Leopold Anthony Stokowski (UK: /stə-ˈkɒf-ski/, US: /stə-ˈkɔːf-ski/, /stə-ˈkɑːf-ski/, /stə-ˈkow-ski/; April 18, 1882 – September 13, 1977) was a British conductor. He was one of the most important conductors during the early and mid-20th century. He is best known for his long work with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was famous for conducting without a baton and for creating a unique sound with the orchestras he led.

Stokowski was the music director of several orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the Air, and many others. He also started several music groups, such as the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Stokowski worked on the music for and appeared in many Hollywood movies, including Disney's Fantasia. He supported modern composers and introduced many new musical works during his 60-year career. He was well known for arranging music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Stokowski began his conducting career in 1909. He performed publicly for the last time in 1975 but continued to record music until June 1977, a few months before his death at the age of 95.

Early life and education

Leopold Anthony Stokowski was born on April 18, 1882, in London, England, at 13 Upper Marylebone Street (now called New Cavendish Street). His father was Kopernik Joseph Boleslaw Stokowski, an English-born cabinetmaker of Polish heritage, and his mother was Annie-Marion (née Moore), who was born in Ireland. Stokowski’s name was changed to reflect his Polish heritage. His original family name was Stokauskas, which means "lack" or "shortage" in the Lithuanian language. His grandfather, Leopold, was Polish and died in 1879 at the Bethlem Hospital in London.

Later in life, Stokowski sometimes used the Polish spelling of his middle name, Antoni, instead of Anthony. There were many incorrect claims about his name. For example, some people in Germany said his name was simply "Stock," meaning "stick" in German. After he became famous as a conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra, some people incorrectly claimed he was born Leonard or Lionel Stokes or that he changed his name to "Stokes" when he moved to England. These claims are false, as proven by his birth certificate, his father’s and siblings’ documents, and records from the Royal College of Music, the Royal College of Organists, and The Queen’s College, Oxford, as well as church records in London and New York City.

Some details about Stokowski’s early life remain unclear. For example, he had an unusual accent that was not British, even though he was born and raised in London. At times, he said he was born in 1887 instead of 1882. In a letter from 1950, he incorrectly listed his birthplace as Kraków, Poland. A Finnish encyclopedia editor also claimed that Stokowski once said he was born in Pomerania, Germany, in 1889. These conflicting stories are explained in a biography titled Stokowski – A Counterpoint of View (1982) by Oliver Daniel. Daniel wrote that Stokowski’s first wife, Olga Samaroff, an American pianist, encouraged him to focus on his Polish heritage for professional reasons after they moved to the United States.

Stokowski studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where he enrolled at age 13, making him one of the youngest students. He later conducted six of the nine symphonies composed by his fellow student, Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a young man, he sang in the choir of St. Marylebone Parish Church and later became an assistant organist at the Temple Church in London under Sir Walford Davies. By age 16, he was a member of the Royal College of Organists. In 1900, he formed the choir at St. Mary’s Church in Charing Cross Road, where he trained choirboys and played the organ. In 1902, he became the organist and choir director at St. James’s Church in Piccadilly. He also studied at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1903.

Career

In 1905, Stokowski began working in New York City as the organist and choir director at St. Bartholomew's Church. He was well-liked by the church members, including people from the Vanderbilt family. However, over time, he left this job to become an orchestra conductor. Stokowski moved to Paris to study conducting further. There, he learned that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra needed a new conductor after a long break. In 1908, he started trying to get this position by writing letters to Mrs. Christian R. Holmes, the orchestra's president, and traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio, for an interview.

Stokowski was chosen over other candidates and began his conducting work in late 1909. That same year, he made his official conducting debut in Paris with the Colonne Orchestra on May 12, 1909, when he accompanied his future wife, pianist Olga Samaroff, in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. His debut in London happened the next week, on May 18, 1909, with the New Symphony Orchestra at the Queen's Hall.

