Ignacy Podgorski was a musician, composer, arranger, publisher, recording artist and violinist who conducted his own orchestra.  He was born on February 1, 1886 in Kielce, Poland.  As a boy he lived in Czestochowa where he obtained his musical education and acquired a love for native folk-lore.

 

In 1906  Podgorski came to the United States with his wife Alexandra and they settled in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  In a short time he organized his first orchestra in this country.  The music and publishing business was established in 1922.  The years that followed revealed his capacity for work and they were rewarding.  The Podgorski collection of composer-author arrangements totaled 1,392 collections and his instrumentation publication arranged for small bands or orchestra amounts to 25 albums.

 

Podgorski became a popular recording artist and during the early years of recordings he was featured by RCA Victor recordings for ten years.  RCA awarded him a replica of the famous dog named “Little Nipper” which became a world wide RCA trade mark.  He also recorded for Columbia, Harmonia, and Okey records.

 

Alexandra, the first wife of Podgorski died in 1950.  He married the present Sophie Podgorski Namiotka in 1951 and led a very productive life until he died November 5, 1957.

 

As a person Ignacy Podgorski was a jovial outgoing personality with an exceptional talent for producing music.  He could be justly described as a master phraseologist with a pencil at hand, ready to capture anything that would pop out of his mind that he could add to music.  His emotional nature revealed a love of the poet, and his music a distinct style of his day — an event among many events that contributed its share to his native Polish folk-music.  His music speaks for itself; it is lively and inspiring.  Its aim was to please the people and oddly the source was the people.  And yet, he was a modest man who found happiness in music.