Julian (or Jules) Fontana (31 July 181023 December 1869) was a Polish pianist, composer, lawyer, author, translator, and entrepreneur, best remembered as a close friend and musical executor of Polish composer

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 solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

Life

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 officiall ...

to a family of Italian origin, Fontana studied law at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

and music under

Józef Elsner Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (sometimes ''Józef Ksawery Elsner''; baptismal name, ''Joseph Anton Franz Elsner''; 1 June 176918 April 1854) was a composer, music teacher, and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw. He was one of the fir ...

at the conservatory, where he met Chopin. Fontana left Warsaw in 1831, after the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

and settled in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, before becoming a pianist and teacher in Paris in 1832.Dziębowska (2007) In 1835 in London he participated in a concert with music played by 6 pianists, the others including

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the Co ...

, Johann Baptist Cramer and

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Li ...

.Julian Fontana: In the Shadow of Chopin
/ref> From 1836 to 1838 he lived together with Chopin in his apartment on Chaussée-d'Antin no. 38. In 1840, Chopin dedicated his 2 Polonaises, Op. 40, to Fontana. These included the "Military Polonaise" in A major. He took up a wandering life that included: *England and France (1833–1837); *

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba (1844–45): On 8 July 1844 he played the music of Chopin for the first time in Cuba. His pupils there included

Nicolás Ruiz Espadero Nicolás Ruiz Espadero (February 15, 1832 – August 30, 1890) was a Cuban pianist, composer, piano teacher and editor of the posthumous works of American composer-pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Espadero was born and died in Havana. In his ti ...

. * New York (1845–51): he gave concerts with

Camillo Sivori Ernesto Camillo Sivori, (June 6, 1817February 18, 1894) was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer. Born in Genoa, he was the only known pupil of Niccolò Paganini. He also studied with Antonio Restano (1790-1885), (1760s or 70s-~1865?) an ...

; *

Montgeron Montgeron () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is northeast part of the Department of Essonne. It is located from the center of Paris. The café ''Au Reveil Matin'' at 22 Avenue Jean Jaurès was the departure poin ...

, Paris (1852) – becoming part of the literary scene and friends with

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

. In New York, on 9 September 1850, Fontana married Camilla Dalcour Tennant (1818–1855), widow of Stephen Cattley Tennant (1800–1848), a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

, and mother of Enriqueta Augustina Tennant (1843–1908) and four other children.Farnie (2006) Their son Julian Camillo Adam Fontana was born in Paris on 10 July 1853. Camilla died on 30 March 1855 of pneumonia, while pregnant with her 7th child. Fontana took her children from her first marriage to be looked after by her first husband's family in England. He then returned to New York, where he was naturalised an American citizen on 7 September the same year. Also in 1855 he published a collection of Chopin's unpublished manuscripts, under the opus numbers 66–73. He also considered publishing more private details concerning Chopin:

''"I would have as much to say about the man as about the artist
hopin Hopin ( my, ဟိုပင်မြို့; shn, ဝဵင်းႁူဝ်ပၢင်ႇ; also Hobin) is a town in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State, in north-east Myanmar. It is situated on the main Mandalay – Myitkyina railway line, ...
And when his profound diplomacy, allied to his extraordinary wit, concealed from the world what was not a secret to me, who lived with him for almost thirty years in confidence; on raising the veil, I would show him not entirely as general opinion wishes to have him;"'' (Julian Fontana to Stanisław Egbert Koźmian, 6 June 1851)

He then travelled to Cuba in an unsuccessful bid to recover his late wife's estate. He spent some years travelling between Havana, New York, Paris and Poland. In 1859 he published 16 of Chopin's

Polish Songs Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, as Op. 74 (a later edition increased this to 17 songs). In 1860

Louis Moreau Gottschalk Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States. Life and c ...

dedicated two compositions to Fontana, ''La Gitanella'' and ''Illusions perdues''. In the 1860s Fontana translated

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

' ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'' into Polish. In 1869 he published a book of folk astronomy. He succumbed to

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

and poverty, and committed suicide by inhaling

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...

aged 59Paderewski Music Society
/ref> in Paris. He was buried in Montmartre Cemetery. He had arranged, prior to his death, to have his son looked after by his wife's family in England.

Notes

Sources

*Dziębowska, E. (2007)
Fontana, Julian
''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...

'', access date 19 August 2007 (subscription required) * *Farnie, D.A. (2006)
Rylands , Enriqueta Augustina (1843–1908)
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, online edn, Oct 2006 , accessed 20 August 2007 * *Hardynski, W. (1948) "Jules Fontana", ''Polski Slownik Biograficzny'', 7.58–9 * * * *, French translation, 1953–60; English translation, abridged, 1962

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Julian Frédéric Chopin 1810 births 1869 deaths Polish people of Italian descent Polish male classical composers Polish classical pianists Male classical pianists Polish Romantic composers Chopin University of Music alumni Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning Polish expatriates in France Polish expatriates in the United States Great Emigration Polish emigrants to France Polish expatriates in the United Kingdom Polish expatriates in Cuba 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century male musicians 1860s suicides Suicides in France