Paderewski and Polish Emigré Composers
Editorial by Maja Trochimczyk
I. Studying Paderewski in His Year
After the world-wide Chopin Year celebrations of 2000 sponsored by UNESCO, Polish music was the focus of another, though less global, commemoration: The Polish government designated the year 2001 as the “Paderewski Year” marking the 60th anniversary of the composer’s death (6 November). The honoree, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), was a Polish pianist, composer, and patriot who became the country’s first prime minister in the 20th-century and Poland’s representative to the League of Nations.[1] Paderewski was also an inspiring orator, humanitarian and philanthropist who donated millions to charitable causes; yet, due to various political and aesthetic factors, his cultural significance has been underappreciated both in Poland and abroad in the second half of the 20th century. One of the reasons was the lack of interest of the communist government of Poland (after 1945) in publicizing Paderewski’s political achievements. Another important factor was the general dislike for late-romantic music during the modernist period, beginning in the 1910s and continuing through the century until the 1970s. One of the instances of such critical attitudes may be seen in Karol Szymanowski’s negative reaction to Paderewski’s Symphony in B minor (composed in 1907 and premiered in Vienna in 1911). In a letter to Polish musicologist, Zdzisław Jachimecki in Kraków, Szymanowski wrote after the Vienna concert that Paderewski’s Symphony was “an unbelievable abomination for which no words are insulting enough.” The fact that this harsh opinion is cited in Jim Samson’s brief entry on Paderewski for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians II online, indicates that negative judgements about Paderewski’s compositional talents persist among music scholars in the West. [2] Moreover, the fact that the editorial board of the New Grove II, a major reference work for the English-language music world, selected a Chopin specialist to write the Paderewski entry instead of inviting a Paderewski scholar (for instance the director of the Paderewski Studies Center at the Jagiellonian University in Poland, Małgorzata Perkowska), provides a further proof of their disregard for the composer. Actually, a closer reading of Szymanowski’s correspondence and biography proves him not to be as “anti-Paderewskian” as the quote above implies: according to Teresa Chylińska, he was pleased with the virtuoso’s performances of his Etude in B-flat minor op. 4, and delighted to have received a honorary doctorate from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, an institution that had previously granted this honor to one musician only—Paderewski himself.[3]
The establishment of the “Paderewski Year” served to counter such neglect of, and negativity towards, Paderewski’s music especially by providing opportunities of hearing his compositions in live performances. The majority of Paderewski-themed concerts and festivals took place in Poland. For instance, the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz bearing the composer’s name, expanded the scope of commemorative events; since 1961 the Philharmonic has hosted the Paderewski Piano Competition.[4] So far five editions of this competition have taken place: in 1961, 1986, 1994, 1998, and 2001. The noticeable gap after the first and second competitions resulted from the lack of governmental support for the “Paderewski cause” in post-war Poland, probably due to political constraints which disappeared with the change of government in 1989. Despite an increase in the number of performances, relatively few scholarly events have been planned around the world during the Paderewski Year of 2001. His name has not appeared in the programs of national meetings of such professional organizations as the American Musicological Society, College Music Society, and Society for American Music in the U.S., or the Royal Music Society in Great Britain.
II. Polish-Born Composers in the U.S.
In this lack of scholarly interest, especially outside Poland, Poland’s one-time prime-minister and the most famous 20th-century virtuoso, shares the fate of other émigrés from Poland. Few scholarly projects have been dedicated to such composers as Feliks and Wiktor Łabuński, Tadeusz Kassern, Henryk Vars, Grzegorz Fitelberg, Karol Rathaus, and other Polish musicians who emigrated to the U.S. The Polish émigrés who settled in France did not fare much better than their American counterparts. Aleksander Tansman (though he should be counted in both countries as he spent some time in California), Roman Palester, Michał Spisak, and Szymon Laks are hardly household names in the classical music world. [5]
In order to fill the gap in English-language scholarship about Paderewski and his contemporaries and successors who emigrated to the U.S., both issues of the Polish Music Journal in 2001 are devoted to this group of artists. The focus on Paderewski will be more thorough in the second, winter edition of the Journal. The current issue presents Paderewski among composers and musicians who followed him in their trans-Atlantic journey to the shores of America: Zygmunt Stojowski (1870-1946), his student, a fellow composer and pianist based in New York, who shared Paderewski musical and patriotic ideas and collaborated with him on many projects; Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986), a pianist-composer of international fame, who emulated Paderewski’s example as a virtuoso pianist and composer and, like his elder colleague, spent the years of World War II in California, finding here a welcome refuge from the strife of the war; Feliks Łabuński (1892-1978), a composer-pianist who settled on the East Coast, rising to prominence as a college professor; and Henryk Vars (or Wars as he is still known in Poland; 1902-1977), whose involvement in popular music and film set him apart from the others, yet who also—as a refugee from the war-torn country—found his way to California.[6] Neither Łabuński, nor Tansman, nor Vars were Paderewski’s personal associates. The connection between them is limited to their Polish nationality, their preferred instrument (piano), and their fondness for compositions based on national themes and exploring national genres (i.e., Polish folk dances, such as the krakowiak or mazurka).
