Kątski, Apolinary (EN)

Kątski Apolinary, *2 July 1824 Warsaw (a few wrong dates in literature: 23 October 1823 or 1825 Kraków or Warsaw and 2 July 1826 Poznań or Kraków or Warszawa), †29 June 1879 Warsaw. Violinist and composer, son of Grzegorz and Anna Kątska née Różycka. Initially, he learned to play the violin with his older brother, Karol. The names of his other teachers are not known, only that he was probably a student of N. Paganini in Paris for some time. Apolinary Kątski started performing in public very early. During the family’s stay in St. Petersburg (1829), he participated in their concert at the Tsar’s court, then he performed with his siblings in Russia, Hungary, Vienna, Munich and Paris, where his first public concert took place on 11 January 1837. In 1838, he met N. Paganini, who most likely gave him a few lessons and gave him a written, favourable opinion about his playing. In the same year, he also performed at Queen Victoria’s coronation ceremony in London. In 1836–50, he lived in Paris. After 1845, he made numerous concert tours around the provinces of France and Germany, gaining the recognition of H. Berlioz, G. Meyerbeer and C. Guhr. He appeared, among others: in Le Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Brest, as well as in Strasbourg and Leipzig. In 1849, he joined the band of pianist Maria Louisa Dulcken, with whom he went on a tour of Great Britain. He also gave concerts in Poland. In 1849, he gave several concerts in Wrocław, Kraków, Lviv and Greater Poland. At the end of 1850, he performed for the first time in Warsaw and then went to Russia, where from 1852 he was the Violinist-soloist of His Imperial Majesty in St. Petersburg, replacing H. Vieuxtemps. He also gave concerts almost all over Russia, sparking press polemics with, among others, A. Serova, N. Golitsyn and An. Rubinstein. He also worked as a chamber musician performing with An. Rubinstein, T. Leszetycki and A. Dargomyżski. In 1858, he returned to Warsaw and started working on establishing the Music Institute. Thanks to his high position and extensive contacts in the government spheres of St. Petersburg, he was able to establish a university, where classes began on 26 January 1861. From then until his death, he served as the director of the Institute and a teacher of higher-class violin. After 1864, he returned to giving concerts, initially in Warsaw, and over time, going on longer and longer concert tours in the company of his daughter Wanda, a talented pianist. During his tenure as director of the Institute of Music, he took an active part in organizing the musical life of the capital of the Kingdom of Poland.

Apolinary Kątski’s works were published in Paris, Leipzig, Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg. They do not differ from the virtuoso works typical of the 19^th century, constituting an example of business card compositions presenting the craftsmanship of their author. Apolinary Kątski was an excellent violinist with incredible technique. He was especially known for combining pizzicato and arco playing, a technique he mastered and called “pizzi-arco.” He sometimes used cheap show-off effects, consisting of imitating animal voices on the violin, which earned him accusations of charlatanism. However, the critics emphasised the beautiful and varied tone and the mastery in performing classical pieces, especially by L. van Beethoven. He had a reputation as a great chamber musician. His repertoire, however, consisted largely of his own works, aimed at showing off the performer and addressed to a wider audience. The establishment of the Music Institute in Warsaw was of great importance for the development of music education in Poland. Apolinary Kątski’s achievements included collecting the necessary funds to obtain permission to open the university, recruiting leading Warsaw musicians to the teaching staff and organising the school’s work. Kątski placed particular emphasis on ensemble music – the Institute’s choir and orchestra under his direction regularly performed in the Archcathedral Church of St. Jana, where from 1865 he served as the Director of Church Music. He also introduced a declamation class to the Institute, which is a kind of opera study. He trained many talented violinists, including W. Górski, T. Adamowski, and St. Barcewicz. A rather close relationship with the then authorities resulted in a reluctant attitude of the Warsaw musical community towards Apolinary Kątski. His achievements were noticed only in the 20^th century and are still being discovered.

Literature: J. Dupuy Notice sur Apollinaire de Kontski, Bordeaux 1847; F.W. Bulgarin Apollinarij Kontskij, “Siewiernaja pczeła” 1851 No. 223; Jan ze Śliwina [A.H. Kirkor] Apolinary Kątski – na pamiątkę pobytu w Wilnie, Vilnius 1852; “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1879 No. 732 (Apolinary Kątski’s obituary); M. Kolabińska Bracia Kątscy w świetle papierów Leonarda Niedźwieckiego, in: Pamiętnik Biblioteki Kórnickiej, issue 6, Kórnik 1958; 150 lat Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Muzycznej w Warszawie, collective work, ed. S. Śledziński, Warsaw 1960; 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; A. Rutkowska Działalność pedagogiczna Instytutu Muzycznego Warszawskiego (1860–1918), Warsaw 1967; A. Rutkowska Rola społeczna Instytutu Muzycznego Warszawskiego i znaczenie jego działalności dla polskiej kultury muzycznej, Warsaw 1980; S. Kachniarz, Apolinary Kątski – Artysta i jego dzieło, unpublished master’s thesis written under the supervision of prof. Irena Poniatowska, University of Warsaw 2005; M. Dziadek Apolinary Kątski – The Director and Teacher at the Warsaw Musical Institute, in: Henryk Wieniawski and the Bravura Tradition, ed. M. Jabłoński, D. Jasińska, Poznań 2011; K. Skrzypczak Wpływ wirtuozowskich technik Niccolò Paganiniego na Karola Lipińskiego i Apolinarego Kątskiego, unpublished master’s thesis written under the supervision of prof. Alina Żórawska-Witkowska, University of Warsaw 2012; E. Chamczyk Wokół wirtuozowskiej kariery Apolinarego Kątskiego (1829–1861), unpublished master’s thesis written under the supervision of prof. Alina Żórawska-Witkowska, University of Warsaw 2014; E. Chamczyk Podbijając muzyczne centrum Europy: paryska dekada Apolinarego Kątskiego (1838–1848), in: “Muzyka” vol. 63 (4/2018); E. Chamczyk Wokół narodzin Apolinarego Kątskiego – nowe źródła, in: “Muzyka” vol. 64 (1/2019); E. Chamczyk I Puritani Vincenza Belliniego w fantazjach skrzypcowych Karola Lipińskiego i Apolinarego Kątskiego, w: Karol Lipiński. Życie, działalność, epoka, t. 7, red. Joanna Subel, Wrocław 2020; E. Chamczyk Apolinary Kątski – uczeń Niccolo Paganiniego?, in: Długi wiek XIX w muzyce: nowe pytania – nowe interpretacje – nowe wyzwania, ed. G. Zieziula, M. Sułek, Warsaw 2020; E. Chamczyk Apolinary Kątski: A Nineteenth-Century Master of Self-Promotion, in: “Fontes Artis Musicae”, No. 67 (4/2020); W. Antonczyk, E. Chamczyk Petersburska Teka osobowa skrzypka Apolinarego Kątskiego jako źródło do badań nad jego biografią, in: “Muzyka”, vol. 66 (1/2021); 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.