Poldowski (Régine (née Wieniawski), Lady Dean Paul)

Poldowski was the professional pseudonym of a Belgian-born British composer and pianist born Régine Wieniawski (16 May 187928 January 1932), daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. Some of her early works were published under the name Irène Wieniawska. She married Sir Aubrey Dean Paul, 5th Baronet (1869–1961), becoming Lady Dean Paul. Her name appears in a number of forms: * Régine Wieniawski * Irène Wieniawska * Irene Regina Wieniawski or Wieniawska * Lady Dean Paul * Lady Irene Dean Paul * Lady Irene Poldowski Paul * (Madame) Poldowski, Poldowsky or Poldowska.

Biography

Régine Wieniawski was born on 16 May 1879 in

Ixelles (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the munic ...

, Brussels, where her father, the Polish virtuoso violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski, had earlier settled on his appointment as a professor of the Brussels Conservatory. Her mother was an Englishwoman, Isabelle Bessie Wieniawski (née Hampton), the niece of Irish pianist and composer George Alexander Osborne (who studied under Johann Peter Pixis,

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univer ...

and Friedrich Kalkbrenner and was a close friend of Frédéric Chopin and Hector Berlioz) and a member of a London family that had had associations with Rossini,

Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le d ...

, Jenny Lind,

Michael William Balfe Michael William Balfe (15 May 1808 – 20 October 1870) was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially ''The Bohemian Girl''. After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to co ...

and

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sa ...

. She was named Régine after her paternal grandmother Regina Wolff. It is sometimes stated that Régine was born a few weeks after the death of her father. However, this seems to be an error caused by some earlier sources stating she was born in May 1880 rather than May 1879; her father died on 31 March 1880, in Moscow, while on a concert tour, when Irene was ten months old. Her musical studies are also disputed. She initially studied piano with a Miss Ellis. She told her official biographers that she entered the Brussels Conservatoire at age 12, studying piano with Pierre Storck and composition with François-Auguste Gevaert. Later she continued her studies in London with Michael Hambourg and

Percy Pitt Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) was an English organist, conductor, composer, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930. Biography A native of London, Pitt studied music in Europe at the Leipzig conservatory, t ...

. After her marriage she returned to Paris to study with André Gedalge, and after her first child died she studied under

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

at the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded ...

. However, some of the above is contradicted by the fact that her name does not appear in any records of the Brussels Conservatory. In 1887, aged eight, she was introduced to and befriended by

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th centur ...

, then making her debut at

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

. In 1893, aged 14, she publicly performed some of her own compositions. She was a neighbour of

Octave Maus Octave Maus (12 June 1856 – 26 November 1919) was a Belgian art critic, writer and lawyer. Maus worked with fellow writer/lawyer Edmond Picard, and they together with Victor Arnould and Eugène Robert founded the weekly '' L'Art moderne'' ...

and her songs ''Cortège'' and ''Cythère'' were dedicated to Maus and his wife Madeleine. In 1896, Régine Wieniawski and her mother moved to London. There she published some early works under the name Irène Wieniawska. In 1901, she married a descendant of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, Sir Aubrey Edward Henry Dean Paul, 5th Bt (19 October 1869 – 16 January 1961) to whom she had been introduced by

. She thus became Lady Dean Paul, and adopted British nationality, but continued to publish works as "Irène Wieniawska" They had three children: * Aubrey Donald Fitzwarren Severin Dean Paul (1902–04) * Sir Brian Kenneth "Napper" Dean Paul, 6th Bt. (1904–72; an amateur muralist and opium taker, whose portrait was painted by

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

) * Brenda Irene Isabelle Dean Paul (1907–59; she became a well-known actress and "society drug addict" who was frequently arrested on charges of possession. She spent time in

Holloway Prison HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016. Histor ...

. She died of a drug overdose in her flat. The early death of Lady Dean Paul's first-born son devastated her and ultimately led to the break-up of her marriage. It inspired three works, the songs ''Soir'' and ''Berceuse d'Armorique'', and the violin-piano piece ''Berceuse pour l'enfant mourant''. She then adopted the pseudonym Poldowski.

