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Józef Elsner

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Józef Elsner. Portrait by Maksymilian Fajans, after 1853.

Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (often, also, Józef Ksawery Elsner, born Joseph Xaver Elsner) June 1, 1769April 18, 1854, was a Polish composer, music teacher and music theoretician, and a Freemason.

He taught Fryderyk Chopin and composed many symphonic, chamber, solo, and vocal-instrumental (about 120 religious) works, and 38 operas.[1]

Life

Józef Elsner was born Joseph Xaver Elsner in Grottkau (Upper Silesia), near Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia, on June 1, 1769, to German Catholic parents Franz Xaver Elsner and Anna Barbara Matzke. His mother was from the famous Matzke family of Glatz, which had intensive contacts with Czech culture in Bohemia, as well as with Polish culture in the Ratibor region. Joseph Xaver Elsner was educated at Breslau's Dominican monastery school, St. Matthew's Gymnasium, and a local Jesuit college. In 1832–37 he would compose nineteen religious pieces for Breslau Cathedral.

After completing his studies in Breslau and after a period of time working with the Lwów theater, he went to Congress Poland and became the principal conductor at the National Theater in Warsaw.[2] During this time Elsner's name and family life polonized gradually. Elsner's ethnicity should not be evaluated in terms of 19th and 20th century national identity, as he probably considered a Silesian primarily.

Elsner taught the famous Polish composers Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński and Fryderyk Chopin. Chopin dedicated to Elsner his celebrated Op. 2, Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Opera "Don Giovanni" in B-flat major (1827) and his Piano Sonata No. 1 (the Sonata in C minor, Op. 4, of 1828) — both composed while Chopin was studying with Elsner.

In 1799-1824 Elsner was the principal conductor at Warsaw's National Theater, where he premiered a number of his operas. Elsner also taught at the Warsaw Lyceum, housed in Warsaw's Kazimierz Palace.

In 1823–29 Elsner taught Chopin music theory and composition. At the time, Elsner wrote of Chopin in his diary: "Chopin, Frederic, third-year student, amazing capabilities, musical genius."

Elsner died at his estate in Elsnerów, now within the city limits of Warsaw, on April 18, 1854.

Works

Plaque on former Dominican refectory at Plac Dominikański 2/4, Wrocław, commemorating Elsner's connections with Wrocław.

Elsner's compositions included

Elsner was one of the first Polish composers to weave elements of Polish folk music into his works.[3]

He also wrote Sumariusz moich utworów muzycznych (Summary of My Musical Works, published 1957).

See also

Notes

References

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