Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

The article is a broad presentation of life and works of Ignacy Paderewski (1860‒1941), Polish pianist and composer, statesman and philanthropist. Beginning in the late 1880s he embarked on the brilliant pianist-virtuoso career, concerting in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, performing in most prestigious concert halls and at kings’ palaces. Since 1910, he started to be involved with politics, founding the Grunwald Monument in Kraków, which was a symbol of Poland’s great past (the victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410) and her aspirations for freedom and independence, for at that time (since 1795) Poland was ruled by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, who divided Poland into their three “partitions”. With the outbreak of World War I, Paderewski organized in Europe and in the USA committees providing aid to suffering people of Poland. In 1915 he settled down in America and assumed position of the leader of four millions strong Polish immigration; he became a trusted advisor of President Woodrow Wilson in Polish affairs; he organized the Polish Kościuszko Army in America, which was transported to Europe and included in the Polish Army in France. In November 1918, supported by President Wilson and the Allies, awaited with hope by the nation, he went to Poland and became President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is considered one of the major builders of Poland’s independence achieved in 1918. After his tenure in Poland, Paderewski returned to America and in 1922, he resumed his pianist’s career. On this large and thoroughly documented background, the author presents the ties of Paderewski with the region of Tarnów in East-South Poland, where in 1897‒1903, he owned a sizable farm with a beautiful manor, in Kąśna Dolna.