Kaczkowski, Joachim (EN)

Kaczkowski Joachim, *around 1789, †2 January 1829 Warsaw, Polish violinist, composer and teacher. He came from a family with vivid musical traditions. His father was an oboist and bandmaster at the court of one of the princes in the borderlands, Kaczkowski’s sisters played the violin, his brother, Hieronim Kaczkowski, also played music, and his nephew, Tytus Jachimowski, was a violinist. Kaczkowski’s musical education is unknown. Press reports would indicate that Kaczkowski was an autodidact (“Pamiętnik Warszawski” 1810 No. 2, “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” 1811 No. 27). He spent his teenage years in Lviv, where he met Kurpiński and Elsner. On 3 February 1810, he performed with F. Lessel at the National Theater in Warsaw, presenting his Concerto in A minor; it was the first performance of both artists in Warsaw. In the same year, Kaczkowski went to Germany and stayed there for several years, gaining success as a virtuoso and composer of chamber works published in Germany and Austria. In 1817, he probably played in the orchestra of the National Theatre in Warsaw, later he took up the duties of a music teacher in the house of Onufry Wieniawski (according to other accounts: Onufry Sierakowski) in Sierakośce, and then in the Kraiński estate in Hermanowice near Przemyśl; in February 1818, he married Anna Galle, a pupil of his student Justyna Kraińska. Having returned with his wife to Sierakośce, he stayed there until 1822, teaching music and giving concerts as a chamber musician in the houses of local landowners; in August 1822 he moved to Warsaw and lived at ul. Senatorska 460. On 4 June 1822, he performed “after a long break” in Lviv, in the Redutowa Hall, and on 9 October of the same year, together with W.W. Würfel, at the National Theatre in Warsaw, where he performed several of his own compositions. Later, he no longer gave concerts in Warsaw and devoted himself almost exclusively to creative and pedagogical work as a piano teacher. He died at home at 59 Rynek Starego Miasta, leaving behind his wife and three children. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

In the Viennese “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” (1819, No. 13) it was written about Kaczkowski: “If we were to judge a violinist based on his compositions, we would have to give Mr. Kaczkowski all the qualities of a great violinist.” But in the Warsaw press, after his concert in 1822, he was compared with A. Duranowski and criticised for his intonation deficiencies and low sound-carrying capacity. The ideal performance art that Kaczkowski strived for was the classical virtuosity of the French-Italian school represented by G.B. Viotti and P. Rode, as well as the young L. Spohr. It can be evidenced by an ardent assessment of Rode’s skills in the context of Paganini published in the “Gazeta Korespondenta Warszawski i Zagraniczny” (1829, No. 144, signed only with the initials J. K.). Kaczkowski’s playing was characterised by refined taste, melodious tone, ability to create mood, technical bravado and perfectly mastered bowing technique. Kaczkowski’s work, represented mainly by chamber music, is known almost exclusively from the titles and reviews of editions in “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” and “Allgemeiner Musikalischer Anzeiger.” The reviewers emphasised the virtuoso verve and pedagogical advantages of Kaczkowski’s works while criticising the deficiencies in compositional technique, such as poor knowledge of the principles of thematic work and not very rich harmony and rhythm. The passion for variation cycles (air varié) and the architecture of some chamber polonaises and concertos indicate Rode’s influence. It is symptomatic that in chamber works the composer prefers the first violin part because in all editions the remaining instruments are described as accompanying ones. During his stay in Warsaw, Kaczkowski composed almost exclusively piano pieces, especially polonaises, because only this type of literature had a chance of being published in the country. Piano miniatures, melodic, generally skilfully constructed, gained some popularity. The 16-year-old Chopin mentioned one of them in a letter to J. Białobłocki: “Kaczkowski’s Polonaise is very good, beautiful, in a word worth listening to and enjoying” (Warsaw, 15 May 1826).

Literature: “Pamiętnik Warszawski” 1810 No. 2; [editorial notices], “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung”  Leipzig 1811 No. 27, 1813 No. 43, 1814 No. 37, 1815 No. 6, 1817 No. 1 and 45; “Gazeta Korespondenta Warszawskiego i Zagranicznego” 1829 No. 144; “Allgemeiner Musikalischer Anzeiger” (Vienna) 1830 No. 12 and 19; K. Estreicher Raptularzyk podróżny, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1857 No. 39; Korespondencja Fryderyka Chopina, 2 vol., collected and edited by B.E. Sydow, Warsaw 1955; F. Sawicka Joachim (Józef?) Kaczkowski, kompozytor, skrzypek pierwszej połowy XIX wieku, “Muzyka” 1963 No. 1–2.