Szymanowska Korwin, Stanisława (EN)

Szymanowska Korwin Stanisława, *18 July  1884 Orłówka (Ukraine), †7 December 1938 Warsaw, Polish singer (lyrical-coloratura soprano), Karol Szymanowski’s sister. She gained the basics of musical education from her family home and from the Neuhaus school in Elizavetgrad (now Kirovohrad). In 1903–06 she studied singing in Lviv with Zofia Kozłowska, a student of F. Crespi in Milan. In 1906 she made her debut at the Lviv Opera in J. Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, and in 1907 on the stage of the Warsaw Philharmonic; she performed with the Lviv Opera in Lviv and in Krakow for four seasons. From September 1914, she stayed with her husband Stefan Bartoszewicz and their daughter Alina (1911–1925) in Lausanne, she taught singing, performed in the opera and gave concerts; in 1918 she also participated as an expert in virtuoso singing exams at the conservatory. In the autumn of 1919, she returned to Poland, and in 1920 she sang in Warsaw, Lviv and Krakow. She often performed abroad: in 1921 at the opera in Riga, in 1922 at recitals in Paris, Vienna and Prague, in 1923 in Riga, in 1924 in Milan and Constantinople, in 1927–28 in Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt, Prague, Rome, Vienna and Berlin, in 1930 in Vienna, Geneva, Bucharest and Liège. She conducted teaching activities; from 1928 she cooperated with the Holiday Music Centre of the Krzemieniec Secondary School, headed by B. Rutkowski, and then with the Organization of the Musical Movement (ORMUZ). In the years 1934–37 she performed with H. Sztompka at several dozen traveling concerts and school broadcasts. She taught singing privately, also at the Warsaw Conservatory (September 15, 1923–January 18, 1927), at the Music School of the Musical Society in Lublin (October 1, 1929–June 30, 1931), at the M. Karłowicz Conservatory in Vilnius (October 1, 1935–March 31, 1937) and at the Silesian Music Conservatory in Katowice (from February 1, 1938). She accompanied the last moments of K. Szymanowski’s life in the sanatorium in Lausanne. She performed for the last time in Katowice five weeks before her death; she died on December 7, 1938 of stomach cancer. In 1931 she was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit.

Szymanowska had a voice with a beautiful timbre, although a small volume, the lack of which she compensated with a masterful vocal technique, musicality and intelligence of interpretation. She mastered dynamics and refined articulation perfectly, combining rhythmic discipline with impeccably pure intonation and subtle use of rubato tempo. She always sang from memory in the original languages (French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, Czech), maintaining impeccable diction. She has mastered the rarely cultivated art of bel canto. Polish and foreign critics emphasised her exceptional musicality and sense of musical style. The type of voice did not predispose Szymanowska to great achievements on the opera stage, but her performances were distinguished by a subtle psychological interpretation of the characters. She devoted much attention to the interpretative nuances of her brother’s music in her publication Jak należy śpiewać utwory Karola Szymanowskiego [How to sing Karol Szymanowki’s compositions].

The scope of Szymanowska’s repertoire is impressive; she sang works by about 100 composers – from early to contemporary music. She appeared in the works of W.A. Mozart (The Abduction from the Seraglio, Così fan tutte, Bastien and Bastienne), G. Verdi (La Traviata, Rigoletto), G. Puccini (Tosca, La bohème, Madame Butterfly), G. Rossini (The Barber of Seville), C. Gounod (Faust) , R. Leoncavallo (Pagliacci), L. Delibes (Lakmé), J. Strauss (Die Fledermaus), S. Moniuszko (Halka, Verbum nobile). At concerts, she performed arias from operas (especially Mozart) and, above all, songs. In the history of Polish vocalism, Szymanowska is the first European-class singer whose recitals have always had the rank of an artistic event. Her concert repertoire – very diverse from the beginning – expanded after her stay in Switzerland and performances in 1927–30. It included vocal works from various eras and countries, including: C. Monteverdi, F. Cavalli, A. Scarlatti, G. Paisiello, Rossini, O. Respighi, J.S. Bach, Ch.W. Gluck, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, M. Reger, G. Mahler, H. Wolf, E. Grieg, M. de Falla, A. Dargomyzhsky, S. Rachmaninoff, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, I . Stravinsky, B. Britten, A. Roussel. Szymanowska’s achievement was the promotion of French music in Poland (J.-B. Lully, J.-P. Rameau, G. Charpentier, P.A. Monsigny, A.-E.-M. Gretry, G. Bizet, C. Franck, G. Fauré, C. Debussy, M. Ravel and others). Her repertoire included the works of Polish composers (F. Chopin, S. Niewiadomski, Z. Noskowski, H. Opieński, H. Melcer-Szczawiński, L. Różycki, G. Fitelberg and others).

