A Heritage to Be Rediscovered
Even though some of his piano partitions sold in several million copies, Paderewski’s creative heritage is less extensive than his legacy as a virtuoso, be it merely in quantitative terms. The heritage of his youth is nonetheless worthy of being rediscovered.
« I blow through old cinders »
« I started working a little again », wrote Ignacy Paderewski to his friend Irène Löwenberg on 16th October 1905. « In my files I found a grave, even austere theme from twenty years ago, with nearly as many flats, and some youthful memories linger in my mind.. and so I began blowing through old cinders. I believe some fire will arise from these, still. »
Millionaire Minuet
First of the six Concert Humoresques op. 14, the Minuet partition undoubtedly counts among the most renowned by Paderewski with the « Polonia » Symphony, Piano Concerto in A Minor and Manru Opera. Written in 1887, the partition sold during his lifetime in millions of copies, was recorded by acclaimed pianists (among whom Rachmaninov and Paderewski himself) and transcribed for several instruments (including for violin by Fritz Kreisler and for cello by Gaspar Cassadó).
« The Long-Promised Minuet by Paderewski »
As one time, women’s magazines would place orders with fashionable musicians... as did The Ladies' Home Journal when it announced in September 1896 the exclusive publication, in its October issue, of a new Minuet – « modern » this time around! –, in the hope of getting the same huge success (7 million partitions sold in the United States alone!) as the Menuet à l'antique, composed in 1893 (the first edition of which can be admired here).
The speech on Chopin
This flagship speech by Ignacy Paderewski is a true « declaration of faith by the artist and the thinker » (Henryk Opienski). It was delivered during a Chopin Festival organised in Lwów, capital city of Galicia, in the fall of 1910.
« No nation in the world can claim a richness of feelings and soul to match our own. God did not count the strings he added to our harp, nor did he measure their resonance. We have the noble tenderness of love and the forcefulness of action, as well as the tempestuous breath of lyricism and chivalry values. We have the soft lethargy of the virgin, the moderation of the mature age, the tragic sadness of the old man, the joyful nimbleness of youth. Our seductive charm may lie therein, or it may be the cradle for our biggest flaw. [...] Providence entrusted many a great man with the task of revealing the Polish soul, yet none managed to render such variance more powerfully than Chopin. Music, his music, alone, could depict this turbulent soul sometimes overflowing against the shores of infinity, other times withdrawn, submissive to the point of heroism. »
Bach versus Wagner « The Attila of music »
Today regarded as the absolute summit of musical artistry, Johann Sebastian Bach’s works did not always bask in the limelight. One must consider the pioneer works by the Vaud musicographer William Cart, who revived the Cantor of Saint-Thomas with his Etude sur Jean-Sébastien Bach published in 1884 by Fischbacher in Paris – to the delight of young Paderewski, who expressed his joy in a letter he wrote to William Cart from Utrecht on 21st March 1890.
« [In Germany], there still is room for everything, whereas in France the Tamerlane, the Attila of music Wagner dominates everything. Everywhere, nothing but pamphlets on the author of Lohengrin. To think of all the damage this man did to ‘pure music’ when I see how many heads he turned, and this insolent dilettantism he created and encouraged – when I look at all his wrongdoings, I resent him for all these reasons. Long live Bach – dear Mr Cart – long live Johann Sebastian, his superhuman science and divine unconsciousness! »
The friendly testimony of Opienski
A Polish exile, Henryk Opienski (1870-1942) shared Paderewski’s fondness for Morges and its region – which returned their affection as, today, two streets are named after both men. He was one of the first to show interest in Paderewski’s « legend » and, in 1928 published with the Spes Publishing House in Lausanne a biography that still stands as a reference today. A musician himself, he offered readers an insightful take on the artist’s music.
« [...] this pianist-composer has never sought virtuosity effects, even in his first pieces; his sole concern is to make the piano ‘sing’, and exhort it to produce a melody with deep and profound sonorities, expressing his very soul – the choice of harmonies, however, is never ordinary. [...] The sheer richness of what could be named the ‘harmonic palette’ of Paderewski places him among the best of his nineteenth-century contemporaries. The colour scale renovation can be attributed to him, in his country’s musical style at the time, for he truly revealed modern harmony. »
« Like a village violin sings, weeps and makes one dance »
In its 14th November 1941 issue, the Journal de Morges published the address by Prof. Z. de Gawronski during the memorial concert for Henryk Sienkiewicz given in Morges by his friend Paderewski, shortly after the death of the Polish writer and Nobel laureate in 1916.
« We may try to compare Ignacy Paderewski’s works to those by other composers; all we will discover is that everything he gives originates from a creative spirit drawing inspiration from the deep roots of national soul, as an oak draws vital strength from the soil that nourishes it. He does not merely borrow popular patterns and adorn them with a finite form to lend them artistic expression; rather he creates, like Chopin, his themes from the very start, so that they sing, weep and dance, like a village violin sings, weeps and makes one dance. The national soul thus expressed through the heart of a genius, in subtle and sublime melodies and harmonies, returns to the people, to render them nobler and stronger [...] Listening to his music should make us feel the pulsations of a superhuman generosity and the heartbeats of a true Polish heart. »