The mazurka (in Polish, mazurek) is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the second or third beat.

History[link]

The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine kujawiak, and the fast oberek. The mazurek is always found to have either a triplet, trill, dotted eighth note (quaver) pair, or an ordinary eighth note pair before two quarter notes (crotchets). In the 19th century, the dance became popular in many ballrooms in different parts of Europe. The Polish national anthem has a mazurek rhythm but is too slow to be considered a mazurek. There are many Polish versions of the mazurek but the most notable one is the mazurka.

In Polish, this musical form is called "mazurek"—a word derived from "mazur," which up to the nineteenth century denoted an inhabitant of Poland's Mazovia region, and which also became the root for "Masuria". In Polish, "mazurka" is actually the genitive and accusative cases of "mazurek."

Several classical composers have written mazurkas, with the best known being the 69 composed by Frédéric Chopin for solo piano. Henryk Wieniawski also wrote two for violin with piano (the popular "Obertas", Op. 19), and in the 1920s, Karol Szymanowski wrote a set of twenty for piano and finished his composing career with a final pair in 1934. Also, Maria Szymanowska wrote mazurkas long before Chopin.

Chopin first started composing mazurkas in 1825, but his composing did not become serious until 1830, the year of the November Uprising, a Polish rebellion against the Russian government. Chopin continued composing them until 1849, the year of his death. The stylistic and musical characteristics of Chopin's mazurkas differ from the traditional variety because Chopin in effect created a completely separate and new genre of mazurka all his own. For example, he used classical techniques in his mazurkas, including counterpoint and fugue.^[2] By including more chromaticism and harmony in the mazurkas, he made them more technically interesting than the traditional dances. Chopin also tried to compose his mazurkas in such a way that they could not be used for dancing^{[citation needed]}, so as to distance them from the original form.

However, while Chopin changed some aspects of the original mazurka, he maintained others. His mazurkas, like the traditional dances, contain a great deal of repetition: repetition of certain measures or groups of measures; of entire sections; and of an initial theme.^[3] The rhythm of his mazurkas also remains very similar to that of earlier mazurkas. However, Chopin also incorporated the rhythmic elements of the two other Polish forms mentioned above, the kujawiak and oberek; his mazurkas usually feature rhythms from more than one of these three forms (mazurek, kujawiak, and oberek). This use of rhythm suggests that Chopin tried to create a genre that had ties to the original form, but was still something new and different.

Outside Poland[link]

In Russia, many composers wrote mazurkas for solo piano: Scriabin (25), Balakirev (7), Tchaikovsky (6). Borodin wrote two in his Petite Suite for piano; Mikhail Glinka also wrote two, although one is a simplified version of Chopin's Mazurka No. 13.

Tchaikovsky also included mazurkas in his scores for Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin, and Sleeping Beauty. Léo Delibes composed one which appears several times in the first act of his ballet Coppélia.

The mazurka is an important dance in many Russian novels. In addition to its mention in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina as well as in a protracted episode in War and Peace, the dance is prominently featured in Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons. Arkady reserves the mazurka for Madame Odintsov with whom he is falling in love.

Czech composers Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, and Bohuslav Martinů all wrote mazurkas to at least some extent. For Smetana and Martinů, these are single pieces (respectively, a Mazurka-Cappricio for piano and a Mazurka-Nocturne for a mixed string/wind quartet), whereas Dvořák composed a set of six mazurkas for piano.

In France, Impressionistic composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel both wrote mazurkas; Debussy's is a stand-alone piece, and Ravel's is part of a suite of an early work, La Parade. The mazurka appears frequently in French traditional folk music.

In the French Antilles, the mazurka has become an important style of dance and music. A creolized version of the mazurka is mazouk, which was introduced to the French Caribbean during the 19th century.

Mazurkas are also popular in the traditional dance music of County Donegal, Ireland.

In Swedish folk music, the quaver or eight-note polska has a similar rhythm to the mazurka, and the two dances have a common origin.

The dance was common as a popular dance in Europe and the United States in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. It survives in some old time fiddle tunes, and also in early Cajun music, though it has largely fallen out of Cajun music now. In the Southern United States it was sometimes known as a mazuka.

In Cape Verde the mazurka is also revered as an important cultural phenomenon played with a violin and accompanied by guitars. It also takes a dance form found in the north of the archipelago, mainly in São Nicolau, Santo Antão, and Brava.

In Portugal the mazurka became one of the most popular traditional European dances through the first years of the annual Andanças, a traditional dances festival held nearby São Pedro do Sul.

In Cuba, composer Ernesto Lecuona wrote a piece titled Mazurka en Glisado for the piano, one of various commissions throughout his life.

In Nicaragua, Carlos Mejía Godoy y los de Palacaguina and Los Soñadores de Saraguasca made a compilation of mazurkas from popular folk music, which are performed with a violin de talalate, an indigenous instrument from Nicaragua.

In Curaçao the mazurka was popular as dance music in the nineteenth century, as well as in the first half of the twentieth century. Several Curaçao-born composers such as Jan Gerard Palm, Joseph Sickman Corsen, Jacobo Palm, Rudolph Palm and Wim Statius Muller have written mazurkas.

In Brazil, the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote a mazurka for classical guitar in a similar musical style to Polish mazurkas.

In Mexico, composers Ricardo Castro and Manuel M Ponce wrote mazurkas for the piano in a Chopin fashion, eventually mixing elements of Mexican folk dances.

In Australia, Julian Cochran composed a collection of five mazurkas for solo piano and orchestra.

In the Philippines, the mazurka is a popular form of traditional dance. The Mazurka Boholana is one well-known Filipino mazurka.

