Chopin In Warsaw

Afternoon tea at Raffles in Warsaw is always a pleasure, but a visit to Poland's capital is not complete without some music by Fryderyk Chopin.

Staying close to the river, next to the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy, it is a hard climb through a park to get to the main square in the Old Town. Crossing the street, dodging cars and trams, there is an old wooden elevator staircase for the last steep part of the climb. It also has an inclined glass elevator for Mothers with strollers and people with bicycles.



Coming out into the square, the castle has been rebuilt. It helps to recall that the British declared war on Germany in 1939 because of the invasion of Poland. That didn't stop anything, and the ghetto in Warsaw was destroyed, as were large parts of the city. Five years after that disaster, the Russians took over Poland and stayed until a union leader in Gdansk, Lech Walesa, and the Solidarity movement reestablished freedom in Poland. The only vestige of Russian control is the monolithic People's Palace of Culture and Science, the same building that appears in all the Baltic capital cities.

Behind the square is the Dean's Palace in the Old Archdiocese of Warsaw building. Here, a rotating panel of pianists from the Chopin Academy plays daily concerts of his music. Close by the staircase is a small flower shop; it's polite to take a small bouquet for a lady pianist. The lady was Mamiko Ueyama from Japan, who began to play the piano at three years old.

Outside in the Square, ladies wore traditional Krakowianka outfits with a coronet of flowers in their hair, usually worn for special occasions or a saint's day. The Polish people are strong in their Catholic faith.

Take a moment to listen to Martha Argerich stride through the Heroic Polonaise #6 in the legendary 1965 recording.

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Posted to Big World with Martin McFie IN THE All About Jazz GROUP
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Location: Warsaw