Paderewski

Paderewski’s name was a household word to several generations. To people who knew nothing about music he was the archetype of the pianist; to those who knew nothing of Poland, he was the epitome of the flamboyant Pole; to those who had no clear idea of his political career he was a Mosaic leader of his people. He was the celebrity par excellence: the public could see and hear him in the concert hall and in the cinema, and they could read about him endlessly in the press, but in fact they knew nothing, or very little, about him. He sprang from a past of which little could be gleaned and lived in a closely knit world of his own creation. The press pried and invented, painting a fabulous image. Paderewski and his entourage countered with another, which they threw up like a smoke-screen to hide him from public scrutiny.