What Ignace Jan Paderewski was thinking as he sat on the terrace of his villa at Morges, above Lake Geneva, Switzerland, one evening last week, is not a matter of record. He might have been thinking of his U. S. tour, scheduled to begin on Oct. 22, or he might simply have been reviewing with an after-dinner pleasure the events of that day. He had spent part of the morning discussing with a gardener the construction of a new hothouse and later, satisfied that the new house would be the equal of the others in which it is his pleasure to grow pears and grapes, he strolled past the chicken yard toward the park. The chickens, of course, were more his wife's affair than his, but they reflected credit on him — an entirely new species of chickens, called the "red and white," which Poland has adopted as its "national breed'' as a way of paying him a compliment. His chateau, four stories high, with a wooden chalet roof, was built by the Count de Maaroes and stands on a site first used by Joseph Fouché, Duke of Otranto, Napoleon's Minister of the Interior. From the terrace on which he was sitting the ground tapered away into a shadowy skirt of pines, cedar, lindens he had laid out himself — the park. With his Polish land sold, now that Pilsudski was in power there, this place had become to the pianist, far more than his property at Nyon or his ranches in California, important as the background of his comfort. With the effort of his concert tour still a few weeks away, it must have seemed odd to him to find his easy reflection interrupted by a sharp and growing discomfort in his side.
Appendicitis is not a casual matter for a man of 69. Before the attack had reached its height or the doctor made his diagnosis Paderewski must have known what it was. His case was serious, yet the amazing sequence of that evening was not the hurried drive down the dark road through the park and on to Lausanne, not the operation, or his quick recovery, but his own refusal to change his plans. He was confident that he would be out of it safely in a short time, and in a shorter time than anyone dared hope the car was bringing him back again through the park, stopping at the door of the house he has made his ultima thule. There had been no fever, no aftermath. At the Chalet de Riond Bossons Madame Paderewski continued her interest in the red and whites and her husband when he felt strong enough walked gingerly down the path to watch them working on the greenhouse. His sailing, booked for Oct. 6, had been slightly postponed. He plans to arrive in the U. S. about Nov. 15. will play in 45 towns.
Because Paderewski is the most widely beloved of living musicians, his sailing date for the 1929-30 season is the most eagerly watched. But most of the world's musicians were last week in transit or on the verge of transit. Important was the arrival in the U. S. of Arturo Toscanini to conduct the first concerts of the New York Philharmonic-symphony. With him came wife and pet dog Piciu. Daughters Wanda and Wally come soon.