Bronislaw Ritter von Pozniak (Polish Bronisław Poźniak, [pɔʑɲ̩ak]), (26 August 1887 – 20 April 1953) was an Austro-German pianist of Polish descent, piano teacher, music writer and editor.
Life and activity Pozniak was born in Lviv in the Austrian part of the then divided Poland, the seventh child of an engineer and Austrian civil servant from Polish nobility. Her mother came from a humble background. Her father was a customs official. The young Bronislaw's early interest in music met with little approval from his parents at first, as a civil service career had been planned for him. However, as his talent for music, especially for playing the piano, became more and more apparent, his parents gradually gave up their resistance. After the family moved to Krakow, he received lessons from renowned teachers at the conservatoire such as Felicjan Szopski (1865–1939), (1875–1951) and Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921).Maria Zduniak: Bronisław Poźniak (1887–1953). In Karlheinz Schlager (ed.): Festschrift Hubert Unverricht on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Verlag Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1992. . After graduating from high school, he attended a newly founded commercial college in Krakow, where it was possible to take the state examination after studying for only two semesters. Only on this condition did his father agree to the artist's career.
After initial artistic successes in Lviv and later in Krakow, Pozniak continued his studies in Berlin at the financial sacrifice of his father. Arthur Rubinstein had recommended Pozniak to his own teacher Karl Heinrich Barth, a relentless piano professor at the Berlin University of the Arts who was feared by many,Linde Großmann: Zur Geschichte der Klavierabteilung an der UdK Berlin. At https://www.udk-berlin.de : University History who had such distinguished students as Wilhelm Kempff and Heinrich Neuhaus.Wolfgang Rattert and Dietmar Schenk (ed.): Pianists in Berlin. Piano and Piano Education since the 19th Century. HdK-Archiv, vol. 3. Hochschule der Künste, Berlin 1999. . There in Berlin, the foundations were laid for the most important components of Pozniak's later work. In addition to solo concertizing, these were above all his great interest in pedagogical activity (he began teaching at the Ochs-Eichelberger Conservatory in Berlin while still a student) and his passion for chamber music, which then led to the formation of a piano trio. Material hardship accompanied the artistic activities of the now independent musician in Berlin.
In 1915, Pozniak took over a piano class at the conservatory in Breslau, which was in a rather desolate state. The Silesian capital remained Pozniak's main place of activity for the next 30 years until his flight on 3 February 1945. From 1918 to 1936, Pozniak worked at the Silesian Conservatory and he also took over the master class for pianists when this institution was transformed into the "Landesmusikschule" in 1936. From 1919 to 1925, Pozniak also taught at the Cieplik Conservatory in Beuthene, Upper Silesia, and from 1929 to 1931, he was in charge of the master class at the "Polish Music Association Conservatory" in Lviv, which he supplied once a month from Wroclaw.Maria Zduniak (1992) . The appointment to this post was a special honour, as it was the class once supervised by Chopin's pupil Karol Mikuli. Together with the full professor of musicology at the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau Arnold SchmitzSchmitz, Franz Arnold. In MGG (2005). Personal part, vol. 14. . (1893–1980), Pozniak advocated the creation of the "University Institute for Music Education and Church Music", an extension of the Institute for Church Music, headed by Schmitz and affiliated to the university, and also became head of the piano department there.
Pozniak's extensive pedagogical work, especially in Breslau, but also in other parts of Silesia and the great success of his pupils at regularly organised recitals and concertssee the chapter My Pupils in the Memoirs made him a sought-after piano teacher to whom pupils flocked from all parts of the country and especially from the eastern countries. Of the many students, the most successful was the pianist Josef Wagner (1900–1947),Horst Weber, Stefan Dress (ed.): Quellen zur Geschichte emigrierter Musiker (1933–1950). Vol. 2: New York. K. G. Saur Verlag, Munich 2005. Prize winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition 1932 in Warsaw.Secretariat of the V. International Fryderik Chopin Piano Competition (ed.): The International Chopin Piano Competitions in Poland. Warsaw 1954. . Also Hans Otte, Hans Pischner, Gerhard Wohlgemuth, Edmund von Borck, Hans-Georg Burghardt and many other notable musicians were students of Pozniak.List of other students in Bronislaw v. Pozniak: Chopin. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1949. (Afterword). (In later reprints this page is no longer included), also in the chapter My Pupils of the Memoirs.
