July 2000 – Polish Music Center

Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 6, no. 7

News Flash

New Manuscripts for PMRC

by Maria Anna Harley

During my recent trip to Poland several important donations have been made to expand the Manuscript Collection of the Polish Music Reference Center. Composer Krzysztof Meyer started the series of marvellous events with a donation of the authograph score of his opera Cyberiada, the sketch material for his String Quartet no. 10, and the manuscript of Szymon Laks’sQuintet. As Meyer stated during the two meetings (in Cologne and Poznan) when the gift was discussed and realized, Cyberiada was a very important piece in his oeuvre, the beginning of his international career, and by donating the score in three volumes to the PMRC Manuscript Collection, he hoped to facilitate the same type of “breakthrough beginning” for the collection itself. Of course, the beginning had already been made – back in 1985 when Witold Lutoslawski donated 5 manuscripts of his important works as the “founding gift” for the newly established Center. In time, the names of Baird, Bacewicz, Skrowaczewski, Ptaszynska, Bruzdowicz joined Lutoslawski on the list of “our” composers and the Manuscript Collection grew to 22 items. At present, it is time to expand it again.

The sister of Grażyna Bacewicz, i.e. the wonderful poet and marvellously energetic lady, Wanda Bacewicz, decided to enlarge our collection with the gift of manuscript sketches for several of the composer’s pieces. We received sketches for the song Dzwony i dzwonki to Mickiewicz’s poem, for unpublished Convoi de Joie (piano reduction), for Concerto for Two Pianos, and a number of, as yet, unidentified pieces, including a String Quartet. In addition, Ms. Wanda Bacewicz donated a copy of her sister’s Rondino for piano, manuscript with handwritten annotations by performers. More gifts will follow in September. The next significant donation finalized in June was a gift of authograph letters by composer Aleksander Tansman to musicologist Tadeusz Kaczynski outlining the main stages in their friendship. This gift, made by Elzbieta Kaczynska from the personal archives of her husband (who died last September), was accompanied with a number of scores – copies of authograph manuscripts by Roman Palester and Szymon Laks, as well as archival materials about Philharmonia Traugutta, composers Zygmunt Krauze and Wlodzimierz Kotonski, and, last but not least, documents and archival material about Mr. Kaczynski himself. Both Krzysztof Meyer and Elzbieta Kaczynska promised to expand their gifts in the future and I have received similar promises from a number of composers who decided to support the PMRC by the precious offerings of their music. In fact, the number of promised donations grew so quickly, that I have decided to organize a special ceremony during the 2000 Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music. On September 23, at 3 p.m., in the offices of the Polish Union of Composers in the Old Town Square in Warsaw, an official “gift-giving” ceremony will be held, during which the composers will donate their scores and receive thank-you letters. The list of donations will be available shortly before this event, as I am still working on its expansion.

The donations will fall into one of several categories. Firstly, the PMRC would like to create a collection of manuscript scores and sketches of a number of works, outlining the variety of compositional techniques used by Polish composers. Secondly, we would like to create composers’ portraits, i.e. gather a series of pieces that present the evolution of compositional style and technique of individual composers. Thirdly, since the beginning of the expanded collection was made by an operatic work, we would like to create a collection of Polish contemporary opera. Of course, the creation of such collections does not happen instantaneously; but the addition of at least 15, if not 20 new names of composers to “our” list of authors and at least 40 new manuscripts to our collection will be a significant step forward in this direction.

News

Polish Baritone At The Met

In 1998 27-year old Mariusz Kwiecien began a 2-year contract with the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program. Joanna Bator wrote a feature article about the young Polish baritone for the Nowy Dziennik 16 June issue, in which she points to the young singer’s many awards and prizes . As the youngest candidate in the XV International Vocal Competition in Vienna in 1996, he won the Vienna Opera Director’s Award and the Music Critics Award. This in turn led to a performance in Zemlinsky’s opera in Hamburg. Last year he became the first Polish finalist in the Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff.

