Poland Centre and West

The villa of the textile factory ownerPoznański houses the local museum. There are a room, dedicated to the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and memories of the composers Alexandre Tansman and GrażynaBacewicz; all three were born in Łódźin resp. 1886, 1897 and 1909. Bacewicz wasthe leading Polish composer of her generation – i.e. between Szymanowski and Lutosławski – and a versatile violinist .

Bronze monument of Arthur Rubinstein, playing the piano. His nose shines as a result of numerous touches.

Birthplace of Alexandre Tansman, °1897. He studied in Poland but left the country for Paris in 1921.

Monument of Stanisław Moniuszko, the composer of Polish national operas; best known is Halka (1847).

Łódź Music Academy (1982) is in another Pałac Poznańskich and called after Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz; the latter, Grażyna’s elder brother (°1904), was a composer too.

Łódź concert hall is a modern building from 2004.

Łódźtheatre for opera and ballet; the building in socialist-realist style was opened in 1967.

Poland’s finest museum of musical instruments. Ground floor: wind instruments and automates. Second floor: stringed instruments and a Chopin room (piano from c 1820). In the attic are ethnic instruments.

Grave of Józef Wybicki (1747-1822), the author of the Polish national anthem since 1926. The text Poland is not yet perished has been placed under a folk melody, Dąbrowski Mazurka.

The plaque (1960) mentions a recital by Chopin in this former Jesuit college in 1828. Behind the building a Chopin park with his bust, originally made in 1923 and restored in 1999.

In addition to the monument of the national poet Mickiewicz, a Chopin plaque was placed in 1910; restored in 1945.

Concert hall, home of the Poznań PO and of the Poznańskie Sławiki (= nightingales), the best boys choir of Poland. It is the aula of the Mickiewicz University and was built in 1910,

Poznańtheatrefor opera and ballet.Originally built in 1910 as the Posener Stadttheater (the town belonged to Germany), it became Polish in 1919.

Birthplace of the brothers Philipp and Xaver Scharwenka, born resp. in 1847 and 1850. Both were great musicians but Xaver is best known as a composer. The exact address of the house was only discovered in 2016; there are plans for a plaque and a small museum.

The palaceof the Radziwill family, in fact a large wooden hunting lodge, has kept its original form. The musicallygifted prince Anton Radziwill had it built in 1822-24 after the design of the famous architect Schinkel. Chopin, the piano teacher of daughter Wanda, stayed there in 1829 and probably in 1827. It is a hotel now and – when you are lucky – you can sleep in Chopin’s room. There are concerts and piano contests. Besides Chopin is commemorated by a small exhibition and a remarkable monument. www.palacantonin.pl

The composer Karol Kazimierz Kuspiński was born here in 1785; there is a memorial room in the town hall. Kuspiński, a contemporary of Weber, wrote 26 Polish operas and several other works. He was director of the Warsaw opera and died there in 1857.

Chopin stayed in the autumn of 1829with the Wasiełowskifamily. The house was demolished, a Chopin plaque was installed at the local church in 2010.

In September 1829 Chopin was present at a wedding ceremony of friends of him in the evangelical church. He stayed in the palace. Plaque at the church and monument (2010) before the palace.

The river Neisse/Nysa forms the German-Polish frontiersince 1945 and divided the town Guben in a German and a Polish part (Gubin). The city theatre was built on an isle in the middle of the river (now Polish). Near the theatre ruin is a monument of the great singer, actress and even composer Corona Schröter, born in Guben in 1751. She worked in Weimar and composed songs for plays in which she appeared.She died in 1802.

Georg Philipp Telemann livedfrom 1704 until 1709/10 in Sorau, in the service of Erdmann II von Promnitz. The huge palace is now in a deplorable condition; a foreign investor considers a revitalization of the empty shell with a hotel, shopping mall and cultural centre.

In any case Telemann has already a pleasant monument on the market place of Żary/Sorau.

Music and theatre played a important role in this palace since the end of the 17^th century; the proprietors bore names as Wallenstein, Lobkowitz and Biron. In the middle of the 19^th century Dorothea Talleyrand-Périgord renovated the building and welcomed Liszt and Verdi as her guests.