Collection of Works Józef Koffler

Collection of Works

Józef Koffler’s output as a composer, though not very large, is nevertheless quite varied.

His teaching duties at the PTM Conservatoire, his journalistic and editorial work, as well his involvement in Lwów’s social and cultural life, meant that Koffler could only compose music in rare moments of leisure, especially during the summer holidays. By 1939 his catalogue comprised 24 opus numbers, apart from some pieces of a lower calibre (including functional and occasional music) that were not officially listed.

By the time of his death, at least five more items were added to his oeuvre. A large proportion of Koffler’s works from all periods must now be considered lost (according to the present state of research). Lost compositions include Divertimento (Little Serenade) for reed trio, Piano Sonata, and Polish Suite for orchestra. Early pieces (up to Op. 5) are known to have been destroyed by the composer himself. Only Zwei Lieder, Op. 1 survive from that time. There are also some dubious cases and items only known from mentions in the press. A separate category of works for children can be distinguished (comprising Little Pieces for Children, originally as Op. 16a, and the Kyiv print of Chotyry dytyachi p’esy [Чотири дитячі п'єси] for piano).

There are four prewar lists of Koffler’s works known to date.

The first of these, printed in 1927 in the journal Muzyk Wojskowy, only concerns the early pieces (up to Op. 7). The second, ‘Lista kompozycji’ [List of Compositions] compiled by Koffler himself in 1935, is kept at the University of Warsaw Library (Archives of Polish Composers). The third is contained in an English-language promotional brochure prepared by Koffler most likely in late 1938 (a copy can be found in the US Library of Congress Serge Koussevitzky archive). The fourth accompanies the artist’s profile printed in the second volume of Almanach i leksykon żydostwa polskiego [Yearbook and Lexicon of Polish Jews] (Lwów 1938).

List of Koffler's Works from Muzyk Wojskowy no. 3, 1927

Koffler's handwritten list of compositions from 1935, AKP BUW (Archives of Polish Composers at the University of Warsaw Library)

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938. Cont.

Fragment of Koffler's list of works from an English-language promotional brochure (1938)

List of Koffler's Works from Muzyk Wojskowy no. 3, 1927

Koffler's handwritten list of compositions from 1935, AKP BUW (Archives of Polish Composers at the University of Warsaw Library)

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938. Cont.

Fragment of Koffler's list of works from an English-language promotional brochure (1938)

List of Koffler's Works from Muzyk Wojskowy no. 3, 1927

Koffler's handwritten list of compositions from 1935, AKP BUW (Archives of Polish Composers at the University of Warsaw Library)

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938

List of Koffler's Works from the Almanac and Lexicon of Polish Jewry [Almanach i leksykon Żydostwa polskiego], vol. 2, Lwów 1938. Cont.

Fragment of Koffler's list of works from an English-language promotional brochure (1938)

Comparison of these sources leads to interesting conclusions.

List of Koffler's Works from Muzyk Wojskowy no. 3, 1927

First of all, Koffler’s opus numbering is noticeably fluid and unstable. The composer reorganised his output many times during his lifetime. He changed his mind about the status of individual compositions, withdrew some of them and included others. He also revised the titles. Here are several examples of such modifications. Forty Polish Folksongs, Op. 6/5 (an important work in that, among others, it is the earliest piece by Koffler included in lists from the late 1930s) was originally included as Op. 5 (in the catalogue of 1935), whereas the String Quartet ‘in three movements’, most likely Koffler’s earliest dodecaphonic piece, was marked as Op. 6. The composer was not quite happy with that latter piece, which inspired him to reorganise his later lists of compositions.

Koffler's lists of compositions from 1935 and 1938

Likewise interesting is the fate of Piano Sonata, listed in 1935 as Op. 19, but later absent from the inventories and replaced by the rather mysterious Little Pieces for piano. Even more curiously, the String Quartet recently unearthed in London (not the same as the original Opus 6) was listed as Op. 18 in 1935, Op. 19 in the score, and Op.20 (unequivocally) in the 1938 inventories. Notably, in the early cataloguing stage (particularly evident in the 1935 list) Koffler put letters next to opus numbers in order to distinguish variants of the same composition. For instance, 15 variations d’après une suite de douze tons exist in versions for piano (Op. 9) and string orchestra (Op. 9a); Forty Polish Folksongs have a subset selected by the composer himself and marked as Op. 6a). In later years Koffler stopped using such distinctions.

Another, chronological catalogue of Koffler’s works was compiled by Maciej Gołąb (in Józef Koffler, Kraków 1995).

It comprises forty-five items (thirty-one of which are labelled as ‘completed works’, seven as ‘theatre music and arrangements of pieces from tradition or by other authors’, and seven as ‘incomplete, dubious, or only intended’). This is the most reliable inventory of Koffler’s musical output to date, and the one best documented by source studies. However, research conducted for the needs of this Koffler-dedicated website has revealed important new facts that make it possible to revise and supplement Gołąb’s catalogue to some extent. Revisions concern, among others, the dating of some works (such as Fantasia on Songs by Niewiadomski, which must have been composed not later than 1927, when it was broadcast by Polish Radio) as well as the dates of their first and later performances (for instance, there is no source confirmation that the oratorio-ballet Alles durch M.O.W. and String Quartet, Op. 20/19/18 were performed in the composer’s lifetime). In the case of that latter String Quartet, its status has changed from ‘lost’ to ‘recovered’. Apart from the already-mentioned Little Pieces for piano, Op. 19, the catalogue must be extended so as to include arrangements of three songs from Hans Duhan’s singspiel Mozart (other than the previously known Salzburg! Salzburg!), theatre music for Jakub Preger’s play Der nisojen(Temptation), and minor piano works (Grotesque, Nocturne), whose performances were reported in the interwar press.