 Daniel Blumenthal
/
Jenny Lind / Liszt
Icons of Europe celebrated Chopin's 200-year birthday with two piano
recitals performed by Daniel Blumenthal at Lasne on 1.March
and 5 March 2010.
The introductory remarks recalled
Jenny Lind's role in monumentalizing Chopin's legacy, and the
programme included Liszt's
Liebestraum N° 3. Icons of Europe believes that Liszt composed Liebesträume (1850) in tribute to Chopin and Jenny Lind's romance.
>> Ongoing programme |
Franz Liszt
Chopin's birthday in 1810
 According to his baptismal certificate, Fryderyk François Chopin was born at
Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, on 22 February 1810 at six o'clock in the evening.
Fiddlers arrived on sledges to play outside the window. The Countess of Skarbek
became his godmother.
However, Chopin insisted later that his mother had recorded
the birthday as 1.March, and that date has been adopted as his official
birthday. Chopin died on 17 October 1849.
Third International Congress 2010
Icons of Europe was invited to submit abstracts to the
International Congress and developed four proposals, two
suggesting joint research on
Chopin artworks and
on Zelazowa Wola - in the spirit of the Congress theme 'Ideas,
interpretation, influence'. >> Chopin 2010
programme
The
congress, from
25 February to 1 March 2010, will commemorate
the
200-year
anniversary of Chopin's birthday with music, papers and more.
Chairs of the Program Committee: Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Irena Poniatowska, John.Rink,
Zofia Chechlińska, Maciej Gołąb, Jeffrey Kallberg, Wojciech
Nowik, Jim Samson, Zbigniew Skowron, Artur Szklener,
Mieczysław Tomaszewski.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
The year 2010 will also see the 150-year anniversary of
the birthday of
Ignacy
Jan Paderewski
(18 November, 1860 - 29 June, 1941) - a great interpretater of Chopin's
music.
>> Poland's cultural heritage |
 Chopin 2010 Honorary Committee
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute (NIFC) in Warsaw invited,
in a
letter of 12 May 2006,
Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen, Icons of Europe to be "honorary advisers"
to the Chopin 2010 programme.
At the request of the Fryderyk Chopin
Institute in Warsaw, Icons of Europe proposed on
26 June 2006 how an
honorary committee
could "reinforce the international
dimension of
the Chopin 2010 bicentenary".
The committee would have
a global membership drawn from the fields of
culture, science, business and government.
One of the first paragraphs of
Icons of Europe's proposal of 26 June 2006 to NIFC says: "Membership of the Chopin 2010 Honorary Committee
should be seen as a reward to a wide range of organizations and
communities, or distinguished individuals, for their historical and
contemporary link to the music and life of Chopin."
Icons of Europe's proposal draws on the experience and results of the
Hans Christian Andersen
200-year anniversary in 2005 and the celebrity endorsements programme of
the U.N. system.
Memorial at Zelazowa Wola
 <<
Photo from the inauguration of
Chopin's memorial obelisk in the garden of his birthplace at Zelazowa
Wola in the presence of 2,000 guests in October 1894.
Chopin's music was not well known in Poland in the 19th century during the Russian
occupation. - For example, the musical programme at the unveiling of
Chopin's memorial
at Zelazowa Wola on 14 October 1894 had as item 7 "Polonaise in A major for
chorus
and orchestra". The piano items of the programme were performed by
Mily Balakirev
(1837-1910), the Russian pianist, conductor and composer (known today
primarily for his work promoting nationalism in Russian music). Source: Balakirev: A critical study of his
life and music by Edward Garden, Faber and Faber, London 1967, p. 140.
Icons of Europe's research has shown
that it was no.coincidence that Jenny Lind's memorial, also
adorned by a lyre and laurels, was
unveiled with royal patronage at Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, London the very same year. |