Of the four of Paderewski’s contemporaries and successors listed above, Aleksander Tansman is the best known, though few English-language publications have highlighted his career and musical achievements. Jill Timmons and Sylvain Fremaux wrote about Tansman for the inaugural issue of the Polish Music Journal (vol. 1 no 1, 1998): their article received the 1997 Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music. The project involved transcribing, translating and annotating an extended French radio interview by Tansman.[7] His life and music have been extensively studied in Poland; the results include a two-volume biography by music critic Janusz Cegiełła, and a musicological study of Tansman’s music and compositional style by Anna Granat-Janki, the author of the Tansman article included in the current issue of the Polish Music Journal. [8] Among other research projects relating to Tansman, several doctoral dissertations should be noted.[9] Tansman’s first personal encounter with Paderewski was with the prime-minister rather than with musician; in 1919, thanks to Paderewski’s assistance, Tansman was able to leave Poland and travel to Paris, where he settled and commenced on an international career as a performer and composer. In gratitude, Tansman dedicated his Twenty Easy Piano Pieces (Paris: Sénart, 1925) to his older colleague.
Janusz Wierzbicki’s study of Feliks Łabuński is the first of its kind.[10] We should point out here that in Poland, Łabuński is seen as a Polish composer. However, his national identity was more complicated and divided between two countries: born and educated in Poland, in 1927 he was one of the founders of the Association of Young Polish Composers in Paris, then, in 1936, he emigrated to the U.S. and became an American citizen in 1941. While in Paris, Łabuński was among a number of Polish composers whom Paderewski sponsored, providing them with financial support. In the U.S. he is usually regarded as an American composer of Polish descent; he worked in New York during World War II and was active, with Zygmunt Stojowski, in the Committee of Polish Musicians. However, most of his American career was spent in Cincinnati. Wierzbicki’s examination of Łabuński’s life and music highlights the most important aspects of the composer’s style and aesthetics throughout his career. The article is based on personal interviews with the composer, conducted in late 1970s, and on conversations with members of Łabuński’s immediate family conducted in 2000.
Linda Schubert’s study of the music of Henryk Vars is an outgrowth of her academic specialty as a “film” musicologist; she first presented her research on this composer during the International Conference on Polish/Jewish/Music held at USC in 1998 and the current article presents an expanded version of this project.[11] Papers by both Schubert and Granat-Janki were read at that conference; they will be reprinted in the proceedings. Despite the distant connection of their subjects to Paderewski himself, these two studies provide insights into the musical worlds and careers of composers who shared Paderewski’s path “from Poland to America.”
The three papers about composers who were Paderewski’s successors are cast in a similar format, presenting an overview of their subjects’ lives, music, and aesthetics. Paderewski is the subject of my preliminary study of his portrayals in poetry, based on a small collection of Paderewski-themed verse gathered from various sources. The composer is given a chance to speak in his own voice in the published selections from archival material held at the Polish Music Center at USC (their choice is discussed below).
III. Paderewski and Stojowski: Documents and Research
Larger-than-life and surrounded by legends, Paderewski remains a key figure in the cultural life of Polish Americans: legends about him circle the Internet, a Paderewski Festival is held yearly in Paso Robles, his Californian vineyard estate. In Switzerland, the Paderewski Society maintains a museum in Morges, the town where his villa Riond-Bosson was located; the Annales Paderewski bring out a variety of short articles in French every year.[12] Yet, the composer’s hold on the creative imagination of music historians is much weaker than that of music lovers. Much remains to be done, despite recent progress in Poland through the establishment of the Paderewski Studies Center at the Institute of Musicology, Jagiellonian University, founded by Elżbieta Dziębowska and currently directed by Małgorzata Perkowska.