As a young student he won First prize in the III Inter-School Vocal Competition in Duszniki-Zdroj. He performed with the Poznan Opera in the Marriage of Figaro and Moniuszko’ Verbum Nobile before graduating from the prestigious Chopin Academy of Music in 1994. He has already performed in operas in Lucerne and Strasburg, at the La Scala Opera, in the Glyndenbourne Festival, and with the Viennese Staastsoper and Kameroper, where an agent from Columbia Artists Management saw to it that a tape was sent to the Met and the rest is history. [WW]

Warsaw’s Korean Connection

Did you know that the Keimyung Academy of Music in the city of Tae-gu is affiliated with the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw? Professor Andrzej Dutkiewicz from the Chopin Academy has reported to us that the branch was founded a year ago. In celebration of this event a “Marathon Piano Concert” was held on 27 May at Keimyung University, which he helped to organize. It featured ten concert pianos, sixteen pianists and thirty-two hands in which music of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” was heard, along with well-known works by Bach, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski’s “Paganini Variations” (for two pianos only), a three hour work by Simeon Ten Holt for four pianos, and Gottschalk’s “La Gallina” for seven pianos and fourteen pianists. The latter made a profound effect on the audience. The happy listeners left the concert hall humming its “tune”.

Prof. Dutkiewicz also informed us that Prof. Boguslaw Madey is presently conducting the Tae-gu City Symphony Orchestra and shared some overwhelming statistics. The graduates from all the music schools in South Korea number 700 composers, 2000 pianists and 1500 violinists. Festivals of contemporary music are extremely popular with full houses the rule. Prof. Dutkiewicz has just returned from a month’s stay in Korea as professor of piano. You can find his article in the newest issue of Ruch Muzyczny, which also includes his interview of Korea’s most important living composer today, Sukhi Kang. [WW]

Secrets Of Violin Making

Violin maker, Samuel Zygmuntowicz, revealed his secrets in an article “Opening up the Secretive World of Varnish” written for Strings July 2000. The Brooklyn based craftsman is “internationally noted for his faithful copies and reinterpretations of classic instruments.”

Competitions

“The Big One” – List Of Participants

The Chopin Society of Warsaw has released the list of entrants for the XIV Chopin International Competition to be held on 4-22 October. There will be 89 participants from 21 countries with the youngest Pole being 18-year old Michal Bial. Quite a change from the first competition which numbered 26 participants from 8 countries.[WW]

Chopin Competition For Young Pianists

Gosia Kossakowska, president of the Chopin Council of San Francisco, has sent us the list of winners of the competition held 4 June at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music:

First age category (through 8):

I – Christine Kim, 8, of Palo Alto
II- Yiren Lu, 7, of Rohnert Park
III- Kenneth Law, 8, of Saratoga
Honorable Mention: Christina Lee, 8, of San Jose

Second age category (9-12):

I – Stephanie Ou, 12, of Cupertino
II- Erika Chow, ll, of Palo Alto
III- Tiffany Yu, 10, of San Jose
Honorable Mention: Teresa Wu, 11, of Fremont & Emily Wang, 12, of Palo Alto

Third age category (13-15):

I – not awarded
II – Kevin Chen, 13, of Cupertino & Howard Na, 14, of San Jose
III -Vincent Wu, 14, of Fremont
Honorable Mention: Jennifer Lee, 15, of San Ramon

The concert of the winners took place on 11 June. You can look up their web-site at www.chopin.org for more information. If you would like to participate in next year’s event or know of someone who would, you can write to Ms. Kossakowska at ChopinSF@aol.com. [WW]

Pasiecznik Wins In Brussels

Olga Pasiecznik, the soloist of Warsaw Chamber Opera won the third prize during the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. She also received two other honors: special prize for the best performance of oratorio music, and special prize of the audience, given by all the viewers of the Belgian TV in a public voting. Her appearances were warmly welcomed by the Belgian music critics.

