Krogulski, Józef (EN)

Krogulski Józef Władysław, *4 October 1815 Tarnów, †9 January 1842 Warsaw, Polish pianist, composer, choir conductor, teacher; son of Michał Krogulski, composer and piano teacher. He studied composition with K. Kurpiński and J. Elsner at the Main School of Music in Warsaw from around 1829; he remained Elsner’s private student even after the suspension of the school and the fall of the November Uprising. He made his first public appearance on 16 March 1825 in Tarnów, performing Hummel’s Concerto in A minor. When he arrived in Warsaw with his father in May 1825, he already enjoyed fame as a promising pianist. In the capital, he gave six concerts in two months: on 19 June and 20 July in the conservatory hall, and on 26 July, 6, 13 and 20 August in the National Theatre Hall, confirming his exceptional virtuoso abilities. With a concert in Kalisz on 10 September 1825, Krogulski began a concert tour at his father’s side that lasted several months; first, he performed in Poznań (including on 3 October in the Resursa Hall, on 4 October at the Prince A. Radziwiłł’s, and on 10 and 17 October in the theatre hall), then in Wrocław, where he gave five concerts (including on 9 November in the University Concert Hall and on 12 November in the Hotel Polski’s Redutowa Hall) and from there, he went to Berlin, playing twice in Legnica and also in Głogów on the way. In Berlin, he performed on 12 January 1826 in the Jagor’s Trattoria Hall. Before 7 March, he gave concerts in Dresden (including in the private residence of Queen Augusta and at the Saxon princes’ in Moritzburg), as well as in Leipzig. In late spring 1826, he began his return journey, almost along the same route. In Wrocław, he fell seriously ill; It was probably for this reason that the concert planned for 8 June 1826 did not take place. After leaving Wrocław, he played during the “St. John’s concerts” in Poznań (28 June, 3 and 5 July) and in Kalisz (25 July). He returned to Warsaw in August 1826. A few months’ stay in Germany consolidated the fame of the “child prodigy” and, at the same time, influenced the deepening of the young pianist’s musical sensitivity and encouraged him to continue working on his playing technique. This was evidenced by the level of his three concerts at the National Theatre in Warsaw, which took place on 19 August, 26 and 30 September 1826. J. Krogulski was on the road again from 8 October 1826. After concerts in Lublin (17 and 20 October in the theatre), a concert in Puławy at the Czartoryski Princes’ and in Zamość, he performed in the theatre in Lviv (25 November, 2 December). He spent January 1827 in Kiev, where he played on 23 January at his own concert and on 25 January as a co-participant in a charity concert, which was attended by, among others, younger pianists and rivals of J. Krogulski, i.e. A. Pawłowska and F. Łopatta. In the summer of 1827, he fell seriously ill again. In December of that year, he performed at a charity concert in Tarnów, and on 15, 20 and 29 March 1828 in a theatre in Kraków. After three concerts in Radom, he returned to Warsaw in May 1828 and he settled there permanently from June 4. From then on, he travelled and gave concerts less frequently. The presentation of A. Leszczyński’s piano at an industrial exhibition in the Warsaw town hall in June 1828 was probably J. Krogulski’s last public performance that year. At that time, he began studying composition with K. Kurpiński, which was announced in Warsaw dailies in reports of J. Krogulski’s performance at the National Theatre on 24 March 1829. At this concert, he performed his own Piano Sonata for the first time, accompanied by a string quartet. On 3 May 1829, he gave a concert in Płock in the Resursa Hall, and then only on 15 December 1830 at the National Theatre in Warsaw as a performer of his Piano Concerto No. 1, allocating the income from the concert for patriotic purposes.

The November Uprising and the death of his mother caused another long break in concerts. At the end of 1831, J. Krogulski began teaching piano and did so until the end of his life; he also focused on working with church choral groups and increasingly devoted himself to composition, limiting his concerts almost exclusively to Warsaw, also due to his deteriorating health. He made his first public appearance after the fall of the Uprising on 13 April 1832 at the National Theatre, performing his Piano Concerto No. 2 with the orchestra conducted by J. Stefani. On 16 April 1834, he performed the piano part of his Octet Op. 6, at a concert in the Merchants’ Club; in the second half of the year, he played works by Hummel and Moscheles (piano and chamber), and also performed his Fantasy together with J. Szabliński; in 1835, the Merchants’ Club hosted performances of further works by J. Krogulski with his participation: 11 Febaruary – Piano Quartet Op. 2, 8 April – the cantata Karawana w pustyniach Arabistanu, 15 July – the cantata written for the name day of H. Łubieński, the director of the Resursa; J. Krogulski played the piano part in the Chopin‘s Trio there on 3 June, as assessed in the Warsaw press: “with the precision and accuracy that the author himself could demand.” The last recorded concert of J. Krogulski in Warsaw took place on 6 November 1835 at the Grand Theatre, when both of his piano concertos and Variations in F major were performed under Kurpiński’s direction.

