A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Szymanowska, Marie

by George Grove

SZYMANOWSKA, Marie, a distinguished pianist of her day, who would, however, hardly have been remembered but for Goethe's infatuation for her. She was born about 1790, of Polish parents named Wolowski, and was a pupil of John Field's at Moscow. She travelled much in Germany, France, and England, and died at St. Petersburg of cholera in Aug. 1831. One of her daughters married the famous Polish poet Mickiewicz, whom she had introduced to Goethe in July 1829. Goethe knew her as early as 1821, and even then overpraised her, setting her above Hummel; 'but those who do so,' says Felix Mendelssohn, who was then at Weimar,^[1] 'think more of her pretty face than her not pretty playing.' Goethe renewed the acquaintance in Aug. 1823, at Eger, where she and Anna Milder were both staying, calls her 'an incredible player,' and expresses his excitement at hearing music after an interval of over two years in a remarkable letter to Zelter of Aug. 24, 1823, again comparing her with Hummel, to the latter's disadvantage. Mme. Szymanowska appears to have helped to inspire the 'Trilogie der Leidenschaft,' and the third of its three poems, called 'Aussöhnung,' is a direct allusion to her. In 1824 she was in Berlin. 'She is furiously in love (rasend verliebt) with you,' says Zelter to the poet, 'and has given me a hundred kisses on my mouth for you.'

Her compositions were chiefly for the PF., with a few songs.

[ G. ]

1. Goethe and Mendelssohn, p. 25.