Calendar Of Events

Music Of Chopin In California

Save the date of 1 or 2 August for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Louis Lortie, pianist will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Thomas Dausgaard.

23 Jul: KUSC radio 91.5FM. A Buyer’s Guide to the Chopin Piano Music. A survey of the best of the readily available recordings. 11:00 a.m.

Lutoslawski’s Music In Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has scheduled Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes for 9 & 10 March, 2001. The concerts are held at Royce Hall at UCLA and the Alex Theatre in Glendale at 8:00 p.m.

Krakow 2000 In July

Festival Krakow 2000 schedule for July includes a Jazz concert on 1/2 July with Urszula Dudziak and Grazyna Auguscik; a Dance Festival (10-18); Ethnic music (21-22) and “Codex” Medieval Sacred Music (25 Jul).

Publications & Books

Azoury’s Book About Chopin

A review of Pierre Azoury’s book about Chopin can be found in the Polish American Journal section of “Books in Brief” 3Jun 2000. Florence Waszkelewicz Clowes described “Chopin through his Contemporaries. Friends, Lovers and Rivals” published by Greenwood Press, 1999 thusly, “Based on correspondence to and from his family and friends, we are offered a glimpse of Chopin the man, not the musician…The book is divided into two parts, the first being his childhood in Warsaw.” She continues to say that the author “provides biographical background for the people that influenced and shaped” his early years – Zywny and Elsner. “The second part of the book centers on his life in Paris…contacts and influences of Auguste Franchomme and Wojciech Grzymala, Liszt…Maria Wodzinska, Pauline Viardot and Solange Sand.” [WW]

Polish Scores At Theodore Front Music

The Spring 2000 supplement catalog to “Music and Books by and about Women Composers” lists music by Grazyna Bacewicz and Maria Szymanowska. They have Szymanowska’s Album for Pianoforte ($16.95) and Bacewicz’s Children’s Suite for piano ($4.95); Concerto for violin, No. 5/piano reduction ($9.95); Polish Caprice for clarinet and piano ($8.95) and String Quartet No. 2 (parts) $56.95).For more information visit their website at www.tfront.com [WW]

Awards

Kilar Wins The Golden Scepter

Composer Wojciech Kilar received the “Złote Berło” (Golden Scepter) from the Polish Cultural Foundation in Poland. He dedicated his prize to the memory of Witold Lutoslawski for whom the Concert Hall at the Polish Radio was named. A concert followed with Wojciech Rajski leading the Polish Radio Orchestra with pianist Janusz Olejniczak.Kilar wrote music for more than 150 Polish films and several American films (Dracula, Portrait of a Lady, Death and the Maiden, King and Bird). His most recent film score was written to Andrzej Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz and Roman Polanski’s Ninth Gate. [WW]

Debski Wins For Film Music

Krzesimir Dębski won the Philip Award for his film score to Sienkiewicz’s “Fire and Sword.” Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone received an award for their overall creativity.

The ZKP Annual Awards

Each year the ZKP (Polish Composers’ Union) gives awards to composers and musicologists. The award for the year 2000, presented in June, went to Elżbieta Dziębowska, musicologist, and Andrzej Nikodemowicz, composer. The latter primarily composes chamber and oratorial type music of a sacred nature. He said that all musical creativity is a form of man’s conversation with God. Ms. Dziębowska was rewarded for her work on the Polish Encyclopedia of Music. See the PWM website for more details at www.pwm.com.pl [WW]

Recent Performances

12th Days Of Krakow Composers

During the second week of June a celebration of new music took place in Krakow. The 12th festival of contemporary music, organized and directed by Mr. Stankiewicz, the president of the Krakow branch of the Polish Composers’ Union, presented a number of first performances (pieces by Boguslaw Schaeffer, Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar, Pawel Sydor, and others), and a series of fascinating compositions by composers from Krakow, Bratysława (Roman Berger, Polish emigre composer of great talent), and Switzerland (here no connection to Poland was established). The concerts were held in wonderful venues in old churches of Krakow – and was a feast of architecture, history, art, as well as new music. A review of selected performances will appear in the next issue of the Newsletter.

