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From the Archives: Mieczysław Horszowski

Timeline by Brigid Mary Lucey, introduction by Frank Salomon, edited by Brian Potter, recordings/video curated by Ara Guzelimian

Introduction
Timeline
Recordings
Gallery

Introduction

While Mieczysław Horszowski was physically of short stature and a modest person, he was a musical giant for generations of admiring musicians and audiences around the world. A child prodigy who debuted at age ten, he lived for over a century and continued to perform into his late nineties, becoming one of the longest-performing artists in the world. Having developed a close relationship, as a teenager, with legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, Horszowski appeared as a soloist with him for close to five decades. He played frequently with Pablo Casals at the Prades Festival and also with him and Alexander Schneider at the Kennedy White House, where he also gave a recital for Jimmy Carter.

He came to Marlboro for the first of 18 summers in 1963 when he was 70 and married for the first time in 1981 when he was 89. His wife, Italian pianist Bice Costa, remains a valued member of the Marlboro family. While he played many traditional chamber music works, he also introduced the Marlboro community to pieces by such composers as Tovey, Martinů, Pizzetti, D’Indy, and Dallapiccola, many of whom he knew personally. Some of us fondly remember his performances of four-hand works with Rudolf Serkin and the Bach ‘Triple’ concertos in C Major and D Minor with Mr. Serkin, Peter Serkin, and Ruth Laredo, which were recorded by Columbia (SONY).

With failing eyesight in the 1980s, Horszowski was no longer able to play chamber music and concentrated on recitals and concerto appearances. His last performance at Marlboro was in 1982 with the Bach G Minor Concerto led by Felix Galimir. His influence on generations of pianists was evident when, in his 90s, he gave memorable recitals in the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts series at New York’s Town Hall, and for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, where one could find the likes of Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin and Cynthia Raim in the audience.

András Schiff was initially attracted to Marlboro by Horszowski’s presence there, and working with him proved to be the highlight of his summer. “I could always go to him and sit on the grass together or accompany him on his walks. We would go through the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and he would sing me the themes of the preludes and fugues, explaining their character. Once I asked him: “Mr. Horszowski, why is it that in Marlboro they always complain about my treatment of rubato?” He answered with an angelic voice: ‘You know, we all love our own rubato, but we don’t like the neighbors’ rubato.’ Thank you, Mr. Horszowski.”

We also thank Mr. Horszowski, for his many years of inspiring audiences, younger generations of musicians, and the entire Marlboro Music community.

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Watch Mieczysław Horszowski play Mozart’s Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332 in this 1991 recital.

Timeline

1892 — 1900

Birth and Early Childhood

Mieczysław “Miecio” Horszowski is born in 1892, in Lwów, Poland to musical parents. His father, Stanislaw, owns a piano shop and his mother, Janina Roza, is a pianist. At age three, Miecio takes his first piano lessons from his mother, and by age five he begins seriously studying music. By the time he is seven, it is clear he is a child prodigy, and he moves to Vienna with his mother to pursue musical training; one of his original orchestral compositions is even played for Emperor Franz-Joseph. He becomes a student of Theodor Leschetizky, a highly respected piano teacher and student of Carl Czerny, who was himself a student of Beethoven. Leschetizky’s style of teaching encourages the piano to “sing” and the pianist to play rhythmically and holistically, using their whole body. Miecio’s mother takes him to concerts and lessons and always encourages him to eat well. She often writes home to keep her husband updated on their son’s progress.

1900 — 1902

Studies in Vienna

Miecio writes, “Dear Papa, I am very well and I played for six hours today. I want to play for seven, but Mamma won’t let me. […] I had my first lesson with Leschetizky on Saturday, and I have been practicing hard ever since.” Miecio plays piano and violin in Vienna, making regular appearances at Leschetizky’s soirées, and is eager to begin touring Europe. His mother writes in a letter, “Miecio keeps saying he wants the concert in Vienna to be over already so he can start a real tour.” In November of 1902, at age 10, he makes his orchestral debut playing Beethoven’s First Concerto in Warsaw. The diminutive Miecio is advertised by some concert venues as even younger than his true age, but he resents the dishonesty. He grows up with a strong moral compass, influenced by his family’s Catholic faith.

