Stokowski

(st6-k6f’-ski), Leopold, bLond on, April 18, 1882; of Polish parentage; graduated at Oxford; studied at Paris Cons., acted as cond. there; 1905-08 mus. dir. St. Bartholomew’s, N. Y.; 1908, cond. in London; 1909-12, cond. Cincinnati Symph. Orch; after 1912, cond. Philadelphia Orch., vice Carl Pohlig; 1911, married the pianist Olga Samaroff; divorced; (2) Evangeline Brewster Johnson. One of the most brilliant and individual conductors of his day, distinguished by his Spartan discipline over the orch., his tendency to select unconventional music for his programmes, esp. of modern composers. musical style excels in great clarity and transparency of musical texture, beauty of tone, and exquisite finish of detail. He has arranged for orch. many remarkable transcriptions of works by Bach. In 1930-31 he was guest cond. of the N. Y. Philh. Orch.; in 1936 he took his own orch. for a transcontinental tour of the U. S. He has been identified also with productions of modern operas and ballets by the Phila. Grand Op. Co., the Phila. Orch. and the League of Composers, York. In 1936 he announced that he would lead only a score of concerts in the following season, devoting part of his time to research in new mechanical means of reproducing music. Mus. D., Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1917.