Warszawa no 1 26 March –03 April 2009 BEETHOVEN magazine

A whole life with music Interview with Elżbieta Penderecka p. 3

ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER on herself p. 4 –5

Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski on culture p. 7

Beethoven and wine p. 10 Sunday, 29th March Tuesday, 31st March Thursday, 2nd April Who, where, String Quartet in F major, Il ritorno di Tobia , the first oratorio Op. 59 was written just six years written by Haydn, is a work of no after String Quartet No. 1 from lesser stature than his later The Cre - when... Op. 18 written in the same ation and The Seasons , and is well Mariusz key, yet they seem to be worth recalling on the 200th an - Kwiecień a whole epoch apart. niversary of the composer’s death. The first night with Ludwig The biblical oratorio resounds in van Beethoven’s quartet is the interpretation of Wiener performed by Leipziger Akademie under Martin Hasel - Streichquartett. böck with the participation of The first recital by Mariusz [ The Royal Castle, 5 pm recognised soloists and a sine From the Editor Kwiecień , the Polish baritone adored by nomine choir. Earlier the the audiences of New York’s Metropoli - Geringas Baryton Trio and Keiko It is hard to imagine that tan Opera, who found in Don Giovanni Violin by G. B. Guadagnini Tamura play Haydn’s chamber five years have passed from Mozart’s opera the role of his life. music. already since the How will this singer – born for the Between the age of 9 and 14, Mendel- [ first Ludwig van The Royal Castle, 5 pm stage – cope with lyrical works? In the ssohn composed a dozen string sym - [ Beethoven Easter Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm programme: songs by Schumann, phonies. One of them, “La Suisse”, as Festival in Warsaw. Do you remember the poster with Beethoven, Karłowicz, and Ravel. well as Beethoven’s and Berg’s works Beethoven’s pop-art portrait? I remem - Howard Watkins on the piano. for a string orchestra, will be pre - ber the determination with which Elż - [ The Royal Castle, 4 pm sented by Wrocław Chamber Orche- bieta Penderecka organised the festival stra “Leopoldinum”, conducted by its under the pressure of time in a new When, at the age of six, she picked up a musical director Ernst Kovacica , an place and new conditions. It very violin for the first time, she had known Austrian violinist of renown. Kovacic quickly became a Warsaw festival, and how to play the piano for a year. The plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini gained the attention and friendship of great violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is from 1754. people of the capital. I know a few peo - returning to Warsaw for the inaugura - [Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm ple who simply cannot wait for the tion of the Festival in her most classi - next one. I have not missed a single cal way: with Beethoven’s Violin Wednesday, 1st April one, and I am very glad because I have concerto in D major, Op. 61. A moving Beethoven’s early years, witnessed memorable concerts by moment not only for those who have and the third of six string Feliks Mendelssohn-Bartholdy , the Norddeutscher - followed the development of her mar - quartets from Op. 18, rundfunk Orchester from Hamburg, vellous talent from the first record and the antipodes of Friday, 3rd April and the marvellous cellist Natalia Gut - with . the genre – the late, The concert conducted by Ola Rud - man. I remember the stunning inter - royal pieces composed ner will present one of the threads pretation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven towards in the multi-faced artistic creation of under Paavo Järvi, illumination with the music of Bruckner after his Sym - the end of his life: Great Felix Mendelssohn, and his broad phony No. 8 conducted by Marek Fugue and String Quar- humanist interests. The Polish pre - Janowski, and finally, rapture with the Krzysztof tet in C sharp minor miere of Humboldt Cantata , dedi - personality of Trevor Pinnock. Penderecki Op. 131. The mystery cated to the eminent philosopher The festival surprised me. Not only with of human genius will of whom Mendelssohn was a stu - its organisational panache. With the be scaled again by the dent, and Die erste Walpurgisnacht daring posters too. First, it was Wilhelm Leipziger cantata, inspired by a poem by Sasnal, then came the time for the At the Festival, his place at the pulpit Streichquartett. Goethe, with whom the composer ea - Twożywo Group, this year it is Bartek will be taken by Krzysztof Pen - [ The Royal Castle, 5 pm gerly corresponded in his childhood. Materka, and the next – Marcin Ma - derecki , who dedicated to Mutter his Featuring: Agnieszka Rehlis (alto), ciejowski: artists from quite a different Violin Concerto No. 2 Metamorpho - The famous English Chamber Orche- Thomas Michael Allen (tenor), artistic constellation design posters for sen . The soloist is accompanied by the stra is to perform a monographic con - Thomas E. Bauer (baritone), Woj - a festival of classical music. Yet we Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra . cert devoted to Joseph Haydn, ciech Gierlach (bass), Choir of the should not wonder at that. Beethoven [Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm Beethoven’s teacher and the authority Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic – a free man, rebel, outsider, and ge - of classicism in music. The soloists and the National Polish Radio Sym - nius – should be the patron of artists of Monday, 30th March are Arto Noras and Ralf Gothóni . phony Orchestra, . all shades. With its powerful chords and lyrical [ [ He could be unbearable for his patrons, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm tenderness, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano and yet they adored him, sparing no Concerto No. 1 suits perfectly the per - money to keep him in Vienna. The BEETHOVEN forming capacity of Konstantin MAGAZINE Princes Lobkowitz, Lichnowsky, Kinsky, Wydawca: / Publisher and others should be a role model for Stowarzyszenie im. Ludwiga van Beethovena / Association sponsors and politicians financing (or Elżbieta Penderecka: otherwise) culture in Poland. Konstantin Prezes Zarządu, Dyrektor Generalny / President of the Board, General Director The Viennese contemporaries of Scherbakov 31-147 Kraków, ul. Długa 19/4 Beethoven – to quote the composer’s www.beethoven.org.pl biographer George R. Marek – treated Dyrektor wydawniczy/ pomysłodawca / Publishing / Idea : Andrzej Giza only three things seriously: food, the - Redaktor Naczelna / Editor-in-Chief : Anna S. Dębowska atre, and music. Oh, the happy place! Scherbakov , a Russian living in Dyrektor Artystyczny / Artistic Director : Witold Siemaszkiewicz May Warsaw become a city whose au - Switzerland, former student of the leg - Redakcja tekstów / Editing : Anna S. Dębowska thorities and residents value great art endary Professor of Moscow Conserva - Autorzy / Texts : Dorota Kozińska, Ada Ginał, Sylwia Borowska, Jan Rokita, Jacek Marczyński, to the same extent. tory, Lev Naumov, and a prize-winner We have two weeks of the Festival to Piotr Matwiejczuk (Polskie Radio), Anna S. Dębowska in piano competitions of great renown. Ilustracje / Illustrations: Marcin Maciejowski, Bartek Materka look forward to. Let us make the most The Beethoven Academy Orchestra Zdjęcia / Photographs : of them. under Michał Dworzyński will play Getty Images, Corbis, Flash Press Media , East News, Bruno Fidrych Anna S. Dębowska Mendelssohn and . Tłumaczenia / Translation : HOBBiT Piotr Krasnowolski i Paweł Radwan Editor-in-Chief of the„Beethoven Magazine“ Korekta angielska / English proofreading : Benjamin Koschalka [ Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, 7:30 pm © 2009 Stowarzyszenie im. Ludwiga van Beethovena

2 Zawsze wstawał wcześnie, o piątej lub szóstej - lubił pracować wczesnym porankiem. Po śniadaniu wyruszał na spacer. A whole life with music

Interview with Elżbieta Penderecka President of the Board of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association and Director General of the Festival.