His role as Cincinnati’s new permanent conductor was very successful. He introduced "pops concerts" and, starting in his first season, promoted the music of living composers. His concerts included works by Richard Strauss, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Glazunov, Saint-Saëns, and others. He conducted the American premieres of new works, including Elgar’s 2nd Symphony, which was first performed there on November 24, 1911. He continued supporting contemporary music throughout his career. However, in early 1912, he became frustrated with the orchestra’s board and resigned. After some discussion, the board accepted his resignation on April 12, 1912.

Two months later, Stokowski was appointed director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he made his conducting debut there on October 11, 1912. This position led to many of his greatest achievements. Some people believe he resigned in Cincinnati knowing he would soon get the Philadelphia job, as suggested by Oscar Levant in his book A Smattering of Ignorance. Before moving to Philadelphia, Stokowski returned to England to conduct two concerts in London. On May 22, 1912, he led the London Symphony Orchestra in a concert he repeated in full 60 years later at age 90. On June 14, 1912, he conducted an all-Wagner concert featuring soprano Lillian Nordica. While in Philadelphia, he helped establish the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924, working with Mary Louise Curtis Bok to recruit faculty and hire graduates.

Stokowski became known for his dramatic conducting style. He made grand gestures, like tossing sheet music to show he didn’t need it. He also experimented with lighting, such as conducting in a dark hall with only his head and hands lit or using shadows. In the late 1929–1930 season, he began conducting without a baton, a style that became his trademark. He shaped the "Philadelphia Sound" by encouraging free bowing from string players, free breathing from brass players, and adjusting orchestra seating and hall acoustics. He is credited with creating the seating plan now used by most orchestras, with first and second violins on the left and violas and cellos on the right.

Stokowski also changed the orchestrations of some works, a common practice before the 20th century. He revised pieces by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Bach, and Brahms. For example, he adjusted the ending of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture to close quietly, following a suggestion from Tchaikovsky’s writings. He adapted Rimsky-Korsakov’s version of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain to resemble Mussorgsky’s original. In the film Fantasia, the ending of Night on Bald Mountain was changed to connect with Schubert’s Ave Maria to match the story of good and evil.

Some music critics disagreed with Stokowski’s changes, which were common in the 19th century but less so in the 20th. His repertoire was wide, including many modern works. He was the only conductor to perform all of Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestral works during the composer’s lifetime, including world premieres. He gave the first American performance of Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder in 1932, which was recorded and remained the only recording until the LP era. He also introduced American premieres of four of Shostakovich’s symphonies, Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand in 1916, and works by Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, and Stravinsky. In 1922, he brought Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring to America, gave its first staged performance in 1930 with Martha Graham, and made the first American recording of the piece.

Although rarely an opera conductor, Stokowski led the American premieres of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (1929) and Berg’s Wozzeck (1931) in Philadelphia. He also introduced American premieres of works by composers like Arthur Bliss, Max Bruch, Ferruccio Busoni, Julian Carrillo, Carlos Chávez, Aaron Copland, George Enescu, Manuel de Falla, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Walter Piston, Francis Poulenc, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Ottorino Respighi, Albert Roussel, Alexander Scriabin, Elie Siegmeister, Karol Szymanowski, Edgard Varèse, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Anton Webern, and Kurt Weill. In 1933, he started "Youth Concerts" for young audiences, a tradition still followed in Philadelphia and other cities. After disagreements with the board, Stokowski…

Recording

Stokowski made his first recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra for the Victor Talking Machine Company in October 1917. These included two of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances. Other works recorded early on were the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream incidental music and “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. He used the best methods for acoustic recording until Victor introduced electric recording in 1925. Stokowski conducted the first orchestral electrical recording in America, Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, in April 1925. The next month, he recorded Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky, adding more double basses to use the new recording technology’s lower frequencies. He was the first conductor in America to record all four of Brahms’ symphonies (between 1927 and 1933).

