Leopold Anthony Stokowski known as the father of modern orchestral standards was one of the famous orchestra conductors of the 20th century. He was popular for his free hand conducting style that repudiated the traditional baton.
Stokowski was born on 18 April 1882. He studied at the Royal College of Music, he was one of the youngest students to do so. Stokowski was elected to a membership in the Royal College of Organists. In 1900, he formed the choir of St. Mary’s Church, Charing Cross Road, where he trained the choirboys and played the organ. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1903 from The Queen’s College, Oxford.
Stokowski gave his conducting debut in London with the New Symphony Orchestra at Queen’s Hall in 1909. He also conducted in a concert that featured the noted soprano Lillian Nordica in 1912. He had a huge contribution in setting up the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He gained a notoriety as a musical showman with a verve for grand gestures and new lighting and seating arrangements in concert hall. He was an enthusiast of the newest and most experimental techniques in recording and music . Stokowski nurtured the orchestra and shaped the “Stokowski†sound, also known as the “Philadelphia Soundâ€. He was the only conductor to perform all of Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestral works during the composer’s own lifetime, several of which were world premieres. Stokowski gave the first American performance of Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder in 1932. Stokowski conducted the American premiere of Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Symphony of a Thousand in 1916. He started “Youth Concerts†for younger audiences, which are still a tradition in Philadelphia and many other American cities, and fostered youth music programs. He guest-conducted the Philadelphia in works of Mozart, de Falla, Respighi, and in a legendary performance of the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony, arguably the greatest by Stokowski.
Stokowski is also seen on screen several times, the first of which was in a motion picture, The Big Broadcast of 1937. He also conducted and acted in One Hundred Men and a Girl. He is well known leopold stokowski for his motion picture fantasia, made in colloboration with Walt Disney, where he christopher stokowski is seen with mickey mouse which gave the much needed boost to its popularity.
He was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit. He formed the All-American Youth Orchestra in 1940 and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra in 1945. He also helped form the New York City Symphony Orchestra, which they intended would make music accessible for middle-class workers. He made an appearance in the Opera house, when he conducted Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot at the New York Metropolitan. At the age of 80, Stokowski founded the American Symphony Orchestra. His last world premiere was in 1973, at the age of 91, he conducted Havergal Brian’s 28th Symphony in a BBC radio broadcast with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Stokowski conducted the International Festival Youth Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London, performing Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony before he passed away in 1977. Robert M. Stumpff ll (Leopold Stokowski Club of America) called the performance “The finest ever performance of this symphonyâ€. His last recordings were performances of the youthful Symphony in C by Georges Bizet and Felix Mendelssohn’s 4th Symphony, “Italianâ€, in London before he passed away in 1977.
He was memorably satirized in the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Long-Haired Hareâ€, when Bugs, wearing a white hairpiece, enters a concert auditorium through the orchestra pit and the players exclaim, one by one, “Leopold! Leopold! Leopold!â€. He is given a baton, which he promptly breaks (deliberately), and begins to conduct using Stokowski-like gestures.
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