Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski (UK: /stəˈkɒfski/ stə-KOF-skee, US: /stəˈkɔːfski, stəˈkaʊski/ stə-KAWF-skee, stə-KOW-skee; 18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was especially noted for his free-hand conducting style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristic sound from the orchestras he directed.
Stokowski was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the Air and many others. He was also the founder of the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra.
Stokowski conducted the music for and appeared in several Hollywood films, most notably Disney's Fantasia, and was a lifelong champion of contemporary composers, giving many premieres of new music during his 60-year conducting career. Stokowski, who made his official conducting debut in 1909, appeared in public for the last time in 1975 but continued making recordings until June 1977, a few months before his death at the age of 95.
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was the son of an English-born cabinet-maker of Polish heritage, Kopernik Joseph Boleslaw Stokowski, and his Irish-born wife Annie-Marion (née Moore). Stokowski's birth certificate gives his birth on 18 April 1882, at 13 Upper Marylebone Street (now New Cavendish Street), in the Marylebone district of London. Stokowski was named after his Polish-born grandfather Leopold, who died in the Bethlem Hospital, Southwark, London, on 13 January 1879, at the age of 49. Stokowski was the Polonised Lithuanian family name, originally Stokauskas, where stoka means "lack" or "shortage".
On occasion in later life he altered his middle name to Antoni, in the Polish spelling. Compounding this, there were various rumours and inaccurate entries in otherwise authoritative reference works concerning his name. In Germany there was a rumour that his original name was simply Stock (German for stick). After he had achieved international fame with the Philadelphia Orchestra, unsubstantiated rumours circulated that he was born Leonard or Lionel Stokes or that he had "anglicised" it to "Stokes". The 5th Edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954) rendered his given names as Leopold Antoni Stanisław Bołesławowicz. These claims are readily disproved by reference not only to his birth certificate and those of his father, his younger brother and his sister, but also by the student entry registers of the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Organists and The Queen's College, Oxford, along with surviving documents from his days at St Marylebone Church, St James's Church and St. Bartholomew's in New York City.
There is some mystery surrounding his early life. For example, he spoke with an unusual, non-British accent, though he was born and raised in London. On occasion, he gave his year of birth as 1887 instead of 1882, as in a letter to the Hugo Riemann Musiklexicon in 1950, which also incorrectly gave his birthplace as Kraków. Nicolas Slonimsky, editor of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, received a letter from a Finnish encyclopaedia editor that said: "The Maestro himself told me that he was born in Pomerania, Germany, in 1889."
The mystery surrounding his origins and accent is clarified in Oliver Daniel's 1,000-page biography Stokowski – A Counterpoint of View (1982), in which (in Chapter 12) Daniel reveals that Stokowski came under the influence of his first wife Olga Samaroff, an American pianist born Lucy Mary Agnes Hickenlooper. She was from Galveston, Texas, and adopted a more exotic-sounding name to further her career. She "urged him to emphasize only the Polish part of his background" for professional and career reasons once he became a resident of the United States.
He studied at the Royal College of Music, where he first enrolled in 1896 at the age of thirteen, making him one of the youngest students to do so. In his later life in the United States Stokowski conducted six of the nine symphonies composed by his fellow organ student Ralph Vaughan Williams. Stokowski sang in the choir of the St Marylebone Parish Church, and later became assistant organist to Sir Walford Davies at the Temple Church. By the age of 16 Stokowski had been elected to membership of 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 received the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1903.
Hub AI
Leopold Stokowski AI simulator
(@Leopold Stokowski_simulator)
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski (UK: /stəˈkɒfski/ stə-KOF-skee, US: /stəˈkɔːfski, stəˈkaʊski/ stə-KAWF-skee, stə-KOW-skee; 18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was especially noted for his free-hand conducting style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristic sound from the orchestras he directed.
Stokowski was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the Air and many others. He was also the founder of the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra.
Stokowski conducted the music for and appeared in several Hollywood films, most notably Disney's Fantasia, and was a lifelong champion of contemporary composers, giving many premieres of new music during his 60-year conducting career. Stokowski, who made his official conducting debut in 1909, appeared in public for the last time in 1975 but continued making recordings until June 1977, a few months before his death at the age of 95.
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was the son of an English-born cabinet-maker of Polish heritage, Kopernik Joseph Boleslaw Stokowski, and his Irish-born wife Annie-Marion (née Moore). Stokowski's birth certificate gives his birth on 18 April 1882, at 13 Upper Marylebone Street (now New Cavendish Street), in the Marylebone district of London. Stokowski was named after his Polish-born grandfather Leopold, who died in the Bethlem Hospital, Southwark, London, on 13 January 1879, at the age of 49. Stokowski was the Polonised Lithuanian family name, originally Stokauskas, where stoka means "lack" or "shortage".
On occasion in later life he altered his middle name to Antoni, in the Polish spelling. Compounding this, there were various rumours and inaccurate entries in otherwise authoritative reference works concerning his name. In Germany there was a rumour that his original name was simply Stock (German for stick). After he had achieved international fame with the Philadelphia Orchestra, unsubstantiated rumours circulated that he was born Leonard or Lionel Stokes or that he had "anglicised" it to "Stokes". The 5th Edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954) rendered his given names as Leopold Antoni Stanisław Bołesławowicz. These claims are readily disproved by reference not only to his birth certificate and those of his father, his younger brother and his sister, but also by the student entry registers of the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Organists and The Queen's College, Oxford, along with surviving documents from his days at St Marylebone Church, St James's Church and St. Bartholomew's in New York City.
There is some mystery surrounding his early life. For example, he spoke with an unusual, non-British accent, though he was born and raised in London. On occasion, he gave his year of birth as 1887 instead of 1882, as in a letter to the Hugo Riemann Musiklexicon in 1950, which also incorrectly gave his birthplace as Kraków. Nicolas Slonimsky, editor of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, received a letter from a Finnish encyclopaedia editor that said: "The Maestro himself told me that he was born in Pomerania, Germany, in 1889."
The mystery surrounding his origins and accent is clarified in Oliver Daniel's 1,000-page biography Stokowski – A Counterpoint of View (1982), in which (in Chapter 12) Daniel reveals that Stokowski came under the influence of his first wife Olga Samaroff, an American pianist born Lucy Mary Agnes Hickenlooper. She was from Galveston, Texas, and adopted a more exotic-sounding name to further her career. She "urged him to emphasize only the Polish part of his background" for professional and career reasons once he became a resident of the United States.
He studied at the Royal College of Music, where he first enrolled in 1896 at the age of thirteen, making him one of the youngest students to do so. In his later life in the United States Stokowski conducted six of the nine symphonies composed by his fellow organ student Ralph Vaughan Williams. Stokowski sang in the choir of the St Marylebone Parish Church, and later became assistant organist to Sir Walford Davies at the Temple Church. By the age of 16 Stokowski had been elected to membership of 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 received the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1903.