Composers

biography:

Feliks Nowowiejski was born in 1877 at Barczewo, died in1946 in Poznań. Polish composer, conductor, teacher and organist. He studied in Berlin at the Stern Conservatory, at the Konigliche Musikakademie and at the university. He has also attended the Regensburg Kirchenmusikschule and took lessons with Dvorak in Prague. He received the Meyerbeer Rome Award (1902, 1904), the Paderewski Prize of Bonn (1903), and between 1902 and 1905 he made study tours of Europe, Asia and Africa. After a further stay in Berlin as a choirmaster and teacher (1905-9) he returned to Krakow. He was director of the Kraków Music Society from 1909 to 1914, and from 1919 he taught at conservatories in Berlin and Poznań, where he was a professor of church music and organ. In 1935 he received the Polish State Music Prize and in 1936 – Polonia Restituta Medal.

Nowowiejski's earliest works, among them the first two symphonies, are in a Germanic late Romantic style considerably influenced by Bruch and Dvorak. He then began to draw on newer techniques, but with evident reserve. The greatest success was enjoyed by his more eclectic pieces, such as the large-scale oratorio Quo vadis, after Sienkiewicz's celebrated novel. First performed at Amsterdam in 1909, this work was soon repeated over 200 times in 150 cities throughout Europe and America. None of his later compositions achieved this measure of popularity, though their quality is no less. Most of his music derives from Polish folktunes. In Poland he is best known as the composer of the hymn 'Rota'. He has also written 9 organ symphonies.