In addition to this pedagogical work, there was intensive solo activity, performances in piano duosMaria Zduniak (1992) and, above all, concert tours with his trio to the most important cities in Europe. The Pozniak Trio, founded in 1923, played in changing line-upss. Chapter My Trio in the Memoirs. See also the Altenberg Trio Archive at https://www.altenbergtrio.at with not always reliable dates. was one of the leading chamber music associations in Europe. Pozniak's trio partners in the string section included violinists Hugo Birkigt (1885–1944), Hugo Kortschak (1884–1957), Rudolf Deman (1880–1960), Géza de Kresz (1882–1959), Karl Freund (1904–1955), Hans Dünschede (1907–1999), Eugen Forster, Hans Bassermann (1888–1967), Johannes Bastiaan (1911–2012)Hans Bastiaan (1911 in Nuremberg – 11 October 2012) became known more recently for his participation as a contemporary witness in the film Das Reichsorchester. The Berlin Philharmonic and National Socialism. Documentary by Enrique Sánchez Lansch. Broadcast on 29 November 2007, on ARD. as well as the cellists Hugo Dechert (1860–1923), Hans Kindler (1892–1949), Heinz Beyer, Joseph Schuster (1903–1969), Jascha Bernstein, Bernhard Günther, Sigrid Succo and Gregor Piatigorsky (1903–1976). In addition to the (pre)classical-romantic repertoire, the Pozniak Trio also devoted itself intensively to contemporary composers, such as Hans Pfitzner, Hans Gál, Paul Juon, Paul Kletzki, Egon Kornauth, Ludomir Różycki and Hans-Georg Burghardt.
When the Second World War broke out, Pozniak was harassed by the National Socialists as a 'Pole' and 'foreigner', although he had in the meantime obtained German citizenship. Because he played music with Jewish artists, he was blacklisted by the National Socialist rulers, suspended from service at the university institute for a year, but then reinstated. His solo activities and performances with the Pozniak Trio were also boycotted in Silesia for the same reason, and he had to answer to two Gestapo trials after being denounced.
Fleeing the Russian army from Breslau on 3 February 1945, Pozniak and his family first went to Markranstädt, then in August 1945 to Leipzig, where he stayed for three and a half years, and later to Halle. In his memoirsChapter The Collapse Pozniak, now homeless, unemployed and almost penniless, describes the difficulties the unwelcome and ill-treated refugees had to contend with and how he, the once celebrated and popular pianist and teacher, had to stand his ground against the united front of hostile colleagues. Efforts to revive the Pozniak Trio initially failed due to administrative harassment. Targeted negative concert reviews by the press added to the problem.
A small group of musicians, such as Günther Ramin, Walter Niemann, Wilhelm Weismann, and his students stuck by him, whose family had to live on the small earnings of the younger son. But despite all resistance, he succeeded in regaining a foothold in the pedagogical as well as the artistic field. Wilhelm Weismann, then editor at Edition Peters, succeeded in entrusting Pozniak with the New Edition of the Piano Works of Frédéric Chopin, organised on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Frédéric Chopin in 1949, and also supported him in the completion of the book Chopin. Praktische Anweisungen für das Studium der Chopin-Werke, which was then published by Mitteldeutscher Verlag in Halle in 1949.
In the meantime, Pozniak had been appointed professor in Halle by Hans Stieber, the first rector of the , which was newly founded in 1947, as well as Sigfrid Grundeis, known as a Liszt player, with whom he was on friendly terms.This college (based in the Villa Lehmann, Burgstraße 46) existed from 1947 to 1955.Klaus Suckel: Musikalische Wurzeln. State College for Theatre and Music Halle. In scientia halensis. 7. jg. 1999/4. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg 1999. . At the same time, Pozniak taught at the Institute for Music Education at the Faculty of Education of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.See https://www.musikpaed.uni-halle.de The number of students in Leipzig and Halle grew, making it difficult to cope with the work. Pozniak decided, partly because of the political situation which did not allow performances abroad, to give up concertizing and devote himself to publishing work in addition to his pedagogical activities. In addition to the improved new edition of the "ABC des Klavierspielers", which was published by Robert Forberg in 1948, Pozniak prepared a new edition of the Piano Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven for the Mitteldeutsche Verlag in Halle, of which only the first volume could be completed and which was then taken over by Edition Peters in Leipzig. Also for Edition Peters, he published an album Piano Music of Russian and Soviet Masters in 1953 (Edition Peters No. 4574).
The enormous workload, the sometimes adverse living conditions, the unresolved fate of his eldest son Jan, who had been missing during the war, exhausted the strength of the musician, who was also admired by young people in his new homeland. Pozniak died of heart disease in Halle on 20 April 1953 at the age of 65. He is buried in the cemetery in Nottensdorf, the home of his youngest son Andreas (d. 2013). A commemorative plaquePicture of Klaus Suckel opposite in Klaus Suckel (1999). (The photo has since been removed for copyright reasons). in the entrance hall of Villa Lehman in Halle, the former seat of the State University for Theatre and Music, commemorates the great pianist and pedagogue, who explicitly understood his work as a contribution to the reparation of past atrocities and to understanding between the Polish and German people.
Appreciation
Piano pedagogy and Chopin playing