Kazimierz Wiłkomirski

Kazimierz Wiłkomirski was born on 1 September 1900 in Moscow (Russia) into a Polish family of musicians. His father Alfred Wiłkomirski was a violinist and music teacher. Kazimierz began studying the cello at the age of eight with Mikhail Bukinik and attended the Moscow Conservatory from 1911 to 1917, where he studied cello with Alfred von Glehn and orchestral performance with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. He also received private composition lessons from Bolesław Jaworski. Together with his brother Michał (violin) and sister Maria (piano), he formed the Wiłkomirski Trio, which gave its first public concert in 1913.

From 1917 to 1919 Wiłkomirski taught at a music school in Batumi (Georgia). He then moved to Warsaw, where he continued his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory under Roman Statkowski (composition) and Emil Młynarski (conducting), graduating with distinction in 1923. At the same time he worked as a cellist in the orchestra of the Warsaw Opera. He subsequently taught music in Kalisz and Łódź and became principal cellist of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra in 1924. From 1926 to 1934 he was principal cellist and conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic. He also continued his conducting studies with Hermann Scherchen in Switzerland. From 1934 to 1939 Wiłkomirski was director of the Polish Conservatory in Gdańsk.

During World War II he remained in Warsaw, where he continued performing as a soloist and chamber musician, taking part in numerous concerts despite the restrictions of the German occupation.

After the war Wiłkomirski became rector and professor at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź, a position he held from 1945 to 1947. He then served as artistic director and conductor of the State Opera and Philharmonic in Wrocław until 1952 and was also a professor and dean at the local music academy. From 1952 to 1957 he worked in Gdańsk and Sopot, directing the Baltic Philharmonic and helping to establish the Baltic Opera, while teaching at the State Higher School of Music in Sopot. In 1957 he returned to Wrocław, where he served as director and conductor of the opera. From 1963 he lived in Warsaw and headed the chamber music department of the State Higher School of Music. Even after his retirement in 1970 he continued teaching for several years.

Alongside his extensive activities as a performer, conductor and teacher, Wiłkomirski composed orchestral, chamber and vocal music. His works include a Piano Sonata (1920), a Symphony (1922), a Requiem (1923), a String Quartet (1942), the "Symfonia koncertująca" for cello and orchestra (1950), twelve studies for solo cello, and several large cantatas, including the "Kantata wrocławska" (1951), "Kantata gdańska" (1955) and "Kantata o św. Jacku" (1957). His compositions remained largely within the late-Romantic tradition. He also published educational works on cello playing and music theory, as well as two volumes of memoirs in 1971 and 1980.

Wiłkomirski received numerous awards and honours for his contributions to Polish musical life, including the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He died on 7 March 1995 in Warsaw (Poland).

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of a "Scherzo" for piano by Kazimierz Wiłkomirski. The work was originally composed for cello and piano in 1952 and published by the Polish music publisher PWM as part of the collection "Four Pieces for Cello and Piano".

My manuscript contains an arrangement of the work for piano solo, dated 1953. It bears a dedication to "my great-granddaughter Kasia" as well as a personal inscription by the composer to the recipient of the manuscript: "To my dear colleague Ludmila Dähn, I wish you many successes in your artistic and teaching endeavours."