Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - From the Reviewer's Notebook

Hôtel Lambert, Paris This is the famous picture  Chopin's Polonaise - a Ball at the H ôtel  Lambert in Paris  by Teofil Kwiatkowski (1809-1891) now in the National Museum Poznań. This palace was the Parisian home of the Polish magnate Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and a centre for the volatile discussions of the political  'Polish question' in the mid nineteenth century.  'There have been many chapters in the almost four-hundred-year history of the Hôtel Lambert. Each one has been splendid and fascinating.' JAMES REGINATO The Hôtel Lambert, built in the early 1640s and located on the secluded Île Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris, is the most staggeringly beautiful private residence in the city. This palatial private house was decorated by the artistic visionaries behind the Palace of Versailles, architect Louis Le Vau, and painters Charles Le Brun and Eustache Le Sueur. Since then, it has been home to various illustrious families from Polish Prince Adam Jerzy C

©  Bridgeman Images The significance and magnitude of t he death of Queen Elizabeth II is beyond language and mere words to sufficiently engage and reward mind and heart. She had always seemed an immortal figure for me, indestructible. As time passes and we approach this planetary funeral, it seems in death she has become the subconscious acknowledged moral and spiritual leader of the world She reigned but she did not rule There is something of an inexplicable metaphysical power that hovers about the nature of royalty. Echoes seem still to resound over centuries of the Divine Right of Kings,  a Royal destiny  determined by God. Surely only this can explain such profound mass emotional devotion, 'paying respect' and sense of loss. A phenomenon almost beyond rationality. Finally as an author, I can now write a little, even at such a deeply melancholic moment. A moral beacon of great constancy and continuity  has been extinguished at a time of instability, immense social and cul

I traveled to Edinburgh towards the end of June 2022 and among the many adventures and museums visited, I managed to be there for the opening of this remarkable exhibition at the Georgian House. I live in Warsaw in Poland, move in musical circles there, but had never encountered this artist. I was astounded at the discovery. I met and had a long instructive conversation with the exhibition curator Josie Dixon who assembled and wrote an excellent article on Felix Yaniewicz, her ancestor and a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer and businessman who was the catalyzing founding force behind the present, world-renowned, Edinburgh Festival. But this was in 1815 ! Felix Yaniewicz  Music and Migr ation in Georgian Edinburgh Written by Josie Dixon, Curator of ​Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh Felix Yaniewicz (1823-1848) | Image courtesy of The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz Visitors exploring Edinburgh’s New Town may find themselves walking past 84 Great King St, where an inscription o