Seductive, beguiling, but also wistful and highly sensitive: beyond music, Ignacy Paderewski radiated spellbinding charisma. Women were easily conquered – but they could also take the lead. They became his sister, his lover, his confidante, his guardian. At one stage or another in his life, each in her own way embodied the muse, reassuring and decisive.
1879. Ignacy fell madly in love in Warsaw. A recently appointed Conservatory Professor, he fell for a student barely younger than him and asked for her hand. Antonina Korsak soon gave birth to a son, Alfred: « The happiest day in all my life ». But the happiness was to be short-lived. Antonina died ten days afterwards, and their son was diagnosed with poliomyelitis. Paderewski’s child was first in his care, then later entrusted with witness at his marriage Helena Gorska – the wife of his friend Ladislas Gorski... whom he subsequently married himself, in a twist of fate! Alfred did not survive beyond the age of twenty. The young widowed man’s immediate reaction was to study composition in Berlin with Friedrich Kiel, as Antonina had made him promise: she had believed this path safer than a career as a pianist...
Krakow, 4th October 1884. For the first time in his young career, Ignacy Paderewski performed in front of a full house. The evening’s takings enabled him to reach Vienna and the class of the renowned Theodore Leszetycki. This decisive encounter with his destiny as a virtuoso was carved out by the first in a long series of good fairies: the actress Helena Modrzejewska. He had met her on vacation in the Tatra Mountains, and the Polish theatre muse had served his budding talent with her charisma: her name headlining a poster was a guarantee for success. She delivered texts, he responded with his piano: their performance was fascinating. Vienna became a reality, and Warsaw stood in line, eagerly awaiting the young genius. The great lady’s intuition had been right.
Annette Essipoff-Leszetycka was Professor Leszetycki’s second wife. A remarkable pianist, she led a flourishing career and shared its priceless teachings with Paderewski. Yes, her letters did exude passion between the lines, but first and foremost she wished to see him become famous. During these crucial years (1886-1889) when the musician was still hesitant over which road to take, behind the scenes she played a role as crucial as her husband’s, in the manner of an impresario; she rekindled Paderewski’s pride and energy, and helped him overcome a crippling melancholia inherited from his black-and-white youth. She acted as « beloved Cossack » and on 20th January 1889, created his Piano Concerto in Vienna... a revelation to him.
After his performance on 3rd March 1888 in the Erard concert hall, Paris was enthralled by Paderewski as it had been by Chopin half a century earlier. His arrival chez Princess Rachel de Brancovan – whose roots reach all the way to the gates of Orient – caused quite a stir. « Crowned in light, his eyes attuned to the stars, a magus appeared before us, and we loved him, » wrote Anna de Noailles, daughter of the great aristocrat, then twelve years of age. Rachel de Brancovan had studied with Camille Dubois, Chopin’s last student. Generous and refined, she was perhaps his most faithful muse. She would regularly invite him to Amphion, near Evian, where she owned a sumptuous mansion. She later facilitated his Riond-Bosson acquisition, across the lake...
She witnessed Ignacy Paderewski’s fleeting first marriage, then acted as a surrogate mother for his diseased son before becoming his wife in 1899 – despite the old friendship the musician shared with her first husband, violinist Ladislas Gorski. Helena Paderewska remained his faithful and ever-present spouse until her death in 1934, and tirelessly accompanied him along all his travels – even to the Halls of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, where she was one of the very few ladies to witness the signature of the 1919 Treaty –, not to forget her generous and resourceful administration of Riond-Bosson. Pay her a visit on her estate, letting the signs dedicated to Paderewski’s years in Morges guide your meanderings!
She too had been immersed in music from her youngest age. After her husband, then her son, passed away, Antonina Wilkonska Paderewska grew closer to her illustrious brother. And when her sister-in-law Helena died, she took over the domestic reins at Riond-Bosson. She accompanied Paderewski during his last journey across the Atlantic in 1940. A New York Times report depicted her as she played solitaire; she appeared reassuring next to the fatigued octogenarian. Ignacy died on 29th June 1941. Antonina followed suit three months later. Away from the limelight – discrete and benevolent right to the end.