Szymanowska went down in the history of Polish music as an unrivalled performer of K. Szymanowski’s songs, her interpretation aroused universal admiration. She was the first and, for a long time, the only performer of almost all of his songs and soprano parts in vocal-instrumental works (the exceptions were Songs to words by Rabindranath Tagore and Symphony No. 3). She was able to gain an insight into her brother’s musical intentions, and her singing was a kind of test for the composer whether his artistic intention had been fulfilled. She often combined Szymanowski’s songs from various opuses, usually in chronological order, according to the principle of similarity, complementation or contrast. The cycles performed by Szymanowska in their entirety included The Love Songs of Hafiz, Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin and Słopiewnie, as well as Children’s Rhymes and Kurpie Songs. “All her creations – wrote M. Kondracki – and especially Słopiewnie and Songs of a Mad Muezzin had the character of a revelation […], she rose to heights rarely achieved, where the word, perfectly combined with sound, achieved its peak expression.”

Literature:

Szymanowski Karol: Korespondencja. Pełna edycja zachowanych listów od i do kompozytora, edited by T. Chylińska, vol. 1: 1903–1919 2nd ed., Kraków 2007, vol. 2: 1920–1926, Kraków 1984, vol. 3: 1927–1931, Kraków 1997, vol. 4: 1932–1937, Kraków 2002.

Catalogue du pensionnat du Sacré Coeur de Lemberg 1893–1938 oraz Elèves entrées au pensionnat depuis Vanné scolaire 1887–[jusqu’à 1912/13], Provincial Archive Sacré Coeur in Warsaw, rkp. L-c-278 i L-c-290; „Journal de Genève”, journal, annals 1914–1919; “Gazette de Lausanne” journal, annals 1914–1919; E. Webersfeld Teatr Miejski we Lwowie za dyrekcji Ludwika Hellera 1906–1918, Lviv 1917;

M. Kondracki Ś.P. Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, „Muzyka Polska” 1938 issue 12; W. Narusz Pod znakiem Tymoszówki. Wspomnienia o Stanisławie Szymanowskiej, „Kronika Polski i Świata” 1938 no. 49; Asper Cienie i blaski. Śp. Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, „Myśl Narodowa” 1938 no. 54; H. Woźnica Wybitni wokaliści (…) Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska (…) jak ich pamiętam z moich kontaktów śląskich, „Rocznik Katowicki” vol. 14, 1988; C. Tappolet La vie musicale a Genève au dix-neuvième siècle (1814–1918), Genève 1972; Anna Wypych-Gawrońska Lwowski teatr operowy i operetkowy 1872–1918, Kraków 1999; A. Merdas RSCJ Zamysły Jego Serca. Zgromadzenie Sacré Coeur w Polsce, Warszawa 2000; M. Woźna-Stankiewicz Sztuka wokalna Stanisławy Szymanowskiej, in: Karol Szymanowski w perspektywie kultury muzycznej przeszłości i przyszłości muzycznej, ed. Zbigniew Skowron, Kraków 2007; T. Mazepa, L. Mazepa Szkice z dziejów wokalistyki we Lwowie, Wrocław 2008; M. Komorowska Za kurtyną lat. Polskie teatry operowe i operetkowe 1918–1939, Kraków 2008; T. Chylińska Pierwsze lata Stanisławy Szymanowskiej w Szwajcarii (fragmenty z przygotowywanej biografii śpiewaczki), in: Muzyka jest zawsze współczesna. Studia dedykowane Profesor Alicji Jarzębskiej, ed. M.Woźna-Stankiewicz, A. Sitarz. Kraków 2011; T. Chylińska Stanisława Szymanowska „Prowadziłam intensywne życie i bardzo moje życie lubiłam”, Kraków 2014; K. Michałowski, T. Chylińska Karol Szymanowski. Katalog tematyczny dzieł, Kraków 2023.