by Jarosław Zieliński [1]
The Poles, the Czechs, the Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Servians, Croatians, Carinthians, Illyrians, and Vends are all members of the great Slavonic race to which the progress of events is beginning to call attention. History is repeating itself, for as early as the beginning of the sixth century we find the Selavini, also the Venedi and Antes, advancing upon Constantinople after having defeated the Byzantine troops. Repulsed by Belisarius, these people settled on the Danube, and having made a treaty with Heraclius to expel the Avars from Illyria, we watch them spreading over many of the Byzantine provinces, not as enemies, but as allies.[2] Eventually the descendants of the original Slavonians began to unite and to establish governments known as Bulgaria, Moravia, Bohemia, Servia, Poland, and Ruthenia, and this union was with the view of defending themselves against their neighbors in the west–Germanic–and in the south–Byzantine. The Germans, seeking after advancement financial and otherwise which they could not obtain under their own paternal government, crowded the Polish cities as mechanics and traders, filled the monasteries which from the eleventh to the sixteenth century were important educational institutions, and as instructors of the young nobles exerted a baneful influence in general, and in particular prejudiced their pupils against the Polish language. A people known as Muscovites, who claim to be Great Russians, are sometimes included among the Slavonians. They in reality are a Tatar race, whose language is an admixture of Finnish and many Eastern words imported during the Tataric domination of over two centuries (1241-1477).[3]
The Poles A Cultured Race
Notwithstanding the more or less turbulent state which prevailed in Poland, especially during the last two centuries of its political existence, it has always been a country rich in historical works and memoirs, [sic] and to-day more than ever Poland possesses eminent writers in all styles–poetry, romance, drama, critique, history, and philosophy, as well as musicians and painters whose genius is recognized in all parts of the world. Rich material for song has been furnished by the dramatic history of Poland, so full of activity, splendor, and military glory. These songs, which go back to the early legends of the fifth and sixth centuries, reveal the poetic fantasy of the Polish people. Lacking during their early history what is peculiar to some other nations, that musical ear which is sensitive to harmony, they were blessed with temperament, which, when cultivated, brought forth such men as Szamotulski, Gomółka, Moniuszko, Kurpiński, Dobrzyński, Lipiński, and Radziwiłł.[4] The work of the early Polish masters did not surpass in value that of other composers. Poland, in comparison with other nations, did not possess in the sixteenth century many prominent musicians; but the few that it had surpassed in originality of form, melody, and even harmony the contemporary composer of other nationalities. Musical students, for example are well aware that Monteverde (born at Cremona in 1568),[5] the Wagner of the sixteenth century, is spoken of as having been the first to introduce the bold effects of unprepared sevenths and ninths, exciting thereby the wrath of the orthodox composers of the day; but they do not know that this innocent modern chord was known and used by Polish musicians a score of years prior to Monteverde, as can be gleaned from the works of Szamotulski and Gomólka. It has been justly said that “the ‘discovery’ of Monteverde had indeed a great future behind it!”
Peculiar Characteristics of Polish Music
While the Poles sang in heroic tones of victories over Tatars, Cossacks, Swedes, or Muscovites,[6] the events of the last century, ever since the first iniquitous partition of Poland amongst Austria, Russia, and Prussia, have naturally saddened the voice of the people, the portrayal of whose mental and emotional life by Polish composers has invited imitation and appropriation by other nationalities. This inner life and emotion, so distinctively different from what has been expressed by other composers, is a characteristic of the Slavonic type, and it dominates the master-works of the Poles.[7] Three musical elements enter into this characteristic, namely, melody, harmony, and rhythm; forbidden progressions of intervals, such as augmented seconds, diminished thirds, augmented fourths, diminished sevenths, minor ninths, etc., are of common occurrence; the harmony is distinguished by successions of chords presenting no logical contradiction, and yet at variance with established usage; while the melodic construction (from movement to rest) is exactly the reverse of that practiced in other lands. It is evident, therefore, that the formulas prescribed by the tradition of the middle ages were not acceptable to the Polish composers, for the temperament of the Slav does not tolerate oppression nor even constraint; hence, while the attention of music students in other countries was centered on the artificial application of the principles of harmony, Polish musicians, without disdaining the rules of counterpoint, showed a freedom of form and variety of rhythm exclusively Slavonic and particularly Polish.
Royal Patronage of Polish Music
Wacław (Vaslav) SZAMOTULSKI, A.M., Ph.D., was born about 1529 and died in 1572;[8] he lived during the reign of Sigismund I and that of his son, Sigismund Augustus, for whose wedding with Catherine of Austria he wrote, in 1553, the music. This is preserved, with other of his sacred compositions, in the library of Ossolinski at Lemberg.[9] Toward the end of the fifteenth century modern notation was adopted for all secular music; this notation was the invention of Jean de Mouris, who lived in the thirteenth century. On May 15, 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci, who had solved the problem of musical typography, issued from his press in Venice the first proofs of printed music. It is interesting to note here that Alexander, who reigned (1501-1506) prior to his brother Sigismund I, was so partial to music, and his prodigality toward its interpreters was such, that a law call “Statutum Alexandrinum” was passed, prohibiting his raising any money or using the revenue without the consent of the Diet.[10]The reign of Sigismund I, who succeeded him in 1506, began about the time when Europe was breaking the fetters of the middle ages. Luther, professor of philosophy at Wittenberg, by resisting the sale of indulgences (1517), opposed the supreme spiritual power of the Pope; while Francis I and the newly elected king of Poland were the only two who at that time opposed the pretensions to universal dominion of Charles V. Sigismund I had the same love of art as his brother.[11]He continued to maintain a fine court band, said to equal in every respect that of Louis XII; and when, in 1515, the Polish king met, at Presburg, Ladislas, king of Hungary; Ludwig, king of Bohemia; and Maximilian, emperor of Austria, the vocal and instrumental music furnished by a chorus and orchestra of nearly two hundred people, brought from Lithuania, caused no small amount of surprise among the Italians and Germans present. The latter were accustomed to make merry at the court of Maximilian I in Vienna, to drum and Swiss fife (querpfeife, or piffaro, a small kind of flute with six holes but no keys), the drum marking the rhythm, while the fife played the tune. This combination still furnishes the music to the farandole.
The Works of Szamotulski
Most of Szamotulski’s works have been reprinted in numerous collections of canticles, and even as late as 1868 his hymn “O My Heavenly Father” appeared in a little volume collected by G. Döring, published in Leipsic [sic] under the title of “Dreissig Slavische Geistliche Melodien aus 16 und 17 Jahrhundert.”[12]Unfortunately, with the exception of three numbers which are given with their original harmonies, all the canticles have been harmonized after the latest style, and number 19, 20, and 25, though attributed to Gomólka, are of an entirely different origin. Cabazon of Spain, Willaert of Flanders, and Mouton (Jean de Hollinque, who by the way was member of the band of Louis XII) were contemporaries of Szamotulski;[13]but a careful comparison of their respective styles will reveal the independent spirit and decided talent of this early Polish composer, who must not be confounded with a poet of the same name who lived about the same time and was secretary to Hetman Chodkiewicz of Lithuania.[14]
Other Composers of the Renaissance and the Baroque
MICHAEL GOMÓLKA (born about 1564 in Cracow) may be looked upon as a successor of Szamotulski.[15] He lived at the time of Palestrina, Filippo Neri, and Vittoria, and while studying in Italy no doubt imbibed that theories of these masters, profiting by them in a manner peculiar to great talent. His style, different from that of his contemporaries, and unlike the prevailing ecclesiastic type of that day, was strongly local, pulsating with rhythmic life, and very melodious. Well grounded in the grammar of music-for who was not in those days?-his compositions show careful elaboration in counterpoint, imitation, canon, fugue, etc.; but more than all, Gomólka was among the first of his day to practise monodic music, and to show a feeling of strong sympathy for the use of chords as regards their relation to each other. Several collections of his psalms (including numerous errors) have been published, the first in 1580, and some others as late as 1850. Gomólka lived during an epoch full of luster, justly called a century of golden literature and art in Poland; for some of her most distinguished poets, speakers, mathematicians, and musicians formed at the time a group of men who were honored throughout Europe. Under the prudent, patriotic, and just government of Sigismund Augustus (1548-70), Poland was enjoying the results of complete religious liberty; for in 1562, while France was being torn asunder by religious factions, the Polish Episcopal tribunals were shorn of their power. The doctrines of the Reformation found great favor among the nobility, and even the boldest theological skeptics-the exiled Italians Lelio and Fausto Socini, uncle and nephew-found an asylum there.