Stokowski recorded the first U.S. versions of Beethoven’s 7th and 9th Symphonies, Dvořák’s New World Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony and Nutcracker Suite, Franck’s Symphony in D minor, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto (with the composer as soloist), Sibelius’ 4th Symphony (its first recording), Shostakovich’s 5th and 6th Symphonies, and many shorter works. His early recordings were made at Victor’s Trinity Church studio in Camden, New Jersey, until 1926, when Victor began recording the orchestra at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra later experimented with long-playing, high-fidelity, and stereo recordings in the early 1930s, mostly for Bell Laboratories. Victor released some early long-playing records during this time, but they were not commercially successful. Stokowski and the orchestra made records for Victor until December 1940. One of his last 1940 sessions was the world premiere recording of Shostakovich’s 6th Symphony. In addition to RCA Victor, Stokowski recorded for Columbia, Capitol, EMI/His Master’s Voice, Everest, United Artists, and Decca/London until shortly before his death.

In 1954, Stokowski made his first commercial stereo recordings with the NBC Symphony Orchestra for RCA Victor. These included excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet and the complete one-act ballet Sebastian by Gian Carlo Menotti. From 1947 to 1953, he recorded for RCA Victor with a specially assembled group of musicians from the New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony Orchestras. These recordings were credited to “Leopold Stokowski and His Symphony Orchestra” and included works from Haydn to Schoenberg. His Capitol Records recordings in the 1950s used three-track stereophonic tape recorders.

Stokowski carefully arranged musicians during recordings and worked closely with engineers to achieve the best results. Some sessions took place in the ballroom of the Riverside Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1957. These were produced by Richard C. Jones and engineered by Frank Abbey with Stokowski’s orchestra, usually made up of New York musicians. A CD reissue by EMI included selections from two LPs—The Orchestra and Landmarks of a Distinguished Career—featuring music by Dukas, Barber, Strauss, Farberman, Persichetti, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Bach (as arranged by Stokowski), and Sibelius. Stokowski used Ravel’s orchestration for the finale of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in his 1957 Capitol recording but added a few percussion instruments. His Capitol recording of Holst’s The Planets was made with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI, which acquired Angel Records and Capitol in the 1950s, reissued many of Stokowski’s Capitol recordings on CD. These recordings are now controlled by Warner Classics, as EMI no longer exists. All the music Stokowski conducted for Fantasia was released on a 3-LP set by Disneyland Records in 1957. After stereo became possible on records, the album was released in stereo by Buena Vista Records. With the rise of compact discs, it appeared on a 2-CD set by Walt Disney Records for the film’s 50th anniversary.

In 1958, Stokowski signed with Everest Records, known for using 35 mm film instead of tape for recordings, which created very clear sound. One of his notable Everest recordings was a pairing of Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Hamlet with the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra. Other recordings included Villa-Lobos’ Uirapuru, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, and Prokofiev’s Cinderella ballet suite. Several of Stokowski’s televised concerts were released on VHS and DVD, including Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony with the London Philharmonic on EMI Classics’ Classic Archive label, Nielsen’s 2nd Symphony with the Danish Radio Orchestra on VAI, and Ives’ 4th Symphony with the American Symphony Orchestra on Classical Video Rarities.

In 1973, Stokowski conducted the 1973 International Festival Orchestra—made up of 140 young musicians—at the Royal Albert Hall in London, performing Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. The Cameo Classics LP label recorded the concert and final rehearsals, creating a 2-LP set. Edward Greenfield of The Guardian wrote that Stokowski led the orchestra “as though it was a vintage Philadelphia concert of the 1920s.” Robert M. Stumpff II of the Leopold Stokowski Club of America called the performance “the finest ever of this symphony.” A Dolby recording of the concert was restored in 2014 by Klassik Haus and is available on CD from Cameo Classics (Nimbus Records Distribution).

Personal life

Leopold Stokowski married three times. His first wife was Olga Samaroff, an American concert pianist. They married on April 24, 1911, and divorced on July 30, 1923. They had one daughter: Sonya Maria Noel Stokowski (born December 24, 1921; died March 19, 2025), who was an actress.

