his book A Smattering of Ignorance, "he had the contract in his back pocket." Before he took up his Philadelphia appointment, however, Stokowski returned to England to conduct two concerts at the Queen`s Hall, London. On 22 May 1912 he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a programme which he was to repeat in its entirety 60 years later at the age of 90, and on 14 June 1912 he conducted an all-Wagner concert that featured the famous soprano, Lilian Nordica. In 1914, he was elected to honorary membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music. Stokowski rapidly garnered a reputation as a showman. His flair for the theatrical included grand gestures such as throwing the sheet music on the floor to show he did not need to

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Stokowski

Royal College of Music, Oxford, Bachelor of Music degree, 1903

www.stokowskisociety.net/

Antoni Stanislaw Boleslawawicz

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Stokowski: A Counterpoint of View (Oliver Daniel)

Speaking of the Weather [1937], Hollywood Steps Out [1941], Goofy Groceries [1941], Hollywood Canine Canteen [1946], Slick Hare [1947]

1882-04-18

Leopold Anthony Stokowski (April 18, 1882 – September 13, 1977) was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.

Soundtrack, Music Department

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