Kolinski, Mieczyslaw

Kolinski, Mieczyslaw, Polish-born Canadian ethnomusicologist, music theorist, and composer; b. Warsaw, Sept. 5, 1901; d. Toronto, May 7, 1981. He began his musical training in Hamburg, and then studied piano and composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik; took courses in musicology, psychology, and anthropology at the Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1930, with the diss. Die Musik der Primitivstämme aufMalakaund ihre Beziehungen zur samoanischen Musik; publ. in Anthropos, XXV, 1930). He assisted Hornbostel at the Berlin Staatliches Phonogramm-Archiv (1926–33); then moved to Prague, where he remained until 1938, when he went to Belgium to avoid the Nazis; during much of the German occupation, he was in hiding. He settled in N.Y.in 1951; was co- founder (1955) and president (1958–59) of the Soc. for Ethnomusicology; taught at the Univ. of Toronto (1966–76); became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1974. He transcribed more than 2, 000 works from all over the world; publ. Konsonanz als Grundlage einer neuen Akkordlehre (Prague, 1936).

Works

2 piano sonatas (1919; 1946, rev. 1966); Violin Sonata (1924); Cello Sonata (1926); Lyric Sextet for Soprano, Flute, and String Quartet (1929); 4 piano suites (1929–46); String Quartet (1931); Expresszug-Phantasie, ballet (Salzburg, 1935); Concertino for Soprano, String Quartet, and Piano (1951);Dahomey Suite for Flute or Oboe and Piano or String Orch. (1951); Hatikvah ariations for String Quartet (1960); Dance Fantasy for Strings (1968); Encounterpoint for Organ and String Quartet (1973); Concertino for Soprano, Clarinet, and Piano (1974); music for recorder ensemble; songs; folk-song arrangements.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire