Conquering Europe’s musical hub: Apolinary Kątski’s Parisian decade (1838–1848)

Ewa Chamczyk

Abstract

Apolinary Kątski (1826–79) was an unusual and controversial figure. He is remembered in history as an eminent virtuoso violinist who took great care to promote himself; also as the founder and long-time director of the Music Institute in Warsaw. He held the post of soloist to His Imperial Highness in Petersburg and scored successes during his numerous tours of Russia, France’s departments, the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland (then part of Russia), and Greater Poland (first in Prussia, later in Germany), with concerts in such cities as Warsaw, London, Paris, Brussels and Vilnius. Despite all this, his work as a concert virtuoso and composer seems to be largely forgotten today. The current state of research, however, allows us to reconstruct his biography in more and more detail.
Apolinary Kątski – one of the five prodigy children born to Grzegorz Kątski and Anna née Różycka, winning the hearts of audiences throughout Europe – arrived in Paris at the tender age of 10. This period of his artistic activity has remained the least known so far. We only knew the dates of his stay in France (1836–48), the date of his first public concert in Paris (1st February 1837), as well as the details of his visit to London (1838) and the list of French cities he may potentially have given performances in. The least documented was the time following his return from England in 1838, for which we only have very limited coverage in the French press. The study of the virtuoso’s scantily preserved correspondence and research in foreign press titles has made it possible to reconstruct Apolinary Kątski’s previously unknown biography from the years 1838–48, and complement the list of his compositions known to us thus far.
This article presents the results of my research into the life and work of Apolinary Kątski and is an attempt to define his place in the musical panorama of 19th-century France.