Polish pianist and composer. She is also known, alongside John Field (1782-1837), as a composer of "Nocturnes" who predated Chopin.

Maria (Maria Agata Wołowska) was born in Warsaw to a Jewish family who had converted to Catholicism. At a time when Poland was repeatedly partitioned by surrounding powers and patriotic uprisings occurred, her father ran a brewery. Her mother came from an aristocratic family. The couple hosted a salon, frequently visited by local cultural figures, artists, and touring musicians. Maria, who had surprised those around her by playing keyboard instruments by ear from an early age, began formal piano lessons at the age of eight.

In 1810, at the age of 21, she successfully held her first public concerts in Paris and Warsaw. The greatly impressed composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) dedicated a Fantasy in C major to her. In the same year, she married Józef Szymanowski, a wealthy landowner. Although she bore three children in quick succession, her husband disapproved of her expanding activities into the outside world, such as gaining renown through successful concerts across Europe and beginning to publish her own compositions, leading to their divorce after ten years.

Maria, who also took custody of her children, began to pursue her career with increasing vigor to support herself through music. Particularly from 1822 to 1827, she was constantly engaged in concerts, achieving groundbreaking success.

• She performed in various parts of Russia, Germany, Paris, London, Italy, Amsterdam, and other locations.
• She cultivated friendships with various artists in each location.
• Goethe, upon hearing her perform, became a great admirer, enthusiastically praising her in his poem "Reconciliation" and dedicating the poem to her.

In early 1827, after a long concert tour, the "first and most authoritative Queen of the Fortepiano in history" gave a brilliant triumphant performance at the National Theatre in Warsaw. It seems that the 17-year-old Chopin also attended this performance. The following winter, she moved to Saint Petersburg. There, she dedicated her time to performing, composing, working as a piano teacher, and educating her children. She also hosted a salon at her home, which was visited by many prominent figures. Her music album was filled with signatures and short pieces left by visitors, including:

• Salieri
• Xaver Mozart (Mozart's son)
• Meyerbeer
• Clementi
• Weber
• Rossini
• Field
• Beethoven
• Paganini
• Kalkbrenner
• Chopin
• Liszt
• The Schumanns

Her works number over 100 compositions, many of which were published by Breitkopf & Härtel during the 19th century. She primarily wrote piano pieces, covering popular styles of the time such as nocturnes, dance pieces like waltzes, polonaises, and mazurkas, as well as etudes and fantasies. She also left behind songs and some chamber music, and composed music to poems by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), a leading Polish poet (who was also a friend and her second daughter's husband).

In the summer of 1831, less than four years after her move, she passed away during the cholera epidemic in Saint Petersburg, at the height of her popularity.

References

• Julie Anne Sadie & Rhian Samuel, The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, NY, 1995, pp. 449-450
• Szymanowska Society Website: http://www.maria-szymanowska.eu/kto-to-jest-jp