Paving the way for young talented people is a new role for the Ludwig van Beethoven Association. Besides organising festivals, we manage artists

Anna S. Dębowska: Music has ac - Thanks to my husband, I met Artur fear of contacts with people. Yet once The artists are the mezzosoprano companied you... Rubinstein, with whom we spent you got to know him more closely, he Agnieszka Rehlis, the soprano Izabela Elżbieta Penderecka: – ... since I was many a wonderful evening. We be - was a nice person. Matuła, the cellists Rafał Kwiatkowski a child. My grandfather and great- came close friends with “Slava” Ros - How do you recall your acquain - and Bartosz Koziak, the violinist grandfather played the viola. My fa - tropovich in the 1970s. I got to know tance with Herbert von Karajan? Agata Szymczewska – a prize-winner ther was the concertmaster of cellos at Sir John Barbirolli, and the legendary We met in Berlin, where my husband of the Wieniawski Competition, who Kraków Philharmonic and Professor Eugene Ormandy, the head of the and I lived in the 60s and 70s. My hus - has now, just after a series of concerts of the Academy of Music in Kraków. Philadelphia Orchestra, a marvellous band went to many of Karajan’s re - with Krystian Zimerman and Kaja He trained close to 100 graduates. conductor open to contemporary hearsals, and I accompanied him Danczowska, had an opportunity (to - Did he take you to concerts? music. It was he who soon after the there. Karajan did not perform too gether with Rafał Kwiatkowski) to Yes, on Fridays and Saturdays, I used world premiere in Münster conducted much contemporary music, but he participate in recording Grażyna to go to the Philharmonic Hall and Krzysztof Penderecki’s Utrenya in conducted a few works by Krzysztof Bacewicz’s chamber music on the had my place in the box on the first Philadelphia. Yet we also frequently Penderecki, including the Polymor - label... The floor. On Sundays, Dad played at the met Salvadore Dali, with whom my phia . He was a fairly withdrawn man, greatly talented baritone Artur Ru - Opera, where Jerzy Katlewicz was the husband was to make a joint work. one of the most eminent conductors, ciński, in whose international promo - first conductor in the 1950s. I used to tion we would like to assist, joined us sit behind the double basses and quite recently. We hope that he is watch the stage from the orchestra pit. going to be a successful Polish singer Music was a part of my life. I took of world renown. piano lessons. For a few years, my fa - Don’t you fear the economic crisis ther taught the cello and chamber and its negative impact on the activ - music at home, so music accompa - ity of the Association? nied me constantly once I left school. The Easter Festival will still last for At the time, we lived on ul. Długa in two weeks, and it presents great Pol - Kraków: in the same building which ish and international artists. We have today houses the bureau of the Asso - completed the programme for next ciation. year: the 200th anniversary of the For 43 years you have accompanied birth of Frédéric Chopin. Krzysztof Penderecki, a musician I believe that the current crisis is par - like your father before. tially used as a pretext to curtail cul - There was a time when I didn’t miss a ture expenditure. I have recently single rehearsal, or a single concert by returned from Spain, where, during my husband. I am thankful to my fa - the last ten or so years, more than 30 ther for the solid musical foundation Eugene Ormandy, Krzysztof Penderecki i Elżbieta Penderecka, Filadelfia, 1968 concert halls have been built. In one he gave me. Thanks to him, I got to province alone, Castilla y León, local know Krzysztof Penderecki and was authorities recently built a hall with ready to receive his music: father took Unfortunately, it never happened. Dali a great artist with amazing charisma. over 2000 seats. me to concerts, and at the time con - was incessantly recreating himself. I Last time I saw him was at the dress What is the image of Warsaw – vying temporary music was performed at remember a telegram from him. Each rehearsal of The Black Mask in for the title of City of European Cul - every concert. So when I heard for the word was in a different language. Salzburg. He did not feel strong ture for the Year 2016 – against this first time Krzysztof’s Polymorphia , it Your friendship with Irina enough to come in the evening, con - background, with only two major con - did not shock me at all. Shostakovich, the widow of Dmitri gratulated my husband and – I re - cert halls: the National Philharmonic Krzysztof Penderecki dedicated his Shostakovich, continues to this day; member – said: “I wish I could and the hall of the Teatr Wielki – Pol - famous St Luke Passion of 1966 she was in Warsaw last year, during conduct this work in person.” ish National Opera? I believe that an to you. the Krzysztof Penderecki Festival. Now you promote Polish artists. international competition for the con - He wrote it in the first year of our mar - We got to know Shostakovich in the I know how very hard it is to make it struction of a multipurpose concert riage, on the commission of West - last years of his life. He came to con - to the top. It is frequently a chance hall in our capital city should start. deutscher Rundfunk (WDR). It took a certs that my husband conducted at happening that is decisive. Paving the Great ensembles from all over the few weeks to finish. I remember that Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory. way for young talented people is a world should throng to Warsaw. It is we were staying with my husband in We met him for the first time back - new role for the Ludwig van a pity we did not manage to find a Krynica, and I was filling in the clus - stage, and among the many things he Beethoven Association. Besides or - sponsor for Poland’s first concert by ters in the score [laughs]. And then asked about was Passion... . So I sent ganising festivals, we manage artists. London Symphony Orchestra with we learned Old Church Slavonic and him the record released by Harmonia I frequently recall such great man - Valery Gergiev, which we planned for went to Bulgaria, where he was to col - Mundi, and soon afterwards we re - agers as Sol Hurok and Sheldon Gold, 13th May this year, as a part of the en - lect materials for the Utrenya (Morn - ceived a letter from him: “Dorogoi the President of New York’s ICM semble’s European tour. I would like ing Prayer). Krysztof, you’ve given me a great Artists, who I knew in person. to live to see the moment when our During your travelling together you present. It must be one of the greatest Your artistic management agency rep - decision-makers understand that the had an opportunity to meet the great - works of the 20th century.”, he was an resents the most talented young mu - wide notion of culture ensures est soloists, conductors, and com - extreme introvert and I believe that sicians. the vast promotion of every country posers of the world. because of his experience of living in There are 15 of them now, and there is beyond its borders. That was a marvellous time in my life. the Soviet system he had an obsessive the Beethoven Academy Orchestra. Interviewed by Anna S. Dębowska

BEETHOVEN MAGAZINE 3 Talent and beauty Anne-Sophie Mutter

Thanks to the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, the great German violinist returns to Poland with concerts after four years’ absence. On Sunday she will inaugurates the 13th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival at the Warsaw Philharmonic – Concert Hall. She will play a Lord Dunn Raven 1710 Stradivarius.

