Markowski, Andrzej (EN)

Markowski Andrzej, pseudonym Marek Andrzejewski, *22 August 1924 in Lublin, †30 October 1986 in Warsaw; Polish conductor and composer. Son of Tadeusz Markowski (1881–1969), singer and actor active in Warsaw (1906–10) and Lublin (1910–52). In 1939–41, he studied in Lublin with A. Malawski (composition), and in 1943–44 in Warsaw with M. Kimontt-Jacynowa (piano). During the war, he played at the “U Aktorek” café in Warsaw and composed songs, including underground resistance ones (Święty Jerzy, Szumi las, Są na łąkach kwiaty, Kriegsgefangenenpost). As a soldier of the Home Army, he took part in the Warsaw Uprising, then was a prisoner of war in Murnau officer camp and an officer cadet in the Second Corps of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. In 1946–47, he studied at Trinity College of Music in London (composition with A. Rowley), and in 1947–55 at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw under P. Rytel and T. Szeligowski (composition) and T. Wilczak and W. Rowicki (conducting). During this time, he collaborated with drama theaters: he was a répétiteur (1947–49), then music director of the Dramatic Theaters in Szczecin (1949/50) and the Teatr Nowy in Warsaw (1950–53). In 1954, he became the second conductor of the Poznań Philharmonic, in 1955–59 he was the conductor of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice, and in 1959–64 he was the artistic director and principal conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1959, he established a chamber orchestra in Krakow with the intention of performing new music and then he organized a series of concerts entitled Musica Antiqua et Nova and the Krakow Spring Festival of Young Musicians, where he premiered works by J. Łuciuk, T. Machl, and G. Bacewicz, among others. He performed with Krakow ensembles in Italy, Belgium, and the United States. It was at this time, at his initiative, that W. Lutosławski composed Jeux vénitiens [Venetian Games] – a work in which he employed, for the first time, the technique of collective ad libitum, later recognized as a hallmark of Lutosławski’s individual style (controlled aleatoricism). The premiere of the Games (without the third part) was performed by the Krakow Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Markowski, on 24 April 1961, as part of the Venice Biennale. In 1965–69, he was the director of the Philharmonic in Wrocław and led the opening of its own new headquarters; on this occasion, he also announced a composition competition. He established the Wratislavia Cantans oratorio and cantata festival and served as its artistic director (1966–76); at the same time, he directed the Polish Contemporary Music Festival in Wrocław and the Organ and Harpsichord Music Festival. In 1970, together with W. Rowicki, he conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour of countries in the Far and Near East, and in 1972 in Italy. In 1971–77, he was the second conductor and deputy artistic director of the National Philharmonic (until 1973). In 1974, he conducted concerts at La Scala in Milan. He toured England with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and performed twice in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1980, he was a regular guest conductor in Groningen, the Netherlands. In 1982, he became artistic director of the Łódź Philharmonic. On 14 September 1984, opening the season, he conducted Lutosławski’s Symphony No. 3, marking the work’s Polish premiere.

Markowski’s interests as a conductor focused on two areas – Baroque cantata and oratorio music and 20th-century music, for which he created the now world-famous Wratislavia Cantans festival in Wrocław. He gave numerous world premieres and first performances in Poland of works by Polish composers (T. Baird, A. Bloch, Z. Bujarski, A. Dobrowolski, H.M. Górecki, W. Kilar, R. Palester, K. Penderecki, K. Serocki, K. Sikorski, T. Sikorski, B. Schaeffer, B. Szabelski, W. Szalonek, P. Szymański) and foreign composers (P. Boulez, C. Cardew, E. Denisov, H.W. Henze, Ch. Ives, G. Ligeti, B. Maderna, O. Messiaen, A. Schönberg, K. Stockhausen, I. Stravinsky, J. Tavener, E. Varèse, A. Webern, I. Xenakis). He promoted contemporary music on Polish and foreign stages, presenting it during the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1959–75, 1977–79, 1981), while also being a member of its repertoire committee (1971–81), and abroad during numerous tours. His concert programs at that time included Lutosławski’s Livre pour orchestre, performed in Austria (Adelaide, 10 March 1970, and Sydney, 23 March 1970) and Yugoslavia (Dubrovnik, 8 August 1972, Split, 11 August 1972, and Ljubljana, 14 August 1972). Markowski also conducted Lutosławski’s works during concerts with the National Philharmonic Orchestra in the USSR in 1974: Livre pour orchestre in Kaunas (3 April) and Riga (6 April), and Paroles tissées in Moscow (11 April). 

As a composer, Markowski gained renown in the field of film music, especially electronic music for short and experimental films by A. Munk, W. Borowczyk, J. Lenica, and K. Urbański (he gave lectures on this subject at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt); he was also the first composer in Poland to use musique concrète in theater (musical illustration for C. Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters, Warsaw, 1957). He was awarded the Second-Class Prize by the Ministry of Culture and Art in 1965, and the First-Class State Prize in 1974. For his exceptional artistic contributions to the Warsaw Autumn festival, he received the Critics’ Prize twice, earning the Orpheus statuette in 1968 and 1971. In 1969, he won the annual award of the Polish Composers’ Union. The recording of Penderecki’s Jutrznia (Utrenja sometimes also translated as Matins) conducted by Markowski, won the French Grand Prix du Disque award in 1974.

Literature: Z. Kułakowska Problemy instrumentacji w muzyce filmowej A. Markowskiego, “Kwartalnik Filmowy” 1961 iss. 11; Z. Kułakowska Elementy formy w muzyce filmowej A. Markowskiego, “Życie i Myśl” 1963 iss. 13; E. Kofin Markowski we Wrocławiu, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1968 no. 4; T. Kaczyński Rozmowa z A. Markowskim, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1969 no. 6; S. Litwiński Saga rodu Markowskich, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1988 no. 22; M. Gołębiowski Warszawska Filharmonia Narodowa na pięciu kontynentach, Warsaw 2010; A. Chłopecki PostSłowie. Przewodnik po muzyce Witolda Lutosławskiego, Warsaw 2012.