In 1530, Copernicus (1473-1543), a Pole by birth, the great precursor of Newton, made known his system of the world: the Cracow University, founded in 700 and restored in 1364, was the center of learning which gave the nation eminent philosophers, writers, orators, and musicians; and it is not surprising that a French writer observes that among a hundred Polish noblemen who came to Paris to offer Henry of Valois the crown of Poland, hardly two could be found who did not speak fluently Latin, French, German, and Italian. The country was rich, and the trades flourished to such an extent that over 3200 Jew employed 9600 artisans in working gold, silver, etc., and in manufacturing cloths which were of the costliest character, and surpassed by far those worn at the courts of France or Spain. An exact description of the geography, history, and commerce of Poland is accurately given in a curious Italian manuscript in the Harleian Collection, entitled “Relazione di Polonia”; its author was ambassador from Venice to Poland during the reign of Sigismund Augustus.[16]
Two other distinguished musicians belong to this epoch: SEBASTIAN FULSZTYNSKI, and scholar and learned theoretician, and his talented pupil, MARTIN LWOWCZYK (Martinus Leopolitis), who died in 1589.[17]Some equally famous men of the sixteenth century are spoken of by Starowolski in the fifty-sixth chapter of this “In elogiis centum illustrium Poloniae scriptorum.”[18]Many valuable manuscripts, including a number of works of the above-named musicians, were to be found prior to 1831 in the library of Pultawy; but since then it would be much earlier to find them in that of St. Petersburg. During the reigns of Sigismund III (1587-1632) and that of his sons, Ladislas Vasa and Casimir IV,[19]many foreign musicians found their way into Poland, some of whom entered the royal band. They came from Italy, from France, from Germany, and still others from Denmark, where Christian IV had as late as 1619 as splendid band composed of thirty-one singers, sixteen trumpeters, and thirty instrumentalists. His unfortunate participation in the Thirty Years’ War necessitated economy, and the once famous court band was finally reduced to eight instruments and seven singers. Among those who came at that time to Warsaw was one Paul Siefert, a quarrelsome fellow, born of German parents to Gdansk (Dantzic) [sic], then a Polish city.[20]The director of the Polish royal band was Aprilio Pacelli, who came from Italy in 1602, and continued at his post till he died in 1623, and continued at his post till he died in 1623.[21]As Siefert was also a composer, he never failed to complain of the Italian director when his works were not appreciated. Who would have thought that three centuries later the same scenes would be enacted elsewhere! Succeeding the reign (1632-1648) of Ladislas IV, who was not only a patron of art, but also a musical amateur of no small merit, came, during the reigns of Wisniowiecki and Sobieski, a time of musical depression when, under the supervision of the Jesuits, entertainments became gradually mere musical dialogues. When there was a question of church services, however, this order, with enormous resources at its command, did not spare efforts to increase the pomp of the ceremonies by every means possible, and especially so by the aid of good music. For this purpose the Jesuits built large organs in their churches, formed large orchestras, and increased their musical archives. Especially celebrated was their college at Polock, on account of the orchestra and the large organ of sixty registers, with three manuals and pedals, built by an Italian, Casparini.[22]After the college was suppressed, the organ was removed to Wilno, thanks to the efforts of Moniuszko, where it was placed in the Church of St. John; its value is estimated to be at least twenty thousand dollars.
With the reigns of Frederick Augustus I, Stanislas I, and Frederick Augustus II (from 1697 to 1763) came a change for the better, and rapid strides in the development of music were unquestionably due to the introduction of masterful works by such composers as Torelli, Balbi, Cambert, and Lulli.[23]Frederick Augustus II, especially, was a great lover of the theater and of the opera, and when he found that the opera evenings were greet time after time with empty benches, he went so far as to compel attendance by sending out deputies into highways and byways to catch people and bring them to the play. These plays were frequently accompanied by an orchestra of over a hundred musicians, made up from the private bands of men like Wielhorski, Prince Czartoryski, and other nobles. This anxiety on the part of the court of adopt music as one of its favorite amusements had a happy influence on the progress of the art, for royal favor was generously bestowed on those who tried to develop among the people a taste for musical assemblies, in which the works of Bach, Hasse, Couperin, and other composers, foreign as well as native, received splendid interpretation by the large orchestras and choruses which were supported by wealthy magnates. These nobles were, no doubt, glad to add to their force of musicians the players that continually came into Poland, including some of those that had formed the celebrated band of twenty-four violins of the French king, which had been dissolved in 1761 by an edict issued August 22, by order of Louis XV.
Just here may be mentioned GORCZYCKI, a distinguished ecclesiastic and direct or of music at the Cracow cathedral, who lived at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, when old traditions were broken and new systems introduced in life as well as government.[24]In painting, the pernicious style of Pietro da Cortona[25]hastened the decay of the Eclectic school in Italy, while, on the other hand, the Netherlanders returned once more to realistic forms of expression. In music, among instruments, the violoncello took on an independent form, and soon dropped the fifth string; the oboe d’amore made its appearance, and pedals were introduced in the harp (1720); the modern piano was first manufactured in 1730, and the orchestra became alive with trumpets, oboes, bassoons, cymbals, castanets, and drums, besides the strings and trombones which already were in use. Of more importance than all this, however, is the fact that the efforts of individual composers to break away from the influence of the old ecclesiastical system commenced to bear fruit, and the first principles of the new secular school were formulated. Gorczycki left quite a number of sacred compositions which are used to this day, proof sufficient of his great talent.
The Composition of the First Polish Opera
The heroic measures of Frederick Augustus II, whose reign covered thirty years, could not fail to revive the musical spirit of the nation: and passing over some of the minor composers, we come to MATHEW KAMIENSKI (born in 1734), whose first opera, The Wretched Made Happy [Nędza uszczęśliwiona] forms an epoch in the history of Polish music.[26]Kamienski was forty-four years old when this work was produced under the patronage of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland. It was in 1776 that the king, learning that a number of cadets in his corps had good voices and could sing acceptably, expressed a desire to hear them. To satisfy his wish, a well-known writer, Rev. Bohomolec, wrote a one-act comedy, The Wretched Made Happy, in which some of the numbers were to be sung. For some reason the comedy was not played, but appeared in print and fell into the hands of Kamienski, who, after writing the music to the songs, decided to have it produced. Montbrun, an operatic manager to whom the work was submitted, recognized its value, but would not undertake to place it on the stage till it was enlarged to the size of a two-act operetta; this was done by Boguslawski, while Kamienski wrote the additional musical numbers. May 11, 1778, therefore, witnessed the production of the first Polish opera. Kamieński made use of many national rhythms, and though the spirit of the Italian school is strongly marked throughout his works, the impression is, on the whole, decidedly national. Other works of his are “Sophy; or, Country Wooing,” a favorite which was played in many cities; “Virtuous Simplicity,” “Tradition Realized,” and two operas in German—”Sultan Wampum” and “Anton and Antonetta”—which were never produced, the first owing to political, and the second to personal reasons. Besides a number of smaller pieces, he wrote also a cantata in honor of John Sobieski, which was sung on September 14, 1788, the public joining in the choruses. The national rhythms of these works are still interesting, but public taste no longer requires plentiful skips of large intervals, runs, trills, and embellishments. Taste changes in music as it does in literature, sculpture, dress, and language; and the style of former days fails to charm, though it may continue to surprise. Kamienski died at Warsaw on January 26, 1821, aged eighty-seven.
JOHN STEFANI (born in 1746),[27]court musician to Joseph II of Austria, left that popular monarch to enter the service of the Polish king; and such was his anxiety to get to Warsaw, that in company with eight other musicians he undertook the journey over the Carpathian Mountains in January. All arrived at Warsaw on February 2, 1771; and the talented young composer, who on this journey had listened attentively to the songs of the people and had absorbed the peculiar charms of mountaineer melodies, was at once made famous by the polonaises which he wrote in a national spirit. This Polish dance (Taniec Polski, the polonaise) dates back to 1574, when, at a reception given at Cracow, the nobles, with their ladies, passed in measured tread before the throne of Henri de Valois (son of Catharine de’Medici), who the year before had been elected king of Poland.[28]This was the prince who at the very moment of his election to the throne of Poland was besieging Rochelle in France, defended by the Huguenots, but who, notwithstanding the influence of Rome and the opposition of the bishops, took, before being crowned, the oath of toleration toward all dissenters and sectarians. This was in 1573. Shortly after the reception described above, he was informed of the death of his brother Charles IX, king of France, and not choosing to forfeit his right to the French throne, he ran away, and though overtaken, refused absolutely to return. With the return of Henri de Valois (Henry III) to France, the fame of the polonaise spread over all western Europe, and its rhythm as well as its spirit has been successfully cultivated by many Polish composers. Few aliens, in their attempts at writing the polonaise, have ever succeeded in evolving more than hideous caricatures.[29]
The Figures of the Polonaise
CASIMIR BRODZINSKI, who is considered one of the founders of the modern Romantic school in Poland, and who went in 1822 to the Cracow University to fill the chair of literature, writes:[30]
The polonaise is the only dance which suits mature age and is not unbecoming to persons of high rank; it is the dance of kings, heroes, and even old men; it alone suits the martial dress. It does not breathe any passions, but is rather an expression of chivalrous and polite manners. A solemn gravity presides always at the polonaise, which, perhaps, alone neither recalls the fire of primitive manners nor the gallantry of more civilized but more enervated ages. Besides these principal characteristics, the polonaise bears a singularly national and historical impress, for its laws recall an aristocratic republic with a disposition to anarchy flowing less from the character of the people than from its particular legislation.
In the olden times the polonaise was a kind of solemn ceremony. The king, holding by the hand the most distinguished person of the assembly, marched at the head of a numerous train of couples composed of men alone. This dance, made more effective by the splendor of the costumes of chivalry, was, strictly speaking, only a triumphal march. If a lady was the object of the festival, it was her privilege to open the march, holding by the hand another lady. All the others followed, until the queen of the ball, having offered her hand to one of the men standing round the room, set the example for the other ladies to follow.
