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24
PawełMajewski
theprogrammewasdecidedforthecompetition’sopeningceremony,tobeheld
onthe23rdofthismonthat11a.m.inthePhilharmonic’sgreathall.Onthesame
dayat10inthemorning,theorderofparticipatingartists’performanceswillbe
drawn.4to5pianistswillplayoneachday12.
26pianistsfrom8Europeancountriestookpartinthe1steditionofChC.
ThejuryconsistedexclusivelyofthePoles13.Itwasaconsciousdecision,
aimingtofocustheassessmentcriteriaonthesupposednormsofthePolish
pianoschool.JuliuszKaden-Bandrowski14,whoreportedontheCompeti-
tionforthe“Świat”weekly,commentedonthisdecisionoftheorganisers
alongtimebeforetheopeningceremony:
Webelievethistobequiteright.OurcountryisindeedthesourceofaSzo-
pen15[Chopin]traditionthathasyieldedmanyamasteroftheChopinpianostyle
[ś].Theorganisers[therefore]assumethatourownmusiciansarethemostcom-
petentwithregardtodefiningandmappingouttheactualChopintraditionfor
thefuture16.
12[N.N.],“KurierWarszawski”,14thJanuary1927,No.19,p.4.ThefirstChCconsisted
oftwostages,inthesecondofwhichthecontestantsweretoperformonlytwomovements
fromeitherofChopin’sconcertoswithorchestra.Thesameruleswererepeatedforthenext
twoChCeditions.
13TheGermanpianistAlfredHöhn(Hoehn,1887–1945),listedinsomesecondary
sourcesasajurymember,infactonlytookpartinthefinalauditions.
14JuliuszKaden-Bandrowski(1885–1944)wasoneofthecentralfiguresofPolishcul-
turallifeinthe1sthalfofthe20thcentury,ajournalistandauthorofnovelsstylisticallyakinto
expressionism;hiswritingsco-foundedtheself-identityofPolishelitesintheinterwarperiod.
Healsoperformedmanypublicfunctionsandhadaprofessionaldiplomaasapianist(but
gaveuphisconcertcareerafterbreakinghishand).
15InPolishthecomposer’snamewasspelledeitherasChopinorSzopen.Thisdual
spellingwasalreadyinuseinhislifetime(thecomposerhimselfusedbothforms)andhad
nopoliticalorideologicalsignificanceatthattime,thoughlaterittemporarilytookonsuch
connotationsinpoliticalpropaganda(cf.[N.N.],Namarginesie:„Chopin”i„Szopen”[Notes
ontheMargin:‘Chopin’and‘Szopen’],“SłowoPolskie”1910,No.88).Atpresenttherules
ofPolishnormativeorthographytreatbothspellingsonapar,butinpracticeGChopin’isthe
preferredform(alsoinallrecordsandpublicationsrelatedtotheCompetition).Weshould
notethatinthePolishversionofthepresentpublicationwehaveconsistentlyappliedtheform
GInternational[Fryderyk]Chopin[Piano]Competition’inourowntext,butinthequoted
pressarticlesandnoteswehaveretainedtheinconsistenciesofboththesurnamespelling
andtheCompetition’sname.Thoseinconsistencieshavebeenomitted,however,fromthe
Englishtranslationexceptwhentheyaresemanticallyrelevant,aswhene.g.theCompetition
isreferredtoasaGCongress’(cf.footnote21below).
1616jkb.[J.Kaden-Bandrowski],MiędzynarodowyKonkursSzopenowskiwWarszawie
[TheInternationalChopinCompetitioninWarsaw],“Świat”1926,No.18,p.14.Kaden
alsowrote:“theWarsawcompetitionwillnodoubtgenerategreatinterest[ś]intheworld
ofEuropeanpianism.”Hethusexpressedahopethatinitiallyprovedfutileandwouldonly
befulfilledduringthesubsequentChCeditions.