From 1834, J. Krogulski combined his piano career with teaching and conducting in the choir he organised with the graduates of the Charity Institute at the Church of St. Casimir in the Nowe Miasto Market Square. Together with his father, he established an amateur mixed choir in the Trinitarian Church in Solec and soon raised it to an exemplary artistic level. With both choirs, he also performed as a guest in other churches, as well as in small centres outside Warsaw.

In 1836–38, J. Krogulski organised weekly concerts. He stayed in Kraków in October 1837. There he worked on further compositions; together with W. Studziński, he gave a concert on 12 October in the hall of the M. Knotz Hotel. On 29 October, he returned to Warsaw. From June 1836, he was permanently associated with the Piarist Church (post-Jesuit) on ul. św. Jana. He moved an amateur choir of several dozen people from the Trinitarian Church there, supporting it, depending on the needs, with the voices of professional singers (including W. Troszel, J.N. Szczurowski, I. Komorowski). J. Krogulski wrote most of the choral works for this ensemble, which performed in the merchants’ club and in various churches; every Sunday, he also performed new and unknown in Warsaw religious and secular works by other composers: J. Elsner, K. Kurpiński, A. Stefani, J. Haydn (fragment of The Creation), E. Méhul, L. Cherubini, A.G. Onslow, M. Krogulski and others. After the composer’s death, part of the Piarist choir took the name of J. Krogulski and promoted his music. Krogulski published two masses by G.G. Gorczycki in 1839 (Missa paschalis and Introitus Rorate), which were published in the 2^nd book of Śpiewy kościelne by J. Cichocki in 1839 in Warsaw. The composer married Ludwika Gargulska on 17 January 1838 at the Piarists’, the daughter of a pedagogue. In April 1841, during rehearsals of his Miserere, in the same church, the composer caught a cold and died of aggravated tuberculosis after a few months of illness. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

Called “Polish Mozart,” “young Liszt,” “wonderful,” and “excellent” pianist, gifted with absolute pitch, Krogulski was undoubtedly a natural pianistic talent, enthusiastically received and assessed. Authors of dozens of reviews published in the Polish and German press described the features of his playing as follows: technical ease and precision, extraordinary dexterity of the left hand, ideal sense of rhythm, the ability for dynamic shading, “uncommon strength in playing,” ability to improvise, excellent musical memory and ease in sight reading, in which he was compared to K. Lipiński and with which he delighted, for example in the Berlin performance of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata, previously unknown to J. Krogulski (“Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” 1825 no. 46); however, Chopin referred to his pianism with reserve. J. Krogulski preferred pianos with English actions, especially those made by A. Leszczyński, probably because of their resonant, singing sound.

Krogulski had a wide repertoire, following in his father’s footsteps, he performed works by J. Elsner, F. Kurpiński, A. Stefani, E. N. Méhul, L. Cherubini, G. Onslow, J. N. Hummel, G. Spontini, and F. Halévy. J. Krogulski’s regular repertoire included piano concertos: in A minor by J. N. Hummel, in D minor by F. Kalkbrenner, in C-sharp minor by F. Ries, in G minor and E major by J. Moscheles. He also performed polonaises by Lessel and Kurpiński, works by Haydn (in Germany) and fashionable variations, e.g. Potpourri, or Variations on Various National Themes, dedicated to him by Kurpiński. He suspended his career as a pianist around the age of 20. The reasons for this decision should undoubtedly be sought in the artist’s difficult life circumstances: health problems, the need to earn money, and the lack of systematic piano lessons. The outbreak of the November Uprising and the stagnation it caused probably interrupted his artistic plans. J. Krogulski’s instrumental work did not arouse much admiration from critics or the public. Switching to conducting and organising activities in the field of choral music (probably at Elsner’s instigation) and focusing on composing church works soon brought him more satisfaction and a more real source of income, and their performances enriched the image of Warsaw’s musical culture.

