Jerzy Fitelberg

Jerzy Fitelberg (May 20, 1903 – April 25, 1951) was a Polish-American composer. Biography Son of Grzegorz Fitelberg, Jerzy was born in Warsaw. He first studied music with his father. At a young age, his father had him play percussion in the orchestra of the National Theatre, Warsaw to gain experience. He subsequently studied in Moscow. From 1922–1926 he studied composition with Walter Gmeindl and Franz Schreker at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1923 the University helped him get a deferment for the Polish military draft . In 1927 he re-orchestrated Arthur Sullivan’s music for „The Mikado” for Erik Charell’s re-staging as an operetta-revue in Berlin’s Grosses Schauspielhaus. (Review in the Times (London) September 2, 1927) In 1928, his String Quartet no. 2 won first prize in a competition organized by the Association of Young Polish Musicians in Paris. His works were heard at subsequent ISCM concerts of 1931, 1937, 1946 and 1951. Escaping the Nazis, he first traveled to Paris in 1933. There his music was published by Editions Max Eschig. Among the first works he composed in his new city were those reminiscent of Poland. His application for US Citizenship was filed on May 26,