Adam Mitscha -Józef Koffler

Adam Mitscha (left) and Witold Friemann, photo from the family collection of Ewa and Roman Micza

Adam Mitscha

(1892–1992)

music critic, teacher

He learned at Lwów’s GTM Conservatoire. He served in the Polish army. In 1921 he graduated in law from the JKU Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów, and in 1923 – became a member of a panel of court-appointed experts for copyright in music. He attended musicology classes at the JKU in 1919–26, obtaining a certificate of completion in 1927. In 1921 he became the head of the music section in Lwów’s Słowo polskie daily. In 1926–29 he taught at the PTM Conservatoire.

Concert poster with an introduction by Adam Mitscha, State Music Conservatoire in Katowice (Silesian Digital Library)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (first page)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (final page)

Adam Mitscha, 'Karol Szymanowski,' Śląskie Wiadomości Muzyczne 1937.No. 4 (first page)

Concert poster with an introduction by Adam Mitscha, State Music Conservatoire in Katowice (Silesian Digital Library)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (first page)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (final page)

Adam Mitscha, 'Karol Szymanowski,' Śląskie Wiadomości Muzyczne 1937.No. 4 (first page)

Concert poster with an introduction by Adam Mitscha, State Music Conservatoire in Katowice (Silesian Digital Library)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (first page)

Adam Mitscha, ‘Koncert symfoniczny’ [Symphonic concert], Słowo Polskie 1928 no. 114 (final page)

Adam Mitscha, 'Karol Szymanowski,' Śląskie Wiadomości Muzyczne 1937.No. 4 (first page)

He left Lwów in 1929 to accept an appointment as professor of the newly established State Music Conservatoire in Katowice,

A. Mitscha, Intricate Paths, manuscript from the family collection of Ewa and Roman Micza

where he continued to teach after 1945 (then as State Higher School of Music), becoming the rector of that school in 1947–51.

With Koffler, Mitscha collaborated for three years (1926–29) at the PTM Conservatoire. In 1937 they spent part of the summer together at the ‘Excelsior’ sanatorium in Iwonicz-Zdrój, engaging in long conversations about the twelve-note technique. Mitscha even intended to become Koffler’s private pupil (and commute from Katowice to Lwów to attend lessons), but this plan never materialised.