Portrait of Stefan Kisielewski by Marcin Władyka based on a photograph by Andrzej Zborski from the collection of the Polish Composers' Union / POLMIC.PL - Polish Music Information Center.

Stefan Kisielewski

(7 March 1911 ? 27 September 1991) composer, academic teacher, music critic, writer and journalist, born in Warsaw, died in Warsaw. He studied at Warsaw Conservatory, from which he graduated in music theory (1934) and composition (1937) after studies with Kazimierz Sikorski, as well as in the piano (1937) after studies with Jerzy Lefeld. He also completed a two-year study in Polish philology and a one-year study in philosophy at Warsaw University (1929-31). In 1938-39, he continued his composition studies in Paris. Under the Nazi occupation he took part in underground music life. In 1945, he founded the periodical "Ruch Muzyczny", of which he was editor-in-chief till 1948. In 1945-49, he taught theorerical subjects at the State Higher School of Music in Cracow (now the Music Academy).

He was also active as a commentator (writing, among others, feuilletons for the "Tygodnik Powszechny" from 1945, as well as critical articles and essays on music). He also wrote numerous books on musical subjects as well as literary works published in Poland and abroad (some - under the pen names of Teodor Klon and Tomasz Staliński). In 1957-65, he was an MP in the Parliament of the People's Republic of Poland. In 1973-78 he toured, among others, the United States, Canada, France, England, Italy and Scandinavia, delivering papers on subjects pertinent to Polish culture.

Stefan Kisielewski received 2nd prize at the Festival of Polish Music in 1955 for his Concerto for chamber orchestra (1949), 1st prize in the competition for songs to Mickiewicz's poems in 1955 for Bakczysaraj w nocy [Bachčisaraj by Night] for voice and piano (1955), the Music Award of the City of Cracow in 1956, the Prize of the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation in New York in 1973, the Andrzej Strug Award in Warsaw (1979), the Prize of the Polish Composers' Union in 1982, the Prize of the Schmidheinystiftung Foundation in St. Gallen in 1983 for his entire musical oeuvre, as well as the Adolf Bocheński private journalistic award in 1988.

 

Source: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­www.polmic.pl, Małgorzata Kosińska.

Chamber works

  • Capriccio energico for violin and piano, 1956 Borrow

  • Intermezzo for clarinet and piano, 1953 Buy

  • Little rhapsody for clarinet and piano, 1984 Borrow

  • Scherzo for bassoon and piano, 1988 Buy

  • Sonata for clarinet and piano, 1951 Buy

  • Sonata for violin and piano, 1932, work lost

    Details:

    work lost

  • String quartet, 1943 Buy

  • Suite for flute and clarinet, 1961 Borrow

  • Suite for oboe and piano, 1954 Borrow

  • Suite for violin and piano, 1942, work lost

    Details:

    work lost

Piano works

  • Berceuse, 1968 Borrow

  • Capriccio rustico, 1952 Borrow

  • Dance suite, 1951

  • Danse vive, 1939 Buy

  • Fantasia, 1949 Buy

  • Moto perpetuo, 1954 Borrow

  • Prelude and fugue, beetwen 1942 and 1943 Buy

    Details:

    out of 6 only one prelude and one fugue survived

  • Serenade, 1945 Borrow

    Details:

    second version 1974

  • Sonata No.1, 1936, work lost

    Details:

    work lost

  • Sonata No.2 Borrow

    Details:

    econd version: 1955

  • Suite, 1955 Buy

  • Three Tempestuous Scenes, 1983 Buy

  • Toccata, 1944 Borrow

  • Variations, 1933, work lost

    Details:

    work lost