Spring surprises kept coming to the PMC during the month of April. Unlike the traditional “donation-by-mail” method, this time most gifts were conveyed to us personally.
The first tranche of treasures, handed in by our dear longtime friend, Betty Harford-Naszódy, will benefit the PMC library and our files on composers. A hardbound copy of The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (edited by Don Randell) will be added to the reference section shelves. The other gift from Ms. Harford is a richly illustrated clipping from the Spring/Summer 2016 issue of the Montecito Magazine with an article about Polish composer and pianist, Tomasz Gliński (see photo at left). A longtime resident of Santa Barbara, Gliński entertained countless prominent Californians in various elegant local watering holes by performing Polish music of all kinds—from Chopin to folk—to rapturous and universal acclaim. His daughter, Teresa McWilliams, had in the past donated to us Gliński’s arrangements of Polish folk songs that were published in London in the late 1940s, shortly before this musician and his family settled in California. This Montecito Magazine article will provide much background information on Tomasz Gliński for anyone interested in his music career and compositions.
The second bundle of items, also destined for the PMC library, was given to us by Dr. Agnieszka Sołtysik-Monnet, a professor of American Literature and Culture at the Université de Lausanne. Agnieszka is also a daughter of Dr. Stefan Sołtysik, our longtime friend and supporter. Among the book bundle destined for the PMC we found a hardbound copy of Julian Tuwim’s Cicer cum caule czyli groch z kapustą, is a collection of various newspaper clippings on a truly astonishing variety of topics. These miscellanea date mainly from the 19th century and the selection of articles closely adheres to the collection’s original title (literal translation: peas and cabbage; actual meaning: hodge-podge). As such, shards of information contained therein—and ranging from useful to useless—provide great fodder for sparkling conversations as well as merit placing this volume on our reference shelf for easy access in case of need.
Three other books from Agnieszka and her dad will certainly prove equally entertaining additions to the PMC library. Paweł Mikułowski’s Smiertelni nieśmiertelni—choroby i groby wielkich kompozytorów [Mortal and immortal—grave illnesses and graves of great composers] is a walk through several European cemeteries, where selected masters of great music reached their final fermatas (read: resting places). Horacy Safrin’s Przy szabasowych świecach [At the Shabbat candle] is a collection of Jewish wisdom and scores of entertaining stories from Poland of the past few centuries. “Why do some kinds of music, yet not others, lift us to ecstasy?” is a question posed on the back cover of Robert Jourdain’s Music, the Brain and Ecstasy—How Music Captures Our Imagination also gifted to us by Agnieszka Sołtysik. This Harper paperback packs quite a punch with Mr. Jourdain’s examination of such prime phenomena as sound, tone, melody, harmony, rhythm, composition, performance, listening and understanding, finally leading the reader to a highly sensuous exploration of ecstasy. In this last—ought we say, climactic—chapter, we are to ponder (as the author proposes) “What’s happening in music that drives us right out of our skins?” and, after much thought, concludes that, “You may leave this chapter with new ideas not only of what music is, but of what you are.” Indeed…
A rather personal gift from the Sołtysik family is represented by two copies of the piano score for Marsz Pułku 3 Ułanów Śląskich [March of the Third Regiment of the Silesian Uhlans] edited by Dr. Stefan’s Sołtysik’s son, Włodzimierz. Published in 2009 by Włodzimierz Sołtysik’s Triangiel Edition in Warsaw, this score also features an extensive historical essay of the said regiment in Polish and English. Importantly, following the two-page piano score, a biography of Stefan Sołtysik Sr. (1901-1994) is also included, since Dr. Sołtysik’s father’s military career including serving as lieutenant colonel in that fabled Polish regiment.
Another interesting gift was handed to us by Grant Barnes, a sworn fan of Polish music and a frequent guest at PMC concerts. He recently donated to us several issues of Le Theatre en Pologne | The Theatre in Poland magazine, covering the years 1972-1974. With many fascinating articles covering Poland’s highly experimental theatre scene of the 1970s, these periodicals provide an additional glimpse at Poland’s cultural and music life during the rather grim and otherwise difficult years under the communist government. Mr. Barnes’s gift also includes several theatre programs including, for example, the performance of Józef Szajna’s Replika with music by Bogusław Schaffer, or Poland’s “Akademia Ruchu” [Academy of Movement] 1991 appearances in Los Angeles, as well as the mid-1970s Polish Mime Ballet concerts at Harvard’s Loeb Drama Center. A photograph from a play staged near Katowice and programs of Warsaw’s Teatr Studio as well as from the 1973 world premiere of Kartoteka [Card file] by Tadeusz Różewicz at Teatr Mały were also included in this donation.
Next, Dr. Sławomir Dobrzański, author of Maria Szymanowska’s biography published by us in 2006 (PMHS Vol. 9), sent us a copy of the May 2024 issue of Białostockie Studia Pedagogiczno-Muzyczne. This periodical features several fascinating articles, opening with Dr. Dobrzański’s essay on piano music by Wiktor Łabuński. Illustrated with musical examples and interspersed with Łabuński’s fascinating life story (born in St. Petersburg in 1895, he knew Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Scriabin; emigrated to the U.S. in 1928 and had a distinguished career as an academic, pianist and composer), this is a great read on a figure still relatively unknown in the history of Polish music. Other articles in this issue cover such topics as music of Michał Spisak, the world of compositions by Miłosz Magin and organ works by Aleksander Tansman.
Last but not least, Nina Dąbrowa, one of the PMC’s most loyal friends, supporters and boosters, donated a very interesting book to our library. It is an elegant 1982 reprint of the 1874 edition of Słownik Muzyków Polskich dawnych i nowoczesnych [Dictionary of historical and contemporary Polish musicians] by Albert Sowiński, published by subscription in Paris. Besides presenting numerous composers, this volume opens with Sowiński’s fascinating and detailed article on the history of Polish music and is followed by the equally absorbing listing of various musical instruments used in Poland through the ages. The remaining four hundred pages of this Dictionary are devoted to musician’s biographies, beginning with “Abramowicz (Zenobia), a fortepianist with talent; gave a concert in Kiev in 1858” and ending on “Żywny (Woyciech), piano teacher in Warsaw, born in Czechia in 1756. Was Chopin’s first teacher. […]” Rounding off this publication are several musical examples, including Bogurodzica—Śpiew Św. Wojciecha, as well as several liturgical chants in a four-part setting.
The author of this compilation, Albert Sowiński, was a pianist and composer, who first studied with his father and later may have been a student of Karl Czerny in Vienna before settling in Paris in 1828. Sowiński was an important member of Polish diaspora in Paris after the November 1830 Uprising, and participated in many demonstrations in the French capital against the Tsarist government. One of Sowiński’s close friends was Francois-Joseph Fétis, a musicologist and composer (for whom Chopin wrote his Trois Nouvelles Etudes), as well as editor-in-chief of the prestigious Revue musicale. Sowiński resided at the elegant residence of Marquis d’Aligre at Faubourg de Saint-Germain, where he tutored his patron’s children and organized concerts of his own compositions.
As always—to all our donors—Dziękujemy! Thank you!