Stefania Łukowicz-Mokwa

Stefania Katarzyna Łukowicz-Mokwa (born December 13, 1892 in Adelaide , Australia , † March 3, 1975 in Sopot , Poland ) was a Polish violinist .

Life

Stefania Łukowicz-Mokwa was the daughter of the doctor Marcel Łukowicz and Catharine Lacey. Her father came from Chojnice in Pomerania and had lived in Australia since 1889 . Her mother was of Irish descent. The family had a younger daughter, Maria Leocadia (1894–1917).

Łukowicz-Mokwa's musical talent was shown in childhood and she was soon giving public performances on the violin . She played for the Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski , who convinced her father to study in Europe . In Berlin she took private lessons with Joseph Joachim . During the First World War she was a student of Issay Barmas at the Berlin Conservatory until 1917 . During this time she met the Polish painter Marian Mokwa and became engaged to him.

In the years 1917-1919 Łukowicz-Mokwa gave a series of concerts in Pomerania, also to support the national movement in the re-emerging Poland . In 1919 the musician returned to Australia. In the following two years she toured as a soloist , gave concerts in Sydney and other major cities in the country, but also performed in India , Ceylon , as well as in England , France , Italy and Germany . In 1921 the family decided to return to Europe, where they settled in Sopot . The seaside resort belonged to the Free City of Danzig since 1920 . Her father built the large villa "Adelaide" there and was also a consul for a while.

On July 11, 1922, the artist married her fiancé Marian Mokwa, who had also settled in Sopot. The couple had two sons and two daughters. She continued to give concerts, but with an emphasis on charity events. In 1925 she performed under the direction of Jan Niwiński with the newly established symphony orchestra of the Polish Society for Music in Gdansk .

From the 1930s to the beginning of the Second World War , the musician also worked as a language teacher. In addition to Polish , she spoke fluent German , English and French . She has taught English at higher, commercial and vocational schools in Gdansk and Gdynia .

After the end of the war, Łukowicz-Mokwa only gave public concerts at the theater in Sopot for a short time and then limited himself to chamber concerts . She supported her husband's artistic activity, who outlived her by twelve years.

See also

• Marian Mokwa (1889–1987), painter in Sopot

literature

• Gabriela Danielewicz, Maria Koprowska, Miroslawa Walicka: Polki w Wolnym Miescie Gdańsku . Gdańsk 1985
• Józef Golec: Sopocki album biograficzny . Offsetdruk i Media, Cieszyn 2008, pp. 154–155 (with photography)
• Marzena Kaliszczyk: Polskie Szkoly Handlowe w Wolnym Miescie Gdańsku . Gdańsk 1988
• Henryk Stepniak: Ludnosc polska w Wolnym Miescie Gdańsku . Gdańsk 1991
• Ewa Czerniakowska: Maksymilian Karol Marceli Łukowicz . In: Stanislawa Gierszewskiego (ed.): Słownik biograficzny Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego , Volume III: L – P (ed. Zbigniewa Nowaka). Gdańskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Uniwersytet Gdański, Gdańsk 1997, p. 123

Web links

• prof. Stefania Łukowicz-Mokwa. Retrieved February 13, 2013 (Polish, with photography).