Koncert skrzypcowy D-dur (1806) to utwór pełen dostojeństwa, tajemniczości, słodyczy i humoru zarazem. Do dziś pozostaje wyzwaniem dla każdego artysty. Rozmowa z Anne-Sophie Mutter be returning to Metamorphosen . like to be a good and useful human illusion of improvising, a sense The two artists will always hold being. I will always try to select dif - of freedom. There is decidedly a special place in my heart. ficult works, and I always want to less of that in the music of Piotr Matwiejczuk: In Proust’s Once you said that you found a new have the broadest repertoire possi - Mendelssohn and Mozart. Do you questionnaire, which you put up capacity for the violin that you had ble. This is why I have returned to now find more freedom in the on your website, I found a frag - not known earlier in Lutosławski’s Mendelssohn’s concerto. Like most works of the classics than when ment of William Blake’s poem: music. A new dimension in the violinists, I began to perform this they were played by a teenage To see a World in a Grain of Sand / instrument you have played all work early, I played it a lot and so it Anne-Sophie? And A Heaven in a Wild Flower / your life: that’s amazing... turned out that I overdid it. The When I performed those works with Hold Infinity in the palm of your Indeed, there are a few, extraordi - time came when I found it tepid. maestro Karajan, those were prima - hand / And Eternity in an Hour. nary details in Łańcuch II , such as This was the reason why I cast it off rily his interpretations. Naturally, Is this your definition of music? the passages played non vibrato that Anne-Sophie Mutter: it is primarily I would call “still” music. It seems my definition of life and what that the violin plays on its own, I would like to do with life: to use without the performer participating. every moment to the maximum. I found studying the Łańcuch II My approach to music is the same. score a revelation. I believe it is What makes your interpretations about the sophistication and sub - exceptional is the perfect combi - tlety that have always attracted me nation of intellect and emotion... so much in music. That is why I find I cannot approach music without Mozart so very close. I never sought passion. Naturally, the balance virtuoso effects, but nuances, whis - between the intellect and burning pers, and intimacy. passion must be maintained – that What did you find in the music of is a never-ending struggle. Krzysztof Penderecki? You said his You rarely come to Poland, but we concerto was a great challenge. like to think of Anne-Sophie Mut - Yes, especially in the emotional ter as an ambassador of our music dimension. As a composer, he likes in the world: someone who Witold extremities, and requires from his Lutosławski and Krzysztof Pen - performers that they reach the lim - derecki dedicated their composi - its of their potential. His music has tions to. What place do these that “broad sweep” and a great works currently hold in your tension. Moreover, I find delicacy and Anne-Sophie Mutter on rehearsal, 1977. repertoire? and beauty in it, yet Penderecki is When I began performing Łańcuch primarily the master of drama to II (Chain II ), by Witold Lutosławski, me. Naturally, the two composers for over a decade, only to return to it parallel to the acquired experience the world of beauty opened before are utterly different. with an entirely new approach: and knowledge I was paying more me. And I shall always be thankful The contemporary world has I changed the phrasing, fingering, attention to detail, and, as a result, to him for that: to the composer and yielded to crazy specialisation. and tempos. Moreover, I read much I found more space for my own ex - to the man. I believe it to be one of It is similar with music: artists about Mendelssohn. I am fascinated pression. There is no single recipe the most important compositions of specialise in a narrow repertoire. with his life but also with for performing the work. The only the last century. For me, Lutosła- You, however, seem to continue Mendelssohn himself: he was thing that’s effective in art is to in - wski will forever remain an immor - the tradition of the great violinists a great humanist, and that is a goal cessantly expose yourself and con - tal master, although I must admit of the bygone days, who knew no that I am also aiming at as a musi - tinue to strive for perfection. that his works have recently begun such limitations. Is this an cian. Thus a return to Mendels- How has your Beethoven to appear in my repertoire more expression of renunciation of sohn’s concerto and discovering changed in the last 30 years? rarely. I will have the opportunity to today’s music industry? him anew is a momentous event in Nietzsche said that music begins work again with maestro Pendere- I am not really worried about what my artistic life: I fell in love with where words end. I am a very cki, as the conductor during the the musical industry deals with or him again. poor commentator of my own in - Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festi - what my colleagues do. It is not my In one of your interviews you terpretations. val. Although this time we are not intention to compete with them: emphasised that Lutosławski’s Interviewed by Piotr Matwiejczuk going to perform his music, I shall more than anything else, I would music gives the performer an (Polish Radio)

Witold Lutosławski on Anne-Sophie Mutter Newest Mutter on CD At the rehearsal, I heard Łańcuch played by the girl in a manner that I could Deutsche Grammophone not even dream of. What was the greatness of her performance all about? I could define a few of its perceptible features. They include, for example, Bach, Gubajdulina such a psychological scale of sound that moves from indifference (...) Mutter performs there world premiere up to the highest tension. This makes a colossal impression. I once asked recording of ’s Anne Sophie Mutter how it happened that among the greatest violinists – mystical concert In tempus praesens written especially for her, together all technically flawless – of whom there are a few, I can always hear a single with the London Symphony Orchestra false sound, and I have never heard such a sound in her playing. under Valery Gergiev. There is more, She considered it for a while and answered: this is the radar. She called it however: the first recording of Bach’s the radar. It is like with the bat that approaches a wall with a colossal violin concertos in the artist’s career. speed and yet will never touch it. There is some mysterious force or order hidden within it, one that while performing the music manages the work Mendelssohn of the human brain, muscles of the hand, and hearing. I don’t know how it On her latest record – commemorating the 200th anniversary of birth of Felix is done... (1993) Mendelssohn – Mutter returns to the Violin concerto in E minor, which she BEETHOVEN In the second issue of MAGAZINE : first recorded at the age of 14 under Anne-Sophie Mutter in the eyes of Marcin Maciejowski , Herbert von Karajan. Other pieces an eminent Kraków painter include the in F major In the backstage and behind the wings: the great violinist and the Piano trio, Op. 49 with André in the lens of Bruno Fidrych Previn and Lynn Harrel.

BEETHOVEN MAGAZINE 5 Mariusz Kwiecień in Recital Our man in New York He is 34, which for an artist gifted with a baritone voice is young age. And he has already had a brisk career. Mariusz Kwiecień entered the world of opera with great bravado, yet also with an unusual prudence.

