Felicja Blumental (28 December 1908 – 31 December 1991) was a Polish
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
and composer. "She was one of the relatively few women born in the first quarter of the twentieth century to have achieved an important career as a concert pianist."
Early life
Felicja Blumental was born in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, into a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish musical family, daughter of a
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist. She began piano lessons at the age of five, and made her debut at the age of ten. She studied at the National Conservatory in Warsaw, taking piano lessons from
Zbigniew Drzewiecki
Zbigniew Drzewiecki (; 8 April 189011 April 1971) was a Polish pianist who was for most of his life a teacher of pianists. He was especially associated with the interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's works. His pupils include several famous pian ...
(who founded the
International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition
The International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held ev ...
) and composition lessons from the composer
Karol Szymanowski. She later studied privately in
Switzerland with
Józef Turczyński Jozéf Turczyński (18841953) was a Polish pianist, pedagogue and musicologist who exercised a powerful influence over the development of piano teaching and performance, especially in the works of Frédéric Chopin, during the first half of the 20th ...
, a noted
Chopin interpreter and scholar.
Personal life
In 1938, she and her husband Markus Mizne moved first to
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
, then to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
to escape the growing
anti-semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. She became a Brazilian citizen, and for the rest of her life championed the music and composers of her adopted country. Her subsequent career saw her settling in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in 1962, then in 1973 in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Musical career
Blumental's repertoire was wide and adventurous, ranging from the Portuguese baroque to South American contemporary works. Her numerous recordings also included many forgotten concertos by composers such as
Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny (; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and ...
(Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 214),
Ferdinand Ries
Ferdinand Ries (baptised 28 November 1784 – 13 January 1838) was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphonies, a violin concerto, nine piano concertos (the first concert ...
(
Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, Op. 55) and
John Field.
Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote his
Piano Concerto No. 5 for her;
she was soloist at the world premiere on 8 May 1955, at the Royal Festival Hall,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra under
Jean Martinon
Jean Francisque-Étienne Martinon (usually known simply as Jean Martinon (); 10 January 19101 March 1976) was a French conductor and composer.
Biography
Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire ...
, and she also recorded the concerto in Paris, under the baton of the composer.
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...
dedicated his ''
Partita for harpsichord and orchestra'' to her.
Her recording of this work won a
Grand Prix du Disque
Grand may refer to:
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of the
Charles Cros Academy of France in 1975.
Among her recordings was a boxed set of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's complete works for solo piano and orchestra, including two early works without opus number, as well as Beethoven's own arrangement for piano of his
violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...
. It is, however, her
Chopin playing for which she will be most remembered. A pianist of considerable power, despite her diminutive size, her recordings of the Chopin
mazurkas
The mazurka ( Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character ...
, in particular, are considered landmark interpretations.
She died in 1991 in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, on one of her many concert tours of the country. She is buried in Tel Aviv's
Kiryat Shaul Cemetery. Her daughter, the singer Annette Céline, was one of the organizers of the annual Felicja Blumental International Music festival until her death on 3 June 2017.
Many of Blumental's recordings have been restored on Brana Records,
and all CD covers feature the art prints of her husband Markus Mizne.
References
External links
Portuguese Piano Music - Claudio Records Review/InformationBrana Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumental, Felicja
Brazilian classical pianists
Brazilian women pianists
Polish classical pianists
Polish women pianists
Jewish classical pianists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Brazil
Naturalized citizens of Brazil
1908 births
1991 deaths
Polish emigrants to Brazil
20th-century classical pianists
Women classical pianists
Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery
20th-century women pianists