Antoni Rutkowski - Sonata For Piano and Violin Op. 5 (Maślanka, Paras)

Описание: Antoni Rutkowski - Sonata na fortepian i skrzypce g-moll
Published in 1882

Violin - Paweł Maślanka
Piano - Anna Paras

0:00 - I. Allegro molto
8:30 - II. Andante con moto
15:49 - III. Intermezzo: Allegro molto
18:45 - IV. Rondo. Finale: Adagio - Presto

Bio
Antoni Rutkowski (1859 - 1886) was a Polish composer who joined the ranks of those who had extremely promising starts in the Polish music world but died before their potential could come to full fruition. He, along with Józef Władysław Krogulski, Karol Tausig, and Antoni Stolpe, died before his thirtieth birthday. In keeping with the tradition of this group of brilliant young men, Rutkowski did us a kindness by leaving us plenty of work worth admiring before his early departure. Much of what we know about Rutkowski is thanks to Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

Paderewski said that Rutkowski was "uncommonly talented" [1], and, given his musical education, his early promise should surprise no one. Rutkowski was already playing Chopin at the age of ten, so he was turning heads in Warsaw. A letter addressed to Apolinary de Kątski's (the director of the Warsaw Musical Institute) praised Rutkowski, declaring that he had a "gift from God" [1]. Thanks to a stipend, he studied at the Warsaw Musical Institute, being taught harmony by Stanisław Moniuszko and composition by Władysław Żeleński. Later, he would study composition privately under Zygmunt Noskowski.

After receiving his diploma in 1876, he befriended Ignacy Jan Paderewski, with whom he would be friends for the rest of his life [1] and he set to work writing this piano trio. The trio, the piano quartet, his violin sonata (premiered with Zygmunt Noskowski on violin), and his sonata in Bb major (which Paderewski performed) would prove to be his most important compositions. Rutkowski also took part in the Warsaw Musical Society (Warszawskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne) where he performed in chamber ensembles and won composition awards for the song "Summer Evening (Letni Wieczór)" and for a set of variations on an original theme. His musical endeavors did not stop there, as he collaborated with Alexander Różycki (Ludomir Różycki's father) on writing a "School of Piano Technique (Szkoła techniki fortepianowej)."

After his death, Paderewski wrote of him: "Already long ago, having arrived in Warsaw, I met a young lad at the Musical Institute here in Warsaw who was slightly older than me. He was frail and sickly, yet unusually adept and diligent over his ability, and his maturity of mind and purity of heart distinguished him from his contemporaries. At once, we became friends and were inseparable. I was looking at life from close up, and I was there, to put it into words, as a witness to boyish dreams and disillusionment. And sometimes from pride, I asked myself a question: 'Where does so much enthusiasm, so much lofty desire, so many artistic outbursts come from in a haggard, fourteen-year-old boy of a large, poor family who got here with help and often copies notes through the night?' As we grew and matured, I learned more and more to value artistic talent and the heart of man, I tightened the knot of of our genuine friendship more and more, which, like the majority of beautiful things on the earth, came into being so quickly and lasted so long. Antoni Rutkowski was that young man. Eternal be his memory" [2].


Info Sources:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_...)
https://pwm.com.pl/en/kompozytorzy_i_...

[1] https://www.radiomaryja.pl/bez-katego...
[2] Antoni Rutkowski (Wspomnienie pośmiertne), „Echo Muzyczne Teatralne i Artystyczne" 18 XII 1886 nr 168, s. 543.