Eugeniusz Pankiewicz

Eugeniusz Pankiewicz – Variations for piano: Op. 10, Tow. Wydawn. Muzyki Polskiej (1931) / public domain; source: Biblioteka Narodowa (Polona)

CHAMBER WORKS

PIANO WORKS

(15 December 1857 – 24 December 1898) composer and pianist, born in Siedlce, died in Tworki near Warsaw. Brother of the painter Józef Pankiewicz. Since 1863, he lived in Lublin, where he attended the local gimnazjum (a junior high school) and had private lessons of piano. In 1875, his family moved to Warsaw, where Eugeniusz studied piano at the Instytut Muzyczny (Institute of Music) with Józef Wieniawski. After graduating, in 1877 or 1878, he departed for Saint Petersburg, where he furthered his piano education with Teodor Leszetycki at the local conservatory. He later, around the year 1880, went on to complete his piano studies in Moscow on a few months’ course, but after that decided to return to Warsaw, where he rejoined the Institute of Music to study composition with Władysław Żeleński and Zygmunt Noskowski.

Since 1883, Pankiewicz taught piano at the Institute of Music and the Instytut Maryjski (Marian Institute), a comprehensive school for girls from aristocratic families. He appeared in concert as a soloist and chamber musician in Warsaw (at events organised by the Institute of Music, the Warsaw Musical Society and the Warsaw Singing Society ‘Lute’), Łódź (alongside Stanisław Barcewicz), Lublin (alongside Władysław Alois), Piotrków (alongside Zygmunt Noskowski and Mieczysław Horbowski) and many other cities. In 1894, Pankiewicz suffered a nervous breakdown, which had a serious impact on the last years of his life.

Source: www.culture.pl, Małgorzata Kosińska, Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers’ Union, December 2006.