Maria Szymanowska (Polish pronunciation: ; born Marianna Agata Wołowska;

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, 14 December 1789 – 25 July 1831, St. Petersburg,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

) was a Polish composer and one of the first professional

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such a ...

pianists of the 19th century. She toured extensively throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, especially in the 1820s, before settling permanently in St. Petersburg. In the Russian imperial capital, she composed for the court, gave concerts, taught music, and ran an influential salon. Her

compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

—largely piano pieces, songs, and other small chamber works, as well as the first piano concert etudes and nocturnes in Poland—typify the ' of the era preceding

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

. She was the mother of

Celina Szymanowska Celina Szymanowska (16 July 1812 – 5 March 1855) was a daughter of the Polish composer and pianist Maria Agata Szymanowska and the wife of the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz. Life Celina Szymanowska, daughter of Mickiewicz's late friend ...

, who married the Polish Romantic poet

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

Biography

Marianna Agata Wołowska was born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on 14 December 1789 into a prosperous Polish family with Frankist Jewish roots, one of her ancestors being Salomon Ben Elijah (or Jacob ben Judah Leib/Jacob Leibowicz), the personal assistant of

Jacob Frank Jacob Joseph Frank ( he, יעקב פרנק; pl, Jakub Józef Frank; born Jakub Lejbowicz; 1726 – December 10, 1791) was a Polish-Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi (162 ...

. Her father Franciszek Wołowski was a landlord and a brewer. Her mother Barbara Wołowska (née Lanckorońska) came from a noble Polish

Lanckoroński family The House of Lanckoroński (plural Lanckorońscy. Lithuanian - Lanskoronskiai) was an old Polish aristocratic family. Its representatives held power and influence in the Kingdom of Poland from the times of the late Piast dynasty (14th century) to ...

. The history of her early years and especially her musical studies is uncertain; she appears to have studied piano with Antoni Lisowski and Tomasz Gremm, and composition with

Franciszek Lessel Franciszek Lessel (1780 – 26 December 1838) was a Polish composer. Life Lessel was born in Puławy, Poland. His father, Wincenty Ferdynand Lessel, was a pianist and composer of Czech origin who served as his first teacher. In 1799 Francisz ...

Józef Elsner Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (sometimes ''Józef Ksawery Elsner''; baptismal name, ''Joseph Anton Franz Elsner''; 1 June 176918 April 1854) was a composer, music teacher, and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw. He was one of the fir ...

and

Karol Kurpiński Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński (March 6, 1785September 18, 1857) was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue. He was a representative of late classicism and a member of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning ( Polish: ''Towarzystwo Warszaws ...

. She gave her first public recitals in Warsaw and Paris in 1810. In the same year, she married Józef Szymanowski (d. 1832), with whom she had three children while living in Poland: Helena (1811–61), who married a Polish lawyer

Franciszek Malewski Franciszek Hieronim Malewski of Jastrzębiec coat of arms (1800-1870) was a PolishAleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin translated by Vladimir Nabokov, ''Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse'', Princeton University Press, 1991, p.522. Quote: "Franciszek Malew ...

, and twins Celina (1812–55), who married

, and Romuald (1812–40), who became an engineer). The children remained with Maria after her separation from Szymanowski in 1820. The marriage ended in divorce. Szymanowska died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

during the summer 1831 epidemic in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. She is presumed to be unrelated to

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the in ...

, considered to be the most famous Polish composer of the 20th century.

Performances

Her professional piano career began in 1815, with performances in England in 1818, a tour of Western Europe 1823–1826, including both public and private performances in Germany, France, England (on multiple occasions), Italy, Belgium and Holland. A number of these performances were given in private for royalty; in England alone during 1824, her performance schedule included concerts at the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

(18 May 1824), Hanover Square (11 June 1824, with members of the royal family present) and other performances for several English dukes. Her playing was very well received by critics and audiences alike, garnering her a reputation for a delicate tone, lyrical sense of

virtuosity ''Virtuosity'' is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Howard W. Koch Jr. served as an executive producer for the film. The film was released in the United Stat ...

and operatic freedom. She was one of the first professional piano virtuosos in 19th-century Europe and one of the first pianists to perform memorized repertoire in public, a decade ahead of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

and

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

. After years of touring, she returned to Warsaw for some time before relocating in early 1828, first to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg, where she served as the court pianist to the Empress of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna.