1902 — 1910

Early Touring Years

Miecio plays concerts throughout Europe and tours North and South America. He is very well received. “As soon as he has climbed up onto the piano bench he sits, all proud and happy, before the keyboard, like a king upon his throne; and when he starts it is as if he wanted to say: ‘watch out, something’s about to happen,’” describes German writer and critic Max Kalbeck. “[T]he emotional essence of music plunges directly to the bottom of his young soul, and by the time it comes up again it has turned into pure feeling,” writes Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti (whose work Miecio will perform decades later at Marlboro). During these touring years, cellist Pablo Casals’s younger brother Enric hears Miecio play a concert in Barcelona. Miecio’s mother befriends Pilar Defilló de Casals, Pablo and Enric’s mother. While Janina Roza and her son travel the world, Miecio’s father and siblings remain in Poland. Miecio makes his Carnegie Hall debut at age fourteen, unaware that he will perform a recital to celebrate Carnegie’s 100th anniversary over 80 years later.

1910 — 1913

Retreat from the Public Eye

Mrs. Horszowski decides to purchase a house on France’s Côte d’Azur, in the hopes that the Mediterranean air will remedy her weak lungs. Miecio and his mother travel from Vienna to Cannes, where, sadly, Janina Roza passes away in a hotel, shortly before she can move into her new seaside property. After his mother’s death, Miecio lives at the new home, Villa La Mignonette, for a while before settling down in Paris to pursue his studies at the Collège de France. Dedicating himself to studying literature, philosophy, and history of art, he doesn’t give a public concert from 1910 to 1913. At this point, Miecio has become good friends with Pablo Casals, who introduces him to fellow musicians Donald Francis Tovey, Emanuel Moór, and John Huré. These years in Paris are the beginning of lifelong friendships; Miecio goes for long walks with his sister Wandzia, and in the evenings he often goes out with friends to the Amusement Park or Magic City.

1914 — 1932

Touring and Climbing

When Germany invades France in 1914, Miecio, as an Austrian citizen, is unable to return to Paris. He moves to Milan where he can teach, practice, and reconnect with friends. He also meets Rudolf Serkin and the Busch Quartet at the Milan Conservatory, where “Rudi” plays Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. As an adult, Miecio stands just five feet tall; the repertoire in which he specializes, and that which he avoids, is indicative of the rather small span of his fingers. He plays a great deal of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach as he tours the world. In the little spare time he has, Miecio enjoys hiking. When climbing, he carries a small Polish flag that he waves when he reaches the top. The late, long-serving Marlboro Trustee, Paola Saffiotti, recalls, “[W]e did some real first class hiking on glaciers with him. We had a lot of memories to share about mountains, of his climbing, of having climbed such and such a mountain, and he climbed the Matterhorn three times.”

1932 — 1939

A Life on the Road

While based in Milan, Miecio tours extensively throughout Europe as well as North and South America. Among his destinations are Barcelona, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, and New York. His friend Donna Vittoria Cima writes in a letter, “[O]ff to America, you say? Perhaps I’m being a little selfish and maybe frivolous, but I must confess that I’d be much happier if you were coming back, rather than leaving. After all it’s your life, dear Miecio. Your friends must realize it and only wish you, as I do, all the best.” In Barcelona, he performs Brahms’s Second Concerto with Casals, who leaves the conducting podium to play the cello solo. After he returns to Milan, Miecio receives a letter from Casals: “I have so much enjoyed your stay, not to mention your Brahms, neither I nor anyone else who heard it will ever forget it.”

1939 — 1941

World War II

Despite the turmoil in Europe in the late 1930s, Miecio’s career as a recitalist continues to flourish. Before heading to South America in 1940, he stops in Rome to play over an hour of solo piano repertoire for Pope Pius XII and the Vatican Radio. Miecio is en route from Sao Paulo, Brazil to New York on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor is attacked and Italy and Germany declare war on the United States. During World War II, Miecio performs a tour of concerts to benefit Poland and war relief efforts. Casals, who is making similar efforts of his own, encourages Horszowski: “Thanks to what I earned in my concert tour last November and December, and to the donations I received from different countries, I have been able to relieve much suffering, but I must keep on and my strength is failing. Do not neglect to speak to all the people who may be sensitive to our plight.” Miecio’s close friendship with Casals will lead to performances at the Casals festivals in Prades, France (est. 1950) and in San Juan, Puerto Rico (est. 1956).