He graduated from the Academy of On stage at the Met Consummate Don Giovanni that must wait, which does not Music in Warsaw in the class of Kwiecień became a student of the Mozart’s characters became his mean that I have never received Włodzimierz Zalewski. The Profes - Lindemann Young Artist Develop - artistic trademark. As Don Gio - such proposals as Rigoletto, Iago in sor told me: “you must learn to earn ment Program operated by the the - vanni, Kwiecień appeared in the Vi - Othello , and Wozzeck. The directors your bread, let’s not mess around,” atre. He worked with people of great ennese Staatsoper, in San Francisco, assured me that they were written Mariusz Kwiecień recalls. “I renown: Samuel Ramey, Joan Houston, Santa Fe, Seattle, Tokyo, for my voice, and I reassured them stopped thinking about concerts Sutherland, Renata Scotto, and Fe - Bilbao, Warsaw, and recently in the that I’d gladly sing them. In 20 and song recitals: I started to aim for licity Lott. His official stage début Kraków Opera. He performed the years. opera.” took place on 2nd January 1999, part of the Count in The Marriage of Besides his native Kraków, Mariusz when he sang Kuligin in Janáček’s Figaro in San Diego and at the Glyn - Kwiecień has found a second home I am not the “tails-man” Káťa Kabanová . He received his first debourne Festival. in New York. And the Metropolitan In 1995, while still a student, major part in 2001, singing Ali in For a few years, he also sang still remains for him the place of the Kwiecień had his debut in the Teatr Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers . Donizetti, Bellini, and Tchaikov- most important tests. This season, Wielki in Poznań, playing the title Success came a year later, with the sky’s Eugene Onegin , which he also they have included Lord Ashton in role in Mozart’s The Marriage of Fi - role of Marcello in Puccini’s La Bo - performed in 2006 at the Bolshoi Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor , garo . A year later, among other ho - hŹme . “During the two years of Theatre in Moscow. He is carefully and in the next one he will play Es - nours he received at the Belvedere learning at the Met, I acquired a dis - embarking on Verdi’s repertoire, in - camillo in Bizet’s Carmen . Competition in Vienna, there was tance to myself”, he admits. “In cluding La Traviata on the stage of the Prize of the Director of the Vi - Poland, an artist who doesn’t do London’s Covent Garden in 2008. Beethoven, Schumann, Ravel, ennese Staatsoper. “Ioan Hollender Verdi is no one, and that’s the way I New challenges are emerging: in Karłowicz had an offer for me: five small thought. In New York I discovered June this year, Kwiecień will sing At the Beethoven Festival, Mariusz roles,” Mariusz Kwiecień disclosed. Mozart: his depth, his music – sim - for the first time the title part in Szy - Kwiecień will perform for the first “To which I answered that I am not ple and multilayered at the same manowski’s King Roger , directed by time in Poland in a recital of songs. the man to sing the ‘tails’”, even time. And what’s simple is at times Krzysztof Warlikowski in Opéra “I have selected works that I like though at the time I was 23 with most difficult to share.” Bastille in Paris. and that a Polish audience may hardly any income. I knew that if I “I have an intuition that prompts enjoy,” he says. He sang the Schu - started to sing episodes, I would be me in what I can do and mann’s Dichterliebe cycle at the replaced by someone else in a few how,” the baritone ex - Metropolitan only at the end of his seasons. plains. “There studies, and performed Ravel’s Then came serious offers. Among are roles songs Don Quichotte ą Dulcinée at other roles, he sang Ottokar in Der the Carnegie Hall, with James Freischütz at La Scala and Count Levine on the piano. Karłowicz’s Robinson in Cimarosa’s The Secret songs have long been in his reper - Marriage at the Wiener Kam - toire, and he is eager to release them meroper. Kwiecień was heard finally on record by an impresario from Met - .Jacek Marczyński ropolitan Opera, and in - vited for auditions in New York. Sunday, 29th March, 4:00 p.m., Grand Hall of The Royal Castle, with Howard Watkins on the piano.

Mariusz Kwiecień became famous as Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera, which he sang in nine opera theatres all over the world. The Mozart’s heartbreaker is his signature role: with it he toured America, and he performed it too in Europe and Japan, including – sewen years ago – in Warsaw.