Gervase Elwes Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL (15 November 1866 – 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English tenor of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music from the early 1900s up u ...

introduced her

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...

songs to the English concert stage in 1912 at the Queen's Hall. These songs then had a great vogue in Paris and this performance made a deep impression. He had been impressed with her music ever since he had first encountered it almost 20 years earlier, in 1893 in Brussels. He felt they showed "great originality and for her age, great finish". Elwes encountered her again in 1903, in Brussels, and she dedicated two of her songs to him. A concert of her songs she was to have given in the United States with Gervase Elwes in 1921 had to be cancelled when he was killed in a rail accident in Boston. She moved to Brussels in the spring of 1912 after Queen Elizabeth of Belgium had expressed a desire to hear her. She accompanied Émile Chaumont in the premiere of her Violin Sonata in D minor, which was dedicated to Octave Maus, and was then performed in Paris by her close friend, the French pianist

Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy Lazare Lévy, also hyphenated as Lazare-Lévy, (18 January 188220 September 1964) was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedagogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe, in North Africa, Israel, the Sov ...

, whom she had met in Miss Ellis's class. Lévy premiered her piano solo piece ''Caledonian Market'', in 1923. In January 1912 her friend

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

conducted the premieres of her ''Suite miniature'' and ''Nocturnes'' at the Sunday Concerts. In 1913 she returned to Brussels for the last time to accompany Jane Bathori-Engel in four of her Verlaine settings. She and her family converted to Roman Catholicism in 1916. In 1919, at the Queen's Hall, Henry Wood accompanied Poldowski at the premiere of her piano and orchestra piece, "Pat Malone's Wake". She fell seriously ill in the autumn of 1913. In August 1919 Poldowski moved to the United States, where her "symphonic opera" ''Silence'' was published despite serious financial issues. Her opera ''Silence'' was premiered in London on March 29, 1920 as part of the Komisarjevsky-Rosing Russian Matinee Season at the Duke of York's Theatre. Polodowski legally separated from her husband in 1921. She returned to London in 1922; her regular visitors included playwright

Alfred Sutro Alfred Sutro OBE (7 August 1863 – 11 September 1933) was an English author, dramatist and translator. In addition to a succession of successful plays of his own in the first quarter of the 20th century, Sutro made the first English translation ...

, mezzo-soprano Marguerite d'Alvarez, conductor

Eugène Goossens, fils Eugène Goossens (28 January 1867 – 31 July 1958) was a French-born conductor and violinist. Career Goossens was born in Bordeaux and studied in BrugesBanfield, StephenEugène Goossens (ii)Grove Music online (subscription required); accessed 1 ...

, harpsichordist

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (23 April 18729 January 1948) was a British keyboard player. She specialised in the harpsichord and clavichord, and was influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion. She was the first person to record the ha ...

, violinist

Paul Kochanski Paul Kochanski (born Paweł Kochański; 30 August 1887 – 12 January 1934) was a Polish violinist, composer and arranger active in the United States. Training and early career Paweł Kochański was born in Odesa to Polish-Jewish parent ...

and the composers

Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...

and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

. Her 1923 series of midday recitals at the Hyde Park Hotel, known as ''The International Concerts of La Libre Esthétique'', attracted Arthur Rubinstein,

Jacques Thibaud Jacques Thibaud (; 27 September 18801 September 1953) was a French violinist. Biography Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won th ...

and the

London String Quartet The London String Quartet was a string quartet founded in London in 1908 which remained one of the leading English chamber groups into the 1930s, and made several well-known recordings. Personnel The personnel of the London String Quartet was: ...

. She also opened a fashionable '' haute couture'' boutique where she produced several creations for the British Royal Family. On a 1925 tour of Spain, she was given a gift of a diamond bracelet by the King and Queen of Spain.

Death

She later became seriously ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

, her right lung was removed, and she died of a heart attack on 28 January 1932, in London, aged 52.

Music

Poldowski was a gifted composer of songs, and her style shows strong influences of Claude Debussy. She set 22 French texts of

, as well as English texts by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and others.

