Hoesick, Ferdynand (EN)

Hoesick, Hösick, Ferdynand, *16 October 1867 Warsaw, †13 April 1941 Warsaw, writer, literary historian, musicographer and publisher, son of Ferdynand Wilhelm Hoesick. He studied music from the age of 13 under W. Ostrowski, then under K. Okolski, and grew up in an atmosphere of music-making; chamber concerts with the participation of his parents were held in the Hoesicks’ house. In 1884–86, Ferdynand studied at the commercial faculty of the Polytechnic in Riga, and in 1886/87 in Heidelberg. However, he devoted himself to literary studies; from 1888 to 1890, he studied at the Jagiellonian University under S. Tarnowski (history of literature). He entered the circle of writers, artists and musicians; he was friends with, among others, the Tetmajers and Żeleńskis (W. Żeleński gave him music lessons). In 1890/91, he completed his studies in Paris at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France. In the autumn of 1891, he returned to Warsaw and resumed his literary activity, receiving a salary from his father’s company. He travelled abroad, and collected materials (including in 1896 in the Polish Library in Paris). Before 1900, he published, among others, Życie Słowackiego na tle współczesnej epoki, Miłość w życiu Zygmunta Krasińskiego, Fryderyk Chopin. Zarys biograficzny (St. Petersburg 1899) and others. After his father’s death, he took care of the bookshop. He entrusted the position of proxy and his deputy to G. Kimtzl. He revived the company’s activity, continued publishing books and sheet music. He was, among others, the co-publisher (with the B & H company, 1902) of three discovered compositions by Chopin: Mazurka (2^nd version of Op. 7 No. 2), Waltz in E flat major and in A flat major. He also published transcriptions of Chopin’s works, the collection Koncert w salonie for piano, Ecole de mécanisme by J.B. Duvernoy (1910–14) and others. After marrying Zofia Lewental, the daughter of the richest bookseller-publisher in Warsaw, he expanded the wholesale department of the bookstore to include his father-in-law’s publications. At the beginning of 1903, he published two catalogues of the company: a circulation and commission catalogue, and a catalogue of sheet music publications. In 1905, he settled permanently in Kraków, where he devoted himself exclusively to literary work for 15 years. In 1913, he leased the company to the Markusfeld family (manager – M. Sztajnsberg), and in 1918 it was taken over by a limited liability company (the main shareholders were members of the Sztajnsberg family). However, the bookstore operated under the founder’s company until June 1940; it was liquidated by the Nazis.

Until 1920, Hoesick published the most works, including monographs on J. Klaczka, S. Tarnowski, studies on the great romantics – Słowacki, Mickiewicz, Krasiński, also on Sienkiewicz, Wyspiański, Kochanowski, he also wrote short stories and novels. Even before 1900, he began to create a monumental monograph Chopin. Życie i twórczość (published 1910–11). He also edited a volume of Chopin’s correspondence (Chopiniana I, 1912). In 1918, he published Miłość i miłostki w życiu sławnych ludzi, and in 1920–31 the book Tatry i Zakopane (4 vols.), which was an expression of his love for the Tatra Mountains, where he often hiked. He also wrote four volumes of memoirs, covering the period up to 1902 (published 1935). From the beginning of the 1920s, Hoesick became co-publisher, and from 1924 co-editor of “Kurier Warszawski.” By 1939, he had written several hundred articles, feuilletons, reviews printed in various magazines, several more novels, a work on Goethe, and also prepared a collected edition of his works. He was socially active, including as a member of the Committee for Support of Declined Artists and the Committee of the Chopin Section of the Warsaw Music Society. He gave lectures on Chopin topics, advocated the establishment of the Chopin Museum, and in 1934 was among the founders of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