The ordinary polonaise is opened by the most distinguished person of the assembly, whose privilege it is to conduct the whole file of the dancers, or to break it up; this is called in Polish rej wodzie-figuratively, to be the leader, in some sort the king (from the Latin rex). The dancer at the head was also called the marshal, on account of the privileges of a marshal at the Diets. The whole of this form is connected with the memories and customs of raising the militia, or rather of the gathering of the national assemblies (rzecz pospolita) in Poland. Hence, notwithstanding the deference paid to the leaders, who have the privilege of conducting at will the chain of dancers, it is allowable, by a singular practice made into a law, to dethrone a leader every time any bold person call out odbijanego, which means ‘retaken by force or reconquered.’ He who pronounces this word is supposed to wish to reconquer the hand of the first lady and the direction of the dance; it is a sort liberum veto, to which every one is obliged to give way. The leader then abandons the hand of his lady to the new pretender; every cavalier dances with the lady of the following couple, and it is only the cavalier of the last couple who find himself definitely ousted if he has not the boldness to insist likewise on his privilege of equality by demanding odbijanego, and of placing himself at the head. But as a privilege of this nature too often employed would throw the whole ball into complete anarchy, two ways are established to obviate such an abuse-namely, the leader makes use of his right to terminate the polonaise, in imitation of a king or marshal dissolving a Diet, or else, according to the predominating wish, all the cavaliers leave the ladies alone in the middle of the ball-room to choose new partners and continue the dance. This excludes the disturbers and discontented, which recalls the confederations that were formed for the purpose of enforcing the will of the majority.
The polonaise breathes and paints the whole national character; the music of this dance, while admitting much art, combines something martial with a sweetness marked by the simplicity of manners of an agricultural people. Foreigners have distorted this character of the polonaise; the natives themselves preserve it less in our day, in consequence of the frequent employment of motives drawn from modern operas. As to the dance itself, the polonaise has become a kind of promenade which has little charm for the young, and is but a scene of etiquette for those of a riper age. Our fathers danced it with a marvelous ability and a gravity full of nobleness. The dancer, making gliding steps with energy, but without skips, and caressing his mustache, varied his movements by the position of his saber, of his cap, and of his tucked-up coat-sleeves, distinctive signs of a free man and warlike citizen. Whoever has seen a Pole of the old school dance the polonaise in the national costume will confess without hesitation that this dance is the triumph of an aristocrat with a noble and proud tournure and with an air at once manly and gay.
Furnished with a good libretto, Stefani wrote his first opera, Cracoviacs and Mountaineers, which was produced March 1, 1794. [31]It was received with immense favor, has been applauded for a century, and services to this day as a model to composers. Stefani seized upon the example set by Kamieński, made use of the incisive rhythms of the krakowiak, the noble strains of the polonaise, the merry swing of the mazurek, or the tender rustic wedding-song, and by imbuing his own works with a thoroughly local spirit, surpassed by far his predecessor. In order to occupy the stage an entire evening, the libretto to Cracoviacs and Mountaineers, which was originally a one-act opera, was extended to cover a second act, and eventually a third. The music to the second act was written by Kurpiński (born in 1785),[32]a composer of great creative ability, and a master of orchestral coloring, whose works, if influenced somewhat by Rossini, are nevertheless of high dramatic merit. The third act was composed by Casimir Hofmann of whom mention will be made hereafter.
The Genius of the Mazurka
The mazurka, or mazurek, comes from the palatinate of Mazovia, in which Warsaw is situated; some of the mazurkas are sung only; others serve for dancing, in which case one couple follows another ad infinitum, all executing figures as suggested by the first pair. Like the polonaise, krakowiak, or kołomyjka, it requires room and plastic grace. People with sordid dispositions and ruffled tempers have no business to dance it; for, aside from grace, it call for dash, heroism, chivalry, till it becomes a soul-thrilling poem. This dance found its way to Russia, where it is danced by four or eight couples, and generally people who know how to dance it. It went also to Germany, France, and England, where it lost little by little its true character. The 3/4 tempo of the mazurka is full of caprice and gaiety; the rhythm, which calls for quicker notes on the first count, is punctuated by the clinking and clattering of spurs as hell clashes with hell in mid-air. The strong accent of the second beat is emphasized by the loud thud of boots striking the ground, which is followed by a sibilant slide along the polished floor as the partners rush forward. Add to this “the swift springs and sudden bounds, the whirling gyrations and dizzy evolutions, the graceful genuflections and quick embracing,” and you have a dance which, clothed in its national grace, cannot be seen outside of a Polish salon.
The Krakowiak
The krakowiak is a lively dance in 2/4 time, in which the principal rhythmic accent falls on the unaccented beat of the second measure. The following is Brodzinski’s description of it: “The boldest and strongest takes the position of leader and conducts the dance; he sings, the others join in chorus; he dances, they imitate him. Often also the krakowiak represents, in a kind of little ballet, the simple course of a love affair. One sees a young couple place themselves before the orchestra; the young man looks proud, presumptuous, preoccupied with his costume and beauty. Before long he becomes meditative, and seeks inspiration to improvise verses which the exclamations of his companions request, and which the time beaten by them provokes, as well as does the maneuver of the young girl, who is impatient to dance. Returning before the orchestra after making a round, the dancer generally takes the liberty of singing a refrain which makes the young girl blush; she runs away, and it is in pursuing her that the young man displays all his agility. At the last round it is the young man who pretends to run away from his partner; she tries to seize his arm, after which they dance together until the ritournelle puts an end to the pleasure.” This dance was introduced on the European stage by Fanny Elssler, who danced it to the music of one of the most famous krakowiaks in existence.[33]Stefani wrote a number of other operas (Grateful Subjects, Enchanted Tree, Old Hunter, etc.), but none of them was received with the same favor as his first; he died in 1829, having lived and worked in Poland for over fifty-eight years.
A Group of Court Musicians
An important personage who should be noticed in this connection was HETMAN MICHAEL CASIMIR OGINSKI (born in 1731)[34] descendant of an illustrious Lithuanian family, and at one time aspirant to the throne of Poland. Disappointed in his expectations, he retired to his estates and devoted himself to art and science; it was then that he built, at his own expense, the large canal between the Baltic and the North Sea at Kiel, which was to benefit Lithuania; it was opened in 1785, and bore his name till it was appropriated a few years ago by the Germans. Oginski was an accomplished musician, for he had studied the violin with Viotti and Baillot, and had often played in quartets with the latter, besides playing with the first violins of his own band (composed of some forty musicians), which he maintained at his own expense, together with the theater at his castle in Slonim. Many an artist was heard in solo and ensemble music there, and always carried away a munificent reward. Oginski owned a Stradivarius which became famous in Lithuania, and in time passed into the hands of the distinguished French virtuoso Charles Lafont;[35] he was also a skilled performer on the harp, to which he added in 1766 three pedals in addition to the four invented in 1720 by Hochbrücker, giving it practically the form it has to-day; four years later, in 1770, it was introduced into France by a German named Stecht, who claimed the additional pedals as his own improvement. A nephew of Michael Casimir was MICHAEL CLEOPHAS OGINSKI, born in 1765,[36] also a wealthy magnate, celebrated for his popular polonaises. These bear the stamp of the spirit of their day, and though their form is not as complete as modern views require, they carry the listener back to that gloomy time when the political horizon of Poland was gathering dark clouds of melancholy, sadness, and sorrow, which have ever since permeated the works of Poland’s best masters. Oginski’s teacher was JOSEPH KOZLOWSKI, born in 1757 at Warsaw,[37] where he served his musical apprenticeship as choir boy in the Cathedral of St. John. While on a trip to Russia, where a war was waging against Turkey, he entered the army as aide-de-camp to Prince Dolgorouky; soon after he became known to Patiomkine, who from 1774 to 1776 had been the accredited lover of Catherine II. The prime minister was greatly impressed by the fine presence and the musical voice and talent of Kozlowski. Patiomkine, who was always more or less jealous of his successor in the favors of this ex-mistress, got Kozlowski attached to this service and took him to St. Petersburg, where the latter made his début as conductor of an orchestra of four hundred musicians at a festival which Patiomkine gave in honor of the empress in the palace of the Orloffs. The polonaise written by Kozlowski for the occasion fairly lifted the audience to its feet, and made the reputation of the composer. In 1791, immediately after the death of Patiomkine, Kozlowski was attached to the court as director of music at the imperial theaters, which post he occupied during the reigns of Paul and Alexander I. A stroke of apoplexy in 1821 obliged him to retire with a pension; he died March 17, 1831. Kozlowski was a prolific writer, as is generally the case with people in similar positions. His best work is a requiem which was sung at the obsequies of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, who ended his unhappy and dishonorable life in St. Petersburg, February 12, 1798. Another court musician to Stanislas Augustus was FELIX JANIEWICZ,[38] a pupil of Viotti, who went about 1770 to Paris, afterward concretized throughout Italy, and finally settled in 1786 in London, where he became conductor of the Italian opera. His violin concertos, ensemble pieces, etc., which were published in Paris, do not differ from the then prevailing style.
We come now to JOSEPH ELSNER (born 1769),[39]Chopin’s teacher in harmony and composition, who in 1792 became director of music at Lemberg, and seven years later went to Warsaw, where he settled permanently, dying at the age of eighty-five (in 1854). He wrote extensively,—entr’actes, ballets, cantatas, chamber music, operas, masses, symphonies and other orchestral works, concertos for various instruments, songs, etc., but his greatest work is an oratorio, The Passion of Our Saviour, which has been often sung in Europe. He was also the author of several essays, one of which, “The Meters and Rhythms of the Polish Language,” is of exceptional value to students. Elsner had many pupils, a number of whom—Joseph Stefani, Nidecki, Nowakowski, Orlowski, Fontana, Kazynski, Krogólski, Chopin, and Dobrzynski [40]—spread his fame beyond the confines of the kingdom. He was the first director of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, founded in 1821, but closed in 1830. The first teachers who were associated with him in this institution were: for vocal music, Weinert, Kratzer, and Zylinski; brass instruments, Bailly; wood-wind, Winen; violin, Bielowski; piano, Stolpe and Weinert, Jr.; thorough-bass, Würfell; counterpoint, Elsner; Polish language, Stefanski; Italian, Rinaldi; French, Wolski; and declamation, Kudliez. [41]Of these KAMIENSKI, who was born at Odenburg, Hungary, across the Austrian frontier, is of Slavonic origin, since his family were Czechs; so was Stefani, born in Prague; while Elsner was born at Grotków, in Silesia, a former province of Poland. These men spent there the best part of their lives, and are all of a type which for many centuries was closely welded to a nation rich in folklore and folk-music, and whose activity in art and literature was checked only by the events which made of its noblest sons prisoners, exile, or corpses. We come now to Prince ANTON HENRY RADZIWILL,[42]born in the duchy of Posen in 1775, descendant of an illustrious family. His musical work may be classed as impressionistic. Radziwill was a great friend and admirer of Chopin as well as of Goethe; he was an exceptionally fine violoncellist, and he also composed songs, piano pieces, and some orchestral works, the best of which is the music to Goethe’s Faust, published in 1835, two years after his death. This work, anticipating in many respects the theories of Wagner, and highly prized by connoisseurs, has been often heard in Weimar, Prague, Leipsic [sic], Berlin, and other cities of Europe.