In popular folk dancing in France, in recent years (after roughly 2005), the mazurka has evolved into a dance at a more gentle pace (without the traditional 'hop' step on the 3rd beat), allowing for more intimate dancing and giving it the status of a seduction dance. This style of mazurka has also been imported into "balfolk" dancing in Belgium and the Netherlands, hence the name "Belgian Mazurka" or "Flemish Mazurka".

Media[link]

Opus 17, No. 4: Mazurka No. 13, in A minor by Chopin Performed by Donald Betts. Courtesy of Musopen Opus 33, No. 2: Mazurka No. 23, in D major by Chopin performed by Robin Alciatore. Courtesy of Musopen Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Opus 33, No. 2: Mazurka No. 23, in D major by Chopin performed by Lubka Kolessa Mazurka by Claude Debussy Claude Debussy's Mazurka Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Cultural references[link]

• The 1949 cartoon Mouse Mazurka features Sylvester going after a rodent who does this sort of dance.

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

See also[link]

• Polish music
• Polonaise
• Chopin's mazurkas
• Zouk
• Waltz
• Polska (dance)
• Landler
• Fandango
• Bourrée

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Mazurka.

• history, description, costumes, music, sources
• Mazurka within traditional dances of the County of Nice (France)
• The Russian Mazurka
• The Mazurka Project
• Halman, Johannes and Robert Rojer (2008). Jan Gerard Palm Music Scores: Waltzes, Mazurkas, Danzas, Tumbas, Polkas, Marches, Fantasies, Serenades, a Galop and Music Composed for Services in the Synagogue and the Lodge. Amsterdam: Broekmans and Van Poppel. *[1]

Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American classical pianist who received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers; many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.^[1][2] He is widely considered one of the greatest classical pianists of the twentieth century.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rubinstein grew-up on Piotrkowska street, Łódź, Poland

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a family of assimilated Jews. He was the youngest of eight children,^[3] and his father was a wealthy factory owner.^[4]

Rubinstein's birth name was Artur Rubinstein, although in English-speaking countries, he preferred to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok insisted he be billed as Artur, and records were released in the West under both versions of his name.^[5]

At the age of two, Rubinstein demonstrated perfect pitch and a fascination with the piano, watching his elder sister's piano lessons. By the age of four, he was recognised as a child prodigy. Rubinstein first studied piano in Warsaw. His early piano training came from Karl Heinrich Barth.

As a student of Barth, Rubinstein inherited a renowned pedagogical lineage: Barth was himself a pupil of Liszt, who had been taught by Czerny, who had in turn been a pupil of Beethoven. The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, on hearing the four-year-old child play, was greatly impressed, and began to mentor the young prodigy. In 1894, at the age of 7, Rubinstein had his first public performance.^[6]

At the age of ten, Rubinstein moved to Berlin to continue his studies, and made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1900, at the age of 13.^[1]

Career[link]

In 1904, Rubinstein moved to Paris to launch his career in earnest, where he met the composers Maurice Ravel and Paul Dukas and the violinist Jacques Thibaud. He also played Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the presence of the composer. Through the family of Juliusz Wertheim (to whose understanding of Chopin's genius Rubinstein attributed his own inspiration in the works of that composer) he formed friendships with the violinist Paul Kochanski and composer Karol Szymanowski.^[7]

Rubinstein in 1906

Rubinstein made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1906, and thereafter toured the United States, Austria, Italy, and Russia. According to his own testimony and that of his son in François Reichenbach's film L'Amour de la vie (1969), he was not well-received in the United States. By 1908, Rubinstein, destitute and desperate, hounded by creditors, and threatened with being evicted from his Berlin hotel room, made a failed attempt to hang himself. Subsequently he said that he felt "reborn" and endowed with an unconditional love of life. In 1912, he made his London debut, and found a home there in the Edith Grove, Chelsea, musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, in company with Kochanski, Igor Stravinsky, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Pierre Monteux and others.^[7]

During World War I, Rubinstein stayed in London, giving recitals and accompanying the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1916 and 1917, he made his first tours in Spain and South America where he was wildly acclaimed. It was during those tours that he developed a lifelong enthusiasm for the music of Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He was the dedicatee of Villa-Lobos's Rudepoêma and Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.

Rubinstein was disgusted by Germany's conduct during the war, and never played there again. His last performance in Germany was in 1914.^[7]

In the fall of 1919 Rubinstein toured the English Provinces with soprano Emma Calvé and tenor Vladimir Rosing.^[8]

In 1921 Rubinstein gave two American tours, travelling to New York with Karol Szymanowski and his close friend Paul Kochanski, who died in 1934. The autumn voyage was the occasion of Kochanski's permanent migration to the USA.^[7]

In 1932, the pianist, who stated he neglected his technique in his early years, relying instead on natural talent, withdrew from concert life for several months of intensive study and practice.

During World War II, Rubinstein's career became centered in the United States. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1946.

A cast of the pianist's hands, at the Łódź museum

Although best known as a recitalist and concerto soloist, Rubinstein was also considered an outstanding chamber musician, partnering with such luminaries as Henryk Szeryng, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky, and the Guarneri Quartet. Rubinstein recorded much of the core piano repertoire, particularly that of the Romantic composers. At the time of his death, the New York Times in describing him wrote, "Chopin was his specialty . . . it was [as] a Chopinist that he was considered by many without peer".^[1] With the exception of the Études, he recorded most of the works of Chopin. ^[9] He was one of the earliest champions of the Spanish and South American composers and of French composers who, in the early twentieth century, were still considered "modern" such as Debussy and Ravel. In addition, Rubinstein was the first champion of the music of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski. Rubinstein, in conversation with Alexander Scriabin, named Brahms as his favorite composer, a response that enraged Scriabin.^[10]

Rubinstein, who was fluent in eight languages,^[11] held much of the repertoire, not simply that of the piano, in his formidable memory.^[11] According to his memoirs, he learned César Franck’s Symphonic Variations while on a train en route to the concert, without the benefit of a piano, practicing passages in his lap. Rubinstein described his memory as photographic, to the extent that he would visualize an errant coffee stain while recalling a score.^[12]

Rubinstein also had exceptionally developed aural abilities, which allowed him to play whole symphonies in his mind. "At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head" he said. "Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement." This ability was often tested by Rubinstein's friends, who would randomly pick extracts from opera and symphonic scores and ask him to play them from memory.^[1]

By the mid-1970s, Rubinstein's eyesight had begun to deteriorate. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine in May 1976, giving his last concert at London's Wigmore Hall, where he had first played nearly seventy years before.

