Gorączkiewicz, Wincenty (EN)

Gorączkiewicz Wincenty, *1789 Krakow, †4 November 1858 Krakow (buried on 6 November 1858 at the Zwierzyniec Cemetery), Polish organist, conductor, teacher and composer. Son of Dominik Gorączkiewicz (1747–1803), organist of the Kraków cathedral from 1788, and brother of Dominik Gorączkiewicz (1780–1813), organist at the cathedral in 1803–08. He was educated by his father, and then in Dresden and Vienna. From 1808 until the end of his life, he was the organist and director of music at the cathedral in Kraków. He also played the double bass in the theatre orchestra of the Brzeg starost J. Kluszewski and was its conductor for some time. In 1818, he was appointed director of the Society of Friends of Music in Kraków. He was also the senior curator of the Music School, where he trained organists from 1820. From 1841, he headed the organ playing and choral singing classes at the school at the Technical Institute. From 1838, he collaborated with F. Mirecki’s school of dramatic singing. He also performed as a conductor of symphonic concerts and choirs. As an organist, he was compared with the greatest virtuosos of the time – S. Sechter in Vienna and A. F. Hess in Wrocław. He travelled to Dresden, Vienna and Olomouc, where he gave a concert on the newly built organ in the cathedral; F. Liszt listened to his playing in Krakow (March 1843). Gorączkiewicz’s Krakowiaki for piano has the character of an authentic folk song, only the melody line is enriched in them.

Gorączkiewicz was a propagator of the vocal music of J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and early church music. In 1866, a commemorative plaque was placed in his honour in the Wawel Cathedral.

Literature: K. Kurpiński Wiadomości o kompozytorach polskich, “Tygodnik Polski i Zagraniczny,” Warsaw 1819 no. 36; “Ruch Muzyczny” 1852 no. 52; A. Chybiński [article], “Kurier Literacko-Naukowy”, Krakow 1936 no. 46; A. Nowak-Romanowicz Przyczynek do dziejów “Boże, coś Polskę,” “Ruch Muzyczny” 1983 no. 7.