Sokołowski, Marek Konrad (EN)

Sokołowski Marek Konrad, *7 May (25 April) 1818 Pohrebyshche (Zhitomirsky Uyezd), †6 January 1884 (25 December 1883) Vilnius, Polish guitarist, composer and teacher. He came from a landowning family. He played the guitar from the age of six; later, he learned to play the piano, violin and cello. He attended secondary school in Zhytomyr that he probably did not finish and worked as a civil servant for six years in Berdychiv, where his parents moved after they had lost their estate. He debuted as a guitarist in Zhytomyr on 26 May 1841, arousing enthusiasm among listeners. In the following years, he gave concerts in Podolia and Volhynia, among others; in 1846, he settled in Moscow, where he performed, gave lessons and travelled to concerts to, i.a., St. Petersburg and Kyiv. He gained enormous success and critics’ appreciation, but his efforts to open a guitar class at the Moscow Conservatory came to nothing. In 1856, while he was at the treatment in Badgastein, Austria, he bought a 10-string, double-neck instrument known as the harp guitar constructed by J.G. Scherzer; from then on, he gave concerts exclusively on it, although later he designed and commissioned 17-string guitar. Thanks to the support of G. Hellmesberger and J.Ch. Kessler, he performed at the Vienna Conservatory in 1858 and impressed listeners at the tsar’s court with playing the zither. From the end of 1858 to 1859/60, he gave many concerts in Warsaw, Lublin, Vilnius, Kaunas, Grodno, Minsk, Druskininkai, Novogrudok, Mogilev, and Vitebsk that were all received enthusiastically; sometimes he was accompanied by his sisters A. and W. Neruda, J. Janotha and reciter A. Chodecki. In 1863, he performed in Poznań; he went on a concert tour in Europe in 1864–68 with great successes in Paris (e.g. salons of Erard, Herz and Pleyel and Princess Mathilde Bonaparte) and in London; W. Sowiński helped him out in both cities. Later, he performed in Belgium, Holland, Berlin, Dresden (1866) and Wiesbaden, where he was on a treatment. In 1867, he gave concerts in Poznań, Stanisławowo (with G. Frieman), Lviv, Tarnów, and on 14 January for the first time in Krakow, where until then, the authorities had refused to allow him to perform due to the accompanying patriotic ecstasies of the audience. As a result of health problems, he stayed in Krakow for a few months, giving two more concerts. He performed in Warsaw twice in 1868 and later went on a triumphant tour of Russia (until 1873), after which he was forced to withdraw from concert life due to rheumatism, tuberculosis and eye disease. He spent the last ten years of his life living in poverty in Vilnius but surrounded by friends, including R. Uziębło and W. Syrokomla. He was buried at Rasos Cemetery.

Sokołowski perfected guitar playing thanks to his outstanding talent and hard work. His playing was described as noble, intelligent, and technically reliable, and the expressiveness, melodiousness and elasticity of the sound were emphasised. His repertoire included works by contemporary classics of guitar music (M. Giuliani, F. Sor, F. Carulli, L. Legnani, J.K. Mertz, and G. Regondi, with whom he was friends and who indicated Sokołowski as his successor in promoting the guitar in Europe), as well as virtuoso potpourris, variations, fantasies on popular opera themes, and national and folk themes – Polish and Russian, as well as transcriptions of works by Chopin, Schubert, Mendelssohn and his own compositions. Most of Sokołowski’s compositions remained in manuscripts and their fate is unknown.

Literature: K. U., J. Kl. [K. Ujejski, J. Kleczyński] Marek Konrad Sokołowski (Wspomnienie pośmiertne), “Echo Muzyczne Teatralne i Artystyczne” 1884 no. 25 and 26; J. Reiss Gitara i jej mistrz Marek Konrad Sokołowski, “Muzyka” 1955 no. 11/12; archives (not microform) at the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, ms. 185 (letters from family and friends to Sokołowski, biographical materials and concert programmes) and at the Jagiellonian Library, ms. 7115.