Paul Kochanski

Paul Kochanski, 1921

Paul Kochanski (born Paweł Kochański ) (born September 14, 1887 in Odessa ; † January 12, 1934 in New York City ) was a Polish violinist , composer and arranger .

Education and early career

He was born Paweł Kochański in Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine ). He practiced the violin for the first time with his father, and then later at the age of seven with Emil Młynarski , whose teacher Leopold von Auer had been. In 1898 Młynarski went to Warsaw and when he founded the Warsaw Philharmonic there three years later , he called Kochanski, who was fourteen years old at the time, to hire him as concertmaster . He also took care of his upbringing and training, treating him like his own son and saying that he believed Kochanski would become a world-class violinist. In 1903 Kochanski went to Brussels, where he received financial help from the most important Warsaw families, which enabled Młynarski in particular, to continue his studies there under César Thomson at the Conservatory in Brussels . There, after five months, he received the Premier prix avec la plus grande distinction (first prize, with the greatest distinction).

It was at this point in time that he began his career as a traveling virtuoso, as he met the pianist Artur Rubinstein after an invitation from Juliusz Wertheim . They immediately understood that they shared musical preferences, but their friendship only really intensified in 1907 with their concerts for the Warsaw Philharmonic, during which they performed violin sonata No. 9 (Beethoven) and together with cellist J. Sabelik Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Performed piano trio. In 1908 they made a celebrated tour of major European cities such as Berlin , Paris and London with Jozef Jaroszyński (a sponsor of Kochanski) . 1908-9 Kochanski and Rubinstein performed together César Franck's violin sonata, again Beethoven's violin sonata No. 9 and a piano trio by Johannes Brahms (together with Eli Kochański , cellist, Paul Kochański's brother) for the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Career before the war

From 1909 to 1911 Kochanski taught at the Warsaw Conservatory as a professor of the violin. In 1909 he and Rubinstein led Karol Szymanowski's Violin Sonata in D minor on ur . Her participation, together with her friend Szymanowski, who belonged to the Young Poland movement , contributed to the promotion of progressive currents in the Warsaw music scene. In 1911 Kochanski married Zosia Krohn (who had recently been hopelessly in love with Juliusz Wertheim). His father-in-law, a lawyer, bought him a Stradivarius violin as a wedding present. In 1916, Szymanowski dedicated his Violin Concerto No. 1 to Kochanski, who wrote the cadenza for it.

1913-14 in London Rubinstein introduced Kochanski to the music events Paul and Muriel Drapers, to which they then also brought Szymanowski, and where Paul met Igor Stravinsky . In this company they were often with Pablo Casals , Jacques Thibaud , Lionel Tertis , Pierre Monteux and many others. Stravinsky dedicated a transcription for violin and piano of three pieces from the Firebird to Kochanski, who had appeared in two of Rubinstein's performances at Bechstein Hall in 1914, one of which was entirely dedicated to the performance of contemporary music.

In 1916 he succeeded Leopold Auer as a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory , where he taught until 1918. During this period he became friends with Sergei Prokofiev and assisted the composer with technical issues relating to the solo part of his Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major. He moved to teach at the Kiev Conservatory from 1919 to 1920 . In January 1920 he performed Szymanowski's Nocturne and Tarantella in Warsaw.

London and New York, 1920–1934

In 1920 he lived briefly in London, where he performed with Rubinstein at Wigmore Hall . There they met Szymanowski again, with whom Paul and Zosia had spent some time in Brighton . In January 1921, Kochanski and Szymanowski gave a performance together at Wigmore Hall and a few weeks later the four of them went to New York City, where Paul Draper and George Engels (Paul Kochanski's American manager) were waiting for them. They were quickly introduced to the music community there, so that shortly afterwards Kochanski and Rubinstein premiered Ernest Bloch's Violin Sonata No. 1. Kochanski made a sensational debut with Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in Carnegie Hall , which immediately made him a sought-after musician. The four returned to England but went back to New York in the fall of 1921. In April 1922 Kochanski played in Buenos Aires .

From then on, Kochanski's career took place in New York. From 1924 on he taught at the Juilliard School , where he headed the violin department until his death from cancer at the age of 46. In 1933, when his health was already very bad, he helped Szymanowski with the completion of his second violin concerto and premiered this too; when it was published (after Kochanski's death) the score had a touching dedication to him. A non-religious funeral was held at the Juilliard School. 1500 people took part. Among the pallbearers were Arturo Toscanini , Frank Damrosch , Walter Damrosch , Jascha Heifetz , Vladimir Horowitz , Fritz Kreisler , Sergej Koussevitzky , Leopold Stokowski and Efrem Zimbalist .

According to Rubinstein, who saw Kochanski as his best friend, Kochanski liked sincere people, liked to play cards himself, and sometimes expressed himself roughly. He could be abrupt, impatient, or rude, and could get angry and then leave, slamming the doors behind him.

recognition

Dr. John Erskin, the director of the Juilliard School, said of him

"Magnificent as his [Kochanski's] playing and teaching were, I think he was a bigger man than we had yet realized. His influence and his fame were only beginning. Had he lived, I believe he would have distinguished himself in composition, to which his attention was turning. "

"As great as Kochanski's game and teaching skills were, I think he was a bigger person than we realized at the time. His influence and fame were just beginning. I think if he was still Had lived longer, he would have distinguished himself through his compositions, to which he paid more and more attention. "

Manuscript Collection

The music department of the Polish National Library in Warsaw is in possession of the Paweł Kochański manuscript collection. The Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage funded the purchase of his authored works from Sotheby’s , New York, for the library in December 1988.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Tyrone Greive: Kochański's Collaborative Work As Reflected in His Manuscript Collection. In: Polish Music Journal, Vol. 1.1. 1998, archived from the original on October 2, 2012 ; accessed on October 5, 2019 . 
2. ^ H. Sachs, Arthur Rubinstein - A Life (Phoenix paperbacks, London 1997, 64).
3. ^ A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
4. ↑ Sachs, ibid.
5. ↑ Sachs 1997, 103.
6. ↑ Sachs 1997, 133, 140, 142.
7. ^ Sachs 1997, 197.
8. ↑ Sachs, ibid., 200-212.
9. ↑ Sachs, ibid., 250.