Books about Paderewski published before 1945 include several biographies: by Charles Phillips in New York (a virtual hagiography of 1933; Phillips also wrote a poem for Paderewski discussed in “Paderewski and Poetry” in this Journal); Ron Landau in London (1934; this sensational account of the pianist’s life was designated for the general public); Henryk Opieński in Poland (Gebethner and Wolff’s publication of 1928, also published in French in the same year; revised in 1948 and retranslated into Polish in 1960); and Paderewski himself (first volume of his memoirs through 1914, written with Mary Lawton; issued in 1938).[13] Among these volumes, the Paderewski-Lawton text, despite some inaccuracies, presents the most interesting picture of the composer that he himself had approved. For Charles Phillips, the Polish composer was a “modern immortal” venerated to such a high degree that it later lead to a backlash in the form of an extensive biography by English writer and journalist of Polish descent Adam Zamoyski (1982). [14] The popularity of Zamoyski’s volume resulted in hurting Paderewski’s reputation, especially as a composer and writer. Zamoyski’s focus on his subject’s personal life and problems sensationalized his relationships with women; the biographer’s consistently negative comments about Paderewski’s compositions could only delay the proper recognition of the full scope of the artist’s talent. Simultaneously, Marian Marek Drozdowski (1982) issued a political biography of the composer-statesman; due to the well-known political constraints of its times, the biography had to ignore some issues in Paderewski’s political life, such as his critical attitude toward the Soviet Union. Henryk Przybylski’s similar volume of 1992 was free of such political limitations.[15]
Polish publications by scholars involved in archival research have begun to provide a solid framework for future studies. Andrzej Piber’s Droga do sławy: Ignacy Paderewski w latach 1860-1902 [Path to Fame: Ignacy Paderewski in the years 1860-1902] published by PIW in Warsaw in 1982 benefited from his earlier work as one of the cataloguers of the Paderewski Archives at the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw. His research, however, focused on the biography and reception, and not the evaluation of Paderewski’s compositions. Małgorzata Perkowska, the director of the Paderewski Studies Center based in Kraków, discovered numerous forgotten works by Paderewski during her archival research; wrote a catalog of his compositions (with Włodzimierz Pigła, 1988); authored a detailed diary of his concert activities with a full account of his repertoire and public appearances of any kind [16]; and edited the memoirs and letters from Paderewski’s secretary and his wife, Sylwan and Aniela Strakacz (1994, described below). Perkowska also “repatriated” the final portion of Paderewski letters from California to the Jagiellonian University (the University had earlier received the composer’s library; his manuscripts were donated to the Academy of Music in Warsaw; his artworks to the National Museum in Poland; and files of archival material to the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw).[17] Other scholars began examining various aspects of Paderewski’s musical achievements. During a conference dedicated to Paderewski at Jagiellonian University in 1991, several papers presented new approaches to aspects of Paderewski’s life and music seen in contemporaneous context, not necessarily Polish (e.g. Woźna-Stankiewicz’s study of Paderewski’s songs to texts by Catulle Mendès). [18] The conference proceedings, edited by Wojciech Marchwica and Andrzej Sitarz, have been issued the same year. Another Paderewski anthology, edited by Jerzy Jasienski appeared in 1996 in Poznań. The mystery of Paderewski’s last will was explored in a book by Simon de Pourtal Giron published in French in 1948 and in Polish in 1996. [19] Unfortunately, Baumgarten’s 1948 response to Giron’s allegations about the will has not yet been publicized in Poland.
English-speaking researchers seem to have found the study of Paderewski’s life and music much less attractive. Few scholars devoted their efforts to the figure of Paderewski. In 1992, Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson, interested in the notion of “tempo rubato” and 19th century composers, reprinted Paderewski’s 1910 essay on this subject.[20] A different version of Paderewski’s text is included in the current issue of the Polish Music Journal. A reprint of the earlier “tempo rubato” essay appears also in an anthology edited by James Francis Cooke, Great Pianists on Piano Playing: Godowsky, Hofmann, Lhevinne, Paderewski, and 24 Other Legendary Performers (Mineola, NY: Dover, 1999). Eminent American musicologist Robert M. Stevenson (no relation to the composer mentioned above), a highly-respected and ground-breaking pioneer in the scholarly study of American music (of North, Central and South Americas), which he explored in a huge list of articles, books, and scholarly editions, devoted two short essays in the 1990s to Paderewski’s links to California. The first one was published in 1994 in the Inter-American Music Review that Stevenson founded and was the main contributor to, and the second appeared in a German Festschrift in 1995.[21] Anecdotal and biographical material appeared in the Perkowska/Strakacz-Appleton volume of documents by Paderewski’s secretary and his wife, published in 1994. [22] Some performers dedicated their D.M.A. documents to Paderewski; these doctoral theses of lesser size and scope in performance than in history programs, ending with a Ph.D. degree. For instance Albert Zak’s doctoral thesis discusses Paderewski’s performance idiosyncrasies, in comparison with other pianists who followed him historically, but not stylistically. [23] Of great promise is the direction taken by James Parakilas in his 1994 article, “The Soldier and the Exotic: Operatic Variations on a Theme of Racial Encounter” (published in The Opera Quarterly). [24]. Here Paderewski’s work is confronted with its ideology and is manifestations in other compositions from this period. With Parakilas’s essay, the examination of Paderewski’s reception from the points of view of critical musicology or gender studies has just began.