Wiedeń czasów młodego Beethovena można porównać z Nowym Jorkiem. Jego mieszkańcy pochodzili z Włoch, Węgier, Czech, Serbii, Polski i Rosji. Teresa Berganza intro - Minister on culture duced me to the world of great opera. My life with - Let’s begin with the anthem out her might have fol - lowed a different path. Culture remains Poland’s best hallmark. This is due not only to Chopin In the mid-1970s, I was and Szymanowski, but also to the young artists, conquering galleries on holiday in London. For a price of £25 and concert halls of the world – quite horrendous for a visitor from – says Bogdan Zdrojewski , the Minister of Culture the People’s Republic of Poland – I and National Heritage. bought the first opera for my collec - tion: Rossini’s The Barber of Seville with Teresa Berganza, Luigi Alva (Almaviva), Sylwia Borowska: You stand at the helm of a ministry whose raison d’être and Hermann Prey (Figaro). A better has repeatedly been challenged. choice would have been hard to make. Bogdan Zdrojewski: Especially now in a time of crisis, one hears opinions During the following 30 years, I’ve lis - that other sectors are more important. People still perceive culture as a lux ury. tened to plenty of recordings of Yet it is one of the basic human needs. The task of the sector that I have the Rossini’s masterpiece, and I never honour to run is to administer the realm of culture and support found an equally balanced group of it wherever necessary. singers, and above all a Rozyna like What is the condition of culture in our country? At the local level, we can boast fantastic artistic schools as well as a whole throng of artists for whom art is their only passion. One of my priorities Maestra Teresa Berganza since taking up this post has been the improvement of artistic education in comprehensive secondary schools. The first step to achieving that is signing an agreement with the Minister of Education, Katarzyna Hall, on reintroducing to schools classes in music and visual arts in the full Iniction curricular scope. When you assumed the post, you didn’t realise that...? ... Polish museums, with a few glorious exceptions, are constructed in an exceedingly archaic manner. Almost as if they worked only for themselves. with Rozyna Is it true that Poles are musically illiterate? We have no tradition of common music-making. Even during football Mistrzowski kurs interpretacji „Opera i pieśń„ 1 –4 kwietnia. matches, Polish fans cannot cope with the melody of the national anthem. In musical competition tests, we rank below the average. Koncert uczestników kursu 5 kwietnia, Zamek Królewski, godz. 12. Do you find that embarrassing? I would like most young Poles to be able to strum even a few of the simplest Teresa Berganza: impressing with the Berganza was long begged to record chords on a guitar, or play the piano for their own pleasure. Such skills lightness of her coloraturas, and the hue Carmen , yet she preferred not to rush should be common. of the dark, yet subtle mezzosoprano. the decision. Once she agreed, the Unlike your predecessor, you actively joined in the preparation for the The recording, under the baton of Clau - recording was one that would stand grand celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric dio Abbado, was based on the staging the test of time. Teresa Berganza was Chopin. What do you want to achieve? from La Scala, which was recorded for no dramatic mezzosoprano – her voice I am keen to make Chopin lovers from all over the world aware that he television. Watched today, the film has was lighter and more lyrical in sound, was a Pole, and that the character of his music is strongly re - an old-fashioned grace, yet it would be which may be the reason why her Car - lated to his place of origin. People come to Salzburg difficult to find another performance men became more emotional. She is to seek traces of Mozart; why shouldn’t they come where the actions of the director and sensuous in that role, yet without even to Poland to understand who Chopin was? This the performance derive so perfectly a hint of crudeness. is why a state-of-the-art multimedia museum from music. Teresa Berganza was lucky with her on the composer is taking shape in Warsaw. I could not expect then that I would recordings, although not entirely. We are renovating places connected soon listen to Teresa Berganza live. In Among her Mozart incarnations, there to Chopin, for example Żelazowa Wola. February 1977, she came to the Teatr is Zerlina in the famous film version of We have paid close attention to the work Wielki in Warsaw. With its beginnings Joseph Losey’s Don Giovanni , yet her of Professor Jan Ekier’s team, who have towards the end of the 1950s with roles Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro was for years been working on the in Mozart’s operas (Dorabella in Così recorded with partners not of the high - National Edition of Frédéric Chopin’s fan tutte and Cherubino in Le Nozze di est calibre. We may take delight in her Works. Figaro ) at the Aix-en-Provence and Angelina in Cinderella and Isabella in What music do you listen to Glyndebourne festivals, her career Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri , yet phonog - privately? brought Berganza to the stages of all raphy did not believe that she should Classical, jazz, I also frequently the grandest theatres. She visited also reach for heroic roles in the opera put on some blues or old rock. Poland – a rarity for stars of her bright - seria of the composer. I was lucky: in I like listening to music in peace, ness – when her fame was as its high - 1993, I listened to her sing beautifully which I find little time for, est, and she herself in perfect form. She the “Di tanti palpiti” aria from Tankred unfortunately. More often was especially captivating in the sec - at the gala night of Europa Musicale in I listen to it in the car. ond part of the recital, in the Spanish Munich. Which of the Muses are clos - songs (the consummately interpreted That was not my last meeting with her. est to your heart? series of seven works by Manuel de In December 1995, she came to War - As Minister of Culture, I may Falla). When the audience would not let saw for another recital. Like 19 years not favour the visual arts at the her go, she continued to sing for an - earlier, she began with Haydn’s Cantata expense of music, or vice other three quarters of an hour, bring - “Ariadne auf Naxos”. Recently, I found versa. My private passion is ing those present to near ecstasy with the recording of one of her master - photography, which I used to fragments of her stage incarnations, es - classes on the French “mezzo” radio. engage in professionally. pecially with the Habanera and Teresa Berganza has lost nothing of her Now it’s only spare moments Seguidilla from Carmen . class and temper. Classes with her are that I can devote to it. A year later, she recorded that opera of a spectacle not less exciting than pro - Bizet’s under Claudio Abbado, with Plá - ductions of Rossini’s operas. Interviewed by cido Domingo as Don José. Teresa Jacek Marczyński „Rzeczpospolita ” Sylwia Borowska chordist, and conductor. The en - semble specialises in the music of the Viennese classics and Romantic composers. The musicians recorded Mozart’s operas, symphonies, and concertos, Haydn’s The Creation or - atorio, and Schubert symphonies. For 13 years they have run the “Wiener Klassik” cycle in the fa - mous Golden Hall of the Musikverein. In Warsaw, they will present Joseph Haydn’s oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia . Haydn’s first oratorio, it has quite unfairly remained in the shadow of his similar later works: The Creation and The Seasons . Written in 1784, to the Italian libretto, based on the bib - lical tale of Tobiah, it abounds with virtuoso arias and magnificent choir parts. It will resound in Warsaw in an international line-up, with the solo parts sung by Joan Rodgers, Trine Lund, Stefanie Irányi, and Benjamin Hulett, accompanied by a sine nomine choir. [ Thursday, 2nd April, 7:30 pm Warsaw Philharmonic Hall

A Pole in Vienna It may be, as the old saying goes, that whatever is old must come from Vienna. Definitely it is from the capital of Austria that Europe’s oldest symphonic orchestra – the Wiener Philharmoniker – hails. So does Wiener Kammerorchester , one of the chamber orchestras with Orchestras, orchestras

Concerts by recognised with elegant interpretations of ECO’s numerous successes, Jeffrey the longest history, as it was estab - orchestras are one of the Viennese classics, yet initially Tate. The English Chamber Orchestra lished in 1946. Until recently, its greatest attractions worked under the powerful influ - from London will perform works by artistic director was an eminent cel - of the Ludwig van Beethoven ence of , who en - Joseph Haydn to commemorate the list, Heinrich Schiff. Last year, Easter Festival. Performing trusted the orchestra with the world 200th anniversary of the composer’s though, the ailing leader was re - this year are ensembles from premiere of his Symphony for cello death. placed by the pianist Stefan Vladar. London, Vienna, and Monte and orchestra (1963) with Mstislav [ Wednesday, 1st April, 7:30 pm The Warsaw concert of the ensem - Carlo. Rostropovich as the soloist. Warsaw Philharmonic Hall ble will be conducted by the versa - Three times the orchestra recorded tile Jurek Dybał: bassist, conductor, We can start by recollecting the con - all the piano concertos of Wolfgang Wiener Akademie soloist, and chamber musician. A certs by the radio orchestras of Amadeus Mozart: with Daniel Wiener Akademie is an orchestra graduate of the Academy of Music Hamburg and Munich, symphonic Barenboim, Murray Perahia, and established in 1985 by Martin Hasel - in Warsaw, this member of the orchestras from Saint Petersburg, Mitsuko Uchida. In the 1980s, they böck, eminent organist, harpsi - Wiener Philharmoniker ensemble Sčo Paulo, Madrid and Lahti, and were triumphant with Mozart the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie sym phonies under Jeffrey Tate. from Bremen under Trevor Pin - Moreover, the orchestra participated nock. And yet there were more be - in a recording that made it into the sides. After five successive festivals, history of phonography: in 1989, quite a catalogue of orchestras from together with bravado violinist Nigel all over the world has gathered. In Kennedy, at that time shock ing with this year, dominated by chamber his “punk” hairstyle, they recorded ensembles, it will be expanded by Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons , further great additions. which markedly diverged from the established canon. First and foremost: Since 2000, the main conductor of English Chamber Orchestra the orchestra has been Ralf Gothóni, The legendary orchestra from Lon - a highly renowned Finnish pianist don will celebrate its 50th anniver - and conductor, who replaced in this sary next year. It gained its fame post the man behind many of the

