Antoni Stolpe

Antoni Stolpe (23 May 1851 – 7 September 1872) was a Polish composer and pianist. Life Antoni Stolpe was born in Puławy, Congress Poland, as a descendant of a musical family. His first teacher of music was his father, Edward, a pianist under whom Antoni Stolpe developed piano skills; he also studied at the Warsaw Conservatory where he simultaneously studied harmony and counterpoint with August Freyer and later with Stanisław Moniuszko. This time marks his first efforts in the field of composition, e.g. he wrote the vocal piece O Salutaris Hostia in 1866. In 1867 the sixteen-year-old Antoni Stolpe completed his education at the Conservatory with a “grand prize” in piano and a first prize in counterpoint and in 1868–69 he gave three concerts in Warsaw, performing as a pianist and conductor. During these concerts, several of his orchestral works, chamber, piano and vocal compositions were presented. For those performances Antoni Stolpe received splendid reviews from critics as both a gifted composer and pianist. An income from the mentioned concerts enabled him to travel in 1869 to Berlin where he studied composition and counterpoint with Friedrich Kiel and perfected his playing techn