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composer, pianist and teacher; b. 20th August 1889 in Konin; d. 22nd March 1977 in Laski near Warsaw. He began his piano lessons with Paweł Romaszka, and he learned music theory with Marek Zawirski. In 1909, he graduated from the Institute of Music in Warsaw, where he studied piano with Aleksander Michałowski, and composition and instrumentation with Zygmunt Noskowski and Roman Statkowski. From 1912 he stayed in Leipzig and Meiningen, where he continued his piano lessons with Joseph Pembaur Junior and composition classes with Max Reger.

He made his debut as a pianist in 1914 in Leipzig, but his concert activity was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He returned to performance in 1921, where he came to Lviv after the end of hostilities thanks to Adolf Chybiński. Until 1929, he also taught piano at the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society in Lviv and wrote articles for the "Słowacki" magazine. At that time, he also became known as a composer, mainly thanks to vocal lyric (he wrote about 400 songs, performed, among others, by Ada Sari) and piano pieces (he composed about 320 preludes, over 240 mazurkas, many miniatures, etudes, nocturnes and dances), which he often performed himself during composers' concerts. In 1929 he moved to Katowice, where he organized the State Music Conservatory and became its director. On his initiative, the only Military Music School in Poland was established at the University of Katowice. In 1933 he moved to Warsaw, where he worked at the Polish Radio, initially as a "music controller" and then as a "classical music clerk".

During World War II, the artist performed underground concerts and taught piano lessons. From 1946, for 17 years he was a choir conductor and a piano teacher at the Institute for the Blind in Laski near Warsaw. He also stayed here after his retirement.

Witold Friemann has been honored with many awards and decorations, including the Golden Cross of Merit (1938, 1958), the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1960), the 2nd degree award of the Minister of Culture and Art for piano and vocal works (1963).

updated: 2020 (ac)

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