8 Maaiaała kwartet znakomitych włoskich instrumentów: skrzypce Giuseppe Guarneriego oraz Nicoli Amatiego, altówkę Vincenza Ruggieriego i wiolonczelę Andrei Guarneriego. has for some time been trying his Massenet and Camille Saint-SaĎns hand at conducting. Studied under entrusted them with the world pre - the recognised Jorma Panula from mieres of the works. Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. To - An important chapter in the history gether with the I.J. Paderewski of the orchestra was its cooperation Chamber Orchestra, which he es - with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets tablished, Dybał recorded works by Russes, which moved from Paris to the ensemble’s patron on the DUX Monte Carlo in 1911. Diaghilev had label. Resounding under the baton a gift for acquiring talented artists: of Dybał in the Warsaw Philhar - towards the end of his life, he tried monic Hall will be Haydn’s and promoting a budding composer Mozart’s symphonies, and the lat - from Kyiv, Igor Markevich, who be - ter’s Concerto in D major for harp came famous as an outstanding and orchestra, with the soloist conductor after the death of his pro -

Leipziger Streichquartett : Tilman Büning, Stefan Arzberger, Ivo Bauer, Matthias Moosdorf A stratigraphy of the classics Beethoven’s String quartets Alfred Einstein, an eminent musicologist, claimed that life teems in each bar of Beethoven’s works, and every detail of his compositions has justification outside music. The sonic DNA of the genius of Bonn is best sought in his chamber works – which he created throughout his life.

This is the music that Beethoven brought not without a certain emphasis, about the from aristocratic salons to concert halls and creator, torn between the extremes: “a ges - bestowed with a new meaning. In the hands ture of late Beethoven, who, in his shirt, of Beethoven, chamber works became a mutters in fury while painting the huge, form of expression condensing all creative blown-up notes of the Quartet in C sharp ideas. Possibly this is the reason why minor on the wall of his room! Like a para - Beethoven’s idea of the “pure work of art” noiac: fury and love turn one into the other... was so quickly taken over by the Romantics, The quartets from Op. 59 come from the who threw themselves at duos, trios and middle period and are dedicated to the string quartets... Russian ambassador in Vienna, Prince An - In Beethoven, it is in the string quartet – ac - drey Kirillovich Razumovsky, and show how cording to theoreticians the greatest often Beethoven’s revolutionary music met achievement among his works, on a par with a lack of understanding during his life - with the symphony and the piano sonata – time. This was the case with the String Quar - where we find most information about the tet in F major, Op. 59/1, which at times is on composer’s genetic code. This is the case as a par with “Eroica”. Unconventional rhythms, all his life is contained in the 16 string quar - distant harmonies, and an original selection tets which Beethoven authored from 1785 of motifs puzzled musicians to the extent to 1826: his passion and torment, the inex - that they refused to play these works. haustible joy of creation and the deep sad - Finally, in the six first Quartets from Op. 18 – ness of an idealist, the lyrical pining for the which consumed the composer to the ex - mysterious beloved, and even disputes with tent that he wrote no major works while his patrons for whom all these works were working on them – Beethoven the lyricist composed. The history of the last quartets – may be glimpsed. In the String Quartet in F masterpieces that have triggered so many major Op. 18/1, which will also resound dur - Xavier de Maistre, the harpist of the tector. In 1967–1972, he was the mu - words of awe and rapture – may be what ing the Festival, we discover one of Viennese Philharmonic. sical director of the Monte Carlo shows most vividly the composer’s inces - Beethoven’s most touching melodies, com - [ Tuesday, 7th April, 7:30 pm Orchestra, and he significantly im - sant skirmishes with his protectors. Nikolai posed with the tomb scene in Shakespeare’s Warsaw Philharmonic Hall proved its artistic level. The ensem - Dmitriyevitch Galitsyn, an aficionado of Romeo and Juliet in mind. Here, the com - ble experienced similar prosperity Beethoven’s work and amateur cellist living poser even wanted to place the words “Les The grand Orchestra from in recent years under the direction in Petersburg, ordered a few quartets from derniers soupirs” (“The last sighs”). Monte Carlo of Marek Janowski. the composer in 1820 and promised to pay Studying Beethoven’s biography and listen - Orchestre Philharmonique de Since last year, the orchestra’s artis - as much as he deemed right. By mid-1826, ing to his chamber works – Quintet in C Monte Carlo is among Europe’s old - tic director has been the Russian Galitsyn received three compositions (in E major, Op. 29, Septet in E flat major, Op. 20, est orchestras. Following the genius conductor Yakov Kreizberg. It is flat major, B flat major and A minor), yet pay - and the 12 Variations for cello and piano – loci , their début took place in the under his baton that Franz Schu - ment for them was hard won – and not during the Easter Festival, we should try to casino, where they played a medley bert’s Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, without long bargaining – only by search the recesses of his fascinating per - of popular dances in 1856. Soon, the and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Beethoven’s heirs. The other so-called “late sonality. The fact that many of the basic at - ensemble gained in importance, in G minor, per - quartets” – Great Fugue in B flat major Op. tributes of Beethoven’s compositions may changed its repertoire, and in - formed by an eminent German pi - 133 and String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp be drawn from what has been written and creased its line-up to 70 musicians. anist Lars Vogt, will resound at the minor Op. 131, which will be brought before said about Beethoven for the last two cen - In 1878, they acquired a concert hall Easter Festival. us during the Festival by the Leipziger Stre - turies does not mean that his phenomenon designed by Charles Garnier, the ar - [ Monday, 6th April, 7:30 pm ichquartett, are an ideal of unity between has already been discovered. Ada Ginał chitect of the Opera in Paris. At that Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. form and sound – a great synthesis of the [ Leipziger Streichquartett: time the then still relatively un - composer’s language. Imagining the cre - Tuesday, 31st March, 5 pm, The Royal Castle; known French composers Jules Anna S. Dębowska ation of this music, Theodor Adorno wrote, Wednesday, 1st April, 5 pm, The Royal Castle.