Three Premieres By Hanna Kulenty

The talented young composer, Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961), who settled in Holland, had a very good year: during the 1999/2000 season she was the “composer-in-residence” with the Arnhem orchestra and her musis was included in every concert – once a month the local audiences could hear a piece by Kulenty plus the music of Britten, Messiaen, Prokofiev, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, etc. This “Kulenty Festival” ended with the world premiere of her Violin Concerto no. 2 (1996) on June 7-8. The first premiere, of her “Decimo” for mixed choir (to texts of “Ave Maria”) took place during the opening concert of the Arnhem Choral Festival, on June 2 in St. Eusebius Church.

At the same time, a Canadian piano-percussion ensemble, performed Kulenty’s new piece in Poland: premiered on June 7, it was repeated during a concert on June 12 in Krakow. The program of the concert included works by Kulenty, James Harley (“Consort”), and Bela Bartok – the creator of this 2-piano, 2-percussion set up (Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion). A more detailed report will appear in a future issue of the Newsletter.

Sobotka With Classical Music

The shortest night of the year, June 24, St. John the Baptist feast in the Catholic calendar, and the traditional “Sobótka” celebration of the pre-Christian Poland was this year marked by the yearly revelry upon the Wisla river (the ceremony of floating wreath with candles, i.e. the traditional “wianki”) and a novelty: an open-air concert held on Plac Teatralny, beginning at 9:30 p.m. Jacek Kaspszyk led the National Philharmonic in a selection of popular favorites. The night was mild, without rain, and the free outdoor concert was a very good idea, increasing the presence of classical treasures in popular imagination.

Chopin In California

The music of Chopin could be heard in recent piano performances in California: Seizo Azuma at Irvine, Polli Chambers-Salazar in Altadena, Scott Dunn in an all-Chopin recital at the LA County Museum of Art in a live broadcast, and Jon Kumar Parker in San Diego. [WW]

Chopin In New York

Taiwanese cellist, Kenneth Kuo, performed “his own virtuosic arrangement of Chopin’s “Introduction et Polonaise brilliante” during his New York recital debut at Weill Hall. Edith Eisler called him an “excellent player, with an effortless technique, a beautiful, warm tone and an unabashedly romantic soul; his love for the music infused every note.” (Strings July 2000). [WW]

American Orchestras In Poland

The New York Philharmonic performed at the Krakow 2000 Festival on 27 June.

The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra appeared at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Silesian Music In Katowice

During the “Metaphysical & Religious Poetry” Congress in Katowice a concert performance by the National Orchestra featured music by Gorecki, Kilar and Julian Gembalski (all composers from the Silesian region).

14th Warsaw Music Encounters

The Wilanow Quartet, Jerzy Artysz, Zygmunt Krauze (as pianist and composer) and the Schola Cantorum Gedanensis participated in the XIV Warsaw Music Encounter “Spotkania Muzyczne” held through the months of May and June in various Warsaw venues. The program included the music by Bach, as well as by Twardowski, Debski and Słowiński. Mr. Słowiński celebrated his 70th birthday during a concert at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The program consisted solely of his works performed with great flair by the Wilanow Quartet and other musicians. Congratulations to the laureate!!! And best wishes for many years of future successful work as a composer and new music promoter.

The recording company “Acte Prealable” has issued a CD of Słowiński’s music – it is a delightful offering and could be ordered from the company founder’s Mr. Jarnicki, Acte Préalable sp. z o.o.; skr. pocztowa 71; 02-792 Warszawa, Poland; e-mail: actepre@polbox.com.