So far, Paderewski’s oratory skills have not been examined by literary scholars. While Andrzej Piber praised Paderewski’s talents in his 1981 biography, Adam Zamoyski presented them in a negative light, attributing his astounding success as a public speaker to the charisma of his personality, not his rhetorical gifts. Despite this criticism, Paderewski’s capabilities in this area are apparent in a speech that he gave during the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Poland’s Independence in 1928. The speech is reprinted in the third part of the materials from this event in the current issue of the Journal; it proves him to be an effective orator, in touch with his audiences, and able to use rhetorical gestures and figures developed through the history of that forgotten art. Paderewski’s remarks end with the following paragraph addressed to his American hosts and supporters:[25]
Our beloved national hero, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, has served your country unselfishly and usefully. Blessed be his name. But blessed be the name of everyone who has served your country unselfishly and usefully. Blessed be whoever contributed to the enlightenment, to the happiness, to the mightiness of your people. Blessed be whoever added to the glory of that sacred symbol of your young nation, “the Stars and Stripes,” the flag that never retreats, in the folds of which we have found at last, hidden for over a hundred years, the independence of Poland.
Clearly, Paderewski’s gift for public speaking benefitted from over thirty years of practice—begun in earnest during his campaign for Poland’s independence after the outbreak of World War I. The Paderewski Archive at the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw contains at least 5000 files, including his speeches, letters, diplomas, and press clippings. The personal archives of the Strakacz family and Paderewski’s letters to his wife, Helena (preserved by her secretary Helena Lubke) were only recently donated to the Jagiellonian University and still need to be catalogued. Even Paderewski’s own compositions are still being discovered. In 1988 Małgorzata Perkowska published an article listing a whole series of hitherto unknown (or forgotten) compositions found among Paderewski manuscripts in their various locations. [26]. There are Paderewski files in the special collections of the New York Piłsudski Institute, and a number of American universities.[27]. There are still many letters in private collections. Active for over sixty years, Paderewski wrote profusely and appeared at a multitude of events, concerts, and commemorations. Many of these events were documented. Paradoxically, this abundance of material does not encourage researchers; studying Paderewski requires time and devotion.
Paderewski research also demands a thorough knowledge of history, politics, music, and languages (he corresponded, wrote, and gave speeches in Polish, English, French, German). Only the collaborative efforts of political scientists, historians, literary critics, music historians and theorists could result in a full picture of his life and achievements. Since the progress of such research depends on the publication of documentary data, in order to fill in this gap, the second part of Polish Music Journal vol. 4 no. 1 presents source readings for the biography and musical views of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, including:
- a reprint of Paderewski’s article on “tempo rubato” from Henry Finck’s book Success in Music and How it is Won (1907);[28].
- selected press notices dating from February 1923 about Paderewski’s honorary degree of the Doctor of Law, conferred upon him by the University of Southern California in Los Angeles;
- selected greetings, poems, and speeches from a celebratory dinner honoring Paderewski as the architect of Poland’s independence (the dinner, sponsored by the Kosciuszko Foundation, was held in 1928 in New York and followed by the publication of a commemorative volume; the speeches include extensive remarks by Paderewski).
