Paul Kletzki (21 March 1900 – 5 March 1973) was a Polish conductor and composer.
Born Paweł Klecki in Łódź, Poland he later adopted the German spelling Paul Kletzki. He joined its Philharmonic Orchestra at the
age of fifteen. After serving in the Great War he studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw before moving to Berlin in 1921
to continue his studies. During the 1920s his compositions were championed by Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler who
permitted Kletzki to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925. Because he was Jewish he left Nazi Germany in 1933
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Paul Kletzki (21 March 1900 – 5 March 1973) was a Polish conductor and composer.
Born Paweł Klecki in Łódź, Poland he later adopted the German spelling Paul Kletzki. He joined its Philharmonic Orchestra at the
age of fifteen. After serving in the Great War he studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw before moving to Berlin in 1921
to continue his studies. During the 1920s his compositions were championed by Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler who
permitted Kletzki to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925. Because he was Jewish he left Nazi Germany in 1933
and moved to Italy, however due to the anti-semitism of the Italian Fascist regime he moved to the Soviet Union in 1936 but
had to flee during Stalin’s Great Terror and went to live in Switzerland.
Kletzki’s most notable work is his Third Symphony, completed in October 1939, with the subtitle ‘In memoriam’. It is an elegiac
work interpreted as a moving monument to the victims of Nazism. Other works include two string quartets, a Sinfonietta for
strings, a Fantasy for piano, and a sonata for violin and piano. From 1942 onwards Kletzki wrote no more compositions; he
argued that Nazism had destroyed his spirit and his will to compose. During the Holocaust a number of Kletzki’s family were
murdered by the Nazis including his parents and his sister.
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