1942 — 1947

America

Shortly after arriving in the U.S. in 1941, Miecio rents a room in New York City and visits with Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin. These world-renowned musicians, who have all toured multiple continents, begin planting roots in the United States, in light of their displacement from war-torn Europe. In 1942 Miecio signs a one-year contract to be Serkin’s assistant at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, beginning a decades-long association with the Institute. Throughout the 1940s, Miecio performs with Serkin and Busch, appears as soloist with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini’s baton, and makes up one-fourth of the New York Quartet for piano and strings, alongside Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims, and Frank Miller. He is granted American citizenship in 1948.

1948

Brattleboro Beginnings

In 1948, he makes his first trip to Brattleboro, Vermont, where he is greeted by Rudolf Serkin and Hermann Busch at the train station. At this point, the Marlboro Music Festival is but a dream for Serkin, the Buschs, and Marcel, Blanche, and Luis Moyse. Miecio stays in close contact with Serkin and returns to Vermont to participate at Marlboro in 1963. In 1964, he plays Bach’s Concerto in C Major with Rudolf Serkin and his son Peter, conducted by Alexander Schneider. Peter goes on to study with Horszowski at the Curtis Institute. Miecio often arrives at Marlboro around his birthday and records in his journals his schedule, the pieces being rehearsed and performed, and how many miles he walks in the Vermont countryside each day. He writes in his journal, “June 24. Birthday cake with Rudi, [his wife] Irene, and [pianist Luis] Batlle. Four miles.”

1954 — 1955

Beethoven

Miecio prepares all of Beethoven’s works for solo piano and performs them around the world in a series of twelve programs. He divides and organizes these programs by musical principles, rather than performing the pieces in chronological order. He writes “The work that awaits me is formidable (Latin meaning: awe-inspiring).” When he asks Dr. Joseph Schmidt-Görg to write the program introduction for these concerts, the musicologist writes back, “[Y]ou yourself made your pilgrimage to Beethoven, in the midst of your preparations, in order to receive at his place of birth the blessing for your gigantic enterprise. […] Your long experience and fine musical sense thus made each program a well-rounded unit. Your finely graded key relations contribute greatly to the excellence of the programs.”

1956

Bice

Miecio meets Bice Costa while visiting her family in Genoa. A pianist herself, Bice remembers, “He played the Mozart K. 595 and the Chopin E Minor Concerto and in between he came to my home to practice, and for me. […] So then, as everyone liked him so much, he came back every year, or almost every year.” The two stay in touch via letters and phone calls, and a courtship ensues that spans decades. In a letter from 1972, Bice asks Miecio to stop using the Italian “courtesy form” of lei and instead use tu. He replies (translated from Italian), “Dear Bice, I was very pleased to receive your letter – you see, when I write to you I no longer use the polite form “Lei”!” Their relationship is not merely romantic but also intellectual and artistic. In 1975, Miecio writes, “Dear Bice, the beauty of Tovey’s Quintet spurs me on, I hope to be ready to perform it in Marlboro. I will play it for you in Milan. I am so happy to be able to see you again soon…”

1961

Mozart & the Kennedys

Similar to his Beethoven cycle, Miecio performs all of Mozart’s sonatas in 1961. He writes to Casals, “The effort of performing all of Mozart’s sonatas in London gave me a great satisfaction. I believe it was a contribution, no matter how modest, towards the knowledge and love of Mozart’s compositions.” Shortly thereafter, he travels to Washington, D.C. to perform alongside Casals and Alexander Schneider at the White House for President John F. Kennedy. In a letter to Horszowski, the President writes, “We were so proud to have you with us and so grateful for your magnificent performance.” Miecio is so humbled, he can hardly decide whether to write back. A draft of the letter that he eventually sends reads, “For a few days I did not dare take a pen and write: thank you, Mr President, but I can’t help it any more, I must somehow express my feelings of contentment and gratitude.”

