Stokowski, Leopold (stəkŏf`skē), 1882–1977, American conductor, b. London. Stokowski studied in England and at the Paris Conservatory. He was organist and choirmaster at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City (1905–8), and was conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony (1909–12). As conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (1912–36) he became known for brilliant interpretation and performance; he introduced unknown contemporary works and, with his own controversial transcriptions, popularized much of Bach's music. Stokowski continued to conduct for part of each season until 1941. In 1940 he organized the All-American Youth Orchestra. He was co-conductor, with Toscanini, of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1942–43). Stokowski was musical supervisor of Walt Disney's film Fantasia (1940), in which he also appeared. He was conductor of many renowned orchestras for brief periods. Stokowski was influential in the improvement of music-recording techniques. In 1962 he founded the American Symphony Orchestra, New York City, a forum for young performers. His first wife was the pianist and teacher Olga Samaroff.

Bibliography

See his Music for All of Us (1943).

Stokowski, Leopold (Anthony)

orig. Antoni Stanislaw Boleslawawicz Stokowski

(born April 18, 1882, London, Eng.—died Sept. 13, 1977, Nether Wallop, Hampshire) British-born U.S. conductor and organist. He studied at the Royal College of Music and the University of Oxford. After holding organist positions and conducting a handful of concerts, he became conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony (1909–12), with great success. From there he moved to the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in the years 1912–38 he made it a world-class ensemble, creating the lush “Philadelphia sound.” He programmed much contemporary music, and he grasped very early the importance of recording. He made three films with the Philadelphia Orchestra, including Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940), and he used his fame to help foster fledgling music organizations, including the American Symphony Orchestra, which he formed in 1962. His strong advocacy of new music did much to broaden American musical taste.

Stokowski, Leopold (b. Antoni Stanislaw Boleslawowicz) (1882–1977) conductor; born in London, England. After musical studies in London, Paris, and Germany, Stokowski came to the U.S.A. in 1905 and four years later was named conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony. He left that post in 1912 for a long and celebrated tenure as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, in which he cultivated a popular but later dated creaminess of sound. Stokowski became the great matinee idol of conductors—that despite his bold championing of advanced composers including Varèse, Berg, and Schoenberg—and was for awhile linked with Greta Garbo. Resigning from Philadelphia in 1938, he went on to conduct for shorter periods orchestras including the NBC Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony (1955–62), and American Symphony (1962–73), the latter of which he founded. His popularity is reflected in the fact that he appeared in several movies, notably One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) and Fantasia (1940).