Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831) – Complete Piano Works

[Peter1953]

Anyone ever heard of this Polish woman composer? 
This 3 CD set looks worth investigating.

[eschiss1]

Seem to recall hearing something of hers in a collection of works by Polish woman pianists/composers for piano, either a library recording or something rebroadcast over BBC...

I see that Anna Kijas wrote "Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831) : a bio-bibliography" published in 2010 by Scarecrow Press, by the way, and a book/recording pair was released in 2006 also ("Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831) : pianist and composer", maybe based on a dissertation of the same name submitted in 2001, according to Worldcat, by Sławomir Paweł Dobrzański to the University of Connecticut.)

[eschiss1]

Hrm. There have been a few other recordings of her music "recently", it looks like - e.g.

*a CD of her Ballades & Romances, released 2012 on Acte Préalable.
*a Szymanowska "album" CD on Ligia Digital, released back in 2004.
* a single CD of her piano works, on the DUX label, also 2004.

One or two others, plus appearances in compilation/anthology CDs...

[Arkadiusz]

Her complete piano works are available now on amazon. I think Ballades and Romances (songs) were also issued recently (played on a Broadwood from 1825) but I don't see them on amazon.

[marianna]

Hello, all the people interested by Maria Szymanowska's music and life! I invite you to visit the web-page of my international project about this exceptional Person and Artist: www.maria-szymanowska.eu . You can choose one of 7 languages... I wish you a lot of interesting discoveries!

[Peter1953]

Thank you Marianna, I will certainly explore your website.

[JimL]

There's not much there.  First thing they need is an inventory and catalogue posted.  Then we have something to talk about!

[marianna]

Hello JimL,
How can you say that "There's not much there"?! I put on my site ALL (or almost), what is possible to find on the internet and in the publishings in ALL languages about ​​Maria Szymanowska! You did not go far, I think, exploring my site ...

[Miles R.]

So there is more than one composer named Szymanowski! ("Szymanowska" is just the feminine form.)

The notes to the Dutton CD of the Blumenfeld and Catoire symphonies say that the mother* of Felix Blumenfeld was named Maria Szymanowska; but, since Blumenfeld was born in 1863, this was obviously a different one.

*Edited, because I somehow posted this with the word "father" at this point!   

[Mark Thomas]

Marianna, I think that your web site is a remarkable achievement when one remembers how little information there is available about Maria Szymanowska. Very interesting and very well put together. Well done!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Maybe I'll go for a compromise between Jim and Mark.

The website is indeed a remarkable achievement. What struck me immediately are the versions in various languages - wonderful and so very unusual in other comparable websites (now there's a real challenge to Mark: how about a Polish version of the invaluable Raff website? No need to respond to that one!) The translation into English is superbly fluent.

I've spent almost 45 minutes browsing through the site and have made many fascinating discoveries. I've much enjoyed the experience. And I've also had that humbling experience of discovering that having been provided with a little more knowledge I now know how very little I know! (There's a kind of vicious paradox there, but I won't pursue it!)

So I'm truly grateful for the website. Maria Szymanowska (whether or not she's somehow connected to Karol Szymanowski) is a figure who was totally unknown to me and I enjoyed finding out about her.

Yet Jim is also right in a way. The website seems to me a really splendid framework or skeleton on which so much else could be added. I'm hoping the website is a kind of 'work in progress' and as the Maria Szymanowski Project develops some of the fruits of that scholarly project will be added.

It also calls for some reviewing of material. Perhaps trivial, but under Relatives and Benefactors it does seem bizarre to list Shakespeare. And the painter Jozef Oleszkiewicz has the label 'nihilist' attached to him. Which is misleading I think since the term 'nihilist' gets coined in Turgenev's 'Father and Sons' which was published in 1862, and thus 36 years after the death of Oleszkiewicz. Sorry to snipe - but it is that kind of lack of care that might undermine the high repute which I consider the website might deserve.

[JimL]

All I'm saying is that for a website about a composer I couldn't find anything remotely resembling a catalogue of her music.  Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but almost no mention of her oeuvre was made.  Nor does there seem to be any discussion of what was published, what remains in MS, and in what genres other than solo piano/piano with violin/piano with cello are there extant works to be explored.  Does that CD set contain all there is of her music?

[Alan Howe]

Don't think you looked too hard, Jim. Try these clearly flagged links:
http://www.musicologie.org/Biographies/s/szymanowska.html
http://miskinhill.com.au/journals/asees/23:1-2/music-economy-society

[JimL]

I read that, but going through an entire essay to glean information on her output is a rather tedious affair.  A listing is much more convenient.  And I'm still not sure if the works contained therein are the complete story.  I couldn't tell if she composed any concertante works for example.  I don't recall seeing any mention of any.

[Mark Thomas]

Just seemed a carping and negative welcome to Marianna, Jim...