Ignacy Paderewski Stamps

This post features Ignacy Paderewski stamps. On this blog, I often discuss the way countries celebrate composers and musicians on postage stamps. They can be cultural figures that instill pride and patriotism in the population. For example, you can read about the Japanese koto player Miyagi Michio, Indian musician Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, and Czech composers Smetana and Dvorak. On stamps, the cultural icons are a bit like political figures, who come to represent their country.

However, very rarely are musicians actual political figures. I do not mean politicians who happen to play instruments, e.g. like Thomas Jefferson who was a violinist or Richard Nixon who was a pianist. I mean actual professional musicians who were also political leaders. This is what is so remarkable about the Polish pianist Ignacy Paderewski, who later in life became a leader for Polish independence and was briefly the prime minister of Poland.

Ignacy Paderewski

Paderewski was born in 1860 in the village of Kurilivka to Polish parents. At the time, the region was a part of the Russian Empire. His father was a property manager of large estates and his mother died mere months after he was born. He would grow up with other relatives, including an aunt who adopted him.

Paderewski was a musical prodigy. He took piano lessons with a private teacher, but at the age of twelve went to Warsaw to study at the conservatory. After graduating at the age of eighteen, he married another student, Antonina Korsakowna and they had a son who was handicapped. His wife died shortly after childbirth and Paderewski left his son with relatives, and moved to Berlin to continue his music studies.

In 1884, he gave a piano recital to raise funds to continue his piano studies. It was such a success, however, that it began his career as a solo pianist. He went to Vienna to study with the great Theodor Leschetizky and from there establish his international status as a concert pianist. At this point, he also married his second wife, Helena Paderewska.

In 1887, Paderewski made his concert debut in Vienna. This event was a tremendous success and led to him touring internationally. In 1889, he played in Paris and the next year in London. His playing was greatly admired and by 1891, Paderewski went on tour in the United States. Indeed, this began a great relationship between the pianist and American audiences. He would eventually play more than 30 tours of the United States and it became his second home.

Superstar Status

Paderewski became one of the most important musical stars in the world. In addition to his concert success, he was also an in-demand composer. Of course, he wrote many piano compositions, but also an opera, Manru. It is still the only Polish opera ever staged at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. His orchestral compositions were also on regular rotation with the great orchestras of the world. Paderewski’s fame was so great that he was the first pianist to play a solo recital at the three thousand seat Carnegie Hall. Then, in 1904, Paderewski went on tour to Australia and New Zealand.

By the early twentieth century, Paderewski was a very wealthy man, and he and his wife became leading philanthropists. They set up funds to allow young musicians to gain high quality educations. They also were contributors to special causes, including the Washington Arch, in New York’s Washington Square Park. He also gave the money for a Monument in Krakow, Poland to honor the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald.

Political Career

As a result of his fame as a pianist, Paderewski had great stature in his home country of Poland. The unveiling of the monument for the Battle of Grunwald gave Paderewski a chance to address a large and patriotic crowd. His passion for his country made the speech famous throughout the country. Paderewski became a leading figure in calling for Polish independence.

During World War I, Paderewski was in Paris, where he was a member of the Polish National Committee, and eventually became its spokesman. He and his wife also formed other charities, including those that raised money for Polish relief in Europe and in the United States. Paderewski even recruited Polish immigrants to join the armed forces of France. He was also an important voice in convincing Woodrow Wilson, upon the entrance of the U.S. into the War, to support Polish independence. Paderewski kept such a busy schedule for diplomacy and activism that he stopped his musical career during the War.

Towards the end of the War, Paderewski went to Poland. He spoke to the Polish population about forming an independent country, including in the city of Poznan, which was then still under the control of Germany. His speech there led to a military confrontation between Polish citizens calling for independence and the military, today it is known as the Greater Poland Uprising.

