Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman, who was the Prime Minister of Poland in 1919. He was one of the best-known musicians of his time, as well as a very influential statesman who helped create modern Poland after World War I.
Background
Ignace Jan Paderewski was born on November 6, 1860 in Kuryłówka, a rural section of Poland, where his father was an overseer for several large estates. His mother never recovered from childbirth and died a few months later after Ignacy's birth.
He was 3, when tragedy struck his family again, as his father was arrested and imprisoned for his role in the January Uprising of Polish patriots against the Tsarist regime. The young Paderewski, effectively an orphan, was adopted by his aunt.
Education
From 1872 Paderewski studied music at the Warsaw Conservatory. His progress on the piano was not rapid, and his teacher advised him to study another instrument. He tried the flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and finally the trombone, which he played in the conservatory orchestra. The piano remained his chief interest, however. From 1884 to 1887 he studied in Vienna under Theodor Leschetizky, who did much to improve a limited technique.
Career
From 1878 Paderewski taught piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. Between 1887 and 1891 he made his first public appearances as a pianist, in Vienna, Paris, London, and New York City. His success with the public was overwhelming.
He made his first American tour in 1891 and then returned regularly until the outbreak of World War I. He developed a tremendous following and amassed a fortune estimated at $10 million. He maintained princely establishments in Switzerland and California, where he entertained continually and lavishly.
Paderewski's repertoire, consisting largely of familiar Beethoven sonatas and compositions by Chopin and Liszt, appealed to unsophisticated audiences as well as musicians. By many standards he was not a great pianist. His technique was limited, and his interpretations were more "poetical" and sentimental than stylistically valid, but this did not matter to his fervent followers.
In 1901 his opera “Manru”, dealing with life in the Tatra Mountains, was given at Dresden. In 1909 his “Symphony in B Minor” was given at Boston, and in that same year he became director of the Warsaw Conservatory.
In 1910 he presented to the city of Kraków a monument commemorating the 500th anniversary of the victory of the Poles over the Teutonic Order. During World War I Paderewski proved to be a Polish nationalist in a wider sense. Concerned with the plight of Polish victims of the war, he raised large sums of money for them through benefit concerts. He also skillfully united various Polish-American groups to work for the same end. He became a member of the Polish National Committee and was appointed its representative to the United States, where he urged President Woodrow Wilson to support the cause of Polish independence. Wilson included Poland’s cause as the 13th of his Fourteen Points of January 8, 1918.
Returning to Poland as soon as the war was over, Paderewski was greeted as a national hero. He was elected president and represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference, where he successfully convinced the other statesmen that a united Poland was necessary. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the opening sessions of the League of Nations.
Paderewski resigned from political activities in 1921 and resumed his concertizing, giving concerts in Europe and the United States, mainly for war victims. He continued to play until 1939, and only his death in New York in 1941 stopped his work for Poland.
He was strikingly handsome, tall, and gracious, crowned with a mane of golden-reddish hair. His audiences felt, it was said, as though they were invited guests to an exclusive soiree. His grand scale of living also made him a glamorous figure.
Connections
In 1880 he married one of his pupils, Antonina Korsak, who died in childbirth the following year.
In 1899 he married Helena Gorska, Baroness de Rosen.