Zygmunt Stojowski, Paderewski’s only contemporary presented here, is also depicted through documents, rather than in scholarly studies. His life and music still await scholarly examination. Conductor and musicologist Joseph A. Herter is currently working on an extended article about this composer for a future volume of this Journal. One result of this ongoing research project is Herter’s contribution to the documentary part of the current issue, i.e. the 1911 “Stojowski and Stokowski” poem that he recently discovered in the Stojowski Collection at the Long Island home of the composer’s son, Henry Stojowski. The Stojowski Collection is also the source of Zygmunt Stojowski’s speech of 1944, originally entitled “Wherever there is no music life also ceases.” Another Stojowski article, first published in 1940 in Keyboard magazine and entitled “The Evolution of Style and Interpretation,” comes from the archives of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, New York. The publication of these archival materials serves to provide scholars with a starting point for Stojowski research.
The inclusion of Paderewski and Stojowski documents in the Polish Music Journal serves to highlight aspects of Polish and American musical life that have not yet attracted much critical attention. Philosophers of history have long claimed that in order to be alive in the present, the past has to be shared and remembered. In A Theory of Modernity, Agnes Heller writes:[29]
History is always shared. One remembers an experience regarding one’s relation to others, and one remembers with others. Thus the earlier as bygone—as past—is shared, but rarely fully shared: shared with some, but not with others, shared with some who are no longer. [. . .] Your past, the hunting ground of your remembrance, is always endangered. You have to protect it against attacks, but if you protect it too much you endanger it too. Lived history is the greatest blessing (and luckiest thing) in life.
The remembrance of Paderewski’s musical and political past is endangered by changed aesthetics, political factors, and ideology. While the excessive veneration by some of his contemporaries has not translated into a lasting elevated status among composers or statesmen, his historical significance needs to be re-examined without prejudice or bias. If, as Jim Samson claims in his New Grove II entry on Paderewski, Poland regained independence in 1918 almost “on its own”—because all the empires collapsed around it and there was, as it were, no other choice but to form a new country—and if Paderewski played such an insignificant role in the whole process, why would the American Congress make the following statement about the Polish patriot and artist, soon after his death?[30]
To the American People Mr. Paderewski stands as a symbol of liberty. He will take his place in history with Pulaski and Kosciuszko, other Polish patriots who aided us so nobly in our fight for freedom and liberty. His faith and courage will long remain in the hearts of Poland’s sons.
After Paderewski’s death in 1941, the Allies signed an agreement with the Soviet Union, and “Poland’s sons” found themselves in changed political circumstances that transformed Poland into a satellite state of the communist super-power for the next fifty years and all but obliterated public recognition of Paderewski in his home country. Paderewski’s body was moved from Arlington, Virginia to the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Warsaw only in 1992, after his home country regained its sovereignty from Soviet dominance. The scholarly examination of his musical and aesthetic heritage has begun.
An explanation is due here about the spelling of names of Polish émigré composers, including Paderewski. Baptized “Ignacy Jan,” he was best known in the West as “Ignace Jan,” but the Polish spelling is now used in most reference sources. Similarly, Zygmunt Stojowski was called—and called himself—”Sigismond” while in the U.S. and “Sigismund” while in Germany. Aleksander Tansman became “Alexandre” in France, but a hybrid spelling emerged later in his home-town of Łódź, Poland, where the headquarters of the “Alexander Tansman Foundation” are located. “Feliks Roderyk Łabuński” gained an “x” and lost all diacritical marks in the U.S., while Henryk Wars was transformed into Henry Vars to ensure a proper pronunciation of his name. Only in Vars’s case is the new spelling retained here, in accordance with the wishes of his widow, Elizabeth Vars; the names of the remaining composers are written as they would be in Poland, in order to reflect their Polish heritage.
Finally, I should thank all the people and institutions without whose assistance this issue of the Polish Music Journal would not have been possible. My inspiration for researching the lives and works of Paderewski and his contemporaries came from Wanda Wilk, the Founder and Honorary Director of the PMC. Ms. Wilk had an opportunity to witness a Paderewski performance in 1930s and admired the great musician-statesman as only a Polish-American truly could. She was also helpful in the troublesome tasks of producing and proofreading the PMJ. Joseph A. Herter introduced me to the world of Zygmunt Stojowski and brought me in touch with the composer’s son, Henry Stojowski, whose assistance was essential for obtaining archival material about the composer. I thank the Kosciuszko Foundation, New York, and the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, for permitting me to use their materials and providing me with research support. Finally, I am indebted to Dr. Linda Schubert, PMJ assistant editor, and Zak Ozmo, my editorial assistant.
