Ignace Jan Paderewski

Polish classical pianist and composer

• Born: November 18, 1860
• Birthplace: Kurytówka, Poland, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine)
• Died: June 29, 1941
• Place of death: New York, New York

A celebrated piano virtuoso of the Romantic era, Paderewski was a composer and a national hero of Poland.

The Life

Ignace Jan Paderewski (ehg-NAH-tsee yahn pah-deh-REHV-skee) was born to Jan Paderewski and Polixena Nowicka, who died few months after his birth. He grew up in the village of Sudylkowo in Volynia Province. From 1872 to 1878, Paderewski was a student at the Warsaw Musical Institute, where he also taught after graduation. He married Antonina Korsak in Warsaw in 1880; in October of the same year his wife died after giving birth to their son Alfred.

Paderewski studied composition in Berlin in 1882 and piano in Vienna in 1884. Following his debut in Paris in 1888, he gained prominence as a virtuoso, and he embarked on several international concert tours. In 1899 Paderewski married Helena Rosen-Gorska, and Riond Bosson, their villa in Morges, Switzerland, became their permanent home. His son Alfred died suddenly of pneumonia in 1900.

From the outset of World War I, the pianist actively participated in politics, supporting the cause of Poland’s independence. In 1919 he became the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs in the government of Poland, leading the Polish delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles. Later, he was the representative of Poland to the League of Nations. In 1922 he abandoned politics and dedicated himself to performing. In the 1930’s, Paderewski gradually withdrew from the concert platform. While his own health was gradually deteriorating, his wife Helena passed away in 1934.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Paderewski engaged again in politics, actively working to support the Polish cause abroad. He died at the Buckingham Hotel in New York City in 1941. In 1992 Paderewski’s remains were moved from Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., to St. John the Baptist’s Cathedral in Warsaw, Poland.

The Music

Paderewski began piano studies at the age of three with his father, an amateur violinist. Later, he continued his education with local teachers, Piotr Sowinski and a teacher known only by the name Rumowski. In 1872, at the age of twelve, Paderewski entered the Warsaw Musical Institute, where he studied piano with Juliusz Janota. Paderewski did not concentrate entirely on the piano at that time; he also studied oboe, clarinet, double bass, trumpet, violin, and cello. After graduation, Paderewski taught lower female-division piano at the Warsaw Musical Institute. In 1882 he went to Berlin, where he became a composition student of Friedrich Kiel and, later, Heinrich Urban.

Piano Performances. In 1884 Paderewski moved to Vienna to study piano performance with Theodore Leschetizky. Initially, Leschetizky did not believe that a twenty-four-year-old student could make a career as a virtuoso. A successful debut in Vienna took place in 1887, but it was Paderewski’s recital at the Sale Erard in Paris on March 3, 1888, that opened the doors to the most prestigious concert halls in the world. The concert earned such enthusiastic reviews that it had to be repeated five times. In the following years, Paderewski appeared on stages in Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Spain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, and South Africa. The United States was a favorite destination for Paderewski. His historic American debut took place at New York’s Carnegie Hall on November 17, 1891.

During the several concert tours that followed, Paderewski performed in hundreds of concerts, and he gradually became well known in the United States. He traveled throughout the United States in a private railroad car, with his wife and service personnel. He was also known as a great speaker, and his humanitarian activities were an important part of his life. Through fundraising activities and personal contacts with the affluent and the influential, Paderewski raised money for several causes, such as veterans, the unemployed, the Polish government, and education, and he helped sponsor the foundation of new buildings and monuments. In the 1930’s, Paderewski announced that he would never perform in any country where people of Jewish origin were persecuted.

Compositions. Paderewski was also a composer. His output contains an opera, a symphony, a piano concerto, songs, piano variations, and several smaller piano pieces, of which the Minuet in G was during his life a household favorite. Paderewski’s compositions are traditional in nature, and they follow late-Romantic aesthetics.

In the 1930’s, the pianist appeared in a film, Moonlight Sonata (1937), a box-office success. During that time, with Ludwik Bronarski and Jozef Turczynski, Paderewski began working on a complete edition of Frédéric Chopin’s music. The project was not finished until 1949, yet “The Paderewski Edition” remains till today the most widely used among pianists.