In his works on the history of literature, Hoesick aimed to encompass the largest possible area of ​​Polish culture, but – as K. Wyka (PSB) states – he acted too hastily and did not have any method of scientific interpretation at his disposal. His prose, which showed signs of “early modernist problems,” especially in the initial period, does not present any greater literary value. However, Hoesick’s merits as a musicographer, Chopinographer, collector of documents and other sources related to Chopin’s life and work seem to be unquestionable to this day, thanks to which he gained the title of “father of Polish Chopinology”. His monograph on Chopin was created slowly as a result of collecting materials. Hoesick published studies on these materials successively in various journals (e.g. Pamiątki po Chopinie, a series of articles Preludia Chopina and others). Also, the book Z papierów po Elsnerze, based on Sumariusz Elsnera, was devoted mainly to the topic Chopin–Elsner. Hoesick’s book on Chopin was credited from the start with “unparalleled accuracy and love of the subject” (A. Chybiński). These features were also revealed in Chopiniana, which highlights the author’s care for the authentic sound of Chopin’s letters. On the other hand, the excessive “literary” nature of the interpretation of Chopin’s works was criticised (J. Iwaszkiewicz). Hoesick, under the influence of S. Tarnowski (especially his work Chopin i Grottger), saw Chopin as one of the great bards of Polish Romanticism – alongside Mickiewicz, Słowacki and Krasiński. Not feeling competent to make an independent musicological assessment, he referred to the analyses of J.B. Huneker and others, succumbed to hermeneutic interpretations, and provided Chopin’s works with poetic commentaries, which was also revealed in the collection of articles Słowacki i Chopin. He did not take a critical stance towards attempts to directly compare Chopin’s works (especially ballades and scherzos) with works by Mickiewicz, Słowacki and others; he treated some of these poets’ poems as documentation of the source of Chopin’s work. In the factual layer (establishing the date of Chopin’s birth, the origin of Mikołaj Chopin, dating many autographs, assessing the role of George Sand in Chopin’s life), Hoesick proved to be a reliable historian (only when considering Chopin’s relationship to Delfina Potocka did he base it on conjecture). Hoesick’s monograph on Chopin has the features of a biographical narrative and a documentary-scientific work (K. Kobylańska); in some fragments, it comes close to a biography of the vie romancée type, but it still serves as the most extensive compendium on Chopin’s life. Hoesick’s cycle of varsavianas, Warszawa. Luźne kartki z przeszłości syreniego grodu (8 articles) is devoted to music.

After World War II, the assessment of Hoesick’s achievements began to change. A general outline of his achievements as a historian and writer up until the early 1990s was presented in the article by I. Poniatowska, Ferdynand Hoesick – muzykograf z przełomu stuleci. Despite many biographical discoveries, dating of his work and the revival of the cult in favour of Chopin, a sharp assessment of Hoesick’s writing appeared. First of all, K. Wyka stated that “Hoesick’s studies claim to be monographs […] while their author does not have any method of scientific interpretation.” He ineptly announced the type of vie romancée monograph. Out of his passion to become a polyhistor of culture, he collected many documents and from these aspirations, Hoesick the Chopinographer was born, but the poetised style and direct literary associations with the works of Mickiewicz, Słowacki and Krasiński did not show the true face of Chopin. He distinguished himself with his criticism of the type of paraphrase, transcription of Chopin’s letters in the edition by M. Karasowski and his own edition of them in the original wording in Chopiniana 1912 (218 letters by Chopin and also letters to him). A. Chybiński appreciated Hoesick’s attention to various biographical details, but he believed that life would not explain Chopin’s art, it was art that would reveal many pages of his inner life (review of Chopiniana, “Museion” 1912 No. 4).

It is worth mentioning that Hoesick was inclined to assume that Chopin had a relationship with Delfina Potocka (after the war, a discussion on this topic broke out, related to Chopin’s alleged letters to Potocka, prepared by Paulina Czernicka, which was proven in the 1970s), and he also believed the legend that had been circulating since the end of the 19^th century about the Polish origin of Fryderyk Chopin’s family, about a Pole called Szopa, who emigrated to France during Stanisław Leszczyński’s rule in Lorraine and became the Chopin family’s ancestor (the question of the Chopin family’s origin was only clarified by the research of G. Ladaique and later by P. Mysłakowski and A. Sikorski, who reached for the Chopin family’s Alpine nest (Chappin, Chapin, Chopin).

In the 21^st century, many new studies were carried out that verified the dating of Chopin’s works. Hoesick linked the creation of Scherzo in B minor, Prelude in A minor and Prelude in D minor with Chopin’s experiences in Vienna in 1831, during the ongoing uprising. Meanwhile, J.-J. Eigeldinger in Autour des 24 Préludes de Frederic Chopin (Majorque 2019) shows the outlines of the sketch of the Prelude in A minor on the back of the autograph page of the Mazurka Op. 41/1, and Prelude Op. 28/4, written in Palma during his stay in Mallorca. Work on the Chopin National Edition also corrected some of the dates of the autographs.