Personal life[link]

Rubinstein in 1963

Family[link]

Of his youth, Rubinstein once said: "It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women."^[1] At the age of forty-five, in 1932, Rubinstein married Nela Młynarska, a twenty-four-year-old Polish ballerina (who had studied with Mary Wigman). Nela was the daughter of the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski and his wife Anna Hrynewicz, who was from a Lithuanian aristocratic family. Nela had first fallen in love with Rubinstein when she was eighteen, but when Rubinstein began an affair with an Italian princess she married Mieczysław Munz.^[13][14] Nela subsequently divorced Munz and three years later married Rubinstein.^[14] They had five children (one died in infancy), including daughter Eva, who married William Sloane Coffin, and son John Rubinstein, a Tony Award-winning actor and father of actor Michael Weston.^[15] Nela subsequently authored Nela's Cookbook, which included the dishes she prepared for the couple's legendary parties.^[16]

Both before and during his marriage, Rubinstein carried on a series of affairs with women, including Irene Curzon. In 1977, at age 90, he left his wife for the young Annabelle Whitestone, though he and Nela never divorced. Rubinstein also fathered a daughter with a South American woman,^[6] and he may have been the father of Muriel Draper's son, Sanders, who perished in World War II.^[6]

Jewish affiliation[link]

While he was an agnostic, Rubinstein was nevertheless proud of his Jewish heritage.^[17] He was a great friend of Israel,^[18] which he visited several times with his wife and children, giving concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals, and master classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre.

Polish affinity[link]

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was deeply attached to Poland. At the inauguration of the UN in 1945, Rubinstein showed his Polish patriotism at a concert for the delegates. He began the concert by stating his deep disappointment that the conference did not have a delegation from Poland. Rubinstein later described becoming overwhelmed by a blind fury and angrily pointing out to the public the absence of the Polish flag. He then sat down at the piano and played the Polish national anthem loudly and slowly, repeating the final part in a great thunderous forte. When he had finished, the public rose to their feet and gave him a great ovation.^[19]

On practice[link]

Rubinstein believed that a foremost danger for young pianists is to practice too much. Rubinstein regularly advised that young pianists should practice no more than three hours a day. "I was born very, very lazy and I don't always practice very long," he said, "but I must say, in my defense, that it is not so good, in a musical way, to overpractice. When you do, the music seems to come out of your pocket. If you play with a feeling of 'Oh, I know this,' you play without that little drop of fresh blood that is necessary – and the audience feels it." Of his own practice methods, he said, "At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different."^[1][20]

Pupils[link]

Rubinstein was reluctant to teach in his earlier life, refusing to accept William Kapell's request for lessons. It was not until the late 1950s that he accepted his first student Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. Other students of Rubinstein include François-René Duchâble, Avi Schönfeld, Ann Schein Carlyss, Eugen Indjic, Dean Kramer, and Marc Laforêt. Rubinstein also gave master classes towards the end of his life.^[21]

Death and legacy[link]

Rubinstein died in his sleep at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated.^[1] On the first anniversary of his death, an urn holding his ashes was buried in Jerusalem — as specified in his will — in a dedicated plot now dubbed "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest. This was arranged with Israel's chief rabbis so that the main forest wouldn't fall under religious laws governing cemeteries.^[23]

In October 2007, his family donated to the Juilliard School an extensive collection of original manuscripts, manuscript copies and published editions that had been seized by the Germans during World War II from his Paris residence. Seventy-one items were returned to his four children, marking the first time that Jewish property kept in the Berlin State Library was returned to the legal heirs.^[24]

In 1974, Jan Jacob Bistritzky established the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, held every three years in Israel, intended to promote the careers of young and outstanding pianists. The Arthur Rubinstein Award and other prizes are presented to the winners. The Rubinstein Competition also commissions works by Israeli composers.^[25]

Recordings[link]

In 1910, Rubinstein recorded Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 for the Polish Favorit label.^[6] The pianist was displeased with the acoustic recording process, saying it made the piano sound "like a banjo" and did not record again until the advent of electrical recording. However, Rubinstein made numerous player piano music rolls for the Aeolian Duo-Art system and the American Piano Company (AMPICO) in the 1920s.

Beginning in 1928, Rubinstein began to record extensively for RCA Victor, making a large number of solo, concerto and chamber music recordings until his retirement in 1976. As recording technology improved, from 78-rpm discs to LPs and stereophonic recordings, Rubinstein re-recorded much of his repertoire. All of his RCA recordings have been released on compact disc and amount to about 107 hours of music.

Rubinstein preferred to record in the studio, and during his lifetime approved for release only about three hours of live recordings. However, since the pianist’s death, several labels have issued live recordings taken from radio broadcasts.

Honors[link]

Sculpture of Arthur Rubinstein on Piotrkowska Street, in Łódź, Poland, where Rubinstein once lived

• Sonning Award (1971; Denmark)
• On April 1, 1976, Arthur Rubinstein was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.
• In 1977, he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).^[26]
• Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour.
• Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
• Officer's Cross (Krzyż Oficerski) of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
• Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
• Member of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
• Officier of the Order of Leopold of Belgium.
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[27]

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Schubert: Trios Nos. 1 in B-flat, Op. 99 and 2 in E-flat, Op. 100 (Piano Trios) (Grammy Awards of 1976)
• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Brahms: Trios (Complete)/Schumann: Trio No. 1 in D Minor (Grammy Awards of 1975)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra):

• Arthur Rubinstein for 'Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat/Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (Grammy Awards of 1978)
• Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E-flat (Grammy Awards of 1960)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)

Bibliography[link]

• Rubinstein, Arthur (1973). My Young Years. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46890-2. 
• Rubinstein, Arthur (1980). My Many Years. New York: New York. ISBN 0-394-42253-8. 