Repertoire and Recordings. In his repertoire, Paderewski included works by all the great composers, including contemporaries such as Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Karol Szymanowski. A vast part of his repertoire contained works by composers who are largely forgotten, such as Joachim Raff, Henri Litolff, Alexandre Duvernoy, and Carl Tausig.

Even though he did not feel comfortable in the recording studio, Paderewski left a considerable recording output, consisting of his own compositions and works by Franz Liszt, Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and others. His first recordings date from 1905.

Musical Legacy

Paderewski’s career was of historic proportions. He was an excellent pianist who personified the ideal of a Romantic hero, not only through his performances but also through his generous character and genuine idealism.

Paderewski’s recordings remain a source of analysis for historians of performance practice. Paderewski’s pianism, even though mature artistically and technically advanced, was deeply rooted in late-Romantic fashion.

Reviews of Paderewski’s concerts repeatedly confirm his powerful artistic charisma, his imposing looks, his ability to move the audience, and his Slavic simplicity. His playing was noted for its dignity and its nobility.

Principal Works

chamber work: Sonata in A Minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 13, 1885.

choral work:Hej, orle bialy, 1918 (Hey, White Eagle; hymn for male chorus and piano or wind orchestra; lyrics by Paderewski).

opera (music): Manru, Op. 20, 1901 (libretto by Alfred Nossig; based on J. I. Kraszewski’s novel Chata za wsia, or, A Cabin Outside the Village).

orchestral works:Mazurka in F, 1876; Valse in F, 1878.

piano works:Valse mignonne, 1876; Impromptu in F, 1878; Suite in E-flat Major, 1879; Three Polish Dances, Op. 5, 1881; Trois Morceaux, Op. 2, 1881; Dwa Kanony, 1882 (Two Canons); Introduction and Toccata, Op. 6, 1882; Chants du voyageur, Op. 8, 1883 (five piece); Danses polonaises, Op. 5, 1883; Elegie for Piano, Op. 4, 1883; Album de mai, Op. 10, 1884; Album tatrzanskie, Op. 12, Nos. 1-4, 1884 (Tatra Album: Tänze und Lieder des polnischen Volkes aus Zakopane); Intermezzo in C Major, 1884; Intermezzo in G Minor, 1884; Krakowiak, 1884 (Fantasy); Six Polish Dances, Op. 9, 1884; Variations and Fugue in A, Op. 11, 1884; Zwei Klavierstücke, Op. 1, 1886; Dans le desert, Op. 15, 1887 (musical tableau in the form of a toccata); Humoresques de concert, Op. 14, Nos. 1-6, 1887; Minuet in G, 1887; Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 17, 1888; Polish Fantasia, Op. 19, 1893 (for piano and orchestra); Mazurka in G, 1896; Miscellanea, Op. 16, 1896 (seven pieces); Sonata in E-flat Minor, Op. 21, 1903; Variations and Fugue in E-flat Minor, Op. 23, 1903; Symphony in B Minor, Op. 24, 1909.

vocal works:Stara suita, Op. 3, 1881 (An Old Suite; for three voices); Vier Lieder, Op. 7, 1885 (Four Songs; for voice and piano; based on Adam Asnyk’s poetry); Szesc piesni, Op. 18, 1893 (Six Songs; for voice and piano; lyrics by Adam Mickiewicz); Douze Melodies sur des poesies de Catulle Mendes, Op. 22, 1903 (Twelve Songs; for voice and piano).

Bibliography

Paderewski, Ignace Jan, and Mary Lawton. The Paderewski Memoirs. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938. Paderewski’s authorized autobiography, first published during his life, chronicles his childhood, his musical studies, his career, his public and private life, as well as his personal thoughts. It also represents a firsthand account of cultural and political life of that historical period.

Strakacz, Aniela. Paderewski As I Knew Him. New Brunswick, N.H.: Rutgers University Press, 1949. Twenty-three years of personal contacts with Paderewski and his career are recounted in a personal diary of Paderewski’s secretary’s wife.

Zamoyski, Adam. Paderewski. London: Collins, 1982. A musical and political account of Paderewski’s life, with a chronological list of his compositions, a full list of works in his piano repertoire, and references to his recordings. Special attention is given to Paderewski’s political activities.