Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
The1
stCompetition.TheDifficultBeginnings
27
Duringtheone-week-longcontestitturnedout,however,thatPolish
pianistshadnomonopolyonperformingChopinwell,andeven,according
tothejury,arenotthebestamongtheparticipantsatthistask.Ofcentral
importancetoallthethreeeditionsoftheChCheldbeforeWorldWar
IIweretheGnational’andtheGracial’questions–anditistotheseissues
thatalargeproportionofpressreportswerededicated,whichwillalsobe
reflectedinourpresentations.
The1stChC,thoughstillnotverywidelypublicisedoutsidePoland,
neverthelessattractedlivelyinterestathome,notonlyinthemusiccircles,
butalsoamongaudienceswhichdidnotconsistofregularPhilharmonic
concert-goers.“Asitwas,thePhilharmonichall,alternatelywiththeCon-
servatory’sconcerthall,bothdesperatelyemptyonotheroccasions–were
nowsimplyburstingattheseamsfromtheaudiencesflockingin.”23When
itturnedout,however,thathopesforanumerousparticipationofforeign
pianistshadbeenthwarted,theorganisationoftheauditionswaschanged:
Inanticipationofforeignparticipantsarrivinginlargernumbers,thecommittee
basedthefutureorganisationofthecompetitionongroupingthepianistsbythe
statetheyrepresented.Theywerefirsttocompeteamongthemselveswithineach
group,andlaterthe1stprizewinnersfromeachgroupweretoenterthefinal
competitionfortheprizemoney,playingtheconcertoswithorchestra[inthelast
stage].
Since,however,therepresentationofforeignersprovedtoosmalltocreate
suchgroups,alltheforeignandPolishperformersareplayingintheorderofthe
draw.Thejudges[jurors]assessthevalueofeachperformancebygrantingfrom
1to12points.Afterthesolopresentations,theyadmittotheconcertostageonly
thosecandidateswhohavecollectedthelargestnumberofpoints.Thetotalsum
ofpointsforanycontestantadmittedtoplayaconcertomustnotbelowerthan
twothirdsofthemaximumnumberofpoints24.
ThesamearticlereportedthatduringhisinauguralspeechMaliszewski
“mentionedthemistakesmadeintheorganisationofthefirstsuchalarge
competition,andaskedforunderstanding.Itmaybetruethatnotallthe
planshaveproperlybeenexecuted.Forinstance,wemissseveralpersons
inthejurywhoshouldhavebeeninvited.Onthewhole,though,thevery
factofthiscompetitionbeingheldisagreatachievement.”Thelastsen-
czny”2000,No.24,pp.10–13).Thistopichasbeenasubjectofdebatesincethebeginnings
oftheChChistory,cf.J.R.,JakgraćSzopena?Namarginesiekonkursuszopenowskiego[How
toPlayChopin?OntheMarginsoftheChopinCompetition],“Bluszcz”,19thMarch1927,
No.12,pp.6–8.
23J.R.,JakgraćSzopena?,op.cit.,p.6.
24[X],KonkurspianistowskiimieniaChopina[TheChopinPianistCompetition],“Kurier
Warszawski”,24thJanuary1927,No.23,p.8;thequotationsbelowcomefromthesame
source.