1. Krogulski was interested in various musical genres, he composed with ease, but his musical language did not stand out from the contemporary works. He had intuition and mastered the craft of composition quite well, especially in the choral technique, he maintained the stylistic formulas of the classics, including Elsner and Lessel, and to some extent also Beethoven and Chopin. In piano pieces, especially the extended ones (concerts, Fantasia and Variations op. 8), he exposed the virtuoso factor close to the brillant style, realised mainly by thickening the texture, increased motorics and variability of tempi, while using conventional harmonic-ornamental means and the monotony of rhythmic figures, often marching. He constructed the melody almost exclusively diatonically, with a passion for introducing quotations, especially from folk music. He also imitated Chopin’s figurations, not only in piano pieces (Potpourri in D minor, some mazurkas and polonaises), but also in organ compositions (gradual “Universi…”). J. Krogulski preferred fashionable concert variations that corresponded with his own piano practice, especially on the themes of Polish dances and potpourris, in which he quoted popular melodies (e.g. “Już miesiąc zeszedł” in Potpourri No. 2, Kościuszko’s Polonaise in Potpourri No. 3, Dwernicki’s Mazur, Grzmią pod Stoczekem, Dąbrowski’s Mazurka in Batalia, which is an illustration of the battles of the November Uprising), but he did not combine the individual parts into a coherent whole. His piano dance miniatures (mazurkas and polonaises), as well as occasionally created solo songs, mark the romantic tendencies in J. Krogulski’s work with their lyrical expression.
2. Krogulski’s secular and religious choral works are noteworthy due to the use of polyphonic means (short canonic imitations and fugatos in choral parts, e.g. Mass No. 4) and concert means (carol and cantata “with echo”), good proportions of solo and choral parts, as well as melodic invention (cantata W imię Ojca…, Mass No. 7, Mass No. 10 “Pasterska”) with melismatics in solo voices. J. Krogulski’s merit is the expansion of the repertoire of Polish religious polyphonic songs of the 19^th century. Continuing the traditions initiated by Kurpiński and Elsner, he created cantatas and masses to Polish texts. The crowning achievement of his religious output is the Passion oratorio. J. Krogulski’s religious works (especially the oratorio Miserere, masses No. 3, No. 9 and No. 10) remained in the church repertoire until the end of the 19^th century, while his piano works were completely forgotten shortly after the composer’s death; only dances and marches thematically related to the November Uprising returned to the stage on the occasion of national anniversaries.
3. Krogulski enjoyed respect and popularity among his contemporaries. Many composers dedicated their works to him. However, in press statements, one sometimes senses a certain shade of regret or disappointment due to the composer’s failure to keep up with new trends in 19^th-century musical art.

Literature: “Allgemeine Theaterzeitung” 27 December 1825 no. 155 and 27 February 1827 no. 25; “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” no. 15 from 12 April 1826; J.K. Jaślikowski Krytyczny rozbiór gry Józefa Krogulskiego, “Rozmaitości Warszawskie” no. 11 from 18 March 1829, Uwagi nad koncertem, który Józef Krogulski dał w teatrze narodowym dnia 24 III 1829, “Gazeta Polska” no. 89 from 2 April 1829; Uwagi nad ostatnim koncertem Józefa Krogulskiego, “Dziennik Powszechny” no. 110 from 23 April 1832 (review of the Piano Concerto No. 2); Uwagi nad Mszą kompozycji Józefa Krogulskiego, “Gazeta Codzienna” no. 585 from 30 Augst 1833 (review of Mass No. 4); “Kurier Warszawski” no. 96 from 9 April 1835; “Pamiętnik Muzyczny Warszawski” 1835 no. 1–2, 1836 no. 3–6; J.M. Wiślicki Krogulski jako kompozytor religijny, “Pielgrzym” 1842 vol. 4, reprint Warsaw 1843 and Wspomnienie Józefa Krogulskiego, artysty i kompozytora, “Gazeta Codzienna” no. 13 from 14 January 1842; Chór Pijarski, “Gazeta Codzienna” no. 133 from 22 May 1860; W. Hordyński Józef Władysław Krogulski. Życiorys i twórczość fortepianowa, typescript Jagiellonian University 1939.