BEETHOVEN MAGAZINE 9 very expensive, as it came from the colonies. Beethoven was exposed to the effects of lead for many years; it was a very slow poisoning. Alas! Wine does cast a tragic shadow on his life. To what wine would you compare Beethoven’s music? I am sceptical about the tradition of seeking analogies – developed espe - cially in – between wine on the one hand, and music and art in general. There is no sense in forcibly building parallels between these two utterly dif - ferent fields. So many myths have grown around wine, and it acquired the nimbus of an exclusive product: almost artistic; yet in the days of Beethoven it was an everyday commodity, which Vineyards in Ruedesheim on the Rhein. was not dwelt upon too much. Yet, I The native land of the Riesling that Beethoven loved so much, would look for an auteur, individualis - says Wojciech Bońkowski , musicologist and sommelier. tic wine, exceeding its context. Beethoven is believed to have said that “music is the wine that stimu - lates people to new deeds”. He com - Beethoven and wine pared himself to Bacchus who “pours this delicious beverage for Anna S. Dębowska: We are talking notions of tasting and classification Austrian army was stationed in Cham - them and intoxicates their spirit about Beethoven drinking Ruedes- were not known at the time. From his pagne. All in all, it was hard to come with it”. Where do these wine-re - heimer, a Riesling from the Rhein - birth, Beethoven lived in a culture by high-quality thirst-quenchers. In lated metaphors come from when gau region. This is the very wine where wine was a part of everyday re - his letters, Beethoven complains his Seventh and Eighth symphonies that the dying composer asked for... ality. It was the drink of inns, and about sour wines. He must have come are discussed? Wojciech Bońkowski: ...and he received palaces and burger houses. across watered-down wines. The authenticity of this quotation is from the publisher Schott a case of 12 He is said to have preferred Rhine Did drinking customs change in the dubious: it originated with a friend of bottles of this wine, but he never wines. days of Beethoven? the composer, Bettina von Arnim. She managed to drink it. Because he was born in the Revolutionary changes influenced had strong myth-creating inklings. Could it have tasted the same in the Rhineland. At his time vineyards were many aspects of life, and this was no The Dionysian aspect later became days of Beethoven? popular in the vicinity of Bonn. exception. Bottling became a com mon very important for Nietzsche – the au - This is the same type of wine, but the “Drachenblut”, or “dragon’s blood”, practice in the 18th century. Earlier, thor of the division of art into Apol - taste has definitely changed, because was the famous wine from Bonn. wine was kept at home and barrels, lonian and Dionysian – and also for the production technology was differ - What other wines did he drink? and it was also used for cooking and Wagner, Mahler, and Richard Strauss, ent, and it didn’t undergo quality con - His correspondence proves that he pickling. Bottles were an English all of whom wanted to perceive their trol as it does today. It definitely knew of the existence of various invention that was initially used only spiritual patron in Beethoven. wasn’t this light, rather amber in kinds. In Germany, they drank prima - for the most exclusive wines, This late-Romantic interpretation, colour. It contained less alcohol, rily Rhine, Moselle, and wines from earmarked for long maturation. where art is conceived as a strange barely 8–9%. In the days of Franconia. In Austria, “imperial” Beethoven complained in his letters kind of religion, and an artist as a Beethoven, wines were decidedly wines, with the main producer being about their inordinate prices. At priest or a near-deity, still influences weaker, because the climate was cold. the huge vineyards that surrounded times, such wines cost two or three us today. Yet Beethoven did not per - So drinking one bottle a day with Vienna. To this day, it must be the florins a bottle, so the equivalent of € ceive himself in this way, although he lunch, as is rumoured to have been only European capital within whose 15–20 today. was a great authority for his contem - Beethoven’s custom, was nothing administrative borders wine is pro - There is a hypothesis that the rea - poraries. He did not construe art as a unusual? duced on a commercial scale. son behind the composer’s death higher incarnation of the spirit, nor They used smaller bottles, usually Beethoven drank local wines served was lead poisoning, as the wine was he an anti-bourgeois artist. On half a litre. There was the sediment at in the taverns, known as Heurige . He he consumed contained trace the contrary, he aspired to the bour - the bottom too, so not all wine was spent a lot of time in the country, quantities of lead. How did it get geois. He was aware of the romantic drunk. We can safely assume that our where he lived and dined in peasant into wine? tension between society and himself, composer drank one bottle for lunch, taverns. His cook would go down and Examination of Beethoven’s bones true. Some Messianic, Promethean el - one for dinner, and also some wine for buy wine, which was poured into the and hair proved that he suffered from ements can be perceived in his works, breakfast. jug straight from huge barrels. lead poisoning. The reason for this yet Beethoven himself was strongly For breakfast? Also, he could drink red wines from condition was most probably wine. set in the ideas of the Enlightenment. Yes. Remember that the morning meal Hungary. Primarily, because it was drunk from He wanted to educate, to show the at the time was not an espresso and Tokay? lead mugs. One of these, which used path of progress and unification to hu - croissant, but oysters and meats. Yes, but occasionally, for it was a very to belong to Beethoven, has been pre - mankind, as he did in the finale of the Beethoven was no alcoholic: his expensive drink. served to this day and can be seen at Ninth Symphony. contemporaries consumed an average He probably knew wines from the Bonn’s Beethoven-Haus. Secondly, In order to understand its author, we of 150–200 litres of wine a year per southern part of the Austrian Empire. wines were sweetened with lead. In should reach to his time, and there are person! Such quantities may be Might he have known Bordeaux? Beethoven’s days lead was already no Dionysian elements there. They shocking, but in the imperial capital He might have, but it was not all that known to be poisonous, but it was turned up later, a product of the latter there was no drinkable water to speak popular in Austria, due to colossal du - only in the latter half of the 19th cen - half of the 19th century. of at the time. You were left with the ties. The best wines of the world were tury that this kind of practice was Interviewed by Anna S. Dębowska bullion and wine, usually white. drunk only in palaces. It is known, banned. An old Roman method of Wojciech Bońkowski is a musicologist, re - Did Beethoven like wine? however, that he drank champagne, sweetening was lacing the drink with searcher of Frédéric Chopin’s works, an Italian - His letters prove that he did, which – after the Congress of Vienna so-called “sugar of lead”, i.e. a vinegar ist, recognised sommelier, editor of “Magazyn although he was not a gourmet. Only of 1815 – became an important drink solution of lead. It must be remem - Wino”, and co-author (with Marek Bieńczyk) of aristocrats were connoisseurs, and the in Austria. It was discovered when the bered that at that time true sugar was the guide Wina Europy 2009 .