The Composers of the Nineteenth Century
The last quarter of the eighteenth century shows Poland struggling to maintain its independence against the courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg, which were determined to appropriate some of the Polish provinces, its society torn asunder by Muscovite agents, well-fed priests, fanatical peasants, and a nobility divided among itself. With the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, we find the Poles deprived of nearly all civil and even of many social privileges; the universities of Warsaw and Wilno were broken up; the rich libraries of these and other public as well as private institutions were carried to St. Petersburg; while Suvaroff, in his attempt to annihilate the Polish nationality by metamorphosing it into a Russian people, enforced the wishes of his mistress, Catherine II, and anticipated those of her successors, Paul, Alexander, and Nicholas. It was at this time (1800-1825) that Marshal Rokicki had on his estate, in the government of Minsk, in Lithuania, an orchestra of forty well-trained musicians, under the direction of JOSEPH DESZCZYNSKI.[43]The latter talented composer was born in Wilno in 1781, and among his best works may be included two requiem masses, several comic operas, a polonaise for four hands, a piano quartet in A minor, and a sextet for two violins, alto, two cellos, and a double-bass. Under the direction of Deszczynski the orchestra became famous, and played not only the works of Polish composers, but also those of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. No wonder that amateurs came from far and near to the castle of Rokicki, who was a talented violinist and pupil of Viotti, and often played with the first violins, and devoted also much time to the practice of quartets by Haydn and Beethoven. Rokicki ws the owner of three Stradivarii – two violins and one violoncello. When officiating as marshal at Minsk, he took his orchestra with him, and repeatedly gave concerts for benevolent and other purposes, while on several occasions arrangements were perfected for operatic productions on a grand scale. Soloists were brought from Wilno, the assistance of local professionals and amateurs was enlisted, and te orchestra increased to sixty performers. “Axur,” by Salieri, and “La Dame Blanche,” by Boieldieu, as well as other operas, were given thus with splendid success.
An artist and composer of superior ability, greatly admired by Paganini, with whom he played in two concerts at Placentia, was CHARLES LIPINSKI, born at Radzin in 1790.[44]Lipinski first studied the violoncello, but later gave it up for the violin. When at twenty-two years of age he was chosen director of the orchestra at the theater in Lemberg, which post he resigned after two years, in order to devote himself to further study and to concretizing. In 1825 he visited St. Petersburg. When Spohr had been there twenty-four years before, according to the testimony of this great German musician, washing was so expensive that one day he found Clementi and Field with upturned sleeves at the wash-tub, washing their stockings! This was during the reign of Alexander I. In 1839 Lipinski settled in Dresden, but retired, some twenty years later, to his estate of Orlów, where he died December 16, 1861. From among a goodly number of his compositions, written mostly for the violin, may be enumerated, as especially valuable, two trios for two violins and cello (Op. 8 and Op. 12), “Concerto Militaire” (Op. 21), and a collection of Galician folk-songs with piano accompaniment (two volumes), in the issue of which he was assisted by Venceslas Zalewski, a littérateur of distinction. Among the contemporaries of Lipinski were FRANCIS MIRECKI,[45]born in 1794 at Cracow, composer of sonatas, chamber trios, symphonies, oratorios, etc., besides several operas (The Gipsies, The Castle of Kenilworth, A Night in the Apennines, etc.); SAMSON JAKUBOWSKI,[46]born at Kowno in 1801, inventor of the xylophon e (known in Germany under the name of strohfiedel), on which instrument he concertized in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and England (about 1832 he settled in Paris, whence, under the patronage of the Countess de Spara, who assisted at his concerts with her beautiful voice, his fame as a virtuoso spread far and wide); and ALBERT SOWINSKI, born in 1805, educated in Vienna and in Italy, and settled in Paris in 1830, where he died on March 5, 1880; a pianist, littérateur, and composer of some chamber music, a symphony, piano pieces, songs, and two oratorios.
IGNACE FELIX DOBRZYNSKI, born in 1807 at Romanow in Volhynia, did not possess the genius of Chopin, who was born two years later.[47]Both lads studied under the same master, but such were Dobrzynski’s strength of will and energy of character, his devotion to the art, and his incessant study, that his works reveal a knowledge of orchestral resources, fugue, counterpoint, figuration, etc., which makes them still of great importance. Dobrzynski’s father was a skilled violinist and director of the opera on the princely estates of Senator Ilinski, who spent over three hundred thousand dollars a year for the support of an opera, ballet, and a large orchestra. In 1825 Ignace journeyed to Warsaw, where he went to Elsner to take lessons in theory, counterpoint, and composition; great poverty prevented him from taking more than thirty-six lessons, after which he dug for himself in works on theory and instrumentation, with the result above given. An incident which occurred in 1835 shows how often the opinion of the greatest critics may miscarry. A prize of one hundred and fifty thalers for the best symphony was announced in Vienna, and seven judges were to pass upon the fifty-three works that had been sent in from all corner of Europe. At the advice of Elsner, Dobrzynski sent his symphony in C minor, which he had finished several years before, but the judges awarded the first prize to Franz Lachner, at that time orchestral director at the court of the Duke of Mannheim; the second prize went to Joseph Strauss, court conductor to the Grand Duke of Baden, while Dobrzynski’s work received honorable mention. The public, however, had something to say in the matter, and while the paucity of interesting themes, coupled with the length of Lachner’s symphony, wearied the Dresden, Leipsic, and Munich audiences, the shorter work of Dobrzynski fascinated by its melodic wealth and distinctively Polish rhythms. He lived a number of years in Posen, went in 1852 to Warsaw, where he founded a musical institute in 1859, and died October 9, 1867, three years after the first production of his opera “Montbar.” A prolific writer, his compositions cover every style, from the simplest piano solos to operas and oratorios, including solos for nearly every instrument.
VICTOR KAZYNSKI, born at Wilno in 1812, and educated at the university of that city, studied with Elsner, and became known through his romantic opera, “The Wandering Jew,” produced in his native city as well as in Warsaw in 1842.[48] Shortly after he went to live in St. Petersburg, and two years later visited Berlin, Leipsic, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna, in company with Alexis Lvoff, who, aside from being a general in the Russian service, held also the post of director at the imperial chapel, and that of superintendent of court music in general to Nicholas. It was during the reign of Nicholas that the question of a national anthem came up, and in answer to an invitation to the few then existing Russian composers, a number of marches, hymns, and anthems were sent in. Among the lot was a distinctively Russian work by Glinka which pleased the critics and connoisseurs. The important part played by Lvoff’s trumpets and drums of course turned Nicholas’s military instincts in its favor. The fact that Glinka’s “Hymn of Triumph” was not chosen as the national anthem by the emperor was sufficient to have it accepted as such by the Slavophils and malcontents in general; it is introduced in the epilogue (last scene) to Glinka’s “Life for the Tsar,” and is certainly thoroughly Russian. Lvoff’s hymn, which appears in many hymnals, is really made up of the well-known “Sicilian Mariner’s Hymn” and Haynes Bayly’s “I’d be a Butterfly.” It is told that the Holy Synod, in an address to Nicholas, pointed out that the Russians prayed for the dead, but did not believe in purgatory, asking whether, according to the doctrine of the Russian Church, purgatory did exist? He wrote at once across the address, “No purgatory,” with as much knowledge of that subject as he had of the merits of the two anthems! Back from his foreign travels, where he had been well received, Kazynski published a journal in book form which met with a large sale and made him known as an able writer; this book went through several editions. In 1845 he obtained the appointment of orchestral director at the imperial theater of Alexander, a kind of work in which he specially excelled. Two important characters at the time were the brothers WIELHORSKI, MICHAEL and JOSEPH, born in Volhynia toward the end of the eighteenth century.[49]The elder, a pupil of Kiesewetter on the violin and of Müller in harmony, went to Paris in 1808, shortly after the treaty of Tilsit, and afterward to Vienna, where he became a warm friend of Beethoven. He soon returned to Poland, and at the invitation of the Russian government went to reside in St. Petersburg, where his salon was a gathering-place for the nobility as well as for artists and littérateurs, prominent figures among whom were Henselt, Schumann, Liszt, Lipinski, and Von Lenz. After retiring to his estates in Volhynia, where he maintained a splendid orchestra under the direction Ostrowski, he devoted himself to composition, and wrote a symphony, choruses with accompaniments, songs, etc. leaving at this death in 1856 an incomplete opera, “The Gipsies.” His brother Joseph was a composer of no small merit, and a highly talented pianist and cellist.
