Andrzej Jan Szwalbe (1923-2002) was a Polish lawyer, social and cultural activist and manager of the musical life in Bydgoszcz. He was the originator and creator of numerous artistic projects outside the region. In 1993, he has been designated as "Honorary Citizen of Bydgoszcz". He was awarded the highest state orders for his contribution to Polish culture.
Biography
Pre-WWI period
Andrzej Szwalbe was born on 30 June 1923 in Warsaw. His mother was Eufemia née Sobieraj and his father Sylwester Jan Szwalbe. The latter worked as a tax clerk. His mother had a pivotal influence in the way Andrzej led his life: she believed that his duty was to serve his homeland in the field of high culture and that it was his life's important mission. She loved to read difficult books on national, social and philosophical topics to him.
Andrzej studied in Warsaw at Mikołaj Rej Secondary school Nr.11 and Adam Mickiewicz Secondary school Nr.4. Encouraged by his mother to develop and take on self-discipline, he also attended the music school at Chopin University of Music, where he was a piano student in the class of Prof. Paweł Lewicki. There he met later famous Polish musicians, such as Witold Lutosławski.
During the Nazi occupation, while he was completing his first year of law studies at the University of Warsaw, he also worked as a messenger. In 1944, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Germans in the internment camp 121 of Pruszków; from here he escaped to Krakow.
Polish People's Republic years
After WWII, Szwalbe lived in Ciechocinek but soon he moved to Bydgoszcz. In 1948, he graduated from law studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and for three years he worked at the university in different positions as an assistant, a lecturer and then head of the Human resources department. However, he was more enthusiastic to become a cultural activist rather than develop his career as a lawyer. In 1949, Szwalbe made himself known to the public by giving a spontaneous speech during a concert of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (the ancestor of the Pomeranian Philharmonic) at the Bydgoszcz Chamber theatre on Grodzka Street for a petition demanding not to abandon the Orchestra. After collecting thousands of signatures, Szwalbe went to the administrative authorities to make his point. This event made him a recognizable figure in the local society.
In 1951, he was appointed administrative director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. A year later, his efforts were rewarded. As by the decision of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage on 15 December 1952, the Pomeranian Symphony Orchestra, operating since 1946, in recognition of its high level and merits in the promotion of music, was nationalized on 1 January 1953, taking the name of Ignacy Jan Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic. Andrzej Szwalbe was designated as the head of the Social Committee for the Construction of the Philharmonic (). The building was erected three years later, with an inaugural concert performed on 16 November 1956, broadcast on the Polish Radio. The architecture of the newly built edifice in Bydgoszcz, designed by Stefan Klajbor, referred to the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.
In the following years, Szwalbe carried out several new projects: with Marian Turwid he co-initiated the Bydgoszcz Scientific Society () in 1959; he was the initiator of the erection of the Opera Nova (opened in 2006) in the city. Szwalbe was the direct manager of the project for many years after the start of construction in 1973; in 1961, he launched a publishing series at the Pomeranian Philharmonic, entitled The history of Polish music in Pomerania ().
He initiated the establishment of a branch of the Scientific and Research Station of the Institute of Musicology from the University of Warsaw in Bydgoszcz. He conducted extensive scientific activity in coordination with both institutions and the Bydgoszcz Scientific Society, .
In 1962, together with Stanisław Gałoński, a music director and musicologist from Krakow, Andrzej Szwalbe established the Capella Bydgostiensis, one of the leading Polish chamber orchestras dedicated to Early Music. A year later, he inaugurated the Polish Music Festival, which later transformed into the Bydgoszcz Music Festival ().