In 1919, within the newly independent Poland, Paderewski was appointed as the Prime Minister. In that role, he would represent Poland at the Paris Peace Conference, negotiating issues such as Poland’s borders and minority rights. He was a signer of the Treaty of Versailles. Following democractic elections late in 1919, Paderewski stepped down as prime minister. However, he continued to represent Poland internationally including at the League of Nations.

Paderewski’s Later Years

Paderewski retired from politics in 1922, resuming his musical career in part to replenish his wealth that he had spent down. His first concert was once again at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was such a tremendous success that he followed it up with a concert for 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden. Incredibly, he was the subject of a full length feature film in 1937, titled The Charmer in the United States.

Although the focus of his later years was on his musical career, following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Paderewski once again returned to public service. He was an important international voice for the plight of Poland and became the head of the Polish parliament in exile in London. He also used his fame in the United States to press for the country to enter the War. However, Paderewski died in June of 1941 in New York City at the age of 80, six months before the Pearl Harbor.

Ignacy Paderewski Stamps

The first thing to mention about the stamps, is that primarily, Paderewski appears on stamps because of his role in politics. It is far less common for stamps to celebrate his career as a musician. Here are the stamps in chronological order from my colleciton.

The very first stamp featuring Paderewski was made when he was the prime minister in 1919. It is a beautiful stamp featuring him in profile.

Paderewski Centennial

There are several interesting things about the stamps from 1960, which was the centennial year of Paderewski’s birth. First, two countries created stamps featuring him that year, his birth country of Poland, and the United States. Secondly, the Polish stamp is one of the few that celebrates Paderewski as a musician, with him sitting at a piano. Ironically, there may have been a political reason to feature him as a musician on this stamp.

Conversely, the U.S. stamps from that year celebrate Paderewski for his role establishing an independent Poland. The two stamps were part of the Champions of Liberty Series, which were issued between 1957 and 1961. This was during the height of the Cold War, and the U.S. created this series of stamps to celebrate individuals across the globe who stood against tyranny and totalitarianism. Each champion was on both a 4-cent stamp for domestic mail and the 8-cent stamp for international mail.

It is interesting that the U.S. celebrated Paderewski as a Champion of Liberty in 1960, when Poland was a vassal state of the Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain. Poland celebrating Paderewski as a politician would have drawn attention to the fact that he was not a Communist and fought for an independent Poland. Especially in the same year that the U.S. created stamps honoring Paderewski.

Poland 1986

Given the love that the United States always had for Paderewski, it makes sense than in 1986 in honor of Ameripex, the international stamp show, Poland issued a stamp featuring him. The show took place in Chicago and many countries created special stamps in honor of the occasion. While not one of the more attractive Paderewski stamps, I think it is notable in that it doesn’t necessarily celebrate him as either a musician or politician.

70th Anniversary of an Independent Polan

In 1988 things in Poland were really tense as the Communist party faced growing internal dissension. National strikes led to negotiations between the government and a representative of the trade unions, Lech Walesa. At the same time, the 70th anniversary of the independence of Poland was approaching. Rather incredibly, the Communist government created a set of stamps dedicated to leaders of this movement. Paderewski was one of the eight figures from the 1918 struggle featured on a stamp. It is probably my favorite stamp featuring him.

Anniversaries of the Treaty of Versailles

The next year, 1989, brought about the fall of the Communist government. It was also the seventieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which gave international recognition and support to an independent Poland. Paderewski was one of the Polish signers of the Treaty. In this role, he was on a stamp in 1989 commemorating the anniversary of this important document for Polish history.

Similarly, a decade later, Paderewski once again was on a stamp celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles. On both stamps, he appears alongside Roman Dmowski, the other Polish representative at the Paris Peace Conference and signer of the Treaty.

Poland in the Twenty-first Century

There have been several stamps of Paderewski in the twenty-first century, though I only have one in my collection. This stamp is from 2010 and features a very serious looking Paderewski. The stamp represents Paderewski as an important Pole, both for his musical and political careers. His face looks worried, perhaps out of concern for his beloved country of Poland.