ANDRE SKALSKI

Otago Witness, Issue 3611, 29 May 1923, Page 49

ANDRE SKALSKI

POLISH PIANIST AND PATRIOT. Wherever one meets a Pole one meets a patriot. The people of this great counlrv, lying between Russia and Germany, but pai takinft of the characteristics and temperament of neither, have that intense love of country and traditions which seems to he ored of persecution and a continual •state of “on guard.” Perhaps there is no more striking instance of this ardent patriotism than was shown by Ignace Paderewski, the great Polish pianist and statesman who gave his all for his country and became its Prime Minister at one of the most interesting periods of its modern history. M. Andre Rkalski, the young pianist who arrived here yesterday, is not at all unlike his distinguished compatriot and fellow-artist. He abhors the patriotism of the jingo, and has a theory that the nation which considers itself the greatest on earth is predestined to fall. lie noticed something of the kind in Japan, and that impression was not fleetingly formed, as lie was there for two of the war years, and g-il to know many tilings. England, he considers, never lias much occasion to develop the kind of patriotism

which is inherent in the Polish nation. “She has always been so safe, so immune from attack, up till the last war, that her patriotism was more or less inanimate,” ho says. “ Y r et when the cull did come what wonderful strength sprang up at Britannia’s feet, Poland was so different—it is difficult for outsiders to understand her position and her aspirations. She was a nation divided into three parts, according to the countries leaned upon, and yet maintaining always her own language, ideals, and traditions, as something sublimely sacred — rhis for centuries of ruthless invasion and blind insensate oppression. There is probably no European country with such a bloody and wonderful history as Poland, and yet few people outside Poland know of it, or have the smallest understanding of the travail it has passed through in the maintenance of its national individuality and independence.” Andre Rkalski received most of his musical education at Leipzig, in Germany, chiefly because the Warsaw Conservatoire did not offer the same degree of tutorial proficiency. There lie imbibed knowledge, style, and interpretation from such masters as Teichmuller, Hans Sitt. and Max Reger, lie gave recitals and conducted a symphony orchestra in his later teens, and was in Germany when the war began. Being a Pole, he was classed as a Russian, and had to escape as best lie could. This he did with the aid of a German mobilisation train. He visited Norway, Sweden. Russia, and Poland. There he was mobilised for war, but was allowed his freedom on account of his delicate health. So he returned to Russia, and toured the whole of it. including Siberia. He was at Vladivostok when the revolution against the Tsari.-t regime broke out. and on the approach of the. Bolshevists he left the country and became a wand ; in the East. He v.as for two years a resident of Japan, later ho visited China, a id after touring Manchuria, and Korea nm-e than once, went south to French !r 1 • 1 " hina a.nd .Java. Rkalski. who will vi-i- Dunedin during Show Week, has hi- h yds insured for £IO,OOO. and in ord: r to L-c,- them pianistically plastic, likes to do at least eight hours practice a day.