Compositions

Szymanowska composed around 100 piano pieces. Like many women composers of her time, she wrote music predominantly for instrumentation she had access to, including many solo piano pieces and miniatures, songs, and some chamber works. Her work is typically labeled, stylistically, as part of the pre-romantic period ' and of Polish Sentimentalism. Szymanowska scholar Sławomir Dobrzański describes her playing and its historical significance as follows:

Her Etudes and Preludes show innovative keyboard writing; the Nocturne in B flat is her most mature piano composition; Szymanowska's Mazurkas represent one of the first attempts at stylization of the dance; Fantasy and Caprice contain an impressive vocabulary of pianistic technique; her polonaises follow the tradition of polonaise-writing created by Michal Kleofas Ogiński. Szymanowska's musical style is parallel to the compositional starting point of Frédéric Chopin; many of her compositions had an obvious impact on Chopin's mature musical language.

While scholars have debated the reach of her influence on her compatriot Chopin, her career as a pianist and composer strikingly foreshadows his own, as well as the broader trend in 19th-century Europe of the virtuoso pianist/composer, whose abilities as a performer expanded her technical possibilities as a composer.

Reputation

Because of her stature as a performance artist and because of her salon, Szymanowska developed a strong web of connections with some of the most notable composers, performing musicians, and poets of her day, including:

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Luigi Cherubini Luigi Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the gre ...

Frederic Chopin Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

, Johann Hummel, John Field;

Pierre Baillot Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot (1 October 1771 – 15 September 1842) was a French violinist and composer born in Passy. He studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris together with Pierre R ...

, Giuditta Pasta;

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

and

. Beethoven, Hummel and Field dedicated compositions to her. Goethe is rumored to have fallen deeply in love with her.Briscoe, J. R. (Ed.). (2004). ''New historical anthology of music by women'' (Vol. 1). Indiana University Press. Pgs. 126-127. The salon she established in St. Petersburg drew especially prominent crowds, augmenting her status as a court musician.

Modern Works

*
Album per pianoforte
'. Maria Szmyd-Dormus, ed. Kraków: PWM, 1990. *
25 Mazurkas
'. Irena Poniatowska, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA: Hildegard, 1991. *
Music for Piano
'. Sylvia Glickman, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA: Hildegard, 1991. *
Six Romances
'. Maja Trochimczyk, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA: Hildegard, 1998.

Discography

*
Szymanowska: Complete Dances for Solo Piano
'' Alexander Kostrita, piano. Grand Piano GP685, 2015 *
Three Generations of Mazurkas: Polish dances for Piano by Szymanowska, Chopin, Szymanowski
'' Alexander Kostrita, piano. Divine Art DDA25123, 2014 *
Maria Szymanowska: Complete Piano Works
'' Sławomir P. Dobrzański, piano. Acte Préalable AP0281-83, 201

*
Maria Szymanowska: Ballades & Romances
'' Elżbieta Zapolska, mezzo-soprano; Bart van Oort, fortepiano Broadwood 1825. Acte Préalable AP0260, 201

*
Maria Szymanowska: Piano Works
'. Anna Ciborowska, piano. Dux, 2004. *
Szymanowska: Album
'. Carole Carniel, piano. Ligia Digital, 2005. *
Alla Polacca: Chopin et l'école polonaise de piano
'.

Jean-Pierre Armengaud Jean-Pierre Armengaud (born 17 June 1943) is a French music educator, musicologist, researcher and pianist. Career Armengaud was born in Clermont-Ferrand. From 1967 to 1974, he seconded Germaine Arbeau-Bonnefoy in the presentation of the , pedago ...

, piano. Mandala : Distribution Harmonia Mundi, 2000. *
Inspiration to Chopin
'. Karina Wisniewska, piano. Denon, 2000. *
Riches and Rags: A Wealth of Piano Music by Women
'. Nancy Fierro, piano. Ars Musica Poloniae, 1993.

References

External links

* Dobrzanski, Sławomir.
Maria Szymanowska - Bibliography."
''Polish Music Journal'' 5, no. 1 (Summer 2002).
Maria Szymanowska Society
* * *Conference papers from the 2014 Maria Szymanowska Symposium in
Annales / Académie Polonaise des Sciences
' 16. (Centres Scientifique à Paris: Varsovie-Paris, 2014).
Scores by Maria Szymanowska
in digital library Polona {{DEFAULTSORT:Szymanowska, Maria Agata 1789 births 1831 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century keyboardists 19th-century Polish musicians 19th-century Polish people Adam Mickiewicz Women classical composers Classical pianists from the Russian Empire Composers from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Musicians from Warsaw Polish classical pianists Polish people of Jewish descent Polish Romantic composers Polish salon-holders Polish women pianists Women classical pianists 19th-century women composers Polish women composers 19th-century women pianists