See also[link]

• List of Polish people (music)
• Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Rubinstein

• Arthur Rubinstein at Allmusic
• Arthur Rubinstein profile at PBS American Masters
• (Italian) Arthur Rubinstein Musical Association – Italy
• Homage to Arthur Rubinstein (Fansite)
• The Arthur Rubinstein International Competition
• The Presidency Project – Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Arthur Rubinstein.

Martha Argerich at the age of 21 in 1962

Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine pianist.

Early life[link]

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three (the provenance of the name Argerich is uncertain: some say it is Catalan, while others maintain it originates from Croatia).^[1] At the age of five, she moved to teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling. Argerich gave her debut concert in 1949 at the age of eight. The family moved to Europe in 1955 where Argerich studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria. Juan Perón, then the president of Argentina, made their decision possible by appointing her parents to diplomatic posts in the Argentine Embassy in Vienna. She later studied with Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio.^[2] Argerich also seized opportunities for brief periods of coaching with Madeleine Lipatti (widow of Dinu Lipatti), Abbey Simon, and Nikita Magaloff.^[3] In 1957, at sixteen, she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition, within three weeks of each other. It was at the latter that she met Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli whom she would later seek out for lessons during a personal artistic crisis at the age of twenty, though she only had four lessons with him in a year and a half.^[4] Her greatest influence was Gulda, with whom she studied for 18 months.

Professional career[link]

Argerich rose to international prominence when she won the seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. In 1965, she debuted in the United States in the Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. In the same year, she also made her first recording, including works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt, which received critical acclaim. In 1965, she recorded Chopin's Scherzo No. 3, Polonaise, Op. 53, and other short works in the later years.

Argerich has often remarked in interviews of feeling "lonely" on stage during solo performances.^[5] Since the 1980s, she has staged few solo performances, instead focusing on concertos and, in particular, chamber music, and accompanying instrumentalists in sonatas. She is noted especially for her recordings of 20th century works by composers such as Rachmaninoff, Messiaen and Prokofiev. One notable compilation pairs Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (recorded in December 1982 with the Radio Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under direction of Riccardo Chailly) with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (February 1980, Symphonie Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Kirill Kondrashin).

Argerich is also famous for her interpretation of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor, which she has recorded several times and continues to perform.

Argerich has also promoted younger pianists, both through her annual festival and through her frequent appearances as a member of the jury at important competitions.^{[citation needed]} The pianist Ivo Pogorelić was thrust into the musical spotlight partly as a result of Argerich's actions: after he was eliminated in the third round of the 1980 International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Argerich proclaimed him a "genius" and left the jury in protest.^[6] She has supported several artists including Gabriela Montero, Mauricio Vallina, Sergio Tiempo, Gabriele Baldocci and others.^[7][8]

Argerich is president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs each year at the Lugano Festival, Switzerland. She also created and has been General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan, since 1996.

Her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. Nevertheless she is widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of her time.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Argerich has been married three times. Her first marriage was to composer-conductor Robert Chen, with whom she had a daughter, Lyda Chen, who is a violist. From 1969 to 1973, Argerich was married to conductor Charles Dutoit, with whom she had a daughter, Annie Dutoit. Argerich continues to record and perform with Dutoit. Her third husband was pianist Stephen Kovacevich, with whom she had a daughter, Stephanie.^[10]

In 1990, Argerich was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After treatment, the cancer went into remission, but there was a reoccurrence in 1995, eventually metastasizing to her lungs and lymph nodes. Following aggressive treatment at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, which included the removal of part of her lung and use of an experimental vaccine, Argerich's cancer went into remission again. In gratitude, Argerich performed a Carnegie Hall recital benefiting the Institute.^[11] As of 2012^[update], Argerich remains cancer-free.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette 2005 Japan
• Praemium Imperiale 2005 Japan
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):
  • Claudio Abbado (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 (2006)
• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
  • Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev for Prokofiev (Arr. Pletnev): Cinderella Suite for Two Pianos/Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye (2005)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  • Charles Dutoit (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3/Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (2000)
• Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal (1997)
• International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition: 1st prize (1965)
• Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition: 1st prize (1957) ^[12]
• Geneva International Music Competition: 1st prize (1957)
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[13]

See also[link]

Piano portal

• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich
• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich II
• List of Argentines

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Argerich--Discography," (August 11, 1999)
• Ross, Alex; 'Madame X', November 12, 2001, a profile of Argerich in The New Yorker
• Martha Argerich, evening talks, the award-winning documentary film about Argerich by Georges Gachot - (imdb link)
• Orga, Ates, River Plate Queen (1978, 2006), an interview with Argerich first published in the 1979 International Music Guide
• MUSIC FESTIVAL Argerich's Meeting Point in Beppu, a music festival sponsored by the Argerich Arts Foundation of Beppu, Japan
• The Martha Argerich Project
• Argerich Music news, concert schedule, articles, recordings
• Argerich's repertoire through the years
• Martha Argerich biography, CD and concert review by cosmopolis.ch
• Martha Argerich Project Brings Talent to Lugano by Euro News, June 15, 2009

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Evgeny Kissin (2011)

Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin (Russian: Евге́ний И́горевич Ки́син Yevgeniy Igorevich Kisin; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian classical pianist. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002.^[1] He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt.

