IGNACE JAN PADEREWSKI

King of Pianists

Ignace Jan Paderewski was born in the small Polish village of Kurylowka
in the province of Podolia on 18th. November 1860....  one hundred and fifty years ago.
He died in New York on 29th. June 1941.

During those crowded eighty and a half years he showed himself to be not only
a king among pianists, but a great patriot, philanthropist and composer as well.

Many prime ministers have also played the piano, but very few, if any,
other concert pianists can claim also to have been Prime Minister!!
It was very largely due to Paderewski's efforts that Poland achieved independence
in 1919... He became her first Premier, and signed the Peace Treaty at Versailles on her behalf.

The first set of Polish postage stamps includes one bearing his portrait.

But it is as a pianist above all that Paderewski is remembered.
his interpretations were wondrous in their aristocracy of style, immense vitality and fire - and with
their 'every note a poem'.  He could make the piano 'sing' in a unique way, and produce thunder of
the loudest.

The Minuet in G-Major, Op. 14: No. 1 is his best known composition, with the charming Nocturne in B-flat, Op. 16: No. 4 a close second.
But he wrote many other delightful short piano pieces, as well as some larger works such as sets of variations, sonatas, a piano concerto and a fine Polish Fantasia for piano and orchestra, and an opera "Manru".

His music has never had the success it really deserved, though the concerto was recorded in 1939, and Decca did issue an L.P. recording of the Polish Fantasia.

His own recordings do him less than justice, although he must have made about a hundred altogether.  Most were pre-electric or early electric ones.
An excellent L.P. called "The Art of Paderewski" (which includes the B-flat Nocturne) has been issued under the Camden label, however.   This was very well received by Alec Robinson in the
April 1960 Issue Gramophone Magazine.

 In his book "The Paderewski Memoirs" he tells several delightful stories of his encounters with animals who appreciated music.
 One is about a spider he met when practising in his little room in Vienna long before his recognition as a great pianist.

 When he started his day's work with a Chopin Study in Thirds, suddenly in the midst of his playing down from the ceiling came a tiny silvery thread, with a spider attached. 
 

It hung there motionless so long as the Study in Thirds was played.
But anything else, and the spider shot back to the ceiling!

This continued for several weeks, by which time the spider actually sat on the piano, but only when the Study in Thirds was played.  One in sixths - or anything else - was no good, and the spider would angrily leave the piano. 
Undoubtedly a musical spider, if of a somewhat (though understandably) limited musical range!

Then there was "Cocky Roberts".
He was a Parrot whose vocabulary and apparent understanding were almost human, and Paderewski tells many tales about him.
His language was not always of the best, but he was a very hospitable parrot, and would suddenly cry, "Look here, have a drink - have a drink".
When making a rough sea passage across the Tasman Sea with his cage constantly moving from one corner of the cabin to another, the poor parrot did not understand what was the matter with it.  "Oh, you wretches, you wretches", he screamed,  "Go to hell!".

He almost invariably sat on Paderewski's foot when he was practicing.
he would sit perfectly still and from time to time say in a very loving and scratchy voice "Oh, Lord, how beautiful! how beautiful!"
A very musical parrot indeed.

There is a charming story about the composition of his famous Minuet in G.  
When Paderewski was 26, he often visited the home of a neighbouring physician and played there for him and his circle of friends.
The audience was above all enthusiastic about Mozart as the composer par excellence.  "What style! What purity!" and so on and so on.
Paderewski's repertoire of Mozart was at the time very limited, but on these occasions he had always to play some Mozart.

After a while he wearied of this and decided to have a little revenge.
He improvised a Minuet in the style of Mozart which he played at their next meeting.
"Oh, Mozart! What a wonderful piece! 
Tell us, Paderewski, is there anyone alive who could write such music?"
His deception had succeeded better than he had hoped, and they were not very pleased when he assured them he had composed it himself!

But they forgave him, and became so fond of his Minuet that he had always to play it for them.
A revised version was published later and achieved an enormous success.

During the phenomenally energetic tours early in his career he played and practised as much as seventeen hours each day for weeks on end.

Not without reason was his recipe for success:
1% talent, 9% good fortune - and 90% hard work.

At the age of 76, Paderewski appeared in the film "Moonlight Sonata", and the sales of his recording of this most popular of Beethoven's Sonatas became a best-seller in 1937.

He was a real friend of Great Britain, and in November 1940 said:
"With a heart full of love, reverence and admiration I take the opportunity of addressing the heroic British Nation.  From the beginning of this ferocious war Britain and Poland have been united.
They will remain united forever".

And in 1941, shortly before he died, he inscribed in the writer's autograph album,
"God Bless Great Britain!"

There are, and will be, other great pianists, but there will not be another Paderewski;
a great artist, a great personality and a great gentleman.

Commander M. Magnus Osborn, R.N., O.B.E., Retd.

Formerly Director Klavar Music Foundation of Great Britain

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