Notes
[1]. Paderewski’s role as Poland’s first prime minister and first minister of foreign affairs (1918-1919) resulted from his recognition by the Allied Powers as Poland’s main spokesperson and representative on the international arena during World War I. His direct involvement in Polish government did not last long, but he preserved the honorary title of “Mr. President” until the end of his life. After a period of retirement from political functions, in the first two years of World War II, he joined the government-in-exile in the first two years of World War II; his involvement there was largely figurative and interrupted by his death. [Back]
[2]. Karol Szymanowski’s statement comes from a letter written on 13 November 1911 from Vienna to musicologist Zdzisław Jachimecki in Kraków after the Vienna premiere of Paderewski’s Symphony in B minor “Polonia”, Brahms’s Violin Concerto, and Grzegorz Fitelberg’s Pieśń o sokole [Song about a hawk]. Szymanowski was rather jealous of Paderewski’s successes and anxious about the reception of his own Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major scheduled for performance ten days later. See Karol Szymanowski, Korespondencja, [Correspondence], ed. T. Chylińska, vol. 1 (Kraków: PWM, 1994), 310. In his entry on “Paderewski” Jim Samson erroneously quotes this letter as published in volume 2 of Szymanowski’s correspondence (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , online, London: McMillan, 2000). [Back]
[3]. See Teresa Chylińska, Karol Szymanowski: His Life and Works (Los Angeles: Friends of Polish Music, 1993), 31, 233.[Back]
[4]. In 1961 Jerzy Maksymiuk (now active as conductor) was the winner and Henryk Sztompka, one of Paderewski’s students, was the president of the jury. In 1986 the first prize was awarded to Wojciech Kocyan; in 1994 there were no first-prize winners; Jerzy Sulikowski served as the president of the jury since 1986. For more information visit the Competition’s web site, http://www.konkurspaderewskiego.pl/pages/e_frame.html.[Back]
[5]. Feliks Łabuński (1892 – 1978); Wiktor Łabuński (1895-1974); Tadeusz Kassern (1904-1957); Henryk Vars (1902-1977); Karol Rathaus (1895-1958); Grzegorz Fitelberg (1879-1953), Jerzy Fitelberg (1905-1951); Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986); Roman Palester (1907-1989), Michał Spisak (1914-1965), and Szymon Laks (1901-1983). [Back]
[6]. Tansman spent the war years (1941-1946) in Los Angeles, but returned to Paris afterwards; Łabuński emigrated to the U.S. in 1936 and settled there; Vars came after World War II as a displaced person (i.e. a former soldier in the Polish Army under British command). [Back]
[7]. Jill Timmons and Sylvain Fremaux, “Alexandre Tansman. Diary of a 20th-Century Composer.” Polish Music Journal 1 no. 1 (1998). Other recent English-language publications about Tansman include brief reports issued by Clavier magazine (e.g. Lorraine Butterfield, “Alexandre Tansman and the Golden Era of Paris,” Clavier, 29 no.5 (May-June 1990): 18-20) as well as various discussions of his contribution to contemporary guitar repertoire, in an international array of guitar periodicals. [Back]
[8]. Janusz Cegiełła, Dziecko szczęścia, Aleksander Tansman i jego czasy [Child of luck, Alexandre Tansman and His Times], 2 volumes (Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1986-1996); Anna Granat-Janki, Forma w twórczości instrumentalnej Aleksandra Tansmana [Form in the instrumental works of Alexandre Tansman] (Wrocław: Akademia Muzyczna im. Karola Lipińskiego, 1995).[Back]
[9]. Lorraine, Butterfield, An Investigation of Rhythm in the Piano Mazurkas of Alexandre Tansman: A Guide for the Piano Instructor/Performer (Ph.D. diss. New York University, 1990); Susan Marie Tusing, Didactic Solo Piano Works By Alexandre Tansman (D.M.A. Louisiana State University, 1993); Anna Granat-Janki, Forma w twórczości instrumentalnej Aleksandra Tansmana [Form in A.Tansman’s Instrumental Music] (Ph.D. diss., University of Warsaw, 1992). Barbara Milewski, National Imaginings in The Mazurka (Ph. D. diss., Princeton University, 2000).[Back]
[10]. Wierzbicki examined the Łabuński archives in 1975-1977 and interviewed the composer in February and March 1976. Other sources of information are: Stephen Łabuński, the composer’s nephew, and Victoria Fann, the composer’s granddaughter. [Back]
[11]. International Conference “Polish/Jewish/Music!” was organized by the Polish Music Center at the University of Southern California and held in November 1998.[Back]
