This week on Intermezzo, Chris Wolf features the rarely-heard, sparkling compositions of Zygmunt Stojowski. 

There are many contradictory elements in the life of Polish-born composer Zygmunt Stojowski — beginning with the very date of his birth. Most scholars have agreed upon March 27, 1869, though one will find a range of dates (depending on Gregorian or Julian calendar) as well as years including 1863, 1869, 1870, 1871 and 1876. 

Born near Kielce in Poland, Stojowski began musical training with his mother Maria who played a dominant role in his life, gaining the patronage of Princess Marcelina Czartoryska — a former pupil of Chopin. With the help of the Princess, Stojowski and his mother moved to Krakow, where he took formal lessons and completed his studies. 

Like Chopin and Wieniawski before him, Stojowski moved to Paris (with his mother in tow) and was accepted into the Conservatoire where he excelled in piano performance, counterpoint and fugue winning most of the school’s top honours and awards. Mentored by Léo Delibes, Stojowski was profoundly influenced by fellow Polish composer/virtuosos Wladyslaw Górski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the latter whom he first met when he was 14-years-old.

While based in Paris, Stojowski became a renowned pianist and composer, enjoying an international career performing with most of the major European orchestras of the day, including the German philharmonic orchestras in Berlin, Hamburg, Leizpig; the orchestra in Manchester under the direction of Sir Charles Hallé, the Grand Orchestra of Chrystal Pallace and the London Symphony Orchestra in England; as well regular performances in his native Poland. 

At the invitation of Frank Damrosch, Stojowski (and his mother) made the move over to the United States where he accepted a position at the newly formed Institute of Musical Art, a predecessor of the Juilliard School. 

It was in New York City that Stojowski lived out the rest of his life, dying on November 5, 1946. 

Upon his death there, too, was confusion. In the obituary published by the largest circulating daily at the time, the headline read: “Zygmunt Stokowski, the world-famous composer and conductor died in the United States of America, where he had lived for 40 years.”

Stojowski had been mistaken for the famous conductor Leopold Stokowski who would live another 3 decades.