Kazimierz Zygfryd Kassern

(1904 Lwów [Poland] – 1957 New York [USA])

Kazimierz Zygfryd Kassern was a Polish composer, pianist, and lawyer.

Born in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), he studied music theory and composition at the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society there. From 1922 to 1926, he studied composition and piano at the Conservatory in Poznań, and also pursued law at the University of Poznań.

Until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he worked as a composer and music critic, while also serving as a consultant to the Public Prosecutor's Office. Being of Jewish descent, he frequently changed residences to hide from the Nazi secret police.

In 1945, Kazimierz Kassern moved to the United States, serving as a cultural attaché at the Polish Consulate in New York, and later becoming a consul and cultural envoy to the United Nations. However, in 1948, disliking cooperation with the Communist Party then in power in Poland, Kassern resigned from this position. The Polish authorities' response to this was the cancellation of commissions for his works and the cessation of publication of his works by state-owned publishers, leading to his compositions completely disappearing from concert posters.

Kassern spent the remainder of his life in the United States, engaging in composition and teaching at institutions such as the Third Street Music School Settlement, the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, and The New School. He passed away in 1957.

Compositional Style

Kazimierz Kassern's compositional style was highly diverse. While his early works were inspired by Karol Szymanowski and French Impressionism, Kassern himself considered himself a Neo-Romantic composer. His works are formally rigorous yet lyrical and highly melodic. In the later period of his creative activity, he focused on composing operas and piano pieces with a strong educational character.