Bolesław Kon

Bolesław Kon (b. Warsaw 9 December 1906; d. Warsaw 10 June 1936) was an outstanding Polish concert pianist who won international acclaim in his tragically brief career.

Kon was born into a poor Jewish family in Warsaw. He began his piano training aged about 10, at the Moscow Conservatory under Konstantin Igumnov. In 1924 he returned to Poland and continued his studies, first at the Chopin Higher Academy, and then at the Warsaw Conservatory under Aleksander Michałowski and afterwards under Juliusz Wertheim and Zbigniew Drzewiecki. [J. Methuen-Campbell 1981, 116.] Even as a student he showed extraordinary powers and a front-rank career was anticipated for him.

After graduation he moved to Cracow as professor of piano at the Music Society Conservatory there, of which he became Director in 1929-1931. By now he was giving orchestral concerts in Warsaw and Cracow, and in 1932, at Drzewiecki's urging, he entered the 2nd International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition and won 3rd Prize. In the following year, after a short period of preparation living in Vienna, he entered the International Music Competition there and obtained First Prize. (It was on this occasion that Alfred Cortot, a member of the jury, walked out because the prize had been awarded to Kon and not to Dinu Lipatti, who took second prize. [J. Methuen-Campbell 1981, 182.] ) Kon at once received many invitations to give concerts.

However he suffered from a form of existential depression and took his own life in Warsaw in June 1936. He was afflicted with an hereditary mental illness and used to attend a sanatorium at regular intervals. The need to continue his career caused him to cut short a period of treatment, and it was in this way that the fatal melancholy overtook him. [J. Methuen-Campbell 1981, 116.]

According to Professor Drzewiecki, Kon was the greatest pianistic genius that he ever heard; Mme Margherita Trombini-Kazuro described his playing as of great nobility and spontaneity. [J. Methuen-Campbell 1981, 116.] It is believed that he made no recordings.

Notes

Sources

*J. Methuen-Campbell, "Chopin Playing From The Composer To The Present Day" (Gollancz, London 1981).
*Fryderyk Chopin Institute, Website.

External links

*Fryderyk Chopin Institute biographic sketch of Kon, [http://www.nifc.pl/chopin/persons/text/id/29/lang/en]