Life[link]

Early Life and Career[link]

Kissin was born in Moscow to a Russian Jewish family. Recognized as a child prodigy, at age six, he began piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. At the school, he became a student of Anna Kantor, who remained Kissin's only piano teacher.^[2]

At the age of ten, Kissin made his debut performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra. The year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's talents were revealed on the international scene in 1984, at the age of twelve, when he played and recorded both of Chopin's piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. Kissin’s first appearances outside Russia were in 1985 in Eastern Europe, followed a year later by his first tour of Japan. In 1987 he made his West European debut at the Berlin Festival as well as his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival. In 1988 he toured Europe with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov and also made his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. In December of the same year he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Concert which was broadcast internationally, with the performance repeated the following year at the Salzburg Easter Festival. In September 1990, Kissin made his debut in North America playing Chopin's two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recital in Carnegie Hall's centennial season. In 1997, he gave the first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London.^[3]

Achievements and Recent Engagements[link]

Kissin makes regular recital tours of Europe, America and Asia. He has performed with nearly all the leading orchestras of the world, under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. Kissin has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern and others, who admire Kissin's virtuosity.

Many musical awards and tributes from around the world have been showered upon Kissin. In 1987 he received the Crystal Prize of the Osaka Symphony Hall for the best performance of the year 1986 (his first performance in Japan). In 1991 he received the Musician of the Year Prize from the Chigiana Academy of Music in Siena, Italy. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards Ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated at over one billion, and became Musical America’s youngest Instrumentalist of the Year in 1995. In 1997 he received the prestigious Triumph Award for his outstanding contribution to Russia’s culture, one of the highest cultural honors to be awarded in the Russian Republic, and again, the youngest-ever awardee. He was the first pianist to be invited to give a recital at the BBC Proms (1997), and, in the 2000 season, was the first concerto soloist ever to be invited to play in the Proms opening concert. In May 2001 Kissin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music. In December 2003 in Moscow, he received the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia’s highest musical honors. In June 2005 he was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In March 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Hong Kong University.

In addition to classical music, Kissin has given recitals of Yiddish and Russian poetry. A CD compilation of Kissin's recitals from the contemporary Yiddish poetry was issued by the Forward Association in 2010.^[4] In 2007 he became Honorary Patron of a professional chamber opera company, City Opera of Vancouver, led by conductor Charles Barber.^[5][6]

Recordings[link]

Kissin’s piano recordings have also received numerous awards and accolades, including the Edison Klassiek in The Netherlands and the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix of La Nouvelle Academie du Disque in France, as well as awards from music magazines throughout the world. His recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist and, in 2002, he was named Echo Klassik Soloist of the Year. In 2010 he was awarded the Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (With Orchestra) for his recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).

His first studio recording, in 1988 for RCA Red Seal, was of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Gergiev/London Symphony Orchestra, and six Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39. Other works recorded for RCA Red Seal are two Chopin recital programs, one with the four Ballades, Barcarolle, Berceuse, and Scherzo No. 4, Op. 54, and another with the 24 Preludes Op. 28, Sonata No. 2 and Polonaise in A- flat; Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini, and Francks’s Prelude, Choral and Fugue; Schumann’s Fantasy, Op. 17 and five Etudes d’execution transcendante by Liszt; Schumann’s Kreisleriana and the Bach-Busoni Chaconne; Bach-Busoni Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, Glinka-Balakirev The Lark and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition; Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor and Carnaval; and an all-Brahms disc including Sonata No. 3 in F Minor and five Hungarian dances. A duo recital with James Levine of works by Schubert was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and released in 2006.

Other recital albums include Schubert Sonata No. 21 in B flat major and Schubert-Liszt Four Songs (BMG/RCA Victor Red Seal), Schubert Wanderer Fantasie, Brahms Seven Pieces, Op. 116, Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 (Deutsche Grammophon) and Haydn Sonata No. 30 in A major, Sonata No. 52 in E flat major, and Schubert Sonata in A minor D784 (Sony).

Among his concerto recordings are the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (EMI); Mozart Piano Concerto No 24 and Schumann Piano Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (EMI); Schumann Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic and Giulini (Sony Classical); Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Levine (Sony Classical); Prokofiev Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon) and Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 with the Boston Symphony and Ozawa (RCA Red Seal); Mozart Concertos Nos. 12 and 20 and Rondo in D major KV. 382, Haydn Concerto in D major, Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the Moscow Virtuosi and Spivakov (RCA Red Seal); Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon); Prokofiev Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ashkenazy (EMI Classics). A recent recording with Kremerata Baltica of Mozart Concertos Nos. 20 and 27 will be a forthcoming release on EMI.

Christopher Nupen’s documentary film, Evgeny Kissin: The Gift of Music, was released in 2000 on video and DVD by RCA Red Seal.

The 2010-2011 music season sees engagements in major cities across Europe. He will then embark on a North American tour, featuring solo recitals, chamber recitals with Yuri Bashmet, and performances with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Awards and Recognitions[link]

• Musical America, Instrumentalist of the Year, 1994
• Triumph Award, Outstanding Contribution to Russia's Culture (Youngest Awardee), 1997
• Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music, New York 2001
• Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music 2005^[7]
• Herbert von Karajan Award, Baden-Baden, Germany (2005)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra), 2006
• Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Award, Brescia, Italy 2007
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra), 2009
• Honorary Doctoral Degree by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Evgeny Kissin

• Full Biography
• (English) Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati (France Management) : Evgeny Kissin
• Evgeny Kissin's Fan Club Homepage
• "Sony BMG Evgeny Kissin Page". Sony BMG. http://www.kissinmusic.com/. Retrieved 2006-08-12. 
• "Evgeny Kissin at IMG". IMG Artists. http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=187. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". BMG Classics. http://www.bmgclassics.com/artists/artist.jsp?id=105438&artist=Evgeny%20Kissin. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". RCA Victor. Archived from the original on 2006-05-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20060509120614/http://www.rcavictor.com/artists/artist.jsp?id=105438. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". EMI Classics. http://www.emiclassics.co.uk/search_new.php?q=evgeny%20kissin. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". Sony Classical. http://sonyclassical.com/artists/kissin/. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• Evgeny Kissin - on Allmusic
• DVD Times link on documentary We Want the Light

Pola Negri (3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She also started several important women's fashion trends. She is known for being one of the most popular stars of the silent film era, and her varied career included work as an actress in silent and talking films, theater, and vaudeville; as a singer and recording artist; as an author; and as a ballerina.

