Chair of Composition

Composition was first taught in Warsaw at the School of Music and Drama (1816). In 1821 Józef Elsner who was also Rector of the Institute of Music and Declamation at the School began to lecture on the theory of music composition. By 1826, 11 students were studying composition, including Fryderyk Chopin. Other well-known composers, e.g., Ignacy Dobrzyński, August Freyer and Tomasz Nidecki, also finished the School.

In 1863 Stanisław Moniuszko began to co-operate with the Music Institute (headed by Apolinary Kątski). He taught counterpoint, composition, harmony and instrumentation. Ten years later (1972) Władysław Żeleński began to teach harmony and counterpoint and in 1888 Zygmunt Noskowski, a former graduate (1863), began to teach counterpoint, composition and orchestra.

The Institute faculty supervised the factual aspects of the teaching - the principal objective of contemporary chairs. Also similar to chairs today, the Warsaw Institute of Music (1888-1903) had a Pedagogical Council (Executive Committee, Executive Department) which offered all specialities. Gustaw Rogulski (harmony, counterpoint), a student of Hector Berlioz, represented composition.

In the nineteen-nineties the Institute boasted such outstanding graduates of composition as: Henryk Melcer, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (a Lithuanian composer), Mieczysław Karłowicz, Ludomir Różycki, Tadeusz Joteyko, Mieczysław Kazuro, Antoni Szałowski and Apolinary Szeluto.

In 1919 the Conservatory of Music was established on force of a decree signed by Józef Piłsudski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski - as Prime Minister, Zenon Przesmycki "Miriam" - as Minister of Culture and Art. Roman Statkowski taught the composition class until his death in 1925. His graduates included: Jan Maklakiewicz, Piotr Perkowski, Kazimierz Wiłkomirski and Jerzy Lefeld. The composition class was then taught by Henryk Melcer, Piotr Rytel, Witold Maliszewski, Karol Szymanowski (who, for a short but seminal period, was director of the Conservatory and later rector of the Higher School of Music), Kazimierz Sikorski, Władysław Raczkowski and Ludomir Różycki. The list of composers who also taught at the Conservatory includes: Jerzy Lefeld, Stanisław Kazuro, Stanisław Niewiadomski, Juliusz Wertheim, Michał Surzyński, Jan Maklakiewicz, Grzegorz Fitelberg, Eugeniusz Morawski and Kazimierz Wiłkomirski. Some of them taught such methodological subjects as instrumentation, counterpoint, score reading, and instrument studies. All in all, this large group was the core of the composition department faculty. It had a decisive voice as far as the shape of the specialisation is concerned, i.e., played a role similar to the role of the present Chair of Composition.

In 1932 the State Conservatory of Music was reorganised and a departmental structure was introduced. Department I comprised two specialities: composition and music theory, and the teaching staff constituted the Faculty Council. Representatives of the Council were members of the Scientific-Artistic Council, the top authority of the whole school. The Faculty Council of Department I was therefore an obvious predecessor of the Chair. Thirty-two composers graduated from the Department at the time including: Grażyna Bacewiczówna, Maria Dziewulska, Jan Ekier, Tomasz Kiesewetter, Stefan Kisielewski, Witold Lutosławski, Jan Adam Maklakiewicz, Artur Malawski, Andrzej Panufnik, Piotr Perkowski and Antoni Szałowski.

After World War II Stanisław Kazuro, composer and teacher, reorganised the Warsaw music school which was named the State Higher School of Music in 1946. The School had four departments and the first one was the Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory. In 1957, following a reorganisation, the number of departments increased to six and a number of chairs were also established, including the Chair of Composition headed by Tadeusz Szeligowski. In 1962 the School was given academic status and in 1979 it was renamed the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.

The following professors have headed the Chair of Composition since its establishment in 1957: