Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski   1920

Source: Polonia Music

Born on 18 November 1860 in Kuryłówka, Russia, Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a Polish composer and pianist who enrolled into the Warsaw Conservatorium in 1872. He was yet a student in 1876 when he wrote a lost 'Valse mignonne' and about 1876 when 'Waltz in F major' arrived, listed in Volume 4 of the DzW (Dzieła wszystkie Paderewskiego) of 1997. Another major authority of Paderewski well to reference from the start is the Bote und G. Bock publishing firm in Berlin (B&B) which published Paderewski since 1882. Bote & G. Bock had been founded in 1838 by Eduard Bote and Gustav Bock. These are the major sources in the cataloguing of Paderewski.

Paderewski became a private tutor at the Conservatory upon graduating in 1878. His original Op 1 of 1879 was 'Suite' in E=flat major for piano containing No.1 'Preludium a Cappriccio', No.2 'Menuetto', No.3 'Romans' and No.4 'Burleska'. This changed upon publishing 'Zwei Klavierstücke' in 1886 to the inclusion of only No.1 'Preludium a Cappriccio' and No.2 'Minuetto'. Paderewski's Op 2, 'Trois Morceaux' pour piano was published by Kruziński and Levi in Warsaw in 1881.

Paderewski's wedding to fellow student, Antonina Korsakówna, had occurred in 1880, the same year he dedicated 'Stara Suita' Op 3 to her. Perkowska has that published by B&B in 1882. His wife, Antonina, died in 1881 only several weeks after giving birth to a handicapped son, Alfred. Paderewski began studies in composition in Berlin in 1881 with Friedrich Kiel and Heinrich Urban. Come 'Elegy' in B flat major Op 4 published by B&B in 1882, not known just when he composed it.

'Danses Polonaises' Op 5 consisting of three pieces for piano had been composed in 1881 for publishing by B&B in 1882. Paderewski left Berlin for Vienna in 1884 to study with Theodor Leschetizky. His first professional performance was in Vienna in 1887, the year he published 'Humoresques de Concert' Op 14 consisting of Cahier I: 'à l'Antique' and Cahier II: 'Moderne' with three pieces each. Sequence below is by composition date excepting 'Elegia' published in 1882. Due to the two pieces of Op 1 being composed in 1879 and 1885 the Opus sequence tied to publishing will seem out of sequence, not to mention that Op 1 wasn't published until 1886, four years after Op 5 in 1882. Basically, Op 1 No.2 precedes Op 1 No.1 below. Data is per Małgorzata Perkowska who sequences Op 3 before Op 4, just as one might assume, though it isn't known when it was composed.

'Minuetto' Op 1 No.2   From 'Zwei Klavierstück' Op 1   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1879   Pub 1886

Piano: Michał Karol Szymanowski

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Trois Morceaux' ('Three Pieces') Op 2   Ignacy Paderewski

No.1 'Gavotte'

No.2 'Mélodie'

No.3 'Valse mélancolique'

Comp 1880   Pub 1881

Piano: Karol Radziwonowicz

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Stara Suita' ('An Old Suite')  Op 3   Ignacy Paderewski

No.1 'Preludio'

No.2 'Intermezzo'

No.3 'Aria'

No.4 'Fuga'

Comp 1880   Pub 1882

Piano: Karol Radziwonowicz

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Elegia'   Op 4 in B-flat major   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp unknown   Pub 1882

Piano: Michał Karol Szymanowski

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Danses Polonaises'   Op 5   Ignacy Paderewski

No.1 'Krakowiak' in E major

No.2 'Mazurek' in E minor

No.3 'Krakowiak' in B-flat major

Comp 1881   Pub 1882

Piano: Karol Radziwonowicz

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Powódz' ('Flood')   WoO in A minor   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1884   Pub 1997

Piano: Karol Radziwonowicz

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Praeludium ŕ (à) Capriccio' Op 1 No.1   From 'Zwei Klavierstück' Op 1   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1885   Pub 1886

Piano: Michał Karol Szymanowski

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

'Humoresques de Concert'   'Cahier I' of II   Op 14   Ignacy Paderewski

No.1 'Minuet' in G major

No.2 'Sarabande' in B minor

No.3 'Caprice' in G major

Comp 1885-87   Pub 1887

Piano: Jonathan Plowright

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska

Leading a highly successful career from the start, Paderewski wrote numerous works for violin which fared not so well as his piano compositions, such as his 1888 'Violin Concerto', part of which he destroyed "under the spell of a weird melancholy.” This was later reconstructed by A. Roezler for premiere in Warsaw in 1991. His 'Piano Concerto' of 1888, however, survived toward premiere in Vienna in 1889. Upon performing at concerts throughout Europe in the latter eighties, Paderewski was rich by the time he gave his first performance in New York City at Carnegie Hall [Wikipedia] on 17 November 1891. Tchaikovsky had only recently officially opened Carnegie Hall in May of 1891. Busoni had also first arrived to New York in August before moving on to Boston. Paderewski would spend the coming years continually touring venues in America and Europe. His relationship with Steinway & Sons [Wikipedia] began per his tour of the United States and Canada in 1892, presenting problems for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, as he refused to play any piano but the one Steinway had made for him (see also Paderewski's 1925 Warsaw Musical Conservatory Steinway).

'Piano Concerto'   Op 17 in A minor   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1888   Premiere 1889 in Vienna   Pub 1890

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie / Yves Abel

Piano: Claire Huangci

20 Dec 2020 in Paderborn, Germany

IMSLP   Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska   Jeremy Nicholas   Małgorzata Perkowska

It was 31 May of 1899 when Paderewski married Helena Maria von Rosen, having met her back in 1878 prior to his brief marriage to Antonina in 1880. Paderewski's solitary opera, 'Manru', premiered in Dresden on 29 May of 1901 with libretto by Alfred Nossig based on Jósefa Ignacego Kraszewski's 1843 novel, 'Chaty za wsią' ('The Cabin Behind the Woods'). This opera is a love story between one Manru and the Polish woman, Ulana. The trouble is that Manru is a Romani, and gypsies, naturally, aren't liked.

'Manru'   Op 20   Opera by Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1892-1901   Premiere: 29 May 1901 in Dresden    Pub 1901

Libretto: Alfred Nossig after Kraszewski

Director music: Tadeusz Kozłowski

Director stage: Marek Weiss

Costumes / set: Kaaspar Glarner w Dorota Karolczak

Choreography: Izadora Weiss

Teatr Wielki in Poznan, Poland   2019

IMSLP   Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska   MusicWeb International   New York Times 1902

Małgorzata Perkowska   Maja Trochimczyk   Wikipedia   James L. Zychowicz

Libretto   Libretto   Score  

Paderewski had begun sketching his 'Piano Sonata' in E flat minor back in April of 1887, not to complete it, though, until 1903 toward publishing in 1906.

'Piano Sonata'   Op 21   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1886-1903   Pub 1906 Berlin

Piano: Benny Wollin   Dec 2017

IMSLP   Anne Marie Nelson   Małgorzata Perkowska

Jed Distler indicates that Paderewski made 16 piano rolls for Welte-Mignon in 1906, fourteen of which are listed with a date of 27 February 1906 at Electronic Editorials Padstow (chart by Peter Phillips). Most of those were pieces by other composers like Chopin, Schubert and Liszt including one of his favorite works, Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' requiring two cylinders per Welte-Mignon 1246 and 1247. His own 'Nocturne' Op 16 No.4 and 'Minuet' in G Op 14 No.1 saw issue on 1262 and 1263. Paderewski recorded that on multiple occasions. He also made rolls for Aeolian. See IAMMP.