Discography

Texts by Paul Verlaine

* ''Trois mélodies sur des poésies de Paul Verlaine'' ** 1. ''Dimanches d'avril'' ** 2. ''Bruxelles'' ** 3. ''En sourdine'' * ''À Clymène'' * ''A poor young shepherd'' * ''Brume'' * ''Circonspection'' * ''Colombine'' * ''Cortège'' * ''Crépuscule du soir mystique'' * ''Cythère'' * ''Dansons la gigue!'' * ''Effet de neige'' * ''Fantoches'' * ''Impression fausse'' * ''L'attente'' * ''Le faune'' (dedicated to Vladimir Rosing) * ''L'heure exquise'' * ''Mandoline'' * ''Spleen'' * ''Sur l'herbe'' * ''Nous deux (Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été)'' Recently, the complete cycle of 22 songs has been transcribed for chamber ensemble by David Jackson. A recording of the complete cycle by Ensemble 1904, featuring the unpublished 22nd song ''Nous deux (Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été)'', was to be released by Resonus Classics in 2017.

Other texts

* ''Berceuse d'Armorique'' (Anatole le Braz) * ''Dans une musette'' (Marie Closset) * ''Down by the Salley Gardens'' (

) * ''La passante'' (her own text) * ''Nocturne (des cantilènes)'' (Jean Moréas) * ''Pannyre aux talons d'or'' (Albert Victor Samain) * ''Sérénade'' (Adolphe Ratté) * ''Soir'' (Albert Victor Samain)

Other works

Her other works include: * ''Silence'', symphonic opera. Premiered on March 29, 1920 at the Duke of York's Theatre as part of the Komisarjevsky-Rosing Russian Matinee Season. * ''Laughter'', operetta * ''Nocturnes'', orchestra * ''Tenements'', orchestra * ''Pat Malone's Wake'', piano and orchestra * ''Suite miniature de chansons à danser'', wind quintet * ''Caledonian Market'', suite for piano * ''The Hall of Machinery – Wembley'', piano * Sonatine, piano * Study, piano * Violin Sonata in D minor * pieces for violin and piano such as ''Berceuse de l'Enfant mourant'', ''Largo'', ''Phryne'', and ''Tango''. (The ''Tango'' was recorded by

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

.) Many of her larger works are lost. Her complete catalogue of music, including unpublished works, compiled by David Mooney, is available at SMI Music Theses Register.

Discography

* ''Tango'' - Jascha Heifetz, violin ; Emanuel Bay, piano (17 octobre 1946, RCA)35 * ''Poldowski, mélodies 7 mélodies' - Élise Gäbele, soprano ; Philippe Riga, piano ; Sylvain Cremers, hautbois d'amour (2-4 novembre 2006, Musique en Wallonie MEW 0741)36 (OCLC 547232426) * ''A Verlaine songbook melodies' - Carolyn Sampson, soprano ; Joseph Middleton, piano (janvier 2016, SACD BIS Records) ivret_en_ligne_[archive_(OCLC_966294235) *_''Poldowski_Art'songs_[23_mélodies.html" ;"title="rchive.html" ;"title="ivret en ligne [archive">ivret en ligne [archive (OCLC 966294235) * ''Poldowski Art'songs [23 mélodies">rchive.html" ;"title="ivret en ligne [archive">ivret en ligne [archive (OCLC 966294235) * ''Poldowski Art'songs [23 mélodies' - Angelique Zuluaga, soprano ; Gwendolyn Mok, piano ; Quatuor à cordes Alexandre ; Ryan Zwahlen, hautbois d'amour (12 ,13, 14 février et 26 août 2016 Delos DE 3538) * ''Poldowski re/imagined, 22 mélodies sur les poèmes de Paul Verlaine'' - Ensemble 1904 : Jazmin Black-Grollemund, soprano; Angélique Charlopain, violin; Jérémie Decottignies, double bass; David Jackson, piano & arrangements (28-30 novembre 2016, Resonus Classics RES10196
[CD booklet
/nowiki>] * ''Violin Sonata in D Minor'', British Women Composers - Clare Howick, violin; Sophia Rahman, piano (October 2010
Naxos 8.572291

References

External links

Sources

* Eric Blom, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954 {{DEFAULTSORT:Poldowski 1879 births 1932 deaths Belgian composers British composers Belgian women composers Wives of baronets British women composers Belgian emigrants to the United Kingdom