1974

Marlboro

Miecio returns to Marlboro in 1974, the year after Casals had passed away. He rehearses Casals’s Six Songs with Rudolf Serkin and soprano Olga Iglesias, and performs Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 23 in memory of his friend. Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, then a young artist at the school, recalls, “I remember […] we were rehearsing Mozart’s Piano and Wind Quintet K. 452 […] So we got to the top of the scale and suddenly Mr. Horszowski stopped. And he put his head down and we were very scared: we thought he had a problem, maybe a heart attack, we just did not know. We were just quiet. Finally I asked ‘Mr. Horszowski, are you O.K.?’ and he said ‘I have to write a letter’. ‘Whom are you going to write to, Mr. Horszowski?’. ‘Mozart’. ‘What are you going to say, Mr. Horszowski?’. ‘He said ‘Thank you’.”

1980 — 1993

Marriage and Later Years

In 1980, Bice makes her first trip to the United States and spends almost all of her time with Miecio. She recalls that, by the end of her visit, “I wasn’t, anymore, so sure that that would have been my only visit to the States. And that’s when we were engaged, and the year after we were married.” The couple returns each year to Marlboro, where Miecio savors the opportunity to mentor and collaborate with young musicians. At 95 years old, he continues to enjoy a career in full bloom. During an interview with La Stampa in 1987, he says “The piano has been my life. When I have in mind a tune that I like, I try, by playing, to convey my emotion. It is my way of expressing it.” The interviewer asks, “How can you keep such a prodigious memory?” Miecio responds, “How can one forget the things one loves?” A 1990 Boston Globe review of a Marlboro performance by the 98-year-old lauds his playing as “still alive and continuing to discover and evolve.” In 1993, the year of his death, Horszowski receives Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year award, with the words “Just when many senior artists become sclerotic, this perennially youthful musician has seemed more flexible, confident, and imaginative.”

1993

Legacy

Miecio continues making music and teaching until just a few months before his death. When his eyesight begins to fail, Bice helps him practice by playing passages. Bice plays for him in their home during his last days, until he passes away on May 22, 1993. She writes in her journal that evening, “To Heaven at 8:30 pm. The room is filled with the warm light of the setting sun, the silence is broken only by the voices of some children who are passing in the street.” As they did together on the 12th day of each month, Bice still celebrates their wedding anniversary.

2021

Acknowledgements

For more information on Mieczysław Horszowski’s life and legacy, please see “Miecio: Remembrances of Miecyzsław Horszowski,” and “Miecio: Letters and postcards of Janina Roza Horszowski 1900-1904,” edited by his wife Bice Horszowski Costa, as well as Eric Bartlett’s essay “You? Faure with Me?” from the Marlboro Music: 60th Anniversary Reflections on Marlboro Music collection.

Recordings

Enjoy a selection of chamber music recordings from Mieczysław Horszowski’s years at Marlboro, including an absolutely terrific 1969 performance of Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47; a recording of Ildebrando Pizzetti’s rarely-heard Piano Trio in A Major with violinist Pina Carmirelli and cellist Leslie Parnas; Horszowski’s final Marlboro performance, of Bach’s Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1058, at the age of 90; and a recording of Beethoven’s Three Marches, Op. 45 (commercially released on Bridge Records for Marlboro’s 50th Anniversary) with Cecile Licad.

Audio Recordings from Marlboro

Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47

Performed by Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano; Masuko Ushioda, violin; Scott Nickrenz, viola; Miklós Perényi, cello in 1969

Pizzetti: Piano Trio in A Major

Performed by Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano; Pina Carmirelli, violin; Leslie Parnas, cello in 1968

Bach: Concerto in G Minor for Clavier, Strings and Basso Continuo, BWV 1058

Performed by Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano, and the Marlboro Orchestra led by Felix Galimir in 1982

Gallery

Click any of the pictures below to view an enlarged version complete with additional quotes in the captions.

“[W]hat he brought to us all, to all the listeners and to the musicians and music lovers was a rigorously honest music making, where he, Mieczysław Horszowski, was not on the forefront. It was the piece of music he was playing, and Miecio Horszowski happens to be playing it.” —Mitsuko Uchida<br>
<i>Rudolf Serkin, Mieczysław Horszowski, Ruth Laredo. Photo by Fred Plaut.<i>

"He was, most of his life, under the radar: a musician's musician that all musicians knew and respected and loved... [H]is artistry lay in the subtlest of details, in little dropperfuls sometimes. There would be a beautiful simple passage and two notes would be slightly louder or softer and it just made the whole thing." —Arnold Steinhardt<br>
<i>Photo by Woodrow Leung. 1976.</i>

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