‘Not just simply Chopin’: Polish poets and critics of the 19th-century on the guitarist Stanisław Szczepanowski

Polish musical criticism of 19th century is a fascinating research field for musicologists, music theorists, as well as literary scholars. They can find there a wealth of texts whose expressive style tries to emulate the homage paid to the great virtuosos of the time in poetry. While Frederick Chopin and the violinist Karol Lipiński held sway over captive audiences, there was yet another musician whose name featured prominently in reviews and poems. It was Stanisław Szczepanowski, the great guitarist, whose concerts gave rise to numerous reviews representing the romantic school of musical criticism. This paper examines some of those reviews as well as two poems dedicated to Szczepanowski, one by Teofil Lenartowicz and the other by Władysław Syrokomla.