The Stay and teaching activity of Władysław Kędra in Vienna (1957-1964) in the light of documents Kept at the academy of music and Performing arts, Vienna

Abstract

The stay of Władysław Kędra, a charismatic virtuoso pianist representing the Columbus Gene- ration, in Vienna has so far seemed a very good and successful period in the life of this musician originating from Łódź. However, the studies conducted in the archives of the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, cast a new light on these eight years. The information included in previous publications about the reasons why the Polish virtuoso left for Vienna and why he returned from the capital of Austria were not confirmed when confronted with the preserved documents. Thanks to a thorough analysis of source materials, the author of the article managed not only to recreate the course of events but also to uncover extremely important facts from the professor’s life, e.g. that he had Austrian citizenship. Now there is no doubt that Władysław Kędra intended to stay there and settle in Vienna for good. The analysis of the Viennese docu- ments allows for recreating to a significant extent the way how he fought for the life he had dreamt of during the occupation of the Stalin era. From the first preserved letter to Dr Hans Sittner, President of Vienna’s Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst, of 23 May 1957, we can follow the efforts of the Polish pianist to be given a contract, i.e., contract of employment for a fixed period, which was extended for him year by year, then to have an opportunity to see his family, have independent accommodation and bring his closest relatives to Vienna, and finally, find out how he applied for citizenship and was given a permanent contract of employment, which entailed awarding him with the lifelong title of Professor by Austrian authorities. Władysław Kędra achieved his goal – he became the citizen of his new home country, gained prestige and recognition, became music professor in the city of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert... And yet, at that very moment when he had everything and fulfilled his dreams, he suddenly left Austria in unclear circumstances. What dramatic events occurred on 2 June 1964 when Prof. Kędra suddenly wrote two applications for discharge from employment – in one of them he did not justify his decision, only referring very precisely to relevant regulations, which were undoubtedly dictated to him by some official, while in the second one he gave an untrue and completely unlikely in his situation reason for his quitting? There is no trace in the documents of the events which were the cause of that sudden decision. It needs to be stressed that the present article was written exclusively based on the docu- ments (including letters) kept at the Viennese Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Władysław Kędra’s personal file. The author did not refer to his family’s recollections or to texts published previously about the pianist so as to present facts in a reliable way, and not inter- pretations of these facts.