Description

HELENA MORSZTYNÓWNA (COUNTESS HELENA MORSZTYN) (WARSAW, 23 APRIL, 1888/1889 – NEW YORK, 22 MAY, 1954)

 

 

 

 

Comtesse Helena Morsztyn was born in Warsaw in 1889 (or 1888), a daughter of Count Kazimierz Morsztyn (1855-1900). Her mother, Maria Klemensowska (1859-1933), was a pianist and the first teacher of Helena. Her grandmother Zofia Klemensowska (née Malhomme, 1830-1905), daughter of a Polish 19th Century exile in Paris, was a pupil of Frédéric Chopin. From the grandmother Helena received many priceless hints and was fostered in a love and understanding of Chopin’s music, evidenced in her many concert recitals. Helena stated in later years that her grandmother was an exceptional pianist, greater than she, but being a member of the aristocracy could not engage in a public career. One of Helena’s relatives, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621-1693), was one of Poland’s great poets. After her regular educational studies she was taken to Vienna at the age of eleven to study with Teodor Leszetycki (Theodor Leschetizky, 1830-1915). New students were assigned to preparatory teachers and the Norwegian pianist, Dagmar Walle Hanson (1871-1954) became Helena’s teacher at the beginning. Advanced study was with Leszetycki. This eleven-year-old “wonder child” captivated audiences in the Warsaw Philharmonic. One of Europe’s great and favored concert pianists, Emil von Sauer (1862-1942) became her instructor. Sauer, seeing the sixteen-year-old student obtaining the high prize that the Austrian State bestowed on her after graduating from the Meisterschule in Vienna, dedicated one of his concert studies, “Sylphes Glissante” to Helena. Among her Vienna colleagues were Elly Ney (1882-1968), Henrietta Michelson (later of the Juilliard faculty) and Mieczysław Horszowski (1892-1993). Emil von Sauer had planned a concert tour of Spain but was unable to go and he chose Helena to fill the engagement. Her brilliant success led to tours in other countries confirming her a virtuoso of the first rank. The Italians in Rome and Genoa and Spaniards in Madrid lost their hearts to the witty young girl who resembled a rosy baroque angel. Her music cast its spell over Cairo, where even the great rabbi of Rome listened from the seclusion of a box to the Chopin melodies rendered by this young Polish pianist. She played in the residence of the conqueror of Iraq. A home was established in Italy and concerts were given throughout Europe. After World War I, a family named Kirby** became her friends and took her to England. It is possible that at this time she made the HMV phonograph recording (Scherzo B flat Minor – Chopin). More records were made of the Chopin Waltzes and Mazurkas for a small recording company Transphono. In 1928 she came to the U.S.A. and her New York debut was in the Guild Theatre in an all-Chopin recital. William MacPhail, founder and director of the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, offered Helena a position on the faculty of the school as head of the piano department. Some altercation between them caused Helena to leave the school and open a private studio and give a series of master classes until the early years of World War II. She returned to Italy but due to conditions at that time, she returned to the USA to live, teach and give concerts. A Town Hall recital was given December 3, 1941 with other recitals in 1944, 1945 and 1948. She had a studio in New York but later moved to Minneapolis to teach and give master classes at Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen, S.D. from 1944 to 1947. Helena was a close friend of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) and a daily visitor in the home of Paderewski’s sister, Antonina Paderewska-Wilkońska (1857-1941). The conditions of World War II in 1941 forced Paderewski and his sister to live in Florida. When Paderewski died June 29, 1941, Helena was with the bereaved sister. She was a fervent admirer of Eugen d’Albert (1864-1932) and admired his Beethoven interpretations. During World War I she was able to contact her family in Warsaw only through the Vatican and d’Albert. The latter possessed two passports, British and German which he used during the troublesome times, and he was ever expeditious to aid Helena. Helena gave many concerts and worked to assist Polish refugees to reduce the misery caused by the invasion of the Nazis. It is probable she made the piano rolls [Welte) when in Germany during tours. Welte roll E1163 of Liszt’s Concert Etude D flat Major No 3 is listed in the 1917 catalog. Her death was May 22, 1954, caused by a cerebral hemorrhage suffered May 8th at her home, 189 East 64th Street in New York.

 

Emmett M. Ford The AMICA bulletin, November 1981

 

TRACKLIST

 

1. 1160 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Prelude, d
2. 1163 WELTE-MIGNON LISZT – Un Sospiro (A Sigh) Grand Concert Etude No. 3, Db
3. 1164 WELTE-MIGNON VERDI-LISZT – Paraphrase on Themes from Opera “Rigoletto”
4. 5715 A.V. 4251, 5716 A.V. 4251 HMV Scherzo Op. 31 No. 2
5. TR. 1040 TRANSPHONO Etude G Flat Major Op. 25, No. 9
6. TR. 1040 TRANSPHONO Valse G Flat Major Op. 70, No. 1
7. TR. 1041 TRANSPHONO Op. 68, No. 1. C-Major
8. TR. 1041 TRANSPHONO Two Mazurkas Op. 6, No. 2. C-Sharp Minor