Discography

by Wanda Wilk

Lutosławski’s Complete Works On Disc

The National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice is completing its plans to record all the works of Witold Lutoslawski. They have recorded over 70 of his works thus far, with only the carols, preludes and fugues left. The late composer is greatly revered in Poland and was regarded as the “Dean” of Polish composers throughout the world.

Maria Szymanowska’s Songs

Cedille CDR 90000 049. “”Songs of the Classical Age.” Patrice Michaels Bedi, sop., David Schrader, piano.

I was happy to find songs by Polish pianist and composer, Maria Szymanowska (1790-1831) included in this new recording released by Cedille Records. Barrymore Laurence Scherer writes in Gramophone July 2000 on various “Songbirds and Latin Rebirth” in the “In Retrospect” section. He lists several vocal recordings that contain “great singing” and describes Ms. Bedi as “a singer who performs extensively on the regional circuit and deserves attention…Performing in a clear, flexible, slightly white-toned voice, with fine English, German and Italian diction, good taste in ornament and rhetorical phrasing…an impressive array of songs composed around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.” I wonder which Szymanowska song she sang. Probably the French ones and not those written to the poems of Niemcewicz, Mickiewicz, Skarbek or Gorecki.

Online: www.cedillerecords.org.

Non-Polish Polonaises

CHANDOS CHAN 9801. Liszt. Works for Piano and Orchestra. Vol. 1. Louis Lortie, piano. The Hague Residentie Orchestra, George Phelivanian, cond.

Here we find composer Franz Liszt’s arrangements of other composers’ works. Of special interest, Weber’s “Polonaise brillante.” Reviewed by Bryce Morrison in Gramophone July 2000, who says “Weber’s `Polonaise brillante’ becomes even more of a show-piece in Liszt’s hands, fully deserving its subtitle “L’hilarite.” “Louis Lortie plays all these works with immaculate brio, where necessary `tempering bravura with restraint.’

Ashkenazy’s Chopin Reviewed

DOUBLE DECCA 466 250-2DF2. Chopin. Piano Sonatas 1,2,3; Etudes; Fantasie in F minor. Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano.

Reviewed in Gramophone by Ivan March who says, “The Chopin recordings from Ashkenazy span a period of about five years, for he recorded his major survey in approximate chronological order. The sets of Etudes from 1975 offer playing of total command, and can safely be recommended…The three sonatas, too, show Ashkenazy on top form…excellently recorded.”

CD Specials Online

GMN.com stands for Global Music Network. You can now be the proud owners of two Lutoslawski CDs which are “on special.”

Sony SK 67189 now available for $16.12. Fanfare for the LA Philharmonic; Concerto for piano “For Krystian Zimerman;” Chantefleurs et chantefables & Symphony no. 2. Esa-Pekka Salonen. Paul Crossley & Dawn Upshaw.

This is what pianist Paul Crossley has to say about Lutoslawski’s music:

“Apart from the Piano Concerto, my next favourite piece is the 4th Symphony. Lutoslawski was an extraordinary composer. His 4th Symphony, which was his last piece, is also one of the greatest.”

This disc is also recorded by Salonen and the LA Philharmonic and available at the reduced “on special” price.

PMRC News

by Maria Anna Harley

1. Review of the Year

During the academic year 1999/2000, the PMRC did not organize any substantial music events, all the effort was directed into updating and expanding our publications, web site, catalog, and increasing the presence of Polish subjects in the scholarly world in America. The limitation of activities had a personal reason – in my “second” job as a music history professor at USC, I was burdened by an unusually large workload – teaching on overtime, and with a full calendar of scholarly conferences and various other plans made earlier, could not afford any time off for organizing events. The year began with a move to new quarters, much more spacious and comfortable, but quickly filling in with material, donations, purchases, etc. The move was marked with an open house in October 1999, associated with an all-Chopin recital of USC Professor, Daniel Pollack.