Early life[link]

Negri was born Apolonia Chalupec (or Chałupiec) according to her birth record and autobiography^[1] in Lipno, Vistula Land, Russian Empire (present-day Poland). She was the youngest of three children, but because the first two died young, she grew up as an only child. Her mother, whose maiden name was Eleonora Kiełczewska, was reportedly impoverished Polish royalty,^[2] and her father, Jerzy Chalupec, was a Slovak immigrant tinsmith.^[1][3] After Chalupec's father was arrested by the Russian authorities for revolutionary activities and sent to Siberia, she and her mother moved to Warsaw, where they lived in extreme poverty.^[4]

Chalupec was accepted into the Imperial Ballet of Warsaw, and began training in the ballet academy. The Academy’s patron and ballet enthusiast was Tsar Nicholas II. The Academy produced such world famous ballerinas as Pawlowa, Tamara Karsawina, and Matilda Krzesinska. Chalupec's first dance performance was in the chorus of baby swans in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and she worked her way up to a solo role in the Saint-Léon ballet Coppélia. A bout of tuberculosis forced her to stop dancing. Chalupec was sent to a sanatorium to recover, and during that time, she adopted the pseudonym Pola Negri, after the Italian novelist and poetess Ada Negri,^[5] with Pola being short for Apolonia.

Polish theatre and film career[link]

After Negri returned from her stay at the sanatorium, she successfully auditioned for the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts. Alongside her formal schooling at the Academy, she also took private classes outside with renowned Polish stage actress and professor Honorata Leszczynska. She made her theatrical debut before her graduation at The Small Theatre in Warsaw on October 2, 1912. Her performance received much acclaim, and she continued to perform there while finishing her studies at the Academy. She graduated in 1914. Her graduating performance was as Hedwig in Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, which resulted in offers to join a number of the prominent theatres in Warsaw.^[6] By the end of World War I, Negri had established herself as a popular stage actress. She made an appearance in the Grand Theatre (in Sumurun), as well as in Small Theatre (Aleksander Fredro's Śluby panieńskie) and at the Summer Theatre in the Saxon Garden, a popular summer variété theatre.

Negri debuted in film in 1914 in Slave to her Senses (Niewolnica zmysłów). She also appeared in a variety of films made by the Warsaw film industry, including Room No. 13 (Pokój Nr. 13), His Last Gesture (Jego Ostatni Czyn), Students (Studenci), and The Wife (Żona).^[7] Negri gained much popularity during her short screen career in Warsaw, acting alongside many of the most renowned Polish film artists of the time, including Józef Węgrzyn, Władysław Grabowski, Józef Galewski, and Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski.

Ernst Lubitsch and German silent film career[link]

In 1917, Negri's popularity provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of Max Reinhardt's theatre production of Sumurun. In this production, she met Ernst Lubitsch,^[8] who at the time was producing comedies for the German Film studio UFA. Negri was first signed with Saturn Films, making six films with them, including Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht (If the Heart Burns With Hate, 1917). After this, she signed to UFA's roster; some of the films that she made with UFA include Mania (1918), Der Gelbe Schein (The Yellow Ticket, also 1918), and Komtesse Doddy (1919).

In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with Negri as the main character. The result was Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success and led to a series of Lubitsch/Negri collaborations, each larger in scale than the previous film. The next was Carmen (1918, reissued in the United States in 1921 as Gypsy Blood), which was followed by Madame Dubarry (1919, released in the United States as Passion). Madame DuBarry became a huge international success, and managed to bring down the American embargo on German films and launch a demand for German films that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market. Negri and Lubitsch made three German films together after this, Sumurun (aka One Arabian Night, 1920), Die Bergkatze (aka The Mountain Cat or The Wildcat, 1921), and Die Flamme (The Flame, 1922), and UFA employed Negri for films with other directors, including Vendetta (1920) and Sappho (1921), many of which were purchased by American distributors and shown in the United States.

Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procuration of the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with Mary Pickford calling for his services in her costume film Rosita (1923). Paramount Pictures mogul Jesse Lasky saw the premiere of Madame DuBarry in Berlin in 1919, and Paramount invited Negri to come to Hollywood in 1921. She signed a contract with Paramount and arrived in New York in a flurry of publicity on September 12, 1922. This ended up making Negri the first ever Continental star to be imported into Hollywood, setting a precedent for imported European stars that would go on to include Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, and many others.

Paramount period[link]

Pola Negri and Rod La Rocque in a publicity portrait for Forbidden Paradise (1924)

Negri ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the film industry at the time,^[9] living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans.^[10] Negri was a favorite photography subject of the famous Hollywood portrait photographer Eugene Robert Richee,^[11] and many of her best-known photographs were taken during this period.

