Antoni Stolpe - Romance for Violin, Cello, and Piano

Antoni Stolpe - Romans na skrzypce, wiolonczelę, i fortepian Pianist: Stefan Łabanowski First Performance: 1866 Violin: Piotr Markowski Cello: Andrzej Wróbel Piano: Jerzy Maciejewski Bio Antoni Stolpe (1851-1872) was one of those great musical geniuses that died so young. Before his death at the age of 21, he left almost 60 works [1]. These works are all representative of the best of European romanticism. Friedrich Kiel praised Stolpe’s output, writing: “Germans have reason, the French have grace, but the Pole combines the two in one complete whole. And this happens the most in the work of [Antoni] Stolpe“ [2]. How could such a young composer have been so successful? The answer can be found in his upbringing and his education. The Stolpe family was incredibly musically talented. Edward Stolpe, Antoni’s father, taught classes at the Musical Institute in Warsaw [3]. Józef Elsner (who was one of Chopin’s teachers) also taught Edward Stolpe. At the same time, Antoni’s mother was a singer under Karol Kurpiński [3]. This created the ideal home environment for Antoni to develop a love for music. Antoni learned from his father, who very quickly discovered his talent [1]. From 1862- 1867 (ages 11-16!), Antoni attended Piano classes at the musical institute in Warsaw while learning harmony from Moniuszko and counterpoint from Freyer [3]. His first compositions began flowing as a result of these classes. Soon after, Stolpe moved to Berlin, where he would continue his education with Friedrich Kiel. The intense workload under Kiel was detrimental to the composer’s health, but it revealed to Kiel what a genius Antoni was. Unfortunately, the composer would soon die of Tuberculosis. Three years before his death, Jan Kleczyński wrote: “Stolpe ought to thank God that he received such gifts from him, that sometime he could act as one of the first in his field, and we ought to thank Stolpe that he does not waste his gifts and that further educates himself [4].“ Stolpe was poised to be a great composer, but like Krogulski, Stanchinsky, and so many others, it was cruelly snatched away from him. The Romance The piece itself utilizes long lines in the strings and a generally rocking, cradle-song like texture in the piano to create a gentle atmosphere. After a few bars, the melody is filled with pathos, and the piano adapts to the new atmosphere with more complex texturing. The mood continues to shift with the long melodic lines returning with some Chopinesque flairs. If not for the tenser middle section, this piece could easily pass as a Kołysanka (cradle-song). [1] Encyklopedia Muzyczna PWM, Kraków 2007 [2] Z. Noskowski, Antoni Stolpe, „Tygodnik Ilustrowany” nr 249, s. 164. 1872. [3] J. Gołębiowska, “Kwartet Smyczkowy w muzyce polskiej XIX wieku,“ Ph.D. dissertation, Katedra Muzykologii, Wydział Historyczny, Uniw. im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań. 2014. [4] J. Kleczyński, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany“, nr 51. 1868