A musical volcano

Goethe - as much musical authority is granted to him here - was moved by her playing, but also by her charisma, and wrote a poem to her, which ends with the words: "There felt - oh that it would last forever! - /the double happiness of sound and love." He was deeply moved by his encounter with the Polish pianist Maria Szymanowska: "Talent would crush you if her grace did not make it forgivable." [That was in Marienbad in 1823, and it is natural to hear all the undertones of the gender understanding of the time in such statements today. An artist who moved so freely in the world was astonishing (one could at best place her alongside Hélène de Montgéroult), and this led to descriptions such as the "female Vulcan" and the "Queen of Tones".

The Polish musicologist Danuta Gwizdalanka, who published a biography of Witold Lutosławski with her husband, the composer Krzysztof Meyer, is a profound connoisseur of Polish music, and in her portrait she approaches Szymanowska with admiration as well as caution and calm. She presents her works with a critical eye and points out details. However, the result is neither a musicological book nor a sentimental biography. Szymanowska is described as a "charming, enlightened and pragmatic woman". She died all too young at the age of 41, from cholera, a stroke or fatigue, perhaps from all of the above.

Gwizdalanka tells this biography from the testimonies and details of a richly lived life. Szymanowska, who separated from her husband at an early age, was independent and self-reliant, traveled extensively and was celebrated throughout Europe. How she fared, but also how she coped with everyday life, often accompanied by siblings and children, gives a deep insight into her way of life. The book closes a serious gap in the reception of female composers, which certainly existed at the time, but unfortunately did not last.

Danuta Gwizdalanka: The "female Vulcan". The pianist and composer Maria Szymanowska, translated from Polish by Peter Oliver Loew, 176 p., € 19.80, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2023, ISBN 978-3-447-11913-9