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Antoni Stolpe (23 May 1851 – 7 September 1872) was aPolishcomposer andpianist.
He was born inPuławy,Congress Poland, as a descendant of a musical family. His first teacher of music was his father, Edward, a pianist under whom Antoni Stolpe developed piano skills also at the Warsaw Conservatory where he simultaneously studied harmony and counterpoint withAugust Freyer and later withStanisław Moniuszko. This time marks his first efforts in the field of composition, e.g. he wrote the vocal pieceO Salutaris Hostia in 1866.
In 1867 the sixteen-year-old Antoni Stolpe completed his education at the Conservatory with a “grand prize” in piano and a first prize in counterpoint and in 1868–69 he gave three concerts inWarsaw performing as a pianist and conductor. During these concerts, several of his orchestral works, chamber, piano and vocal compositions were presented. For those performances Antoni Stolpe received splendid reviews from critics as both a gifted composer and pianist.
An income from the mentioned concerts enabled him to travel in 1869 toBerlin where he studied composition and counterpoint withFriedrich Kiel and perfected his playing technique with the famous piano professorTheodor Kullak at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. Upon seeing his exceptional abilities, Kullak offered him the position of a piano professor at the Academy. His visit to Berlin was cut short by illness,pneumonia. The family took him back to Warsaw, but unfortunately thetuberculosis that attacked the frail body of the composer was incurable at the time. Despite the family’s efforts, visits to the spa resorts ofSzczawno-Zdrój andMerano, Antoni Stolpe was not cured. He died aged 21 in Merano.
Antoni Stolpe composed around 60 works, including among others:Symphony in A minor (1867), concert overtures,Grand March “Hommage a Mendelssohn” for orchestra (1868),Polonaise in A flat major for piano and string quintet (1866),Dramatic Scene for cello and string quintet (1867),Piano Sextet in E minor (1867),Piano Trio (1869),Variations for string quartet,Sonata for violin and piano (1872), piano sonatas:in A minor – unfinished (1867) andin D minor (1870),Allegro appassionato in C minor (1869) andVariations in D minor (1870) for piano, piano etudes,Credo for mixed choir, string quintet and organ (1867),Song to the words byVictor Hugo for tenor and orchestra (1868),Ave Maria for contralto and string quintet (1869) and many others.
In his compositions, Antoni Stolpe combined Polish musical tradition with the treasure trove of the EuropeanRomantic music. Antoni Stolpe’s works are an eloquent testimony to his great talent and capabilities. They let us presume that if not for his premature death he would have become an eminent figure contributing prolifically to the development of Polish and European music alike.
From among Stolpe’s compositions only thePiano Sonata in D minor and more recently also some of the chamber music (the Piano Sextet in E minor,Dramatic Scene for cello and string quintet andVariations in G major for string quartet) were brought out in print. The other works (from which many were lost) remain in manuscript and are currently held at the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków and the Biblioteka PWM in Warsaw.
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