musicologist and composer; b. 15th November 1929 in Vilnius, d. 26th October 2005 in Warsaw. He graduated in musicology from Warsaw University (1953) after studies with Prof. Zofia Lissa. His master’s thesis concerned The Significance of Acoustic Regularities in Musicological Research. Simultaneously, in 1950-53, he studied physics at the same university.

He worked as musicology consultant: to the Polish Radio Theatre (in 1954-57) and to the Documentary Film Company in 1955-79. From 1952 he also lectured in acoustics, electro-acoustic music technologies and 20th-century musical aesthetics. In 1952-72 he was assistant lecturer, 1974-95 – senior lecturer, and later – reader on the faculty of the Chair of Musicology, Warsaw University. In 1992-2000, he also lectured in the Music Academy in Katowice, and in 1995-2000 – he held the function of associate professor in the Music Academy in Cracow.

As early as 1957, he founded the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio, which he directed till 1985. In 1974 he founded the Electronic Music Studio in the Music Academy in Cracow, whose activity he ran till 2000. In 1959-69, together with Anna Skrzyńska he made a cycle of radio broadcasts entitled The Horizons of Music, dedicated to contemporary music. In the early 1960s, together with a group of musicians (Zygmunt Krauze, Tomasz Sikorski, Zbigniew Rudziński and John Tilbury) he initiated and organised The Music Workshop: a cycle of avant-garde music concerts.

He lectured widely in Poland and abroad on subjects related to electro-acoustic music and Polish contemporary music, e.g. in the Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, Urbana (1969-70), the Technische Universität in West Berlin (1979), numerous conferences and courses dedicated to contemporary music and electro-acoustic composition in Germany (Darmstadt, Berlin), Great Britain (Dartington), the United States, France (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), Sweden and Slovakia. He also frequently sat on the jury of international competitions for composers, e.g. in Bourges (Concours International de Musique et d’Art Sonore Electroacoustiques, in 1977-81 and 1984) and in Stockholm.

In 1960-2000 he was a member of the “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music Programme Committee, over which he presided in 1974-79.
In 1979-85 he was President of the Polish Composers’ Union, in 1985-86 – Secretary General of the Polish Music Council attached to UNESCO. In 1989-95 he held the function of President of the Karol Szymanowski Music Society. In 1983-84 he acted as music consultant to the Presences Polonaises, an artistic project developed in Paris, and 4 x Paris – in Warsaw. In the 1960s, together with Krzysztof Szlifirski, he wrote music for documentaries, film impressions, feature films and theatrical plays.

Józef Patkowski was an honorary member of the Polish Composers’ Union from 1987, the Polish Society for Contemporary Music (International Society for Contemporary Music – Polish Section) (from 1995), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik – from 1999. He received numerous awards and distinctions, incl. the Gold Cross of Merit (1964), the annual Award of the Polish Composers’ Union (1974), Cavalier’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order (1972), Minister of Culture and Art Award (1998), Officer’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order (1999).

Film music

Music for the documentary – film impression Over the Tatra, dir. Jerzy Kaden (1963)

Music for the documentary – film impression Stop at Auschwitz, dir. Maria Kwiatkowska (1963)

Music for the documentary – film impression Conversation, dir. Maria Kwiatkowska (1964)

Music for the documentary – film impression Duel, dir. Janusz Majewski (1964)

Music for the documentary – film impression Light and Sound, dir. Maria Kwiatkowska (1965)

Music for the film A Way of Living, dir. Jan Rybkowski (1965)

Music for the documentary – film impression Sky without the Sun, dir. Jan Rybkowski (1966)

Music for the documentary – film impression Time of Change, dir. Andrzej Piekutowski (1968)

Music for the cartoon People, dir. Krzysztof Raynoch (1969)

Stage music

Muzyka for the play Samuel Beckett’s Joyous Days, dir. Jerzy Markuszewski (1967)

Szlifirski Krzysztof, Patkowski Józef, In: PWM Music Encyclopaedia (Biographical part, ed. by Elżbieta Dziębowska), vol. “N-Pa”, PWM, Kraków 2002

Chołoniewski Marek, Józef Patkowski gestorben, "MusikTexte" nr 107, November 2005, s.83