In 2020, the NIFC published a new edition of Hoesick’s book Warszawa. Luźne kartki z przeszłości syreniego grodu, edited and with an extensive foreword by M. Karpińska. She greatly enriched the biographical profile of the young Hoesick as a pupil, student, maturing writer and bookseller. Hoesick’s relations with his father also were outlined in more detail. Hoesick himself, on the other hand, provided a lot of new factual information about the young Chopin in this book, e.g. based on the Warsaw press, primarily “Kurier Warszawski” (Hoesick married Zofia Lewental, the daughter of the richest bookseller – publisher in Warsaw and owner of the popular daily “Kurier Warszawski”). The author, however, does not spare him words of criticism as a skilful compiler who changed and rearranged words in quotations, did not mark omissions, and added his own opinions. Karpińska also critically assesses Hoesick’s historical workshop.

In 2020, a book about Hoesick was also published – the collected works of Ferdynand Hoesick junior. Studies edited by Małgorzata Woźna-Stankiewicz, containing, among others, the memories of Hoesick’s granddaughter Beatrix Podolska, as well as articles verifying previous research on Hoesick and presenting new aspects of his activity as a musicographer, publicist and bookseller. Particular attention is drawn to the article by K. Fink Chopinowskie dokonania Ferdynanda Hoesicka w świetle publikacji wydanych w Polsce w XXI wieku [Chopin’s achievements of Ferdynand Hoesick in the light of publications published in Poland in the 21st century] because it summarises important features of Hoesick’s style of biography, his mistakes, shortcomings, but also advantages, exploration, novelty and social reception of his writing. Among other things, it draws attention to the educational value of Hoesick’s style for young people, which was exploited in pre-war education and still has some significance today. In addition, the author verifies the facts given in earlier sources based on new research.

NIFC has continued work on Hoesick’s three-volume monograph on Chopin from 1910–1911, on correcting errors, supplementing them with contemporary commentary, finding a bibliography for all quotations and compilations from texts, from the press, also original translations from foreign literature, from German and French periodicals and newspapers. After this catharsis, new editions of the entire monograph are planned. Hoesick worked persistently; he was a great erudite, but in spirit, he was, above all, a publisher, not a scientist or musicologist. He collected assessments of other great writers, critics and minor authors and, in a somewhat nonchalant way, he arranged and embellished them so that they would be read with interest and absorbed by young and adult readers.

Literature: A. Chybiński reviews from Chopiniana, “Museion” 1912 No. 4; Ferdynand Hoesick. Ze wspomnień o cenzurze rosyjskiej w Warszawie, Warsaw 1929; Ferdynand Hoesick. Dom rodzicielski…, 4 volumes Warsaw 1935, shortened ed. Powieść mojego życia, 2 volumes, Wrocław 1959; B. Wójcik-Keuprulian O literaturze chopinowskiej w Polsce odrodzonej, “Kwartalnik Muzyczny” 1929 No. 4, reprint in: Chopin. Studia-krytyki-szkice, Warsaw 1933; J. H. [Jadwiga Hoesick-Podolska] Jubileusz najskromniejszego z chopinistów (50-lecie pracy pisarskiej Hoesicka), “Śpiewak” 1939 No. 4; L. Binental Biograf Chopina. Na marginesie jubileuszu Ferdynanda Hoesicka, “Kurier Warszawski” 1939 No. 121; S. Jarociński O paru przeoczonych nieścisłościach w biografii Hoesicka o Chopinie, “Muzyka” 1953 No. 3/4; J. [Hoesick-] Podolska „Chopin” Hoesicka, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1960 No. 20; K. Wyka Polski Słownik Biograficzny, ed. K. Lepszy (et al.), vol. 9, Wrocław, Warsaw, Kraków 1960–61; B. Kocówna Archiwum Ferdynanda Hoesicka w zbiorach rękopiśmiennych Biblioteki Narodowej, “Rocznik Biblioteki Narodowej” 1966; A. Harasowski A Labour of Love, in: The Skein of Legends around Chopin, London 1967; J. Un. [Jadwiga Unicka] Nota o autorze, in: Ferdynand Hoesick. Chopin. Życie i twórczość, vol. 4, Kraków 1968 (includes a list of Hoesick’s works on Chopin); K. Mazur Pierwodruki Stanisława Moniuszki, 1970; K. Kobylańska Biografia Chopina w świetle historii i współczesnych badań, in: Z badań nad Chopinem, «Studia i Rozprawy» (Towarzystwo im. Fryderyka Chopina), book 3, Warsaw 1973; I. Poniatowska Ferdynand Hoesick – muzykograf z przełomu stuleci, in: ibidem Historia i interpretacja muzyki. Z badań nad muzyką od XVII do XIX wieku, Kraków 2^nd ed. 1995; revised ed. in: Ferdynand Hoesick junior. Studia pod redakcją Małgorzaty Woźnej-Stankiewicz, Kraków 2020.