Zalewski Teodor, *19 August 1897 Bad Wörishofen (not Rome), †11 March 1985 Warsaw, Polish conductor and teacher. He spent the first three years of his life in Rome, and in 1900 he moved to Moscow. He was raised in a musical family (his father, Henryk, was a singing teacher, and his mother, Helena, Russian, was a choir tutor) and started learning to play the piano in the Gniesina’s Music School. He studied at the law faculty of the Moscow University with a break for studies in Officer Candidate School in Kyiv (officer in 1917) and military service. After demobilisation (1918), he moved with his family to Poland. The journey, divided into a few parts, took almost two years; at that time, Zalewski continued learning the piano at the Kharkiv Conservatory (1918–19) and worked as a music teacher and stage pianist. After arriving in Poland in 1920, he joined the army and took part in the Battle of Warsaw. Later, he settled in Warsaw and studied music with P. Rytel from 1921. He continued studying in 1922–25 at the Warsaw Conservatory (conducting with H. Melcer-Szczawiński); he also studied law at the University of Warsaw (1921–26). Animator of music life in the capital of Poland in the interwar period, he was a music director of the W. Bogusławski Theatre in 1924–25; he prepared staging of, among others, Kniaź Patiomkin by T. Miciński (with music by K. Szymanowski) and The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare (with music by L.M. Rogowski). He debuted as a conductor in 1925 at the Warsaw Philharmonic, and until 1926, he worked at the Warsaw Conservatory as a score reading teacher and orchestra inspector. Together with T. Ochlewski, B. Rutkowski, E. Altberg and A. Chybiński, he founded a Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Dawnej Muzyki Polskiej (SMDMP) [Association of Early Polish Music Lovers], and conducted its chamber orchestra until the outbreak of World War II (performing works by, among others, J. S. Bach, G.F. Händel and B. Pękiel). In 1928, he became a director of Towarzystwo Dawnej Muzyki Polskiej [Society of Early Polish Music], and in 1930, with T. Ochlewski, K. Sikorski and B. Rutkowski, he founded TWMP, supported by the National Culture Fund. He was a co-editor of “Kwartalnik Muzyczny” and “Muzyka Polska.” He also contributed to establishing the Organizacja Ruchu Muzycznego (ORMUZ) [Music Movement Organisation]. In 1931, he passed the bar exam and became a member of the Warsaw Bar Association, starting his work as a legal adviser.
In 1947–49, Zalewski served as director of the Warsaw Philharmonic; then, he took up teaching. From 1952, he lectured at the PWSM in Warsaw. In 1953–57, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory, from 1957 for three terms as vice-rector, and from 1966 until his retirement in 1969 as rector of this university (after retirement, he taught score reading classes until 1972). He was the Secretary General of SPAM (1956–63) and was awarded, among others, the annual SPAM award (1963) and the Golden Badge of SPAM (1979), as well as The Order of the Banner of Labour, 2nd class (1960), the Medal of the National Education Commission and the 1st degree award of the Ministry of Culture and Art for teaching and educational activity (1966). In 1965–68, he was the president of the management board of TiFC. He was a member of the Council of Higher Artistic Education and the Polish Section of IMC. He published articles in the music press and memoirs Pół wieku wśród muzyków 1920–1970. Przyczynki do dziejów polskiej kultury muzycznej, part 1 – to 1945 (Kraków 1977).
