Wojciech Żywny (; 13 May 175621 February 1842) was a Czech-born Polish

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, teacher and composer. He was

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

's first professional piano teacher.

Life

Żywny was born in Mšeno,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, and became a pupil of Jan Kuchař. As a youth, during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, he moved to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

to become the music tutor to the children of Princess Sapieha.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954, Vol. IX, p. 433 He later moved to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. He was the first professional

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, who received lessons from him between 1816 and 1821. Żywny instilled in Chopin a lasting love of Bach, Haydn, Clementi and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

while avoiding contemporary composers like

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and Weber. Chopin's piano skills soon surpassed those of his respected teacher. In 1821, eleven-year-old Chopin dedicated a Polonaise in A-flat major to Żywny as a name-day gift. Żywny died in February 1842, aged 85, in Warsaw, Poland.

Works

Żywny wrote many pieces for piano, and violin, as well as orchestral works, few of which are known or published today. They show refined mastery of the classical style, with definite romantic influences. Another influence on his music was

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

Notes

References

* Zdzisław Jachimecki, "Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek", '' Polski słownik biograficzny'', vol. III, Kraków,

Polska Akademia Umiejętności The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Pol ...

, 1937, pp. 420–26.

External links

Portrait of Wojciech Żywny by Ambroży Mieroszewski, 1829

(in Polish) 1756 births 1842 deaths 18th-century musicians from Bohemia 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian musicians Czech music educators Czech classical pianists Czech classical violinists Czech classical composers Male classical violinists Polish music educators Piano educators Polish classical pianists Polish classical composers Male classical pianists Polish people of Czech descent Polish violinists Frédéric Chopin People from Mělník District 18th-century pianists 19th-century pianists {{Poland-musician-stub