Biernacki, Michał Marian (EN)

Biernacki Michał Marian, *24 September 1855 Lublin, †18 May 1936 Warsaw, Polish music theorist, composer, and cellist. He studied at the Warsaw’s Institute of Music under W. Żeleński (composition), G. Roguski (theory) and J. Goebelt (cello). He graduated in 1877. In 1878–79, he was a cellist at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw, and from 1880 to 1896 he held the position of director of the S. Moniuszko Music Society in Stanisławów. After returning to Warsaw, he worked from 1897 to 1900 as a regular music reporter for “Echo Muzyczne, Teatralne i Artystyczne.” At the same time, he began teaching: from 1897 to 1924, he lectured on theory at the Institute of Music (later known as the Warsaw Conservatory); from 1898 to 1912, he taught choral singing, and from 1903 to 1933, he taught music theory, harmony, and secondary piano at the Music School of the Warsaw Music Society (renamed the Frederic Chopin Higher School of Music in 1919); from 1898, he taught music theory and conducted a choir at the Alexandrian-Marian Institute for the Education of Girls; from 1897 to 1906, he conducted a mixed choir at the Warsaw Music Society, and from 1910 to 1914 at the Society of Choral Singing Enthusiasts [Towarzystwo Miłośników Śpiewu Chóralnego] at the Evangelical-Augsburg Church of the Holy Trinity in Warsaw. From 1898 to 1907 and from 1919 to 1933, he was a member of the board of the Warsaw Music Society, and from 1902 to 1905, he was the music director of the Warsaw Music Society. He also pursued his compositional activities, winning awards at music competitions in Brussels, Pesaro, Warsaw, Krakow, and Lviv.

Literature: F. Starczewski Śp. Michał Marian Biernacki, „Muzyka Polska” Warsaw 1936 no. 4.