June 29 marks the 80th anniversary of Paderewski’s death. Parliamentary Speaker Elżbieta Witek described him as “a great Pole and an outstanding artist, a co-founder of Polish independence who always remembered his homeland and was its best ambassador.”
Hailed by his contemporaries as the greatest pianist since Franz Liszt, Paderewski achieved the peak of his triumphant career at the turn of the 19th century, when his fame spread around the world, and his financial success reached phenomenal dimensions.
He also entered the annals of music history as a talented composer. His opera Manru remains to this day the only Polish opera produced at the Metropolitan.
Paderewski was one of the architects of Poland’s regained independence in 1918, after more than 120 years of foreign rule.
In 1919, as Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, he co-chaired (with Roman Dmowski) the Polish delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris and signed the Treaty of Versailles.
He died in the United States in 1941 and, following a decision by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was buried at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington.
In 1992 his remains were brought to Poland and buried at St John’s Cathedral in Warsaw.
(mk/pk)