Composer, conductor and writer L. M. Rogowski (Lublin, 3 October 1881 – Dubrovnik, 13 March 1954) is the greatest musician who lived and operated in Dubrovnik in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Lublin (Poland) on October 3, 1881. He comes from a family of musicians, which influenced his childhood, as he began composing already at the age of 7, and at the age of 9 he was scolded for secretly writing an opera during class. He finished secondary education in Warsaw, where he attended and graduated from a conservatoire. Moreover, Rogowski took classes in music and general art in Leipzig, Munich, Rome and Paris. After he completed his musical studies with Z. Noskowski, R. Statkowtski and E. Mlynarski in Warsaw, he later studied composition with H. Reimann in Leipzig, conducting with A. Nikisch, and then acoustics in Munich, Paris and Rome. From 1909 he taught at the organ school in Vilnius. There he founded a symphony orchestra in 1910, which he led until 1912. He stayed in Warsaw until 1914. During World War I, he moved to France and Belgium, where he wrote several chamber music works. In 1919, Rogowski returned to Poland. From 1921 to 1926 he was a principal in the Warsaw Little Opera; and from 1922 to 1926 he went on concert tours in many European countries which earned him enviable and conspicuous international recognition.

Rogowski was motivated to migrate for personal and artistic reasons, but we could also say that health was a major factor. Rogowski once said: “I am madly in love with the sunlight, which I long for under the northern Polish sky...”. This longing, together with his musical aspirations and the start of World War I, encouraged him to move to France, to the sunny Mediterranean. In the art colony of Nice, he met Ivo Vojnović, a Croatian writer from Dubrovnik. After the war, Rogowski once again began working intensively throughout Europe, until he became exasperated with the routine. In his memoirs, he states that such a lifestyle completely exhausted him, which came as a surprise to all his friends as this occurred just as Rogowski was beginning to receive more and more recognition and as his compositions were being performed more often. In 1926, Rogowski stated as follows: “My longing for the sunlight motivated me to move to Dubrovnik... I’m completely fed up with the frantic chase of recognition, with the impetuous self-promotion, as well as with all those ‘geniuses’ who create evil, hollow-hearted music. I cannot stand this deceit and hypocrisy any longer”.

In addition to these personal reasons, Rogowski was also motivated by a desire to do pan-Slavic artistic research. In fact, a few months before Rogowski moved to Dubrovnik, he published a “Proclamation to Fellow Musicians of the All-Slavic Brotherhood” in which he claimed that we are the only ones in Europe who still preserve ancient Slavic songs. In the end, he arrived in Dubrovnik on December 18, 1926, and remarked: “In Dubrovnik, I have a sense of belonging, I am with people whom I love and who love me in return, who speak a language similar to Polish, and whom I can relate to as we share the same Slavic mentality”.

Since 1926, Rogowski lived in seclusion in Dubrovnik, where he continued to write music. He left the city on five occasions: three times he went to Belgrade to perform as a conductor, and two times he visited Warsaw, where he was presented with the state music award in 1938. Although he continued to compose during his stay in Dubrovnik, the life he had there was completely different from the life he had led before moving to the south. He lived in isolation, but had an active lifestyle. He created art as he was inspired by the city, the southern landscape, the sunlight and the sea.

Ludomir Michal Rogowski admits in his memoirs: “I learned more about music in the quietude and solitude of the monastery of St. Jacob than during my pursuit of musical inspiration across the continent. I reached artistic maturity in Dubrovnik”. Rogowski’s oeuvre includes seven symphonies, a violin concerto, the suites Dubrovnik Impressions and Flashes of the Sea, as well as operas, ballets, cantatas, symphonic songs and chamber music works, especially those he composed for radio. In 1928, his oratorio The Miracle of St. Blaise was performed for the first time. He wrote this piece in collaboration with the renowned writer Ivo Vojnović, a friend of Rogowski’s. Rogowski left all his compositions and copyrights to the State Archives in Dubrovnik. After his death on March 13, 1954, the people of Dubrovnik organized a magnificent funeral procession through the city as a sign of respect and gratitude to the great musician. The Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra performs his works to this day. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the death of L. M. Rogowski.

Prepared by:  Vedran Šerbu and Tanja Ladišić, archivist DADU