We come now to STANISLAS MONIUSZKO, born on May 5, 1819, in a little village (Ubiel) in the government of Minsk, whose mother, an accomplished musician, cradled the child with the historic songs of Neimcewicz, and gave him his first lessons on the piano.[50]His musical education was continued under August Freyer, Stefanowicz, and Rungenhagen.[51]After having visited Paris, Weimar (where he formed a close friendship with Liszt), Vienna, and other continental cities, he settled in Warsaw, where his first opera, “Halka,” was produced in 1846. Moniuszko loved the simple strains of the people as he loved everything belonging to Poland, and he introduced the songs of the peasants into his composition. These show how evenly his intellect and imagination were balanced, and excel in a variety of rhythmical forms, piquant melodic progressions and modulations. With a skill peculiarly his own, he produced effects with so light and yet so firm a hand that the productions of this operas “Halka,” “Flis,” and “The Gypsies” called forth great enthusiasm. He also wrote a number of choral, orchestral, vocal, and piano works, an a setting of “Laudate Dominum” for two voices, all of which emphasize his reputation as an erudite musician. His musical settings of the third part of “Dziady” (“Forefathers”), a historical poem by Adam Mickiewicz, and of “The Luteplayer,” by the same poet, show many new paths which he opened in his music composed to historical and allegorical poems. Compared with the restraint and classic serenity of his contemporary Mendelssohn, there is an emotional intensity, a low and stir of romanticism, which bespeaks Moniuszko’s beautiful and significant individuality.
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN was born March 2, 1809, in Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw.[52]While Chopin reflects in his works Bach’s tendency to polyphony—a highly commendable and correct inclination on the part of the composer,—the elegance and grace of Mozart and the chivalrous romance of Weber had been a part of his nature long before he could have been impressed with the importance of the Viennese school. We owe to the erudite musician and littérateur Oscar Kolberg and his friend, a young lawyer, Gervais, some definite information about Chopin’s ancestors, who, according to the following account, must have been Poles:[53]“When, after a reign of five years (1704-09), Leszczynski left Poland, resigning all pretensions to the crown, which had been seized by the Saxon Frederick Augustus, he retired to the little duchy of Deux-Ponts (Zweibrücken), presented to him by Charles XII of Sweden, who possessed it by inheritance. After the death (1718) of this king, the duchy of Lorraine was given to Leszczynski for life, and thither he went to live—in Lunéville, which was the residence of the dukes of Lorraine,—followed by a number of Polish courtiers, among whom were two natives of Kalsz, Jean Kowalski and Nicholas Szop. With the consent and support of the ex-king, these two opened a wine-house at Nancy, a large town, the capital of Lorraine, situated on the Meurthe some twenty miles from Lunéville. No doubt to facilitate business intercourse, the two names were changed to Ferrand and Chopin. Other Polish families who settled in Lorraine at that time did likewise. Be this as it may, the junior partner of the firm had a son Jean Jacques, who appears under the name of Chopin, and who gave up the trade, which was not to his liking, in order to devote himself to teaching. He married the widow Desmarets (Desmarais) of Metz, where he taught for a while, afterward filling similar positions in Nancy and Strasbourg. They had four children—three sons and a daughter; the latter married young, went to live in Lunéville, and died before the French Revolution. Of the three sons, the eldest took orders, became canon, and died at Nancy during the first part of this century; the second son died without issue; while the youngest, Nicholas, migrated to Poland and was the father of Frédéric.” The best portraits of Chopin, basing the statement of the opinion of those who knew him personally, and not on that of fantastic idealists, are the one taken on May 2, 1847, by Winterhalter; one by Kwiatkowski; one by Ary Scheffer, which remained till 1863 in the possession of Chopin’s sister Isabelle Barcinska; and one in the palace of Anton Radziwill.
OSCAR KOLBERG, mentioned above, was born at Radom in 1814, studied music from his childhood, took lessons in harmony and composition in Berlin from Rungenhagen, who became successor to Zelter and was at that time the leading theoretician.[54]Kolberg, who settled in Warsaw till 1869, when he moved into the neighborhood of Cracow, wrote some studies, national dances, songs, and an operetta or two; but the magnum opus, the work to which he has devoted over seventy years of his life, is his collection of songs of the Polish people (“Piesni ludu polskiego”), the first volume of which—a book of four hundred and fifty pages—appeared in 1857, and contains about one thousand songs and dances, besides drawings of costumes of the people. Further material has been issued in parts by the author, with the assistance of the Cracow Academy of Sciences, under the general name: “The people, its customs, manner of living, language, legends, proverbs, ceremonies, airs, plays, song, music, and dance” (“Lud, jego zwyczaje, sposób zycia, mowa, podania, przyslowia, obrzędy, gusła, zabawy, pieśni, muzyka i tańcy”). Compared with similar works by other writers, it towers above them by its completeness and erudition, and appeals to scholars bent on studies or researches, but unfortunately does not interest the amateur writer on musical subjects,—which class is multiplying rapidly,—hence possibly the reason why it has not found its way into the important libraries in this country. Additional prominent composers, artists, and littérateurs born in the beginning of the nineteenth century are the four brothers KONTSKI (CHARLES, a violinist; ANTON and STANISLAS, pianists; and APOLLINARIUS, a violin virtuoso of great renown);[55]STANISLAS SZCZEPANOWSKI, born in 1814, a distinguished violoncellist and a most remarkable virtuoso on the guitar; AUGUST ROGUSKI; ALEXANDER ZARZYCKI, who was director of the Warsaw Conservatory from 1879 till his death in 1895; JOSEPH KROGÓLSKI, ADAM MÜNCHHEIMER, JULIUS KLEMCZYNSKI, VINCENT STUDZINSKI, ANTON KOCIPINSKI, JOSEPH WASIELEWSKI, HENRY KOMAN, HENRY and JOSEPH WIENIAWSKI; also a pupil of Chopin, CHARLES MIKULI, born in Bukowina in 1821, and recently (1897) deceased, whose edition of Chopin’s works is most valuable to students.[56]
Contemporary Composers
We come now to the last group, men who have already received recognition and those who are trying with all their might to attain it. On these, both as to the form and substance of their work, weighs the influence of Wagner, harmful in part, because it overlies national sincerity; useful, in that it imposes greater care as regards the modern views which require a relation of words to a music which reveals in all its force the situation depicted. LOUIS GROSSMAN, born in 1835 in the government of Kalisz, excels in his facility of invention and clever orchestration.[57]His overtures, “King Lear,” “Marie” (after the famous poem of Malczewski—a touching family legend of the Potockis, transposed from Volhynia to Ukraina), a piano concerto in C major, etc., have been heard often in public; while his three-act opera, “The Fisherman of Palermo,” first produced in Warsaw (1867) by an Italian opera company, and “The Wojewoda’s Ghost,” also in three acts, written in 1872, have met with success in the chief cities of Europe. LADISLAS ZELENSKI, who succeeded Moniuszko as teacher of counterpoint and composition, and Zarzycki as director of the Warsaw Conservatory, was born July 6, 1837, in a village (Grodkowice) of Galicia.[58]He has written extensively, excelling in originality, which, however, is marred at times by pedantry. His operas, “Conrad Wallenrod,” “Janek,” and “Goplana,” have received successful and repeated productions; while several overtures, a string quartet (Op. 28), a trio in E major, a piano and violin sonata (Op. 30), besides a mass for chorus, organ, and orchestra, deserve the widest possible recognition.