[12]. The Paderewski Museum (Le Musée Paderewski) is located in Morges, Switzerland, and directed by Rita Rosenstiel. For more information see the Museum’s web site: http://www.mygale.org/phonotheque/musee.html. [Back]
[13]. Charles Phillips (1880-1933), Paderewski, the Story of a Modern Immortal (New York: MacMillan, 1933; reprinted in New York: Da Capo Press, 1978; reprint lists the publication date as 1934); Rom Landau, Ignace Paderewski, Musician and Statesman (London: I. Nicholson and Watson, 1934); Antoni Gronowicz, Paderewski: Pianist and Patriot (Edinburgh and New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1943); Czesław R. Halski,Ignace Jan Paderewski: Dzieje wielkiego Polaka i wielkiego Europejczyka [The story of a great Pole and a great European] (London, Gryf, 1964); Charlotte Kellogg, Paderewski (New York: Viking Press, 1956). [Back]
[14]. Adam Zamoyski, Paderewski (New York and London: Atheneum, 1982). Zamoyski (b. in New York in 1949) is a British journalist (BBC, Financial Times) who authored two books on Polish history, a popular biography of Chopin and a history of the Polish-Soviet war. [Back]
[15]. Marian Marek Drozdowski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Zarys biografii politycznej [Outline of a political biography] (Warsaw, 1979; Eng. trans., 1981, enlarged 1988); Henryk Przybylski, Paderewski: Między muzyką a polityką [Paderewski: Between music and politics] (Katowice: Unia, 1992).[Back]
[16]. Małgorzata Perkowska, “Wczesne utwory Paderewskiego w świetle źródeł prasowych” [Paderewski’s early works in the light of press sources], Muzyka 3-4 (1981): 117-20; “Nieznane kompozycje I.J. Paderewskiego w świetle badań źrodłowych” [Unknown works in the light of source research], Muzyka 33 no. 3 (1988): 21-32; Perkowska with Włodzimerz Pigła: “Katalog rękopisów I.J. Paderewskiego” [Catalogue of manuscripts by Paderewski], ibid., 53-70; Wykonawstwo i koncepcje polityczne Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego (Kraków: PWM, 1991); Diariusz koncertowy Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego [Paderewski’s Concert Diary] (Kraków, 1990). She also edited, with Anne Strakacz-Appleton: Za kulisami wielkiej kariery. Paderewski w dziennikach i listach Sylwina i Anieli Strakaczów. 1936-1937 [Behind the scenes of a great career: Paderewski in the diaries and letters of the Strakaczes] (Kraków, Musica Iagellonica, 1994). The latter publication should not be confused with: Aniela Strakacz, Paderewski As I Knew him: From the Diary of Aniela Strakacz (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1949).[Back]
[17]. The history of the collection is briefly summarized in Andrzej Piber’s introduction to his Droga do sławy, documenting Paderewski’s rise to fame until 1902, op. cit. The last will was questioned and the whole matter of Paderewski’s inheritance was disputed by Simone Giron (a French book published in 1948; Polish translation in 1996, see note 19) and defended by A. Baumgartner, in La vérité sur le prétendu drame Paderewski. Documents et témoignages (Geneva, 1948). Paderewski manuscripts have been catalogued by Małgorzata Perkowska with Włodzimierz Pigła (see note 16), and the description of 73 manuscripts donated to the F. Chopin Academy of Music was conducted by Antoni Prosnak and Włodzimierz Pigła Rękopisy utworów Paderewskiego w zbiorach AMFC [The manuscripts of Paderewski’s compositions in the collections of the Akademia Muzyczna im. F. Chopina] (Warsaw: Akademia Muzyczna im. Fryderyka Chopina, 1992).[Back]
[18]. Małgorzata Woźna-Stankiewicz, “Poezja C. Mendesa w pieśniach Paderewskiego i kompozytorów francuskich” [C. Mendes’s poetry in songs by Paderewski and French composers] in Wojciech Marchwica and Andrzej Sitarz, eds., Warsztat kompozytorski, wykonawstwo i koncepcje polityczne Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego [Composers workshop: Performance and political conceptions of Ignacy Jan Paderewski] (Kraków: Musica Iagiellonica, 1991).[Back]
[19]. Jerzy Jasieński, Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Antologia [Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Anthology], (Poznań: Ars Nova, 1996). Simone de Pourtales Giron, Tajemnica testamentu Paderewskiego [Paderewski’s secret legacy], trans. by Hanna Oledzka, Renata Opechowska and Elzbieta Reis, (Krakow: PWM, 1996). The criticism of Paderewski’s personal secretary Sylvin Strakacz, goes beyond scholarly controversies and a rebuttal of this book was published in Switzerland, while its removal from the market was ordered by court.[Back]
