Zygmunt Stojowski (1870-1946) was an important composer of orchestral and chamber music, pianist and pedagogue, a close friend of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and one of the founders of what eventually became the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. The Zygmunt and Luisa Stojowski Collection was donated to the Polish Music Center in December 2004 by the composer’s two sons, Alfred and Henry Stojowski. The official donation with the family present was celebrated at USC in October 2006 during the Paderewski Lecture-Recital, featuring pianist Jonathan Plowright.
The Collection includes a great number of manuscripts of symphonic works, chamber music and piano compositions, as well as sketchbooks and writings on interpretation of Chopin’s music. It also contains Stojowski’s articles related to political issues and humanitarian relief for Poland during World War I and World War II, concert programs (1893-1945), press clippings and reviews, photographs, artwork, and a collection of books on music from Stojowski’s library, some inscribed to him by various authors. Number of first editions of Stojowski’s compositions (mainly published in France before 1920 and in the U.S. thereafter) provide a rich resource for study of this fascinating composer. Since 2010, donations of letters, concert programs and photographs by Stojowski’s biographer, Joseph Herter and the Lineback Collection (New York Philharmonic) have further enhanced the Collection.
Papers of Stojowski’s wife, Luisa Morales Macedo (1890-1982) include correspondence with her relatives in Peru, programs for broadcasts of Stojowski’s music in New York City, artwork, scrapbooks relating to Paderewski’s visits in the U.S., and various family photographs.
The Zygmunt and Luisa Stojowski Collection highlights include the following manuscripts:
- Notebooks with various solo piano and chamber works from the 1880s and 1890s
- Concerto pour Violon et Orchestre, Op. 20
- Prologue, Scherzo and Variations [Piano Concerto No. 2]
- Concertstück pour Violoncelle et Orchestre
- Cantatas Prayer for Poland and Le Printemps
- Symphony in D minor
- Sonate pour Violoncelle et Piano
- Various solo piano works (Chant d’amour, Trois Etudes de Concert, Deux Orientales, Variations et Fugue pour Piano, Fantaisie pour Piano, etc.)
Stojowski’s published works are represented by, among others, early editions of such piano compositions as Berceuse, Op. 5; Deux Caprices, Op. 16, Aus Sturm und Stille, Op. 29; Aspirations, Op. 39; chamber music (Aubade pour Violon et Piano; Cinq Mélodies, Op. 11; Fantaisie pour Trombone Tenor) and orchestral music (Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 22, etc.)