10 Zaaamaa ieszkały w Wiedniu Szwajcar Jakob Degan w roku 1816 próbuje skontruować model helikoptera. Beethoven jest zafascynowany. Chce wszystko o tym wiedzieć . Exhibition of manuscripts in the Jagiellonian Library Seen from Kraków Manuscripts don’t have a smell Is that Pan Edek coming? If it were to turn out that the price that Polish cultural life has to pay for the great economic crisis is the cutting back of Ministry of thorities of the People’s Republic of Poland Culture grants by PLN 200 million in 2009, the thing would be un - concealed the fact that the – miraculously pleasant but not dramatic, even if especially harsh on the small, preserved – collection was to be found in one-off cultural events whose very chance to exist is dependent on Poland; no one but museologists had access a ministerial grant. This can hardly be considered such a catastro - to it. A dispute continues today between phe, however, because budget cuts come at a time of markedly in - Germany and Poland about the place where creased prospects for financing culture from a variety of EU funds. the collection should be stored. Germans Moreover, regions and large cities – being the real patrons of cul - want it to be returned to Berlin, while Poles tural life in their area – are quite well off, even though – quite obvi - claim compensation for the Polish works of ously – not as perfectly well off as a year or two ago. art destroyed by the Nazis, whose value is Mendelssohn had a beautiful hand, It is private sponsorship that is the worst off. When you browse estimated at $20 billion. Beethoven was careless about the legi - through the web pages of e.g. American operas, you see how seri - bility of his scores. Shown for the first time What was Beethoven’s ously limited the repertoires are on the famous stages. This is be - this year in Kraków are hand-written handwriting like? cause the crisis hit first and most spectacularly those market Handel works in Mozart’s instrumenta - establishments that used to earmark large funds for the building of tion, Haydn’s symphonies, and “The exhibition of manuscripts should be their charitable image: banks, insurers, the automotive industry. Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht . the greatest event of the year for music The Music Collection Department of the lovers,” believes Sylwia Heinrich. They were Similarly, major festivals and great artistic events in Poland have for Jagiellonian Library. Page by page, I am shown for the first time to the general pub - years founded their existence on the capacity to acquire major pri - browsing the scores from this year’s exhibi - lic 12 years ago, during the inauguration of vate resources. The Beethoven Easter Festival might be one of the tion of manuscripts. Here comes Joseph the Beethoven Festival in Kraków. Now, best examples here. The risk is high that the owners of these busi - Haydn’s Symphony “La Chasse” (“The they are made available to music lovers for nesses, if not already the receivers, (which may often be the case), Hunt”). On thick handmade paper and two weeks every year. An exceptional ace in might withhold funds for such purposes. Moreover, this can seriously staves drawn laboriously by the copyist, the the Easter Festival’s pack: you can listen to a influence the potential in coming years, and particularly in 2010. In a composer wrote one of his “Paris Sym - musical work live and see its manuscript crisis, state patronage may turn out to be far safer. A drastic drop in phonies” 228 years ago. Semiquavers, qua - with your own eyes. This year, you can do the revenue from advertisements in Polish papers and magazines is vers, crotchets, minims, rests and dots stand so with Felix Mendelssohn’s Die erste symptomatic for what may come in the realm of culture. upright in their bars, like soldiers in the Walpurgisnacht , which has found its way The economy demonstrates that a crisis purifies, as it is a moment ranks. Sylwia Heinrich, the curator of the onto the programme of the festival and the of truth. Swindlers prove to be no more than swindlers, and losers – exhibition of manuscripts, turns my atten - exhibition, and has never before been pre - losers. It is highly probable that in a healthy economy such a “purifi - tion to watermarks: three half-moons at the sented publicly in Poland. cation through crises” at least twice a century is, all aspects consid - top of the page. “This is a hint, sometimes it The subject of this year’s exhibition are the ered, beneficial. It is not so in culture, however. The rules of helps to determine the year the manuscript links between nature and culture, for this is competition that apply in such cases and save the best in the mar - was written,” she explains. also the motto of the 13th Festival. Moreover, ket only apply to cultural phenomena in a highly limited way. In Bastien and Bastienne , a singspiel com - the scores were chosen with anniversaries in culture, rescue or ruin may hang on the whim of a president or a su - posed by the 12-year-old Mozart. “Nothing mind: the 250th anniversary of Handel’s pervisory board never in fact knowing that what they rescue or ruin crossed out.” I smile, remembering this death, and 200th anniversary both of is important indeed. Worse, the decisive role in such cases lies with scene in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus . “It is a Haydn’s death and of Mendelssohn’s birth. a network of informal interpersonal contacts, which does not have myth,” Sylwia Heinrich shakes her head. to favour the best artistic phenomena. “There were no corrections, but Mozart re - What shall we see? The truth I find most unpleasant and which I discovered through jected some fragments. Here, he crossed out • by Joseph Haydn: Symphonies: “La nothing else but crisis, is the one about Polish public opinion. an entire page.” The curator is turning the Chasse” (“The Hunt”) in D major, “The The recent polls conducted in the context of cuts in the govern ment pages. I am checking whether they smell. Clock” in D major, and the 1st Act of the budget leave no doubt: Poles want politicians to reduce all expen - “Manuscripts don’t have a smell. It’s only Opera The World on the Moon diture on themselves and on the entire state administration. the old prints that do,” says Heinrich. • by : Bastien Interestingly, no one is persuaded by the sensible argument that Finally, displayed before me is the Septet in and Bastienne , and one act from the Opera E flat major, Op. 20, which Ludwig van Cosď fan Tutte . it will make getting anything done in those institutions even more Beethoven dedicated to Maria Theresia. He • by Georg Friedrich Handel: pastoral opera difficult. What I find especially interesting are the next two items used red ink to mark the articulation – the Acis and Galatea and Ode for St. Cecilia’s on the list of things which it is permitted to cut. They are sports arches and dots below them. The manu - Day rescored by Mozart to the commission and culture. I find them both a surprise. The first, because I believed script is bound in leather, and the cover of Baron Gottfried van Swieten. sporting emotions to be the most commonly bears the stamp of the Prussian Library in • by Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 experienced collective feeling in the contemporary Berlin. A library card drops from between in A major, the third movement from Sym - world. Yet this evidently is not the case, what I used the pages – someone was browsing through phony No. 8 in F major, and Septet in E flat to believe common is valid only for a decided the Septet in December 1939. No other major Op. 20 minority of so-called sports fans. As far as culture browser looked at it for another 40 years. • by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: is concerned, I deemed a particular hypocrisy Symphony No. 3 in A Minor “Scottish”, to be absolutely binding here: even if we do not Priceless collection Die erste Walpurgisnacht . care at all about another philharmonia concert This is but a small fraction of the master - Anna S. Dębowska or yet one more theatrical premiere, as a group pieces in the collection of the Prussian Li - we are afraid to admit our disregard for high brary in Berlin, since 1946 in Kraków. After Beethoven, Nature and Culture , culture. Here I was mistaken as well. Clearly, the war, 9000 handwritten documents and exhibition of manuscripts after all, the times when people were letters by luminaries of culture and science Curator: Sylwia Heinrich ashamed to admit they had never read any found shelter in the Jagiellonian Library. Design: Lech Dziewulski books are gone. The crisis made me aware They include the musical manuscripts of Opening of the exhibition: that Pan Edek from Mrożek’s Tango may again Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, midday, 27th March 2009 be on the offensive. Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Paganini, Admission free Jan Rokita and Cherubini. Until the early 1970s, the au -

BEETHOVEN MAGAZINE 11