2. Conferences and Sessions

Through the fall semester, I participated in conferences and symposia presenting the following papers and sessions:

“Postcommunist and Postmodern: New Music from Poland” Special Session on New Music in Slavic Europe, at the 1999 Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, St. Louis, November 1999.
“Defining a Nation: Polish Communities and Symbols in Music” Panel Session at the 1999 Meeting of the AMS, 4 November 1999 (Session Chair and Organizer). This session consisted of a repeat of some material from the “Polish/Jewish/Music!” International Conference held at USC in November 1998 (presenters: Netsky, Goldberg, Werb) expanded by new presentation on national anthems (Harley) and the music of the Tatra mountains in popular imagination (Cooley). The session, though held in the evening, was very well attended and generated interesting discussion about constructing national identity in music, Polish-Jewish relations, etc. The session respondent was Prof. Margarita Mazo (specialist in Russian music) and one of the participants was Prof. Michael Beckerman (specialist in Czech music).
“From Art to Kitsch and Back Again: Reflections on the Imitations of Chopin’s Style by Women Composers” presented at the 2nd International Chopin Congress, organized by the Polish Chopin Academy and F. Chopin Society in Warsaw, October 1999. Paper included discussion of Chopin imitations by Clara Schumann and Cecile Chaminade, inspirations by Grazyna Bacewicz.
“Chopin and the Polish Race: Political Dimensions of Chopin Reception” presented at the session on “Chopin Appropriated” at The Age of Chopin: The Chopin Sesquicentennial Symposium Indiana University, Bloomington, September 1999. This paper presented the most radically nationalistic aspects of Chopin reception in Poland, inspired by the writings of H. Taine and exemplified by the writings of Niewiadomski and Szymanowski, as well as some of their predecessors.

In June 2000, Halina Goldberg and I attended the 58th Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, held in Krakow as one of the events of the 600th Anniversary of Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Our papers brought to Poland the subject matter of the “Polish/Jewish/Music!” conference (previously presented at the AMS, see above) and formed the core of a special session on this subject. Dr. Jadwiga Paja-Stach completed this program with her paper on Polish emigre composers. Interestingly, themes raised during the discussion in Poland were entirely different than those of interest to American scholars. A longer commentary on this subject seems necessary – and a more extensive report from this wonderful conference. The PMRC was also represented at the conference by Prof. Diane Wilk, Associate Director of the PMRC, who travelled to Poland with her husband, Dr. Michael Burch. They paid respects to composer Henryk Gorecki among the various points of their travel. My own travel resulted in numerous donations and purchases expanding our collection (books, scores, recordings, rare material, manuscripts, etc.). More detailed reports will follow.

3. Plans for the Summer

There are several important new developments under way at the PMRC. During the summer of 2000, Polish students Blazej Wajszczuk and Ewa Grzegrzulka (try to pronounce those names!) will work on expanding and revising our web page. It is necessary to update our links, calendar of festivals and competitions, to add new sites about composers, new sites about Frequently Asked Questions (such as the perennial “anthem” and “sto lat” requests), as well as to move to the internet our catalogs so that they could be searched without questioning the staff of the PMRC. These projects will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Barbara Zakrzewska and with USC computer science students and graduates, Marcin Depinski and Jakub Landau.

The delayed projects (book, Polish Music Journal) will be put on schedule and various other projects hopefully advanced beyond the planning projects. The newly established Wilk Book Prizes will need to be awarded and advertised, and some new scholarship opportunities created. As you see, we will have a very busy summer. Have a good one, too!

