Jan Smeterlin (7 February 1892 in

Bielsko Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that to ...

, Austro-Hungarian Empire – 18 January 1967 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 ...

) was a Polish concert pianist. He is especially known as an interpreter of Frédéric Chopin and Karol Szymanowski.

Life

Jan Smeterlin was born as Hans Schmetterling. His father was Dr. Julius Schmetterling, a lawyer and board member of the Jewish Religious Community in

on behalf of the German assimilation party; his mother Amalia was also from the house also Schmetterling (they were first cousins). The Schmetterlings came to Bielsko from Grzymałów in Galicia. Under the name of Hans Schmetterling he gave concerts until 1923, when he appeared in the press as Jan Smeterling. From 1924, he used the name Jan Smeterlin. Smeterlin performed his first concert at age seven, but despite exhibiting talent in his youth, he was forced to study law. He won a scholarship to study with pianist

Leopold Godowsky Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a Lithuanian-born American virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time, known for his theories concernin ...

while studying in

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. Godowsky was to be one of Smeterlin's most important teachers. Smeterlin made his professional debut in 1920. Smeterlin was a cooking enthusiast and authored a posthumously published book of recipes. In his later years, Smeterlin and Didi, his wife, lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Shortly after the couple returned to London in 1967, Smeterlin died.

Szymanowski

Over the course of his career, Smeterlin maintained a close relationship with

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

composer Karol Szymanowski, whose works he frequently performed. The two were both colleagues and friends, and Szymanowski dedicated of a volume of mazurkas to Smeterlin and later published the pair's letters to each other.

Recordings

Smeterlin recorded more music of Chopin than of any other composer. Over his career, Smeterlin recorded for the

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, Mace, Allegro,

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

, and RCA Victor recording labels.The International Piano Archives at The University of Maryland, biographical description with collection

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeterlin, Jan 1892 births 1967 deaths Polish classical pianists Male classical pianists People from Austrian Silesia 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century male musicians People from Bielsko Austro-Hungarian Jews Polish emigrants to the United States