composer, musicologist, academic teacher and press commentator, b. 28th November 1896 in Stryj (now the Ukraine), d. probably in 1944 near Krosno. In 1910-14 he attended a secondary school in Stryj. Simultaneously, he took private lessons in harmony, counterpoint and the piano. From 1914 till 1923 (with a four-year break in 1916-20 for military service) he studied at the University of Vienna, first at the Law Department (1914-16) and, as part of his curriculum, also attended workshops in harmony and composition with Hermann Grädener. After the winter semester in his 2nd year of study, he moved to the Philosophy Department to study musicology (1916, 1920-23). His teachers were, among others, Guido Adler, Robert Lach, Wilhelm Fischer and Egon Wellesz. Simultaneously, he studied conducting with Felix Weingartner and Joseph Kaiser. In 1923, he obtained a doctor's degree in musicology on the basis of the dissertation Über orchestrale Koloristik in den symphonischen Werken von Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. After graduation, he stayed in Vienna till the summer of 1924, working as a singing tutor and choral conductor in the Burgtheater. In that period, he met Alban Berg.
After his return to Poland, Józef Koffler took permanent residence in Lwów (now - Lviv in the Ukraine). In 1924-41, he taught harmony, musical forms, instrumentation and composition in the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society (from 1928 - as professor of harmony and atonal composition). His students were, among others, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Czesław Halski and Jakub Mund. From 1929, he entered into correspondence with Arnold Schönberg. Two years later he became a member of the Managing Board of Polish Composers' Association in Warsaw, at the same time sitting on the board of Polish Musician-Teachers' Union. In the 1930s, his works earned him international recognition and were hailed by the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) as representative of new music: in 1931, his String Trio op. 10 (1928) received an honorable mention and was performed during the 9th International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Oxford; in 1933, his 15 Variations d'apres une suite de 12 tons op. 9a for string orchestra (1931) got an honorable mention and was included in the programme of the 11th ISCM Festival in Amsterdam; in 1938, his Symphony No. 3 op. 21 for wind instruments and percussion (c. 1935) was presented during the 16th ISCM Festival in London.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Koffler was active not only as a composer and teacher, but also as a critic and music commentator. From 1926 to 1939, he was editor-in-chief of the "Orkiestra" periodical, and in 1936-37 - also of the "Echo". His articles on contemporary music were also printed in such Polish newspapers and magazines as "The Army Musician", "Music Quarterly", "Contemporary Music" and "Evening Express".
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Józef Koffler was appointed to the chair of composition and became vice-rector of the Mykola Lysenko State Conservatory, opened in Lvov after the city had been occupied by the Soviet Red Army. The high academic commission in Moscow also granted him a professor's title, and he became an active organiser of music life in the Soviet Lvov. In 1939, he joined the Composers' Union of the Soviet Ukraine, of which he became secretary. In 1939-41, he participated in the organisation of many cultural events, including concerts in Kiev during a guest session of the Soviet Composers' Union Organisation Committee, as well as "A Decade of Soviet Music and Stage". In 1941, he co-organised a concert of the Ukrainian Radio Committee and concerts accompanying the 2nd General Assembly of the Composers' Union of the Soviet Ukraine.
In 1941, after the occupation of Lvov by the German army, Józef Koffler, his wife and son were transported to the ghetto in Wieliczka. His later fate and the circumstances of his death are unknown. He probably perished early in 1944 near Krosno, where he was in hiding after the dissolution of the Wieliczka ghetto, and where he and his family were shot by the Nazis.