Sokorski Jerzy, *3 May 1916 Yalta, †28 December 2005 Piastów (near Warsaw), Polish composer. As a child, he learned to play the piano. Between 1934 and 1939, he studied composition with A. Wieniawski and B. Woytowicz, and piano with J. Żurawlew at the F. Chopin Higher School of Music in Warsaw. During World War II, he gave private piano lessons. In 1948, he participated in the Second International Congress of Composers and Music Critics in Prague. In 1949, he received a UNESCO music scholarship and left to study in France, Italy and Belgium. During his stay in Paris, he studied composition under N. Boulanger and attended lectures by A. Honegger and O. Messiaen as an auditor. In 1956, he returned to Paris, where he once again attended consultations with N. Boulanger. Between 1957 and 1979, he was employed as an accompanist at the National Philharmonic, and in the 1980s at the Academy of Music in Wrocław.
Sokorski’s oeuvre is dominated by vocal works, especially songs for voice and piano. In these, the composer attaches great importance to melody and the expressiveness of the lyrics. They are often technically difficult, but written with a sensitivity to the capabilities of the singing voice. His early songs were generally tonal, although the composer also used cluster chords in them. In his later works, there is a marked departure from major-minor tonality in favour of atonal structures. The tendency to gradually move from major-minor tonality to atonality is also present in Sokorski’s instrumental works, but the former method of organising the musical material was not completely eliminated (music for the film Dornröschen).
Instrumental:
Fugue for string quartet and woodwind quartet, 1937
Concerto for piano and orchestra, 1941
Piano trio 1944
Small quintet for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello, 1963
String quartet 1987
Concertante quintet for 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass, 1992
Vocal:
Łąka, cantata for male choir, text by B. Leśmian, 1941
Vocal-instrumental:
around 200 songs for voice and piano, including:
Ananke for voice and piano, text by T. Miciński, 1937
Przyjście, text by L. Staff, 1937
Dialog, text by. J. Tuwim, 1938; 2nd version for voice and string orchestra, 1938
Na cmentarzu Père Lachaise, text by W. Broniewski, 1938
Wiązanka kwiatów, text by R. Tagore
Zimny wiatr, text by J. Iwaszkiewicz, 1939
Maj 1939, text by A. Słonimski, 1940
Hymn o zachodzie słońca, text by J. Słowacki, 1942
Tęsknota, text by L. Staff, 1942
Wśród georginii, text by B. Leśmian, 1942
Elegia o śmierci Ludwika Waryńskiego, text by W. Broniewski, 1943
3 pieśni, text by P. Verlaine, 1944
Żaglowiec, text by M. Lermontov, 1944
Kołysanka, text by A. Stern, 1945
O moja mamusiu, folk text, 1945
Poezja, text by W. Broniewski, 1945
Grenada, text by M. Swietłow, 1946
Oczy, text by W. Broniewski, 1946
Gdybym ci ja miała, text by T. Kubiak, 1948
W Hiszpanii, text by P. Eluard, 1949
Piosnka Zosi, text by J. Słowacki, 1950
Die Maulwürfe, text by E. Kästner, 1992; 2nd version for baritone and wind instruments, 1992
Tryptyk pionowy, text by M. Białoszewski, 2001
Deutsche Lieder, text by J.W. Goethe, H. Heine, R.M. Rilke, H. Hesse et al., 2001
cantatas:
Fortepian Chopina, cantata, for 4 female voices, string quartet and harp, text by C.K. Norwid, 1938
Bzy i róże, cantata, for soprano, male choir and orchestra, text by L. Aragon, 1949
Concerto for voice and orchestra, 1970
Pieśń nad pieśniami [Song of Songs], oratorio, biblical text, 1985
Stage:
Marynka, opera, libretto by J. Słotwiński and the composer, 1956, not performed
Opowieść niemalże o końcu świata, radio opera, libretto by K. Uniechowska, performed on Polish Radio 1959
Noce królewskie, opera, libretto by A. Stern and the composer, 1965, not performed
Others:
music for the silent film Dornröschen (1917), dir. P. Leni, for trumpet, clarinet, and string quintet, 1988.