COUNT GUSTAVE PLATER, born in 1841 in Lithuania, should be mentioned here not only on account of his musical talent, which attracted notice when he was but nine years of age, but because he did much for the advancement of art among his own people on his estate, where he kept a large orchestra, and was also initiator as well as financial backer of the first musical exposition held, in 1888, at Warsaw.[59]Compositions known from his pen are a symphony, string quartet, violin concerto, studies, and one opera. SIGISMUND NOSKOWSKI, born May 2, 1846, in Warsaw, where he entered the Conservatory when nineteen years of age and afterward studied with Kiel of Berlin, has written several symphonies, a piano quartet, some string quartets, overtures, songs, and piano soli.[60]HENRI JARECKI, born in Warsaw in 1846, director of the opera at Lemberg, composer of songs, chamber music, symphonic poems, etc. is best known by his operas, among which are “Wanda,” “Hedwidge,” “Barbara Radziwill,” etc.[61] JEAN LOUIS NICODÉ, born in 1853 in the duchy of Posen, a brilliant pianist with an enormous technic, has written mostly for the piano, but also a few songs and some choral and orchestral numbers.[62] MORITZ MOSZKOWSKI, born in Wroclaw (Breslau), Silesia, August 23, 1854, is a brilliant pianist and composer residing now in Paris. [63]
Besides these, IGNACE JAN PADEREWSKI, born November 6, 1859, near Lublin, a pupil of the Conservatory at Warsaw, one of the most distinguished piano virtuosi of to-day, has written principally for the piano, but also a violin sonata (Op. 13), a violin concerto (Op. 18), and an opera, “Manru.”[64] HENRY PACHULSKI, a piano virtuoso, born October 4, 1859, and also a pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory, is a talented composer of piano pieces, an orchestral suite (Op. 13), some excellent transcriptions, etc.[65] He is at present professor at the Conservatory of Moscow. ALEXANDER MARTIN was a talented writer of two operas, whose promising career was cut short by death when only thirty-one years of age.[66]CASIMIR HOFMAN, born in 1842 at Cracow, whose real name is Wyszkowski, will interest us a moment by his extraordinary talent as pianist, which he exhibited to the Viennese in 1851, and which has been inherited by his son Josef.[67] He has written a number of operettas wherein characteristic instrumentation goes hand in hand with a brilliant development of musical ideas. In his opera “Children of a Siren,” two numbers—a polonaise with chorus, and a chorus of seamstresses working on sewing-machines—made an unprecedented hit, the last-named chorus having been imitated by Sir Arthur Sullivan in a number of his works. Paul KUCZYNSKI, born in 1846, attracts attention by his excellent orchestral and choral works, notably the cantata “Ariadne,” which met with a great success at its first production in Berlin, March, 1880.[68] He was a pupil of Von Bülow and a personal friend of Liszt, Wagner, and Jensen. The last-named wrote his celebrated “Wedding Music” for the betrothal of Kuczynski to a pupil of Tausig. The brothers SCHARWENKA (PHILIPP, born February 16, 1847, and XAVER, born January 6, 1850) may be included in this list, for though not Poles, they are of Slavonic origin.[69] This Bohemian family migrated from Prague to Prussia during the reign of Frederick the Great, changing the original Czechish [sic] name Czerwanka to Scharwenka. The mother of these two talented musicians is Polish, which explains the national spirit that permeates their compositions. To the younger artists belong MICHAEL BIERNACKI; THADEUS JOTEIKO; PETER MASZYNSKI; N. V. LYSIENKO; HENRY MELCER, whose second piano concerto received the Paderewski prize in Leipsic; EMIL MLYNARSKI, born in 1870, a talented violinist composer, present director of the opera at Warsaw; ROMAN STATKOWSKI, born in 1863, who excels in clothing his original themes in modern forms; STANISLAS NIEWLADOMSKI; two women, LEOCADIA WOJCIECHOWSKA and HALINA KRZYZANOWSKA, the latter a pupil of Marmontel and Guiraud; also RAYMOND BACZYNSKI, EUGENE PANKIEWICZ, JULES ZAREMBSKI, VENCESLAS KARLOWICZ, WOJCIECH GAWRONSKI, VLADIMIR PUCHALSKI, and TITO ERNESTI.[70]
It has been shown that an intimate relation exists between the music and the customs of the Polish people, whose annals, like those of many other nations, teem with strange and improbable events. Music gained no real position among the Slavonians much before the tenth century, when from pastoral it became religious, owing to the gradual development of harmony and the support given by the church. Later it became martial, pulsating in concord with the conquests of it people. Wise and brilliant was the epoch that followed (and here—in the eighteenth century—the Germans enter into music as palpable factors), while its culture suffered a visible decline following the last partition of Poland: home-music culture was neglected, native talent, excepting very few instances, languished, while importation of foreign artists flourished. Notwithstanding all this, the inherent love of the people for music was such that a reaction set in, and after a brief period of hyperestheticism,—a sort of imitation of Chopin (which imitation, however, lacked both sparkle and substance),—a school of composers has come to the front whose virile, bracing, vigorous style has vitality in every note, and, logically enough, appeals wholly, directly, and at once to the better heart feelings; freed of the bonds of artificiality, it is music full of soul, speaking truth and conviction.
Notes
[1]. Jarosław Zieliński (1847-1922) used the name Jaroslaw de Zielinski while in the U.S.; he was a pianist composer and music critic. A participant in the American Civil War, he lived in Michigan, Florida, New York, Alabama, and California. According to the Słownik Muzyków Polskich (Kraków: PWM, 1964), he founded a music school in Los Angeles and died in Santa Barbara. He composed character pieces for piano, songs, and transcriptions. According to the web site of the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, where his papers are held, Zieliński died in Los Angeles, taught piano and voice, and wrote a textbook on piano performance; see http://www1.umn.edu/ihrc/inventories/zielinsk.htm. This article was originally published in Ignacy Jan Paderewski et al., ed. The Century Library of Music vol. 18 (New York: The Century Co., 1902), 591-608. Polish Music Collection, PMC. The names of most composers are Anglicized and some dates are wrong, thus requiring detailed notes. This and all subsequent notes by Maja Trochimczyk. [Back]
[2]. The genealogy of Slavic peoples and their relationship to the Roman and Byzantine empires includes references to various Slavic or Sclavic nations: Ruthenians (now: Ukrainians), Illyrians (now: Albanians), Vends (now: Bulgarians), Carinthians (later: Bohemians). Belisarius was a Byzantine general serving under Emperor Justinian I (6th c.). See Norman Davies, Europe: A History (Oxford University Press, 1999). [Back]
[3]. Zielinski expresses here the political theory of two enemies, both equally hostile to Poland: Germany and Russia. (Prussia and Russia took the most active role in dividing the country and removing it from the political map of Europe in 1794). His exclusion of Russians from the family of Slavic or Slavonic people is unprecedented, since most “Pan-Slavic” movements presupposed the dominance of Russia as an ethnic and political force. [Back]
[4]. Mikołaj Gomółka (ca. 1535-1591) was a Calvinist composer of religious polyphony in Polish, including the famous Psalter translation by Jan Kochanowski. Other composers (Moniuszko, Kurpiński, Dobrzyński, Lipiński, and Radziwiłł) will be discussed later. [Back]
[5]. Monteverde, properly Claudio Monteverdi (1568-1643), Italian composer of operas, cantatas, madrigals, etc. [Back]
[6]. The Tatars and the Turkish Empire were the main enemies of Poland since the 13th century; the history of battles ends with the victory at the siege of Vienna, defended by Polish troops led by Jan Sobieski in 1683 (who earlier defeated the Turks at Chocim). After the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty in the 16th century and the placement of Swedish-born Zygmunt III Vasa (1587-1632) on the Polish throne, Poland was frequently attacked by its neighbors from the east and north: Swedes, Tatars and the Ottoman Empire, Russians or Muscovites, and Cossacks or Ruthenians (forerunners of Ukrainians). After successful defensive wars against Sweden in the 16th century, Poland was overrun by the Swedish army in the so-called “Deluge” (1665) that was overturned with great effort. Władysław IV Vasa (1632-1648) defeated Russia, invaded Moscow and interfered with the Russian government. The Cossacks rebelled against the Polish kings in 1647, seeking to establish their own country – a goal achieved only after the disintegration of the Soviet Union; the earlier rebellions were crushed, but unrest continued until the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. [Back]
[7]. The following explication of the “national traits” in Polish music contains elements found primarily in Chopin’s works; the “sorrow” or “sadness” that Zielinski mentions is the famous “żal” that most turn-of-the-century writers considered the most important Polish character trait.[Back]
[8]. Currently used forms of his name are: “Wacław of Szamotuły” or “Wacław z Szamotuł” in Polish. One of the most talented Polish Renaissance composers (ca. 1520-1560). See Katarzyna Grochowska, “Wacław of Szamotuły, the Jewel of the Polish Renaissance: Indigenous or Imported?” European Meetings in Ethnomusicology 9 (2002): 179-186. For a general overview see Katarzyna Morawska, Renesans 1500-1600 , Series: Historia muzyki polskiej 9 (Warszawa: Sutkowski Edition, 1994). [Back]
[9]. Lemberg was the German name for the Polish city of Lwów, after the partitions located in the province of Galicia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now called Lviv and located in the Ukraine. The Ossolinski Foundation and its collections moved to the city of Wrocław after World War II. [Back]
[10]. Alexander (1461-1506), king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania was the fourth son of Casimir IV. A weak king, he was—due to financial extravagance—at the mercy of both the gentry and senate who limited the scope of his rule, and external supporters such as the Pope Julius II, who offered him financial help (Peter’s Pence). The “Diet” is another term for the Polish parliament, i.e. Seym. [Back]
[11]. The rule of Sigismund I “The Elder” brought Poland to its greatest economic and cultural strength. With his Italian-born wife, Bona Sforza, Sigismond was a generous patron of the arts, establishing a variety of musical practices at his court at Wawel in Kraków. See Elżbieta Głuszcz-Zwolińska, Zbiory muzyczne proweniencji wawelskiej, Musicalia vetera I/6 (Kraków: PWM, 1983). [Back]