[20]. Ignacy Jan Paderewski, “Tempo Rubato” and “The Best Way to Study the Piano,” in The Paderewski Paradox/Le paradoxe Paderewski (Lincoln: Klavar Music Foundation, 1992); the first article was originally published in Henry Finck, Success in Music and How it is Won (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1909) and reprinted in Słowo polskie 15 no. 491 (1910); the second article first appeared in The Strand in 1895. Ronald Stevenson, “The Paderewski Paradox” and “Preface to Paderewski’s Essay on Tempo Rubato,” in The Paderewski Paradox/Le paradoxe Paderewski, ibidem. [Back]
[21]. Robert M. Stevenson, “Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s California Connections,” in Altes im Neuen: Festschrift Theodor Gollner zum 65. Geburtstag (Tutzing, Germany: Schneider, 1995): 331-43; “Paderewski’s Paso Robles Property,” Inter-American Music Review 14 no.1 (spring-summer 1994): 131-139. [Back]
[22]. Perkowska prepared the volume while Strakacz-Appleton edited it for publication by Musica Iagellonica in Kraków (see note 16).[Back]
[23]. Dissertations about Paderewski in music: Albert W. Zak, Paderewski’s “Theme Varié” op. 16 no. 3: An Eclectic Analysis (D.M.A. thesis, New York University, 1999); Paul A. Carlson, Early Interpretation of Debussy’s Piano Music, (D.M.A. thesis, Boston University, 1998); William Hunter Heiles, Rhythmic nuance in Chopin performances recorded by Moriz Rosenthal, Ignaz Friedman, and Ignaz Jan Paderewski, (D.M.A. thesis, University of Illinois, 1964). Dissertations about Paderewski in politics: David J. Morck, Ignace Paderewski and the Re-Birth of the Polish State, 1914-1919, (M.A. thesis, California State University, Fullerton, 1994); Joseph T. Hapak, Recruiting a Polish Army in the United States, 1917-1919, (Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1985); Mieczyslaw B. Bienkowski-Biskupski, the United States and the Rebirth of Poland, 1914-1918, (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1981); Paul C. Latawski, Great Britain and the Rebirth of Poland 1914-1918, (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1985); Zofia Sywak, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Prime Minister of Poland, 16 January to 9 December 1919, Ph.D. diss., St. John’s University, 1975). [Back]
[24]. James Parakilas, “The Soldier and the Exotic: Operatic Variations on a Theme of Racial Encounter,” The Opera Quarterly, vol.10 no.3 (spring 1994): 43-69. [Back]
[25]. Paderewski’s speech, with an additional title “Remarks in Self-Defense” is reprinted in Part III of “Paderewski and the Tenth Anniversary of Poland’s Independence,” in this issue of the PMJ.[Back]
[26]. Perkowska found two early works for piano, Stara Suita for piano, miniatures for piano (Flood, Mazurka in G major, Preambule) and violin and piano (Romance and Song), an orchestral suite and overture, a song Dans la foret to a text by Theodore Gautier, and numerous unfinished fragments. Bibliographical reference to her article is in note 16. [Back]
[27]. Paderewski’s manuscripts in the U.S. are located at: the Library of Congress (Minuet in G major op. 14 no. 1), Pittsburgh University (Manru), the Polish Museum of America in Chicago (Hej, Orle bialy), and Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (Violin Sonata). Documents about him may also be found in the archives of many concert organizations that for which he performed, as well as the Slavic Collection of the New York Public Library, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and other locations.[Back]
[28]. Paderewski’s chapter on tempo rubato in Success in Music and How it is Won, by Henry Finck (1854-1926) published in New York by C. Scribner’s Sons, in 1909 and reprinted in 1927. Finck was also an author of essays about Chopin and other composers (1892), and a brief book about Paderewski, Paderewski and His Art (New York, Looker-on Pub. Co., 1896). [Back]
[29]. Agnes Heller, A Theory of Modernity (New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1999), 182.[Back]
[30]. Cited from the Congressional Record vol. 87 no. 127 (9 July 1941); published by Sylwin Strakacz, “From Morges to Arlington,” The Polish Review no. 2 (8 September 1941): 10. Courtesy of Joseph A. Herter. [Back]