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PawełMajewski
asasmallnumberofsurvivingdocuments.Everythingelsecanonlybesensed
orheardbythescholar’sandthereader’sinnerear.
Eventsthatcyclicallyattractalargeaudienceareusuallybelievedtoorig-
inateinsomespontaneouscollectiveimpulsewhichleadstoanolessspon-
taneousaudienceexperience.Inreality,however,theyrequireanenormous
organisationaleffort,financialoutlay,promotion,and,justasimportantly,
someonewhowillbringthemabout.Justastherewouldbenomodern
OlympicGameswithoutPierredeFrédy,BarondeCoubertin,sotheInter-
nationalFryderykChopinPianoCompetitioninWarsawwouldmostlikely
nothavehappenedwithouttheinitiativeandpersistenteffortsofProfessor
JerzyŻurawlew(1886–1980).SeveralyearsafterPolandregaineditsinde-
pendence,theprofessormadeuphismindtocounteractthenegativetrends
inChopinperformancepractice.
JerzyWaldorffexplainedthemotivesbehindtheorganisationthefirst
ChCasfollows:
[Chopin]wastoooutstandingapersonalitytobereducedtoameresupplier
ofsalonmusic,buthecouldnothelphisoeuvrebeingputthroughthesieve
ofsalon-typejudgments,whichbrandedhisoutputfordecadesasoversophisti-
cated,hypersensitive,andmorbidart.
AlsoChopin’sownpupils–theactualonesandtheMaster’sself-styledapos-
tles,whousurpedthisnameinfullconfidencethatthedeceasedcomposerwould
notbeabletoprotest–contributedtothisassessment.Thoseearlysuccessorsto
Chopin’sstylebegantointerprettheEtudesandPreludeswithahystericalrubato,
playingthelefthandslightlybeforetherighthandmelody,andintroducingarpeg-
giatedchords.TheyblurredtheNocturneswiththeexcessiveuseofthepedal,and
inthePolonaisetheybangedonthekeyboardtillthestringsnearlybroke,which
wassupposedtosymbolisecompassionforPolandthenkeptinfettersandthe
readinesstomakeheroicbidsforthecountry’sindependence2.
TheEuropeanconventionsofmusicnotationdonotallowcomposersto
representtheirideaofthemusicunequivocallytotheperformers.Aliterary
work(exceptforaudiobooks,wherethereader’stimbreofvoiceismore
importantthantextinterpretation)getsGperformed’onlyinthereaders’
minds.Aworkofmusic,ontheotherhand,hastobeperformedbyaGthird
party’inordertoreachtheaudience.Eachinstanceofperformancedepends
ontheartists’individualinterpretationofthescoreandontheirindivid-
ualskillsandqualities.Thepresenceofthismiddlemanhasgivenriseto
agreatdebateamongmusicologists,criticsandmusicloversastoGwhich
performancesarethebest’.Thiscontroversyhascontinuedeversincepeople
startedpayingattentiontosuchelementsofthemusicalworkasGcomposer’s
2J.Waldorff,Wielkagra[TheGreatGame],in:idem,Wybórpism[SelectedWritings],
Vol.4,Warszawa1993,pp.58–59.