Franz Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsody No.10' of 1847   Piano roll by Ignacy Paderewski

27 Feb 1906 in Leipzig, Germany   Welte-Mignon 1251

With the exception of a hymn in 1917 Paderewski completed his last Opus, 'Symphony' in B minor  ('Polonia'), in time for its first performance on 12 Feb 1909 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Max Fiedler.

'Symphony'   Op 24 in B minor   Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1903-1908   Premiere: 12 Feb 1909 in Boston   Pub 1911

Symphony Orchestra of Pomerania / Bohdan Wodiczko

IMSLP   Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska   Małgorzata Perkowska

Paderewski recorded multiple issues on flat disc for Gramophone (parent to HMV), the latter in 1911 at his residence in Switzerland to include five pieces by Chopin and his own 'Minuet' in G from 'Humoresques de concert' on 045530 (Gramophone matrix 345ai recorded in July of 1911). He would also issue numerous 78 rpms on Victor (see DAHR).

'Minuet'   Op 14 No.1 in G major   Ignacy Paderewski

From Cahier I of 'Humoresques de concert'

July 1911 at his home in Morges, Switzerland   Matrix 345ai   Gramophone 045530

Christian Johansson

Paderewski moved to the U.S. in 1913, there to purchase country in California for a vineyard. He later purchased land in Santa Maria toward oil exploration. The opening of World War I in 1914 saw Paderewski adding political activism to his schedule in 1915 as he began to make speeches toward the relief of Polish casualties and the establishment of an independent Poland, agendas meeting the support of Presidents Wilson and Hoover while raising millions of dollars for Polish victims of the Great War. In the meantime Paderewski composed his last work, 'Hej, Orle Bialy' ('Hey, White Eagle'), in 1917, that a patriotic hymn for male chorus and piano or wind orchestra with text by himself.

'Hej, Orle Bialy' ('Hey, White Eagle')   F major   Military anthem by Ignacy Paderewski

Comp 1917 New York   Pub 1918

Cantores Minores led by Joseph A. Herter

IMSLP   Małgorzata Perkowska   Score   Score   Text

About the time of 'Hej, Orle Bialy' Paderewski's Polish activism developed toward statesmanship upon joining the Polish National Committee (PNC) in Paris, founded in 1917 to the purpose of creating the state of Poland. It was Paderewski's speech in Poznań in 1918 that instigated the Greater Poland Uprising against Germany. Paderewski became Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the new state of Poland on 18 January 1919, thereat the PNC closing shop [SPCHD]. He resigned as Foreign Minister the same year, becoming Polish Ambassador to the League of Nations instead. Serving as Prime Minister to 27 November 1919, he resigned from politics in 1922 to take up performing again, his first concert at Carnegie Hall. He next played at Madison Square Garden [Wikipedia], then toured the United States via his own private railway car. He hesitated, then consented to appear in the film, 'Moonlight Sonata', playing himself, in 1938 [1, 2, playing Beethoven, playing Chopin].

'Moonlight Sonata' (Beethoven 1801)   Ignacy Paderewski

From the film 'Moonlight Sonata'

Directed by Lothar Mendes   Released 9 May 1938

IMDb   Letterboxd   Darek Makowski   Silver in a Haystack   Wikipedia

Also in 1938 Scribner published 'The Paderewski Memoirs' written with the assistance of Mary Lawton (see Authorship below). The opening of World War II in September 1939 saw Paderewski back in politics, becoming head of the Polish parliament in exile in London. The next year he was eighty years old. Scheduled to appear at Madison Square Garden, he refused, his explanation that he had already played there, referring to his performance twenty years prior as if it had been only recently. His last visit to America commencing in November of 1940, Paderewski died of pneumonia while on tour on 29 June 1941 in New York. His burial at Arlington, Virginia, with military honors, was meant to be temporary, though his remains didn't see removal to St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw until 1992. His heart, however, is buried separately in Doylestown, Pennsylvania [Arlington National Cemetery / Józef Piłsudski Institute].