Grzegorz Fitelberg

Grzegorz Fitelberg (18 October 1879 – 10 June 1953) was a Polish conductor, violinist and composer. He was a member of the Young Poland group, together with artists such as Karol Szymanowski, Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz.

Life and career Fitelberg was born into a Jewish family (father Hozjasz Fitelberg, mother Matylda Pintzof, sister Leja Wacholder, 1881–1941, were all murdered in the Holocaust), in Dvinsk, Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia). Between 1906 and 1907, he performed several times at the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1908 he conducted in the Warsaw Opera, and between 1912 and 1913 in the Vienna State Opera. During the first war he collaborated with Ballets Russes; he conducted the first performance of Igor Stravinsky's Mavra at the Opéra Garnier in Paris. From 1921 to 1934 he was the chief conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, where he extensively promoted new music. In 1935 he organized the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 1940 Fitelberg and his fiance, Zofia Helene Reicher, received visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes, to cross into Portugal. This enabled the couple to escape to Brazil. Between 1940 and 1941, he conducted at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Throughout his career, he performed in various locations worldwide including Paris, Monte Carlo, Brussels, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Moscow, Bristol, London, The Hague, Buenos Aires, New York, Montreal and Toronto. He spent the rest of World War II in exile in the United States.

Personal life His son was the Polish-American composer Jerzy Fitelberg, who predeceased him. His second wife, Halina Schmolz, was a ballet dancer who died in 1939, from wounds suffered during the bombing of the Poniatowski Bridge. Their home, , has been restored.

Legacy One of Fitelberg's students, Karol Stryja, founded the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in 1979. The competition is one of the most important music competitions in Poland, and it takes place in the Silesian Philharmonic.

Music (selection) Orchestral works Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 13 (1902–1903) Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 16 (1904) Song of the Falcon (Pieśń o sokole), Symphonic Poem, Op. 18, after Maxim Gorky (1905) Overture No. 1, Op. 14 (1905) Overture No. 2, Op. 17 (1906) Symphony No. 2 in A major, Op. 20 (1907) Protesilaus and Laodamia, Symphonic Poem, Op. 24 (1908) Polish Rhapsody, Op. 25 (1913), Rhapsody No. 2 (1914) From the Depths of the Sea (W głębi morza), Symphonic Poem, Op. 26 (1914).

Chamber music Sonata for violin and piano in A minor, Op. 2 (1894, the work received the I.J.Paderewski Prize in 1898) Romances sans paroles, 2 pieces Op. 11 for violin and piano: in D major (1892) and A major (1900) Piano trio in F minor, Op. 10 (1901) Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano in F major, Op. 12 (1901)

Awards