[12]. For more information about Wacław z Szamotuł see Anna Szweykowska and Zygmunt M. Szweykowski, “Wacław z Szamotuł, renesansowy muzyk i poeta” [Wacław z Szamotuł, Renaissance musician and poet], Muzyka 9, no. 1-2 (1964): 3-28; Eugene C. Cramer, “Nowe spojrzenie na styl muzyczny Wacława z Szamotuł” [New light on the musical style of Wacław z Szamotuł], Muzyka 2, no. 2 (1991): 3-90. Dreissig Slavische Geistliche Melodien aus 16 und 17 Jahrhundert (Leipzig: G. Döring).[Back]
[13]. Cabazon of Spain: properly “Cabezón” – a Spanish family of musicians, including Antonio, Juan, Augustin, and Hernando. Zielenski probably refers to Antonio (1510-1566), the blind organist and composer who contributed to all genres of music in Spain. Adrian Willaert (1490-1562) of Flanders was mostly active in Italy; he was one of the major and most influential composers of his time. Jean Mouton (1459-1522) was a French composer specializing in the genre of the motet. His tombstone bears an inscription with his full name: “Maistre Jehan de Hollingue, dit Mouton.” [Back]
[14]. Poet of the same name who lived about the same time and was secretary to Hetman Chodkiewicz of Lithuania. Karol Chodkiewicz (1560-1621) led Polish army in victorious battles against Sweden (1611) and Muscovy (1618), killed while defending Poland from a Turkish invasion. [Back]
[15]. Mikołaj Gomółka, see texts by Mirosław Perz (all in Polish): Mikołaj Gomółka. Monografia (Warszawa: Panstwowe Wyd. Naukowe, 1969); “Czterysta lat Gomólkowych Melodii 1580-1980 czyli o początkach polskiej deklamacji muzycznej,” Muzyka 25, no. 3 (1980): 3-22; Melodie na psałterz polski Mikołaja Gomółki: Interpretacje i komentarze. (Kraków: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1988). [Back]
[16]. Zygmunt August (Sigismond II August), the last king of the Jagiellon dynasty, ruled Poland from 1520 to 1572 and was followed on the throne by the son of his sister and the king of Sweden. [Back]
[17]. Sebastian of Felsztyn (b. ca. 1480, d. after 1543), Polish composer and music theorist (with extant works on plainchant and mensural theory). Marcin Leopolita (d. 1580), composer and poet active in late Renaissance, a student of Sebastian. For more information see Piotr Pozniak, Repertuar polskiej muzyki wokalnej w epoce Renesansu: Studium kontekstualno-analityczne Series: Acta musicologica Universitatis Cracoviensis 6 (Kraków: Musica Iagellonica, 1999). [Back]
[18]. Szymon Starowolski (1588-1656), Polish historian and music theorist, wrote biographies of Leopolita and Wacław of Szamotuły in Scriptorum polonicorum hekatonas, published in Frankfurt in 1625, and in Polish translation in 1970 as Setnik pisarzów polskich. [Back]
[19]. Polish kings of Swedish descent, who moved the capital to Warsaw: Zygmunt III Waza (1587-1632), Władysław IV (1632-1648) and Jan Kazimierz (Jan II Casimir; 1648-1668). During their rule Poland was repeatedly invaded by Sweden. [Back]
[20]. Paul Siefert, also known as Syfert, Sivert, Sibert (1586-1666), German composer and organist, active in the Hanseatic city of Gdańsk. [Back]
[21]. Asprilio Pacelli (1570-1623), an Italian composer mostly active in Poland at the royal chapel of Sigismond III. His “Sacrae Canciones” provided the main repertoire at the royal chapel of Władysław IV Vasa, in Warsaw. [Back]
[22]. Casparini: family of Polish organ builders active in central Europe, including Poland, Bohemia, Italy, Austria, Silesia, and Lithuania. For a detailed history of organ making in Poland, see Jerzy Gołos and Ewa Smulikowska, The Polish Organ (Warsaw: Sutkowski, 1992-1993). [Back]
[23]. Frederick Augustus I, Stanislas I, and Frederick Augustus II were Saxon kings who shared the thrones of Saxony and Poland. The impact of their rule on the Polish state and its role in Europe was negative; their patronage of the arts was based on a “colonial” attitude of importing famous musicians and composers to Warsaw. The repertoire expanded with works by Italians Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) and Ignazio Balbi (1720-1773), Frenchmen Robert Cambert (1628-1677) and Jean Baptiste Lully (1665-1743). [Back]
[24]. Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (b. ca. 1665-7; died 1734), Polish composer of religious music to Latin texts. He studied in Prague and Vienna and became one of the greatest composers of Polish Baroque. See Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki: Opera omnia, ed. K. Mrowiec, Monmenta Musicae in Polonia, ser.A (1995). See also A. Wardecka-Goscinska, Katalog tematyczny [Thematic catalogue] and Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki: Studia, ed. Zygmunt M. Szweykowski (Krakow: PWM, 1986). [Back]
[25]. Pietro de Cortona, nickname of the Italian painter of frescoes and palace decorations, Pietro Berettini (1596-1669). [Back]
[26]. Maciej Kamieński (1734-1821) was a Polish composer of Slovak origin; he wrote eight operas, including Poland’s first opera performed in a public theatre. A more common translation of the title is Poverty made Happy. The Wretched Made Happy [Nędza uszczęśliwiona] opens a new period in Polish music. See Anna Zórawska-Witkowska, “Maciej Kamienski (1734-1821): twórca polskiej opery narodowej” [Kamienski: creator of Polish national opera], Wiek Oswiecenia [The Age of Enlightenment](1978): 107-36; A. Zórawska-Witkowska: Muzyka na dworze i w teatrze Stanislawa Augusta [Music at the court and theatre of Stanislaw August] (Warsaw, 1995). [Back]
[27]. Jan Stefani (1746-1829), Polish composer, violinist and conductor with roots in Bohemia. His only surviving opera, Cud mniemany [The Supposed Miracle], is considered to be the best Polish opera of the 18th century. [Back]
[28]. Zielinski’s attribution of the dance’s genesis to the court of Henry de Valois is repeated in articles by Perry and Anderton reprinted in this issue of PMJ. This genealogy is possible for the French name of the dance itself, but not for its origins as a court procession. Note the same-gender couples in his description. [Back]
[29]. Zielinski’s negative opinion of the contribution of foreigners to the shaping of the polonaise is not shared by Stephen Downes, the author of the entry on the polonaise for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians II (online). [Back]
[30]. Kazimierz Brodzinski (1791-1835), Polish poet and scholar who modelled his poetry on folk verse, wrote literary criticism and philosophical texts. See Alina Witkowska, Kazimierz Brodzinski (Warszawa: Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1968). [Back]
[31]. Cracoviacs and Mountaineers is a subtitle of Cud Mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale, Stefani’s best opera. The libretto is by Wojciech Bogusławski, after Poinsinet’s Le sorcier. [Back]
[32]. Karol Kurpiński (1785-1857), Polish composer and conductor; he established a music school, wrote music criticism and is remembered as Poland’s main composer of operas before Moniuszko. Author of almost 30 operas and melodramas. [Back]
[33]. Fanny Elssler (1810-1884), dancer and one of the main primaballerinas of Romantic ballet. She performed on the main operatic stages of Europe and toured the U.S. [Back]
[34]. Michał Kazimierz Ogiński (1728-1800), prince and grand hetman (general) in the Polish army; was also a composer and instrument maker, studied the violin with Viotti and improved the pedal mechanism on the harp. Not to be confused with his nephew, Michał Kleofas Ogiński (1765-1833), composer of nostalgic polonaises. [Back]
[35]. Charles Philippe Lafont (1780-1831), French violinist, rival of and collaborator with Paganini, frequently toured Europe and composed display pieces for the violin. [Back]
[36]. Michał Kleofas Ogiński (1765-1833), Polish diplomat and composer, author of over 20 keyboard polonaises in a nostalgic mood, e.g. one subtitled Farewell to Homeland and widely disseminated in Europe throughout the nineteenth century. [Back]
[37]. Józef Kozłowski (1757-1831), Polish composer and teacher active in Russia in the service of various nobles. He composed over 200 polonaises and popularized the genre. [Back]
[38]. Feliks Janiewicz (1762-1848), Polish violinist virtuoso and composer who emigrated to England at the end of the 18th century. [Back]
[39]. Józef Elsner (1769-1854), composer of operas and religious music, teacher of Chopin. See Urszula Bartkiewicz, “Utwory Józefa Elsnera na instrumenty klawiszowe” [Józef Elsner’s works for keyboard instruments], Muzyka, 38, no. 2 (1993): 71-84. Anne Swartz, “Elsner, Chopin, and Musical Narrative as Symbols of Nation,” Polish Review 39 (1994): 445-56. [Back]
[40]. Elsner’s students: Tomasz Nidecki (1807-1852), Józef Nowakowski (1800-1865), Antoni Orłowski (1811-1861), Julian Fontana (1810-1865), Wiktor Każynski (1812-1867), Józef Krogólski (1815-1842), and Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867). [Back]
[41]. Antoni Weinert (1751-1850) was a composer of operas; Walenty Kratzer (1780-1855) composer and singer, and Faustyn Żylinski (1796-1867), tenor, are listed in the New Grove Dictionary. Other faculty members unknown. [Back]
[42]. Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (1775-1833), Polish cellist and composer active in Berlin where he met Beethoven, Zelter, Mendelssohn, Goethe, etc. Dedicatee of works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Composer of music to Goethe’s Faust. [Back]
[43]. Józef Deszczyński (1781-1844), Polish composer active in the Lithuanian part of Poland (under Russian rule) as a court musician for Count Ludwik Rokicki in Horodyszcze, staging for him various operas. Composer of piano music in stile brillant. [Back]
[44]. Karol Lipiński (1790-1861), Polish virtuoso violinist and composer of display pieces, representative of the classical school of Viotti and Spohr. [Back]
[45]. Franciszek Mirecki (1791-1862), composer, conductor and teacher; promoter of the classical style and Italian opera.[Back]
[46]. Samson Jakubowski is not listed in the New Grove Dictionary; Słownik Muzyków Polskich gives his birthdate as 1801 (Kowno). He studied commerce in Królewiec, lived in St. Petersburg and in 1827 moved to Germany. In 1832 he lived in France, performed in Denmark, France, and England. Composed fantasies, potpourri and polonaises. [Back]
[47]. Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867) was born three, not two years before Chopin. [Back]
[48]. Wiktor Każyński (1812-1867), composer, who studied law in Vilon and worked in an opera orchestra, as a church organist, and a theatre director for A. Lvov who was an amateur composer. In 1845 he became director of the St. Petersburg music theatre. [Back]
