Frédéric Chopin has always headed the Polish classical music scene since the 1830s, but his legacy can best be experienced these days at his former home in Zelazowa Wola. The composer's home is one of several major treats the country has in terms of memorable musical experiences. There is the abbey of Grussau in Jelenia Gora, home to no less than a quarter of Mozart's entire manuscripts, and the trail of renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein to follow in Lodz.
Zelazowa Wola – Chopin
Frédéric Chopin may have left his childhood home of Zelena Wola in 1831, but his family home here is a moving insight into the composer's young life. Known officially since 1931 as the Chopin birthplace museum, this sedate 19th-century house sits in a garden replete with plants, a stream and plenty of places for peaceful contemplation. Regularly throughout summer, this contemplation can even be fuelled by Chopin concerts performed on the premises. The village is also the former home of violinist Henryk Szeryng, famed for his recordings of the sonatas of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms – many in conjunction with Arthur Rubinstein. Zelazowa Wola is 50km east of Warsaw. Buses from Frédéric Chopin Acadamy Station depart at 10.30am Saturdays and 1.30pm Sundays during summer (May-September).
Tickets for house and grounds: 12PLN.
Czapski Palace – Chopin
The south wing of this Baroque palace in Warsaw is where the young Chopin lived with his family in 1826. It is now open to the public as the Chopin Family Saloon, containing family memorabilia.
Grussau Abbey – Mozart and Beethoven
In Lower Silesia, a sleepy, rolling landscape of archetypal rural Polish quiesence, lies the Cistercian Abbey of Grüssau, now commonly referred to as Krzeszów Abbey after the nearby "homonymous" town. The beautiful building dates from 1242 – in a remarkable state considering it was severely damaged during the Hussite and Thirty Year’s Wars. The real draw here, though, is the wealth of musical manuscripts it contains: a quarter of Mozart’s known manuscripts, including many autographed scores, as well as original music by Beethoven and Bach.
Piotrkowska Street, Lodz – Rubinstein
The grandest street in this western Polish city is stuffed full of monumental townhouses, outside of which a series of statues have been erected to remember illustrious Lodz figures of times gone by. Whilst writer Julian Tuwim was the first to have a statue fashioned after him, the statue of Arthur Rubinstein's Piano – commemorating the famous pianist who spent his childhood in the nearby house - is the most impressive.
Visitors can sit next to a bust of Rubinstein seated at his instrument of choice (a winged piano of monstrous proportions), designed by Mariel Sztenchelm. The music box into which one used to be able to insert coins to hear excerpts of Chopin's greatest works was removed following complaints from Rubinstein's daughter Ewa, who famously threatened to boycott the city unless the entire statue was taken away. Visit the controversial work outside numbers 74-78.
The first two of these venues host summertime concerts with reasonable regularity; in Lodz the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Concert Hall has year-round Rubinstein concerts. Apart from the obvious vitally-important tangible link between classical music and history in Poland that the likes of Chopin's House and Grüssau Abbey provide, they also offer great opportunities for getting off the mainstream tourist trail in Poland and out into the stunning countryside – much of which remains almost absolutely trapped in time around, oh, 1831.
Luke Waterson - Author Luke Waterson writes, or has written, for various publications including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Moon Guidebooks and The ...
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