Wertheim, Juliusz (EN)

Wertheim Juliusz Edward, *24 September 1880 Warsaw, †6 May 1928 Warsaw, Polish composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and music critic. Son of Piotr Wertheim, a Warsaw banker, half-brother of K. Tausig, and Aleksandra née Leo, an amateur singer related to the Kronenbergs. He started learning to play the piano around 1892 with R. Strobl in Warsaw, then with H. Barth and M. Moszkowski in Berlin, he studied composition with H. Urban in Berlin and from 1897 with Z. Noskowski at the Institute of Music in Warsaw (diploma with a gold medal obtained in 1901); he also used the advice of J. Śliwiński and A. Michałowski. From 2 December 1902, he was a member of the WTM committee; on 18 February 1902, he made his debut at the Warsaw Philharmonic as a pianist, in 1903 as a composer, and on 13 February 1904 as a conductor. Before World War I, he gave concerts in Germany, France, London, North America and St. Petersburg. He taught piano at Warsaw music schools, including in 1912–14 at the L. Marczewski Secondary Music School. In 1911 and 1913, he made several recordings of Chopin’s works in Warsaw for the German company Favorite Record. In 1915–16, he was a member of the board of the Philharmonic and its second conductor, later he also returned to conducting. In the Herman and Grossman Hall, he performed in his own composition concerts and chamber evenings; Wertheim’s virtuoso ambitions are evidenced by his six recitals with an extensive repertoire, which he gave at the turn of 1918/19 (the first one on 23 March 1918). In 1919–21, he was a professor of instrumentation, conducting and score reading at the conservatory in Warsaw and his students included, among others B. Kon and P. Klecki (earlier, in 1916–19, privately also R. Jasiński). From September 1921 to September 1925, he stayed in Germany, where the premiere of his Symphonic Variations took place, repeated in Warsaw on 18 November 1921. From his first years after graduating, he wrote music criticism, collaborating with “Kurier Teatralny,” “Kurier Polski” and “Epoka.” He died suddenly on the stage of the Philharmonic in Warsaw while conducting the introduction to R. Wagner’s Die Meistersinger de Nuremberg; he was buried at the Evangelical-Augsburg cemetery.

Wertheim was a well-known and popular figure in the musical community of Warsaw; he was friends with many Polish and German musicians who gave concerts at his residence (a palace on the corner of Ujazdów Avenue and Piękna Street), including W. Backhaus, J. Hoffman, A. Rubinstein, J. Śliwiński, I. Friedman, R. Statkowski, and M. Moszkowski. Mutual sympathy also linked him with K. Szymanowski, whom he appreciated for his early works and King Roger, but sharply criticised his Symphonies No. 2 and No. 3. Wertheim’s playing was characterised by a varied sound colour and subtle phrasing, which was emphasised by numerous reviewers. His work is so far unexplored and scattered. He was a composer of traditional orientation; he was influenced by the aesthetics of the romantics (mainly R. Schumann, F. Liszt, J. Brahms), in piano music he imitated the style of virtuoso arrangements of K. Tausig and F. Busoni and admired Chopin, Wagner and R. Strauss. He contributed to the flowering of neo-romanticism in Polish music. A mood of sadness dominates Wertheim’s work; his works are characterised by careful attention to detail, melodiousness, sophisticated metro rhythms, extended tonality, and inventive piano and instrumentation tricks. The heights of virtuosity are reached in the Ballade Op. 11 and Deux impromptus Op. 6, as well as the Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor, which was successfully played during Wertheim’s lifetime by S. Barcewicz, G. Kulenkampff and S. Frenkel.

In his vocal and instrumental work, Wertheim departed from the post-Moniuszko song model; in his songs, the verbal and musical layers are perfectly intertwined, leading to an atmospheric, over-composed song; they are dominated by the declamatory-static model, with an ostinato or pedal note in the piano part, in terms of colour similar to impressionism. The selection of texts by Young Poland poets (K. Tetmajer, L. Rydel, Z. Dębicki) indicates modernist tendencies in songs. Polish critics considered 24 Lieder… Op. 15, performed in Warsaw by F. Kaszowska already in 1917, to be his best work; Wertheim’s songs were also sung by his sister Joanna Koziełł-Poklewska and A. Myszuga. The song Three Ships from Op. 16 was awarded at the W. Żeleński competition in Lublin (1921), another song from this cycle, Nad wszystkiem co jest i było, appears in contemporary performances and recordings. Most of Wertheim’s manuscripts were burned in Warsaw during World War II.

Literature: A. Pol. [Poliński] Z teatru i muzyki, “Kurier Warszawski” 1908 no. 100; P. R. [Rytel] Wieczór kompozytorski Juliusza Wertheima, “Kurier Polski” 1919 no. 136; A. Wieniawski Śp. Juliusz Wertheim, “Rzeczpospolita” 1928 no. 136; Mieczysław Karłowicz w listach i wspomnieniach, ed. H. Anders, Krakow 1960 (letter to A. Chybiński from 14 June 1906); Z. Drzewiecki Wspomnienia muzyka, Krakow 1971; K. Michałowski Adolf Chybiński a Młoda Polska w muzyce, in: Muzyka polska a modernizm, ed. J. Ilnicka, Kraków 1981; Karol Szymanowski. Korespondencja, compiled by T. Chylińska, vol. 1 and 2, Krakow 1982 and 1994; R. Jasiński Zmierzch starego świata. Wspomnienia 1900–1945, Krakow 2006.