PADEREWSKI, IGNACE JAN ), Polish pian ist, composer and statesman, was born at Kurylowka, Podolia, a province of (then) Russian Poland. He studied music at Warsaw, Berlin and at Vienna, where he was a pupil of Leschetizky (q.v.). He made his first public appearance in Vienna in 1887, in Paris in 1889, and in London in 1890. His brilliant playing created a furore which went to extravagant lengths; and his triumphs were repeated in America in 1891. He was a great virtuoso player, and as such commanded popular applause, but he was much more than that ; he brought to bear on the music he played a highly trained and original mind. The Paderewski renderings often countered tradition but they were the fruit of profound and serious study. In 1899 he married Baroness de Rosen, and after 1900 he appeared but little in public until 192o-23 when he gave recitals in England and in America as well as on the Continent.
Paderewski's first considerable work was the opera Manru, played at Dresden (May 29, 1901), and in 1902 at New York. Be side numerous works composed for his own instrument, including a concerto for pianoforte and orchestra in A minor (op. 17), he wrote a symphony (in B minor), which was played with success at Boston, Mass., and in London in 1909.
Paderewski's unprecedented success as a pianist all over the world never caused him to forget his own country, and to the Poles in America he delivered the following inspiring message: "The vision of a strong and independent Poland has always been the lodestar of my existence. Its realisation is still the great aim of my life." In 1910, on the 5ooth anniversary of the victory of Griinwald over the Teutonic knights, he presented a memorial, which was unveiled at Cracow.
When the World War broke out in 1914, he dedicated himself heart and soul to his country's service. He was President d'hon neur of a non-party group of Poles who met at Vevey in the autumn of 1914 to organise a "General Committee of Assistance for the victims of the War in Poland." The Committee was definitely founded in Jan. 1915 under the presidency of Sienkie wicz. Paderewski established branches in Paris and London ; he then went to the United States, where he remained nearly four years, giving numerous concerts and championing the cause of Poland. He collected enormous sums, and created a powerful pro-Polish movement in the United States. The value of his propagandist work was realised when, on Jan. 22, 1917, President Wilson alluded to a "united, independent and autonomous Poland." By November 1916 every Polish organisation in the U.S.A. was
represented in the Polish National Department of Chicago, except the small Socialist group. Up to 1918 Paderewski guided the poli tical and military destinies of 4,000,000 Poles in the United States.
Foreseeing in Feb. 1917 that the U.S.A. would soon enter the War, Paderewski induced the Polish National Alliance to found a preparatory school for Polish officers at Cambridge Springs. After the decree which authorised a Polish army to be raised in France Paderewski obtained on Nov. 1917 from Newton Baker, permission to recruit volunteers. He secured from the Canadian Govt. a vast military camp, Niagara on the Lake, where more than 22,000 Polish volunteers were trained by Canadian officers. In Aug. 1917 the Polish National Guard Committee, founded at Lausanne, chose him as its representative at Washington.
After the victory of the Allies, Paderewski visited London and afterwards proceeded to Poland by sea in the company of a British Mission under Colonel Wade, disembarking at Danzig on Dec. 24, 1918. On reaching Warsaw he declared himself inde pendent of all political parties; and after difficult negotiations, during which an attempt was made on his life, he succeeded on Jan. 17, 1919 in forming a coalition ministry, of which he became prime minister as well as minister of foreign affairs. He obtained for Poland official recognition by the various Powers, and thus regularised her international position. He suppressed the various military groups which hindered national unity, and at the first meeting of the Diet demanded and obtained the formation of a national army. He went to Paris on April 6, 1919 as Poland's first delegate to the Peace Conference. On two different occasions, the Diet renewed its vote of confidence in him and expressed the gratitude of his country. But as it was impossible for him to make a national union a reality, and, above all, to conclude peace with the Soviet government, in view of the violent opposition of the military party, he resigned office (Nov. 27, 1919). He con tinued however to defend Poland's interests at the Conference of Ambassadors and the League of Nations. In July 1920 he pro tested against Czechoslovak action in regard to Teschen.
He abandoned his political career in Feb. 1921, and retired to his Californian estate, returning afterwards to resume his musical career.
See Robert Lansing, The Big Four and Others of the Peace Confer ence (1921) ; Eugene S. Bagger, Eminent Europeans (1922) ; Frank W. Davis, Time Exposures (1926).