Andrzej Szwalbe

Andrzej Jan Szwalbe (30 June 1923 – 11 November 2002) was a Polish lawyer, social and cultural activist and manager of the musical life in Bydgoszcz.

He was the originator and creator of numerous artistic projects outside the region.

Andrzej Szwalbe was born on 30 June 1923 in Warsaw.

His mother was Eufemia née Sobieraj and his father Sylwester Jan Szwalbe.

The latter worked as a tax clerk.

His mother had a pivotal influence in the way Andrzej led his life: she believed that his duty was to serve his homeland in the field of high culture and that it was his life's important mission.

She loved to read difficult books on national, social and philosophical topics to him.

Andrzej studied in Warsaw at Mikołaj Rej secondary school No. 11 and Adam Mickiewicz secondary school No. 4. Encouraged by his mother to develop and take on self-discipline, he also attended the music school at Chopin University of Music, where he was a piano student in the class of professor Paweł Lewicki.

There he met later famous Polish musicians, such as Witold Lutosławski.

During the Nazi occupation, while he was completing his first year of law studies at the University of Warsaw, he also worked as a messenger.

In 1944, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Germans in the internment camp 121 of Pruszków; from here he escaped to Kraków.

After World War II, Szwalbe lived in Ciechocinek but soon he moved to Bydgoszcz.

In 1948, he graduated from law studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and for three years he worked at the university in different positions as an assistant, a lecturer and then head of the Human resources department.

However, he was more enthusiastic to become a cultural activist rather than develop his career as a lawyer.

In 1949, Szwalbe made himself known to the public by giving a spontaneous speech during a concert of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (the ancestor of the Pomeranian Philharmonic) at the Bydgoszcz Chamber theatre on Grodzka Street for a petition demanding not to abandon the Orchestra.

After collecting thousands of signatures, Szwalbe went to the administrative authorities to make his point.

This event made him a recognizable figure in the local society.

In 1951, he was appointed administrative director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

A year later, his efforts were rewarded.

As by the decision of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage on 15 December 1952, the Pomeranian Symphony Orchestra, operating since 1946, in recognition of its high level and merits in the promotion of music, was nationalized on 1 January 1953, taking the name of Ignacy Jan Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic. Andrzej Szwalbe was designated as the head of the Social Committee for the Construction of the Philharmonic (Społeczny Komitet Budowy Filharmonii).

The building was erected three years later, with an inaugural concert performed on 16 November 1956, broadcast on the Polish Radio.

The architecture of the newly built edifice in Bydgoszcz, designed by Stefan Klajbor, referred to the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.

In the following years, Szwalbe carried out several new projects:

He initiated the establishment of a branch of the Scientific and Research Station of the Institute of Musicology from the University of Warsaw in Bydgoszcz.

He conducted extensive scientific activity in coordination with both institutions and the Bydgoszcz Scientific Society,.

In 1962, together with Stanisław Gałoński, a music director and musicologist from Kraków, Andrzej Szwalbe established the Capella Bydgostiensis, one of the leading Polish chamber orchestras dedicated to Early Music.

A year later, he inaugurated the Polish Music Festival, which later transformed into the Bydgoszcz Music Festival (Bydgoski Festiwal Muzyczny).

In 1966, with the help of musicologist Zofia Lissa and prof. Hieronim Feicht (then manager of the Polish music department at the University of Warsaw), Szwalbe set up the international festivals and musicological congresses Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis (MAEO), which have become a recognized event in Europe and contributed to the increased visibility and popularity of music from Central and Eastern Europe in the world.

The achievements of the scientific congresses partnering the MAEO sessions were compiled into several books (e.g. Acta Scientifica) and through the publishing series Monumenta MAEO promote Polish music and culture worldwide.

In 1970, thanks to Szwalbe's efforts, a new gallery for the Municipal Art Gallery BWA was erected at 20 Gdańska Street.

He played a decisive role in opening a Bydgoszcz branch of the Academy of Music in Łódź in 1974, which afterwards became an independent institution, the Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy.

To house the latter, Szwalbe took control of the historic building of the Prussian administrative region in 1975, located at the corner of Słowackiego and 20 Stycznia 1920 streets.

Taking specific care to the high artistic level of Bydgoszcz ensembles of the Philharmonic, Andrzej Szwalbe commissioned outstanding Polish composers to write dedicated works, such as the piece for baritone and orchestra, Gray Fog (Siwa Mgła) by Wojciech Kilar.

He intended the Philharmonic to be a cultural melting-pot, combining music with various art disciplines.

To achieve this, over the years he built several collections inside the building of the Pomeranian Philharmonic, all related to music:

He also made his vision of a Music District in Bydgoszcz a reality by developing the area around the seat of the Philharmonic by installing cultural and educational institutions (i.e. Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy, Music Schools Group, Jan Kochanowski Park) in the neighbourhood.

In particular, the park harbours an outdoor gallery of monuments dedicated to composers and virtuosos.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Szwalbe came up with the idea of restoring the splendor and culture-centric functions to nearby palaces of Ostromecko and Lubostroń.

In 1993, he has been designated as "Honorary Citizen of Bydgoszcz".

He was awarded the highest state orders for his contribution to Polish culture.