Maria Szymanowska

The salons in 18th-century France were intellectual gatherings held at home by educated women. In 1837, the composer and music critic Robert Schumann defined salon music as elegant light music and stated that this type of social music should sound beautiful, delicate, and fashionable. Szymanowska was highly praised by Schumann for her salon music works, especially her etudes. Her compositions—largely piano pieces, songs, and other small chamber works, as well as the first piano concert etudes and nocturnes in Poland—typify the stile brillant of the era preceding Frédéric Chopin. She was the mother of Celina Szymanowska, who married the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz.

• Name — Maria Szymanowska • Birth Name — Marianna Agata Wołowska • Born — 14 December 1789 • Birthplace — Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth • Died — 25 July 1831 • Place of death — Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire • Instrument — Piano • Genre — Classical music • Occupation — Pianist, composer

Marianna Agata Wołowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 14 December 1789 into a prosperous Polish family with Frankist Jewish roots, one of her ancestors being Salomon Ben Elijah (or Jacob ben Judah Leib/Jacob Leibowicz), the personal assistant of Jacob Frank. Her father Franciszek Wołowski was a landlord and a brewer. Her mother Barbara Wołowska (née Lanckorońska) came from a noble Polish Lanckoroński family. The history of her early years and especially her musical studies is uncertain; she appears to have studied piano with Antoni Lisowski and Tomasz Gremm, and composition with Franciszek Lessel, Józef Elsner and Karol Kurpiński. Wołowska's salon was frequently visited by outstanding artists and intellectuals of the time. The guests at her salon included not only artists but also poets, pianists, and composers. The renowned Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, the Russian composer and pianist Mikhail Glinka, and the Irish composer and pianist John Field all made appearances. Immersed in music from an early age, she attended concerts by famous musicians and, over time, played in front of them in her own house. She gave her first public recitals in Warsaw and Paris in 1810. In the same year, she married Józef Szymanowski (d. 1832), with whom she had three children while living in Poland: Helena (1811–61), who married a Polish lawyer Franciszek Malewski, and twins Celina (1812–55), who married Adam Mickiewicz, and Romuald (1812–40), who became an engineer. The children remained with Maria after her separation from Szymanowski in 1820. The marriage ended in divorce. Szymanowska died of cholera during the summer 1831 epidemic in Saint Petersburg. She is presumed to be unrelated to 20th century Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.

• Illustration — Szymanowska at the piano; portrait by Aleksander Kokular. Her professional piano career began in 1815, with performances in England in 1818, a tour of Western Europe 1823–1826, including both public and private performances in Germany, France, England (on multiple occasions), Italy, Belgium and Holland. A number of these performances were given in private for royalty. From 1822–1823, Szymanowska toured in many cities in the 19th century Russian territories, including Moscow, Kiev, Riga and, Saint Petersburg. There she performed at the Imperial Court and received the title of First Pianist. In Saint Petersburg, Szymanowska met Johann Nepomuk Hummel and performed with him. In 1824, Maria performed for the Royal Philharmonic Society in London (May 18), at Hanover Square for the royal family (June 11), and at several private houses for dukes of Hamilton, Kent and Northumberland. Her playing was very well received by critics and audiences alike, garnering her a reputation for a delicate tone, lyrical sense of virtuosity and operatic freedom. She was one of the first professional piano virtuosos in 19th-century Europe and one of the first pianists to perform memorized repertoire in public, a decade ahead of Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann. After years of touring, she returned to Warsaw for some time before relocating in early 1828, first to Moscow and then to Saint Petersburg, where she served as the court pianist to the Empress of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna.

The authorities additionally record the headings Maria Szymanowska-Wołowska, Maria Agata Szymanowska-Wołowska, Maryja Szymanowska, Marie Szymanowska and Marie Szymanowska née Wołowska. Her recorded languages were Polish and French. One child is recorded: Celina Szymanowska.