Death's final cadence this week closed the long career of a frail, wispy-haired Pole, the greatest pianist of his time, and one of the three greatest who ever lived. Patriot, man of affairs, bon vivant, philanthropist, Ignace Jan Paderewski had not played publicly since Poland fell. '"I simply could not stand it," he said.
But to the last he had labored for his beloved Poland. Poland's Premier after World War I, he was now the figurehead President of its parliament in exile. On his 80th birthday, last November, he arrived in the U.S. from his villa in Switzerland. Since then, Paderewski...
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