[49]. Counts Józef (1816-1892), Mateusz (1794-1866) and Michał (1788-1856) Wielohorski were brothers and musicians. Józef was a prolific composer of character pieces for the piano (etudes, marches, dances, mazurkas, ballades, nocturnes). Mateusz was a cellist and director of the Russian Music Society and an owner of a Stradivari violin. Michał was a composer who also played violin and piano. He lived in Paris and Vienna and on his estate in Kursk, studied composition and supported an orchestra. At the end of his life, he moved to St. Petersburg where he participated in court life and had a musical salon. He composed a symphony, songs, an unfinished opera. [Back]
[50]. Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872). [Back]
[51]. Of Moniuszko’s teachers only August Freyer (1803-1883) is remembered as an organist, composer, and a teacher of theory, piano and organ. [Back]
[52]. Chopin’s birthday is wrong here; the date of 22 February 1810 is now commonly accepted; other sources give 1 March 1810. [Back]
[53]. The fanciful “Polish” genealogy of Chopin, introduced by Kolberg, recurred in many late nineteenth-century biographies of the composer, including Marceli Szulc (1873), Maurycy Karasowski (1882), and Ferdinand Hoesick (1904). The story has been discredited by French researchers in a series of articles published in 1912-1927. See Maja Trochimczyk, “Chopin and the Polish Race: On National Ideologies and Chopin Reception,” in Halina Goldberg, ed., Chopin and his Era: Interdisciplinary Studies (Indiana University Press, forthcoming) . [Back]
[54]. Oskar Kolberg (1814-1890), music ethnographer and composer; of Swedish-German-French origins. [Back]
[55]. The Kątski family of musicians consisted of four brothers and a sister, they were the children of Grzegorz (d. 1844) and included Eugenia (b. 1816) a singer. Stanisław Kątski (1820-?), pianist and student of Antoni; taught piano in Paris and composed salon pieces. Antoni Kątski (1817-1889), pianist and composer, student of John Field in Moscow, child prodigy active in Europe; until 1851 lived in Paris; two years before his death he traveled around the world and gave concerts in California and the Far East. Apolinary Kątski (1825-1879), virtuoso violinist, composer and teacher; debuted at five at the St. Petersburg court, studied with Paganini, lived in Paris in 1845 and then toured Europe. After living in St. Petersburg he settled in Warsaw where in 1860 he founded the Music Institute. Karol Kątski (1815-1867), violinist and composer, member of the orchestra of the Opera Comique in Paris. [Back]
[56]. Stanisław Szczepanowski (1814-1875); Gustaw Roguski (1839-1921) composer and pianist, student of A. B. Marx in Berlin and Berlioz in Paris, teacher of Paderewski. Aleksander Zarzycki (1834-1895), pianist, conductor, composer and teacher, director of the Music Institute after Kątski’s death, composer of orchestral music, songs, and choral music. Józef Krogólski (1815-1842) pianist, child prodigy, later choral conductor specializing in religious music, founder of a free music school. Adam Munchheimer (also spelled Minchejmer; 1830-1904), composer and conductor, studied with A. B. Marx in Berlin; director of the Warsaw Opera and professor at the Music Institute, composer of numerous orchestral, chamber, vocal pieces and operas. Juliusz Klemczyński (d. 1850), pianist composer who emigrated to France and taught piano at Meaux. Wincenty Studziński (1815-1854), volinist, conductor in the orchestra of the theatre school in Kraków; author of various mazurkas, krakowiaks, and songs. Antoni Kocipiński (1816-1866) composer and music publisher active in the Ukrainian part of partitioned Poland; composer of polonaises, mazurkas, songs, cantatas, and folk song arrangements. Józef Wasielewski (not listed), Henryk Koman (1824-1887), pianist and composer teaching at the Music Institute in Warsaw, author of piano music: impromptus, waltzes, nocturnes, and mazurkas. Brothers Henryk (1835-1880, volinist and composer) and Józef (1837-1912; pianist and composer) Wieniawski. Karol Mikuli (1819-1897), studied with Chopin in 1844-1847. In 1858 he settled in Lwów where he was the director of the Conservatory and Music Society and conductor of symphonic concerts. [Back]
[57]. Ludwik Grossman (1835-1915), composer, teacher and owner of a piano store in Warsaw. Composed overtures based on literary themes (King Lear after Shakespeare, Maria after Malczewski), chamber music, Polish dances, operas and operettas, and songs. [Back]
[58]. Władysław Żeleński (1837-1921). See Zdzisław Jachimecki, “Władysław Żeleński: Życie i twórczość” [Life and Work], Rocznik Krakowski 32, no. 4 (1952, rev. 1959). [Back]
[59]. Gustaw Plater (1841-1912), composer, violinist and conductor, founder of an orchestra in Warsaw, composer of a violin concerto and fantasy, operas and songs. [Back]
[60]. Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909). See Adam Sutkowski, Zygmunt Noskowski (Kraków: PWM, 1957) and W. Wroński, Zygmunt Noskowski (Kraków: PWM, 1960). [Back]
[61]. Henryk Jarecki (1846-1918), composer, conductor and teacher, active in Poznań and Lwów where he directed the opera. [Back]
[62]. Jean Louis Nicodé (1853-1919) was actually a German composer, born in the Poznań district (Greater Poland), active in Berlin as a conductor and organizer of music concerts. He composed a symphonic opera Das Meer and other works. Also active as a pianist. [Back]
[63]. Maurycy Moszkowski (1854-1925), composer and pianist of Polish-Jewish descent. Since 1897 lived in Paris, in 1899 joined the Berlin Academy. Composed symphonic poems, concerti for piano and for violin, music for solo piano. He was one of Paderewski’s favorite contemporary composers and Paderewski recommended his music, along with Mozart and Mendelssohn, for ambitious amateurs. [Back]
[64]. Paderewski’s birth date is wrong; he was born in 1860 and died in 1946. [Back]
[65]. Henryk Pachulski (1859-1921), pianist and composer; student of Moniuszko and Żeleński, later studied with Rubinstein in Moscow where he continued to work as a professor of piano performance. He served as a secretary to Nadezda von Meck, Tchaikovsky’s friend and supporter. [Back]
[66]. Alexander Martin (1825-1856), composer and viola player in the orchestra of Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. Composed overtures for orchestra, chamber music, operas, and songs to texts from Byron, Mickiewicz, Walter Scott, etc. [Back]
[67]. Kazimierz Hofman (1842-1911), composer, pianist, conductor and teacher; graduate of the Vienna Conservatory, active in Kraków, where he had a piano store and was a teacher. In 1886 moved to Berlin to advance the career of his son, Józef Hofmann (1876-1957), virtuoso pianist, later director of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. [Back]
[68]. Paweł Kuczyński (1846-?), composed piano sonatas, cantatas, and chamber music. [Back]
[69]. Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), Polish-German pianist and composer born in Szamotuły (Samter in German), the birthplace of the 16th century Wacław. Active in Germany and the U.S., where he opened conservatories. He toured Europe and the U.S.; composed piano concerti, and works for solo piano, and helped organize federations of music teachers and performers. Phillip Scharwenka (1847-1917), brother of Xavier, had a less distinguished career in the same field, serving on the teaching faculty of his brother’s conservatory in Berlin.[Back]
[70]. Michał Biernacki (1855-1936), composer and teacher, student of Żeleński, cellist and teacher of singing. Tadeusz Joteyko (1872-1932), composer and teacher, studied with Gevaert in Brussels and with Noskowski in Warsaw. Worked as a cellist, conductor, teacher. Composed symphony, suites, chamber music, numerous miniatures for piano (mazurkas, suites, sonatines, etc.), songs, operas and cantatas. Piotr Maszyński (1855-1934) was active in Warsaw as a composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. A student of Michałowski (piano) and Noskowski (composition), he was a founder of the choral society “Lutnia” and its repertoire. Composer of Polish-themed orchestral and vocal music. Lysienko was an Ukrainian composer active in Lwów. Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński (1869-1928), pianist, composer, and conductor. Studied with Noskowski and Leschetitzky. Conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic and opera orchestras; director of the Warsaw Conservatory. Taught a number of eminent pianists and composed for orchestra (symphony, two piano concerti), chamber ensembles, choir and the stage (operas based on the poetry of Malczewski, Wyspiański and Mickiewicz). Emil Młynarski (1870-1935), conductor, violinist and composer. Studied with Auer and Liadov in Petersburg. Worked in St. Petersburg, Odessa, and Warsaw where he co-founded the Philharmonic (with guest tours in Europe). Under his baton, the opera in Warsaw staged major works of the repertoire. Composed symphonies, violin concerti, chamber music, operas based on Sienkiewicz and songs. Roman Statkowski (1859-1925), composer and teacher, studied in Warsaw and St. Petersburg (with Żeleński among others). Professor of the Warsaw Conservatory and author of orchestral, chamber music, works for solo piano and operas, including Maria based on Malczewski. Stanisław Niewiadomski (1859-1936), composer, teacher and music teacher, student of Paderewski (1885). Active in Lwów as teacher, conductor, music critic. Leokadia Wojciechowska-Myszyńska (1858-1930), composer. She studied in Warsaw with Żeleński and Noskowski; published chamber music, works for solo piano, choral and solo songs. Halina Krzyżanowska (1860-?), pianist and composer who studied in Paris with Marmontel and Guiraud, in 1880 receiving first prize in the Paris Conservatoire. Composed a symphony, piano fantasy with orchestra, piano sonatas, chamber music, and character pieces for piano. Rajmond Baczyński (properly Rajmund Leszkiewicz), amateur musician active in Lwów, composer of music for Maria by Malczewski, and author of music theory books. Eugeniusz Pankiewicz (1857-1898), composer active in Warsaw, student of Wieniawski, Leschetitzky (piano) and Noskowski (composition). Composed an extensive list of works for chamber ensembles, solo piano, choral songs, solo songs, etc. Juliusz Zarębski (1854-1885), pianist and composer who studied in Vienna and St. Petersburg, as well as with Liszt (1875). Taught at the Brussels Conservatory and composed piano, chamber compositions and songs. Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909; the text gives wrong first name), author of symphonic poems inspired by Strauss and Wagner. Wojciech Gawroński (1868-1910) composer and pianist, student of Noskowski, later also of Leschetitzky and Brahms. Collaborated with Przybyszewski, performed and taught in Warsaw and Łódz. Włodzimierz Puchalski (1848-1933), pianist and composer, student of Leschetitzky, director of a music school in Kiev. Tytus Ernesti (n.d.), pianist, conductor and composer active in Lwów in mid-19th century. [Back]