Stokovsky biography

She towered for more than half a century on the artistic horizon of the world, delighting dozens and hundreds of thousands of music lovers, causing fierce disputes, puzzling unexpected riddles, amazing with tireless energy and eternal youth. Stokovsky - a bright, unlike anyone, a fiery popularizer of art in the broad masses, the creator of the orchestras, the educator of youth, the publicist, the hero of the films - became in America, and beyond its borders, an almost legendary person.

Compatriots often called him the "star" of the conductor's remote control. And even taking into account the tendency of the Americans to such definitions, it is difficult to disagree with this. Music permeated his whole life, making up its meaning and content. Leopold Antoni Stanislav Stokovsky is such a full name of the artist in London. His father was a Pole, his mother - Irish.

From the age of eight, he studied the game on the piano and the violin, then studied the organ and composition, and at the Royal Music College in London - also conducting conducting. In the year, the young musician received a bachelor's degree at Oxford University, after which he improved in Paris, Munich, Berlin. As a student, Stokovsky worked as an organist of the St. James Church in London.

He took this position at first in New York, where he moved in the year. But soon the active nature led him for the conductor’s remote control: Stokovsky felt the urgent need to turn the language of music not to the narrow circle of parishioners, but to all people. He made his debut in London, holding a series of summer -air summer concerts in the year. And the next year it has already become the artistic director of a small symphony orchestra in Cincinnati.

Here for the first time the brilliant organizational data of the artist appeared. He quickly reorganized the team, increased its composition and achieved a high level of performance. The young conductor was spoke everywhere, and soon he was invited to head the orchestra in Philadelphia - one of the largest musical centers of the country. In the year, the period of Stokovsky’s work with the Philadelphia Orchestra began, lasting almost a quarter of a century.

It was during these years that the orchestra and conductor are conquering world fame. Many critics consider it to be the beginning of the day of the year when Stokovsky was first properled in Philadelphia and then in New York the eighth symphony of Malera, the execution of which caused a storm of delight. Then the artist organizes his concert cycles in New York, which soon became famous, special musical subscriptions for children and for young people.

The democracy of aspirations encouraged Stokovsky to an unusually intense concert activity, to the search for new circles of listeners. At the same time, Stokovsky experimented a lot. At one time, for example, he abolished the post of accompanist, trusting her alternately to all the orchestrandants. One way or another, he manages to achieve a truly iron discipline, maximum return on the part of the musicians, the strict fulfillment of all his requirements and the complete merger of the performers with the conductor in the process of playing play.

At concerts, Stokovsky sometimes resorted to both light effects and the use of various additional tools. And most importantly - he managed to achieve a huge impressive power in the interpretation of a wide variety of works. At that time, the artistic appearance of Stokovsky and his repertoire formed. Like every conductor of this scale.

Stokovsky addressed all areas of symphonic music - from its sources to the present day. He owns several virtuoso orchestral transcriptions of works by I. In his concert programs the conductor, as a rule, included, combining the music of various eras and styles, the works are widely popular and little -known, undeservedly forgotten or never performed. Already in the first years of work in Philadelphia, he included many new products in his repertoire.

And then Stokovsky proved himself as a convinced propagandist of new music, introduced the Americans to many works of modern authors - Schounberg, Stravinsky, Warez, Berg, Prokofiev, Sati. A little later, Stokovsky was the first in America to fulfill the works of Shostakovich, which, with his help, quickly gained immense popularity in the United States. Finally, at the first hand of Stokovsky, dozens of works of American authors - Copland, Stone, Gulda and others, first sounded.

Note that the conductor was an active employee of the American League of Composers and the Department of the International Society of Modern Music. Stokovsky almost did not work at the Opera Theater, but in the year he landed in Philadelphia the American premiere of Votzeck. In the years, Stokovsky makes a triumphal tour of Europe with his team, giving concerts in twenty -seven cities.

After that, he leaves the “Philadelphians” and for some time devotes himself to working on radio, sound recording, and cinema. He performs in hundreds of radio programs, for the first time on such a scale, promoting serious music, records dozens of records, starred in the films "Big Radio Transport", "One Hundred Men and one Girl", "Fantasy", director U.Disney, Carnegie Hall in these paintings, he plays himself-the conductor of Stokovsky and, thus, serves the same case of familiarization with the music of millions of moviegoers.

At the same time, these paintings, especially “One hundred men and one girl” and “fantasy”, brought the artist unprecedented popularity around the world. In the forties, Stokovsky again acts as the organizer and head of symphony groups. He creates the All-American Youth Orchestra, making trips around the country, the city of the New York Symphony Orchestra, and has been led by the orchestra in Hollywood for years, and in years, together with D.

Mitropulos, means the New York Philharmonic. Then, after a certain break, the venerable artist became the head of the orchestra in the city of Houston, and in the sixties, it creates on the basis of the liquidated En-Bi orchestra of his team “American Symphony Orchestra”, in which young instrumentalists and conductors are brought up under his leadership. All these years, despite the advanced age, Stokovsky does not reduce his creative activity.

He makes many touring trips to the United States and Europe, constantly searches and performs new works. Stokovsky shows a constant interest in Soviet music, including the works of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Glier, Khachaturian, Khrennikov, Kabalevsky, Amirov and other composers in the programs of his concerts. He advocates friendship and cooperation between the musicians of the USSR and the USA, calling himself an "enthusiast of the exchange between Russian and American culture." Stokovsky first visited the USSR back in the year.

But then he did not perform concerts, but only got acquainted with the works of Soviet composers. And in the year, the famous musician was very successful in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv. Soviet listeners were convinced that time was not imperious over his talent. Stokovsky imperiously subjugates the audience, ”wrote the critic A. Medvedev,“ forces her to listen and believe what he wants to express.

He captures the listeners with force, brightness, deep thoughtfulness and accuracy of execution. He creates boldly and original. Then, after the concert, you will reflect, compare, think, disagree in something, but in the hall, during performance, the art of the conductor acts irresistibly on you. The gesture of L. Stokovsky is extremely simple, it is concisely clear he is strictly, calmly and only at the moments of sharp transitions, the climax occasionally allows himself a spectacular wave of the hands, turn the body, the gesture is strong and sharp.

L. Stokovsky’s hands are amazingly beautiful and expressive: they ask for a sculpture! Each finger capable of conveying the slightest musical stroke is expressive, a large brush, as if floating through the air, so visibly “painting” the cantilen, an unforgettable swing of the hand clenched into a fist, commanding the entry into the pipes, music for everyone. Grigoryev, Ya. Platec, advertising.