Michael Escoubas published a great review of Maja Trochimczyk's book "Paderewski Essays & Poems" in monthly poetry journal, "Quill and Parchment" (vol. 303, September 2026). He first introduced the readers to Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), a Polish pianist, composer, statesman, patriot and philanthropist known to millions during his life, but mostly forgotten outside of Poland.
As he wrote: "In her monumental work, Paderewski: Essays & Poems, Editor Maja Trochimczyk brings the world front and center with Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941). Over the course of eighty-one years of life, Paderewski’s reputation entailed: piano virtuoso, composer, divine messenger, essayist, Polish patriot, statesman, philanthropist, and spiritual master. It is Trochimczyk’s goal to ensure that the world dare not forget Paderewski’s contributions to life, art, music, and social and spiritual well-being. His stellar life continues to be impactful to this day.[...] Trochimczyk’s interesting and detailed introduction portrays her subject as an early 20th century version of a rock star. Following his formative studies in music in Warsaw, Berlin, and Vienna, he and his legendary Steinway became famous in concert venues the world over, especially in America. Paderewski was idolized by young women who coveted locks of his hair as keepsakes for their scrapbooks. Concert sales made the virtuoso a wealthy man. Trochimczyk provides a listing from the New York Times of popular musicians and artists who performed in that city. [...] Paderewski was not a poet, but his life and achievements elucidated a rich corpus of poetry about him. [...] While I found the tribute poems almost “excessive” in their praise, I paused in amazement at how much Paderewski was respected and admired. I searched in vain for any overt criticism of his life.
Trochimczyk’s essays are masterpieces of research and erudite scholarship. Her essay entitled “Paderewski in Poetry: Master of Harmonies or Poland’s Savior,” explores Paderewski’s dual triumph as musician and patriot. Trochimczyk explores Paderewski’s role in securing Poland’s independence. For over 120 years Poland was subjugated by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Paderewski’s compositions paired with his patriotic actions and writings forever endeared him to the Polish people. [...]. Essay #2 entitled “Paderewski’s Image and His Female Audience,” explores her subject as “an astoundingly beautiful, golden-haired young archangel.“ Trochimczyk provides an exquisite compilation of the people, (particularly women) places, and circumstances that led to this unique perception. Essay #3 entitled “A Paderewski Album from Brighton, England, 1890-1914” is a fascinating collection of press clippings, concert tickets, dedications, handwritten notes of veneration, and appreciation. All of which contribute to a full-orbed portrait of Maestro Ignacy Jan Paderewski. [...] For this reviewer, Maja Trochimczyk’s work has become a threshold that opens into a world of the spirit never seen before, much less appreciated. It is my hope and prayer that many will feel a similar new birth of soul."
Michael Escoubas
Quill and Parchment
ISBN 978-1-945938-87-0 (hardcover), $48.00
274 pp.= xviii pp. prefatory + 256 pp.);
Cover Photo - Paderewski's 1903 portrait by Davies & Sanford.
ISBN 978-1-945938-88-7 (paperback), $32.00
ISBN 978-1-945938-89-4 (eBook, PDF format), $20.
moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2026/01/moonrise-press-publishes-two-books.html
Paderewski Essays & Poems written and edited by Maja Trochimczyk is a book dedicated to a Polish pianist, composer, statesman and philanthropist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1840-1941) who gain international fame not only as a celebrated virtuoso pianist, but also as an architect of Poland's regained independence (1918, after 123 years of partitions). The richly illustrated volume consists of three parts. For the first part, "Paderewski Poems," Dr. Trochimczyk transcribed 52 poems about Paderewski, penned in English by American, British, Scottish, Irish and Australian poets, mostly in 1890-1940. The majority of these poems are from Paderewski personal correspondence preserved in Paderewski Archive at the Archive of Modern Records in Warsaw Poland. They have not been published before.
Among the well-known poets of the Gilded Age and the Interwar Era who wrote about Paderewski were California's first poet laureate Ina Coolbrith; Alabama poet laureate Kate Slaughter McKinney; A.F. Bates (probably Katharine Lee Bates, the author of "America the Beautiful?); Irish-Indian writer, philosopher, and convert to Hinduism, James Cousins; editor of the Century Magazine, Richard Watson Gilder; editor of the New York Times, John Houston Finley; co-founder of the Sierra Club and of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Robert Underwood Johnson; and Paderewski's biographer Charles Phillips, among many others.
The second part of the book contains four essays about Paderewski by Dr. Trochimczyk. Two of these studies, written in 2001 (published in Polish Music Journal, Vol. 4) and in 2025 are dedicated to the textual and contextual analysis of the poems. The first describes a variety of poems about Paderewski that viewed him either as a musician or statesman, a Polish patriot. The second, traces the changing image of the pianist, from a virtuoso, through a divine messenger, comparable to a seraph or archangel, to a heroic Polish patriot, and finally to an immortal, spiritual master, akin to Ascended Masters of Theosophy, who lead their faithful disciples on the path of spiritual ascension into enlightenment. In Paderewski's case, that path is outlined by the sound of his piano, reverently heard in the world's concert halls.
The remaining two studies focus on the constructs of Paderewski stage persona and his reception, predominantly by his female audiences. A discussion of the idealized portraits of the pianist as an archangel, worshipped mostly by women, includes references to poetry, art, and philosophy of Aestheticism of the Gilded Age (2010, published in Polish American Studies, Vol. 67). The fourth essay explores the ramifications of the "Brighton Album" assembled in 1890-1898 (with some items from 1911-14) by one of Paderewski’s ardent female fans in England. Miss Madeleine Michell attended over 50 concerts and preserved hitherto not known documents about his career. In the last part of this volume, readers find a detailed calendar of Paderewski’s life and career, and lists of his writings, speeches, & music compositions, as well as a bibliography.
