A Prince Of The Piano

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 193, 16 August 1941, Page 13

A Prince Of The Piano

jnERE has not been a pianist like Paderewski in this period «My other. He will probably « ranked by history as the third n*i succession of the supreme maitels of his instrument, that •""WMion being Liszt, Rubinstein "loraderewski. By Olin Dowries mm!!!? »? g H res -, as monument*! clustered about these three K& s £ lrtu ? si and also as indiSN the three pianists first sSSSS/ 1 , stimd out in the chron-e-SS m the Public imagination, ga Paderewski yielded to no one «™g where the glamour and the srned a great character were conBi?«hJ VoUld have been a distinSBBiioH? an , and an "resistible JX'2% l n any w alk of life, as wffisS by his brief but ver - y Sal* 1 dramatic tenure of office Polfch o p "mier of the post-war SS The quality of to him, whatever he of the™ !. is atte sted by statesmen 1 W °f ld , and by Persons and fellow-students of his early lllWre days. Nor were footto establish this tilro i.'u # face « Paderewski mainmftߣJ?¥ mation for every one J tt h»"SL he came into contact. km* r*^ 38 , no mere dreamer; one born to act, iiteS JH a « su Perlative degree the lesslA *J Blstence and clear-sighted-<HllaXi£ rc , e circumstances to his Wmkfflfc dreams come true. BiojLSfewed in fact, to dominate a Sni«? rld , t hat w as essentially »lous with his nature and his llfeawki trt2 ,h ls early y ears he lgrgw to drift, somewhat rudder!tan» ?K s ued by unkind circum--Cha «tterK k u s^ adversit y his "**Uit Common Touch *W"'^i^?JS? rbed in the profound rffrSi study of his art - WmSr}? hard conditions and to mm s L d i s turbing obstacles, he % «r y .{prcing from the world .SfeftiaiSi * l e consideration and SRh* °JT h:s , art. and he always m; *£, P eo Ple whom he could 5*M r*°*u 10 saw to every WKth. ~*, dalI y routine for him. L m J? m of one horn to the m' n„? ev^ r lost th e common *f§kr " e kne w what he !^aM°!l, Ver y few personal lety^he most necessary *Un&2u r cables. When he wired 1 manager, "What do joitoerfc «,A tour of about seventy winter in America?" fW^sf. I '', who was George TOW'iY irG d back. "Tour 111 m ' f act it was, within

l When Paderewski landed ii [ America several months later,, with . out a word save a wire telling th | boat on which he would arrive, h , found his hotel quarters, his sevei ! pianos awaiting examination, hi private car and every detail of th tour arranged for him. "If tha hadn't been done," said Mr. Engel in a recent interview, "Mr. Paderew ski would have had another man ager." For Mr. Paderewski nad superbly ' the soul of a "grand seigneur," anc ■ apparently did not know how to livi '. otherwise than as a prince. Hi: • generosities were such at times ai to appal friends and family. Brilliant Linguist He read very widely, had a pro digious memory and conversed witl exceptional fluency in many lan guages. In 1916, when he went tc America in a combined playing anc speaking tour to raise funds foi embattled Poland, he astonished anc enraptured audiences throughout the country equally by the prose anc the delivery of a speech which he gan, modestly enough, with the words, "I have come to speak to yov of a country which is not yours, in e language which is not mine." The . audience soon realised thai the cause was the common cause oi human liberty, and that a Pole speaking English, could do so in a way that could hardly have been equalled for clarity, distinction and heart-searching eloquence by three English or American statesmen of the period. Nor did he lack physical strength and courage. These were maintained by a rigid system of physical exercise, whicn he pursued under any and all circumstances. His power stood him in good stead one night in Warsaw when Mme. Paderewski had retired, leaving her husband alone to work upon some State papers. Suddenly a man who had crept ; into the room held a pistol to the Premier's head and demanded his signature of abdication. Mme. Paderewski was awakened by a yell. She found her husband holding his assailant by the throat and pounding his head against the wall. The pistol lay on the floor. Paderewski had pretended to awaken, then suddenly turned and disarmed his attacker. He angrily called the guards, reprimanded them for negligence or treachery or both, then ordered them to set the man free. Calmed Hostile Mob On another occasion when a hostile mob confronted him as he stepped on the balcony of his hotel in Warsaw to make, a speech a general standing by said. Wait! I will have a regiment of horse here in 10 minutes and clear the square. Paderewski hotly forbade any such

i tactics. He appeared as had been i- announced and soon had the ear and e the considerate respect of the crowd. e He inspired devotion, and no proof r of it could have been more touching s than the servant who, mortally sick 2 and in violent pain, clung to life to t die the day that his master returned 3 from a long American tour. This is fact. Legends, alreadv clustered about Paoerewski, are inr numerable, but his colleagues have j attested to the truth of the legends „ of his playing. In his last years he 5 was not the finished executant and , lyrical poet of the early days when he was beginning to be known in Paris, Vienna, London, and fees were small and the going hard but inspiring to the beautiful voung . man of 30 with the aureole of hair l which inspired the famous paintings . of Alma Tadema, Burne-Jones and , others. 1 Then the tone had the noble ' sonority of the organ, or, on 1 occasion, orchestral brilliancv or j shimmer of moonlight. The* effect 1 upon the listener was immediate, un- • forgettable and unique. The inter- ! pretation was often unorthodox, i very romantic, justifying itself to 1 mighty throngs by its sheer authenticity and pulse and magic. ; As the man and the art matured grander and severer lines developed, ' Paderewski leaned more to the classic style. In the last ten years there was not the sensation of fail- , ing physical power, but rather of a man who had conquered the piano literature, who looked impatiently about him and for whom the instrument had become something of a limitation. Sculptor of Harmonic Masses Paderewski of late took few pains in the strictly technical sense, but he would appear on the darkened stage, strike the leonine chords, and. from under the wave of hair that now was nearly white, cast an imperious glance about him before proceeding to carve out great melodic lines and harmonic masses as a sculptor might carve from stone. Then the encore habit, which was his custom as well as the delight of his audience, seized him. He was almost always nervous at the beginning of his performance, though not in ways perceptible to tyros, and took some time to fully warm to his task and find complete release, which aiways came with the encores. By this time as many in the audience as could get there had rushed down to the stage, and a second recital began, often continuing more than an hour. For, like other great artists, Paderewski lived for beauty, which it was his delight to evoke that others also might worship at the shrine. For that matter, his humanity made him beloved wherever and by whomever he was truly known.