Anniversaries

Born This Month

July 04, 1904 – Artur Malawski, composer (d. 1957)
July 06, 1837 – Władysław Żeleński, composer (with a doctorate in philosophy, d.1921)
July 09, 1931 – Eugeniusz Knapik, composer
July 10, 1936 – Jan Wincenty Hawel, composer
July 10, 1835 – Henryk Wieniawski, violin virtuoso & composer (see his Page at the PMRC)
July 10, 1929 – Tadeusz Strumiłło, musicologist (d. 1956)
July 13, 1775 – Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł, composer, cellist, patron of arts (d. 1833)
July 14, 1926 – Jan Krenz, conductor & composer
July 16, 1947 – Grażyna Pstrokonska-Nawratil, composer
July 17, 1932 – Wojciech Kilar, composer
July 22, 1930 – Leoncjusz Ciuciura, composer
July 23, 1884 – Apolinary Szeluto, composer (Young Poland group, d. 1966)
July 26, 1928 – Tadeusz Baird, composer (d. 1982, see his Page at the PMRC)
July 26, 1922 – Andrzej Koszewski, composer (choral music)
July 29, 1943 – Marta Ptaszyńska, composer & percussionist (see her Page at the PMRC)

Died This Month

July 6, 1911 – Kazimierz Hofmann (b. 1842, pianist, composer, father of the renowned virtuoso and director of Curtis Institute, Józef Hofmann)
July 8, 1906 – Franciszek Bornik (b. 1870), priest, conductor, writer
July 21, 1964 – Zygmunt Sitowski (b. 1906), musicologist
July 23, 1829 – Wojciech Bogusławski (b. 1757), the first theatre director in Poland, the author of several opera libretti (set by J. Stefani and J. Elsner)
July 25, 1831 – Maria Szymanowska (b. 1789), pianist & composer (see her Page at the PMRC)

From Our Mailbox

Search for Ekier Edition of Chopin

Greetings form Manila.

I am Dr. Edward K. Chung, a physician here in Manila. Originally form San Francisco, California, I have been a student of piano since childhood. For many years, since studying Jean Jaques Eigeldinger’s research, I have been trying to find the Jan Ekier edition of the works of Chopin, as published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne. In spite of many inquiries and visits to music stores from New York to Tokyo and Hong Kong, it seems no one has heard of this edition of Chopin. Although the subject of a definitive Chopin Edition is subject to much scholarly and controversial debate, I feel Jan Ekier’s work, together with the HenleChopin /Ewald Zimmermann and even the old Mikuli / Chopin edition currently represent the best choices for piano students.

I was really happy to discover your website, and I write you now to seek your help and advice on where I can find and purchase the original Jan Ekier National Edition of the works of Chopin. I was able so far to obtain the Scherzos, Impromptus , Nocturnes and Ballades as done by Ekier, as published by the Wiener Urtext Editions ( Schott). But the entire Chopin range as done by Ekier and published by the Foundation of the National Edition of the works of Chopin seems really impossible to find. An European company , Harrasowitz Sevices does list this Ekier / Chopin edition in its catalouge, but my E mail inquiries to them remain unanswered. […]

The volumes I am looking for are published by:

Chopin, Fryderyk: Wydanie Narodowe Dziel F. Chopina National Edition of the works of F. Chopin; editor, Jan Ekier. Warsawa, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, Poland.

The titles are:

A. ” Xllla (13a) [PWM], Koncert in E minor op 11 na fortepian z towarzyszeniem orkiestry, wersja na 1 fortepian” ( reduction for one piano)
B. “Xlllb (13b) [PWM], Koncert f. op.21 na fortepian z towarzyszeniem orkiestry , wersja na 1 fortepian” ( reduction for one piano)
C. “XIV ( 14 ) [PWM], Utwory koncertowe na fortepian z towarzyszeniem orkiestry, op.2,13, 14, 22; wersja na 1 fortepian” (reduction for one piano)

I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Sincerely yours,
Edward K. Chung, M.D.

We hope that Dr. Chung’s appeal for help will not remain unanswered. Please forward your information to the PMRC and we will send it off to Dr. Chung. It is great to receive such proofs of enduring popularity of Polish music, and it is our duty as Polish music community to do everything we can to help.