Negri's first two Paramount films were Bella Donna (1923) and The Cheat (1923), both of which were directed by George Fitzmaurice and were remakes of Paramount films from 1915. Negri's first spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon-directed The Spanish Dancer (1923), which was based on the Victor Hugo novel Don César de Bazan. The initial screenplay was intended as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino before he left the Paramount lot, and was reworked for Negri. Rosita, Lubitsch's film with Mary Pickford, was released the same year, and also happened to be based on Don César de Bazan. According to the book Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them, "Critics had a field day comparing the two. The general opinion was that the Pickford film was more polished, but the Negri film was more entertaining."^[12]

Initially Paramount utilized Negri as a mysterious European femme fatale and as a clotheshorse as they did with their other major actress Gloria Swanson, and staged an ongoing feud between the two actresses which actor Charlie Chaplin remembered in his autobiography as "a mélange of cooked-up jealousies and quarrels."^[13] Negri was concerned that Paramount was mishandling her career and image, and arranged for her former director Ernst Lubitsch to direct her in the critically acclaimed Forbidden Paradise (1924). It would be the last time the two worked together in any film. By 1925, Negri's on-screen continental opulence was starting to wear thin with some segments of the American audience, a situation which was parodied in the Mal St. Clair-directed comedy A Woman of the World (1925), which Negri starred in.

Pola Negri with Warner Baxter in a publicity still for Three Sinners (1928)

Paramount then began to cast Negri in international peasant roles in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced Hotel Imperial (1927) in an apparent effort to give her a more down-to-earth, relatable image.^[14] Although Hotel Imperial reportedly fared well at the box office, her next film Barbed Wire (1927) and a number of her subsequent films performed poorly in the United States due to the poor publicity surrounding her behavior at her former lover Rudolph Valentino's New York funeral and her rebound marriage to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani, although internationally her films continued to fare well.

In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures, The Woman From Moscow, opposite actor Norman Kerry. Negri claims in her autobiography that she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing instead to retire from films and live as a wife and expectant mother in the Château de Rueil-Séraincourt in Vigny, France, which she owned at the time.^[15] That same year, she wrote a short volume featuring her reflections on art and film entitled La Vie et Le Rêve au Cinéma (Life and Dreams in the Movies).^[16]

Later career[link]

Negri in a publicity portrait from Hi Diddle Diddle (1943)

Negri's initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. Negri miscarried her baby, and eventually learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures, straining their relationship. She went back into pictures when an independent production company offered her work in a British film production that was to be distributed by Gaumont-British. Initially the film was to be a filmed version of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, and Shaw even offered to alter the play to suit the film.^[17] When the rights proved to be too expensive, the company settled on an original story and hired German kammerspielfilm director Paul Czinner to direct. The resulting film, The Way Of Lost Souls (also known as The Woman He Scorned), was released in 1929; it would be Negri's final silent film.

Negri returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film, A Woman Commands (1932). The film itself was poorly received, but Negri sang the song "Paradise" in the film, and the song became a sizable hit and for many years was considered to be a standard. The song was covered by many other performers, including Russ Columbo and Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Negri went on a successful vaudeville tour to promote the song. She was employed in the leading role of the touring theatre production A Trip To Pressburg, which premiered at the Shubert Theater in New York. However, she collapsed after the final curtain at the production's stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to gall bladder inflammation^[18] and was unable to complete the tour.^[19]

Negri returned to France to appear in Fanatisme (Fanaticism, 1934), an historical costume film about Napoleón III. The film was directed by the directorial team of Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and released by Pathé. It was her only French film. After this, actor-director Willi Forst brought Negri to Germany appear in the film Mazurka (1935). Mazurka gained much popularity in Germany and abroad, and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films, a fact that gave birth to a rumor in 1937 about Negri having had an affair with Hitler. There was no truth to the rumor. Pola sued a French magazine, Pour Vous, that had circulated the libelous rumor and won her case. Mazurka was remade (almost shot-for-shot) in the U.S. as a Kay Francis picture, Confession.

Negri and Martha Scott in a publicity still from Hi Diddle Diddle (1943)

After the success of Mazurka, Negri's former studio, the now-Joseph Goebbels controlled UFA, signed Negri to a new contract. Negri lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with them: Moskau-Shanghai (Moscow-Shanghai, 1936), Madame Bovary (1937), Tango Notturno (1937), Die Fromme Lüge (The Secret Lie, 1938), and Die Nacht der Entscheidung (The Night of Decision, 1939).

After the Nazis took over France, Negri found the oppression of the regime too much to bear, and fled back to America. She sailed to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, and initially lived by selling off her jewelry collection. Negri was hired in a supporting role as the temperamental opera singer Genya Smetana for the 1943 comedy Hi Diddle Diddle. After the success of this film, Negri was offered numerous roles which were essentially rehashes or her role in Hi Diddle Diddle, all of which she turned down. In 1944, Negri was engaged by booking agent Miles Ingalls for a nationwide vaudeville tour.^[20] According to her autobiography, she also appeared in a Boston supper club engagement in 1945 for a repertoire centered around the song "Paradise",^[21] and soon after decided to retire from the entertainment business altogether.

Personal life[link]

Negri and Mdivani.

Negri's first marriage was with Count Eugeniusz Dąmbski, and would prove to be short lived. Negri married Dambski in St Mary's Assumption Church in Sosnowiec in November 5, 1919, thus becoming Countessa Apolonia Dąmbska-Chałupiec. After a long separation period, Negri and Dąmbski were divorced on 1922.^[22] During their separation period, Negri met industrialist Wolfgang George Schleber, whom she called "Petronius" after the main character in Quo Vadis. Negri would be Schleber's mistress for most of the remainder of her stay in Germany.

After Negri began working in the United States, she began making headlines and gossip columns with a string of celebrity love affairs with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Rod La Rocque, and Rudolph Valentino. Negri had met Chaplin while in Germany, and what began as a platonic relationship there became a well-publicized affair and marriage speculation which received the headline, "The Queen of Tragedy To Wed The King of Comedy".^[23] The relationship soured, and Negri became involved for a time with actor Rod La Rocque, who also appeared opposite her in Forbidden Paradise (1924).

