Kątski, Antoni (EN)

Kątski Antoni, *25 September 1816 Kraków (mistaken date in literature 27 October 1817), †7 December 1899 Iwanycze (near Nowogród), pianist and composer, son of Grzegorz and Anna Kątska née Różycka. He first learned to play the piano from his father; in the late 1920s he was probably a student of the Main School of Music in Warsaw. In 1829–30, he studied with J. Field in Moscow, and then from 1833 with S. Sechter (composition) in Vienna. He made his first public appearance (together with his brother Karol) in Kraków at the age of 4 (3 February 1822). From then on, he performed constantly as a “child prodigy” in Warsaw and other Polish cities, as well as in Vienna, Hungary and Russia. He also started composing very early. His first works – Taniec polski i anglez, Taniec polski i mazur – were published in Warsaw in 1825. During his stay in Paris, he became a judge of competitions at the Paris Conservatory. In 1848, he began a tour of Europe; he gave concerts in Madrid and Seville (also at the royal court). He then went to Portugal; he performed in Lisbon, where – at the king’s request – he developed a project to reorganise the local conservatory, for which he received the Order of the Immaculate Conception. In 1851–53, he lived in Berlin as the piano teacher of Princess Louise of Prussia and court pianist. During this time, he gave concerts in many cities in Germany and Austria, and also went on a concert trip with his brother Apolinary. In 1854–67, he lived in St. Petersburg, where he founded the Society of Classical Music Lovers and worked as a teacher. He continued to give concerts in many cities in Russia. There he composed Symphony in A minor, Op. 220, which he dedicated to the tsar in the hope of obtaining the position of court pianist. In 1867, he moved to London, where he lived for 16 years, engaged in musical pedagogy and composition. In 1883, he moved permanently to the USA, initially to Buffalo (NY), then to Michigan, where he took up the position of professor at the Grand Rapids Conservatory. At the same time, he made numerous tours around the USA and Canada, and in 1890 he also performed in Japan. In 1897, he began a great concert tour around the world, which included Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Siam, as well as Russia and Poland. He had numerous medals and orders awarded to him by crowned heads throughout Europe.

Antoni Kątski enjoyed great fame throughout Europe and beyond its borders; his playing was characterised by excellent, brilliant technique, it emanated strength and, at the same time, delicacy and calm – as reviewers write. All these features were also highlighted by reports from the last tour of the over 80-year-old artist. Some people considered Antoni Kątski’s playing superficial. His repertoire gradually changed. Initially, these were mainly virtuoso pieces, often of a popular nature. Over time, his repertoire included works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as Chopin, Weber and Mendelssohn. Antoni Kątski’s extensive compositional output is quite popular. A significant part of it are salon pieces, which were once very popular throughout Europe. They were published mainly in Germany, France, Russia and England. His heroic whim, Przebudzenie lwa Op. 115 gained incredible popularity, a work of no outstanding artistic value. Initially composed for a military band, it was then adapted by the composer for piano. In this form, it was published in almost 100 different editions throughout Europe, and was also published in transcriptions. Antoni Kątski’s larger works, especially symphonies and concertos, were not published. They contain common technical means and formal patterns, and they do not indicate compositional inventiveness. The piano school developed by Antoni Kątski, published in French, German and Russian, was a mandatory textbook at conservatories in Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg.

Literature: C. Cui An. G. Kontskij w 1858 i 1898, “Nowosti i birżewaja gazieta” 1898 No. 332; Listy Jmć. Pana Grzegorza Kątskiego do Filharmoniey Krakowskiey, published by J. Reiss, Kraków 1930; T. Grum-Grżymajło Bratja Kontskije i polemika o muzykalnoispołnitielskich stilach, in: Woprosy muzykalnogo ispołnitielstwa, Moscow 4^th ed. 1967; S. Śledziński Bracia Kątscy w Rosji, in: Polsko-rosyjskie miscellanea muzyczne, ed. Z. Lissa, Kraków 1967; S. Śledziński Na marginesie Symfonii a-moll Antoniego Kątskiego, in: Studia Hieronymo Feicht septuagenario dedicata, Kraków 1967; J. Sikorski Lew się budzi czyli historia sławy i zapomnienia Antoniego Brochwicza-Kątskiego, in: Sylwetki pianistów polskich. Od Wincentego Lessla do Henryka Pachulskiego, vol. 1, Rzeszów 1996; I. Poniatowska Antoni Kątski jako pianista i kompozytor muzyki fortepianowej, in: Chopin w kręgu przyjaciół, vol. 5, ed. I. Poniatowska, D. Pistone, Warsaw 1999; A. Tołoczyńska Działalność koncertowa Antoniego Kątskiego, unpublished master’s thesis written under the supervision of prof. Małgorzata Woźna-Stankiewicz, Jagiellonian University 2012; R. Antoń, Ród Kąckich vel Kątskich z Kątów h. Brochwicz. Przyczynek do dziejów rodów rycerskich Małopolski (Studium historyczno-genealogiczne od połowy XIX wieku), Krosno 2021; A. Parkita Antoni Kątski – lew estrady XIX wieku, Kielce 2021.