His second wife was Evangeline Love Brewster Johnson, a wealthy woman, artist, and aviator. They married on January 11, 1926, and divorced on December 2, 1937. They had two daughters: Gloria Luba Stokowski and Andrea Sadja Stokowski. In March 1938, Stokowski began a relationship with film actress Greta Garbo after they vacationed together in Italy on the island of Capri. People talked a lot about whether their relationship was romantic or not.

On April 21, 1945, Stokowski married Gloria Vanderbilt, a wealthy woman and actress. They had two sons: Leopold Stanislaus Stokowski (born 1950) and Christopher Stokowski (born 1952). They divorced on October 29, 1955.

Legacy

After Stokowski died, Tom Burnam wrote that many false stories about him returned. These stories claimed his name and accent were fake, that he did not have enough musical training, that his musicians did not respect him, and that he only cared about himself. Burnam suggests there may have been a hidden reason for these rumors. Stokowski strongly opposed the practice of keeping women and minorities out of symphony orchestras. Burnam believes that people who disliked Stokowski may have spread these lies as revenge. However, even though Burnam made these claims, people's opinions about Stokowski have changed greatly since his death.

In 1999, David Mellor, a well-known music writer for Gramophone magazine, said: "One of the greatest joys of recent years has been the new evaluation of Leopold Stokowski. When I was young, people often looked down on him as a fraud. Today, this is very different. Stokowski is now seen as the leader in creating modern orchestra standards. He had a special ability to make both top and less experienced orchestras sound rich and full. He also loved recording music, and his work with gramophones always aimed to improve sound quality. The greatest happiness for me is that he is now recognized as an excellent conductor of 19th- and 20th-century music, including many works that were at the forefront of modern music."

Stokowski’s collection of 935 orchestral scores and 215 orchestral transcriptions is now kept in the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania.

Notable concert premieres

• Edgard Varèse performed his work Ameriques with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia on April 9, 1926.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff performed his Fourth Piano Concerto as the soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1927.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff performed his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as the soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Baltimore on November 7, 1934.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff performed his Third Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1936.
• Arnold Schoenberg performed his Violin Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Louis Krasner as the soloist, on December 6, 1940.
• Arnold Schoenberg performed his Piano Concerto with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with Eduard Steuermann as the soloist, in New York City on February 16, 1944.
• Nathaniel Shilkret performed his Concerto for Trombone with the New York City Symphony Orchestra, with Tommy Dorsey as the soloist, on February 15, 1945.
• Elie Siegmeister performed his Symphony No. 1 with the New York Philharmonic in New York City on October 30, 1947.
• Alan Hovhaness performed his Symphony No. 2, Mysterious Mountain, with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Houston, Texas, in 1955.
• Charles Ives performed his Fourth Symphony with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 26, 1965.

Notable recording premieres

• Arnold Schoenberg, Gurre-Lieder, Philadelphia Orchestra, 9 and 11 April 1932, RCA Victor
• Jean Sibelius, Fourth Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, 23 April 1932, RCA Victor
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, composer as soloist, Philadelphia Orchestra, 24 December 1934, RCA Victor
• Dmitri Shostakovich, Sixth Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, August 1940, RCA Victor
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sixth Symphony, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, 21 February 1949, Columbia
• Gustav Mahler, Eighth Symphony, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, Westminster Choir, Schola Cantorum of New York, Public School Boys' Chorus, 9 April 1950, NYP Editions (first complete recording)

In popular culture

• The 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia features Stokowski leading the Philadelphia Orchestra. He performs, among other pieces, his version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, which is the first piece in the film's program.
• A statue showing Stokowski shaking hands with Mickey Mouse, based on the scene from Fantasia, is displayed in the lobby of Disney's Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
• In the 1947 Looney Tunes short "Slick Hare," Stokowski is shown as a nightclub's band conductor. However, instead of leading a band, he puts money into a jukebox and waves his baton at it. In reality, Stokowski never used a baton to conduct. In the 1949 short "Long-Haired Hare," Bugs Bunny imitates Stokowski at the Hollywood Bowl. The cartoon gently mocks Stokowski's style of conducting without a baton by having Bugs break the baton given to him.