Negri then met Rudolph Valentino at a costume party held by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst at the San Simeon estate, and was Valentino's lover until his death in 1926. Negri caused a media sensation at his New York funeral in August 24, 1926, at which she "fainted" several times, and, according to actor Ben Lyon, arranged for a large floral arrangement, which spelled out "P-O-L-A", to be placed on Valentino's coffin.^[24] The press dismissed her actions as a publicity stunt. At the time of his death and for the remainder of her life, Negri would state that Valentino was the love of her life.

Negri followed this with her second marriage, this one to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani, which caused public opinion in the United States to sour against her because it happened so quickly after Rudolph Valentino's death. Negri and Mdivani were married on May 14, 1927 (less than nine months after Valentino's death), and were divorced on April 2, 1931.^[25]

While residing at the Ambassador Hotel in New York in April 1932, Negri was romantically involved with Russ Columbo and performed with him in the George Jessel Variety Revue at The Schubert Theatre. After the premier of Negri's film A Woman Commands in Hollywood, Russ Columbo performed Negri's signature song "Paradise" with his orchestra, and dedicated the song to Negri. Columbo also recorded and released the song as a 78 rpm single that year with slightly altered lyrics, and the single became a huge sensation with audiences across the country.^[26]

Negri was close friends with actresses Mae Murray and Marion Davies, and in fact was sister-in-law to Murray for a time, who was married to David Mdivani, brother to Negri's husband Serge Mdivani. Davies allowed Negri to live in her bungalow when Negri initially emigrated back to California in the 1940s.

Retirement and later years[link]

After Negri retired from films, she became close friends with Margaret West, an oil heiress and vaudeville actress the she had originally met in the 1930s. The two became housemates, and moved from Los Angeles to San Antonio, Texas, in 1957.^[27] Negri would live with West until the latter's death in 1963. Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States on January 12, 1951.^[28]

In 1948, director Billy Wilder approached Negri to appear as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard (1950), after Mae Murray, Mae West, and Mary Pickford declined the role. Negri also declined the role because she felt that the screenplay was not ready and that Montgomery Clift, who was slated to play the Joe Gillis character at the time, was not a good choice for the character. The role of Joe Gillis eventually went to William Holden, and Gloria Swanson, Negri's former "rival" at Paramount, accepted the Norma Desmond role.^[29]

Negri came out of retirement once to appear in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964), which starred Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach. Negri's appearance in the film as eccentric jewel collector Madame Habib was shot over the course of two weeks. During the time that Negri was filming The Moon-Spinners in London, she made a sensation by appearing before the London press at her hotel in the company of a feisty cheetah on a steel chain leash.

After West's death, Negri moved out of the home she had shared with West into a townhome located at 7707 Broadway in San Antonio. She spent the remainder of her years there, largely out of the public eye. In 1964, Negri received an honorary award from the German film industry for her film work, followed by a Hemis-Film award in San Antonio in 1968.^[30] In 1970 she published her autobiography, Memoirs of a Star, which was published by Doubleday.

Negri made an appearance at The Museum of Modern Art on April 30, 1970, for a screening event in her honor, which featured her film A Woman of the World (1925) and selections from her films.^[31] Negri was also guest of honor at a 1972 screening of Carmen held at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.^[32]

In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached Negri to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in his film A Matter of Time, but Negri was unable to accept the part due to poor health. The role ended up going to Ingrid Bergman instead.

In 1978, Billy Wilder directed the film Fedora; although Negri does not appear in the film, the title character is based largely on her.^[29]

Negri's final high-profile coverage in her lifetime was for a "Where Are They Now?" feature on silent film stars, which appeared in Life magazine in 1980.

Death and legacy[link]

Pola Negri's stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood, California, and in Poland's Walk of Fame in Łódź, Poland.

Pola Negri died on 1 August 1987, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia, however she was also suffering from a brain tumor (for which she had refused treatment). At her wake at the Porter Loring Funeral Home in San Antonio, her body was placed on view wearing a yellow golden chiffon dress with a golden turban to match. Negri's death received extensive coverage in her hometown newspapers San Antonio Light,^[33] and San Antonio Express-News,^[34] and in publications such as Los Angeles Times^[35] New York Times,^[36] and Variety magazine.^[37]

Negri was interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles next to her mother, Eleonora. Since she had no children, she left most of her estate to St. Mary's University in Texas, including several rare prints of her films. In addition, a generous portion of her estate was given to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order; a large black and white portrait hangs in the small chapel next to Poland's patron, Our Lady of Częstochowa, in San Antonio, Texas.

Pola Negri donated her collection of memorabilia to St. Mary's University in San Antonio, who also set up a scholarship in her name.^[38] The Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles remembers Negri with a Pola Negri Award given to outstanding film artists, and the Pola Negri Museum in Lipno gives a Polita award for outstanding artist achievement.

Pola Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 11th star in Hollywood history to place her hand and foot prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.^[39] She has also received, along with Roman Polanski, a star in Poland's Walk of Fame in Łódź. The Polish post office issued a Stamp honoring Negri in 1996.

Signature and prints of Pola Negri's hands and feet in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, USA

In 2006, a feature-length documentary about Negri's life, directed by Mariusz Kotowski and entitled Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema, premiered at the Seventh Annual Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles.^[40] The documentary is notable for its in-depth interviews with film stars Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach, who were starring actress and supporting actor respectively in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964), Pola Negri's final film. Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema has played at Pola Negri retrospective screenings in The United States and Europe, most notably at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and La Cinémathèque Française in Paris.^[41] Kotowski also authored a Polish-language biography of Pola Negri entitled Pola Negri: Legenda Hollywood (English title: Pola Negri: Hollywood Legend), which was released in Poland on February 24, 2011,^[42] and produced a 3-DVD compilation of early Pola Negri films entitled Pola Negri, The Iconic Collection: The Early Years (2011).^[43]

Filmography[link]

Polish Period[link]

German Silent Period[link]

Paramount Period[link]