Ignacy Jan Paderewski in Germany

Introduction
 

Paderewski’s connections to Germany, and especially to Berlin, where he lived for an extended period of time in the early 1880s, are a subject worthy of in-depth analysis. It was one of the turning points in the artistic path of this great musician and it partly determined the further development of Paderewski’s career as a pianist and composer.

At the end of the 1870s, Warsaw under Russian partition certainly wasn’t as vibrant and international a cultural center as Berlin, Vienna, or Paris. It is therefore quite obvious that after completing his studies in Warsaw Paderewski – a talented, ambitious and hard-working young musician – wanted to broaden his artistic horizons outside of Poland. Serious complications in his personal life and an uncertain financial situation meant that to begin his studies in Berlin, in addition to his own (and often poorly-paid) performances, Paderewski had to depend on the financial support of his penurious father living in Podolia, as well as various friends in Warsaw whom he had met during his studies. Paderewski initially wanted to deepen his knowledge of composition while in Berlin but, as it later turned out, during his studies in the German metropolis he also received support from many famous musicians who convinced him of the possibility of making a career as a pianist.

Paderewski’s extended sojourns in Berlin (the first from early January 1882 to late June 1882; the second from the beginning of January 1884 to mid-July 1884) coincided with the years of Berlin’s great development as the political hub of the new Prussian State and an important cultural center where musical, artistic and literary life began to flourish. It was also an important period in Germany’s history with the consolidation of the German Empire after the accession of the southern German states to the North German Confederation in January 1871. As Chancellor of the Empire, between 1871–1890 Otto von Bismarck introduced many social reforms, but at the same time initiated the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and applied serious repressions against the Polish population living in the territories of the Prussian Partition. References to the political situation in Germany and to Bismarck’s attitude towards the Poles can be found in some of Paderewski’s letters from the German metropolis, as well as in reports from his performances on various German concert stages.