Jan Kleczyński, Sr.

Jan Kleczyński (8 June 1837, Janiewicze - 15 September 1895, Warsaw) was a Polish pianist, composer, journalist and chess master.

Born into a Polish noble family in Janiewicze, Volhynia (then Russian Empire), he was graduated from a conservatory of music in Paris (1855-1862) and then played several pianist concerts in France. In 1866, he returned to Poland to live in Warsaw.

He lectured and published on the interpretation of the works of Frédéric Chopin. His work in this field was (he claimed) endorsed by pupils and friends of Chopin's, including Marcelina Czartoryska, Camilla O'Meara^[1] and Georges Mathias, and by Natalia Janotha, Princess Czartoryska's pupil, who translated some of his lectures for English publication.

He took 2nd, behind Szymon Winawer, in the first Warsaw City Chess Championship in 1868, and took 3rd, after Józef Żabiński and Artur Popławski, in the second Warsaw-ch in 1884.

Jan Kleczyński Senior wrote a weekly chess column for Tygodnik Ilustrowany (1859-1884), and Kurier Warszawski (1877-1895). His son, Jan Kleczyński, Jr., continued his work in 1897-1939.^[2]

Publications about Chopin

J. Kleczyński, Frédéric Chopin: De L'Interprétation de ses Oeuvres - Trois Conférences faites a Varsovie (The Interpretation of the Works of Frederic Chopin - Three Conferences held at Warsaw) (Félix Mackar, Paris 1880).

J. Kleczyński, Chopin's Greater Works (Preludes, Ballads, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Mazurkas): How they should be understood (including Chopin's Notes for a 'Method of Methods') translated by Natalie Janotha (William Reeves, London: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, no date (1st Edn c. 1895, 2nd c. 1900)). (Kleczynski's last Lectures, delivered at Warsaw in 1883.)

References

↑ She became Mme Dubois (1830-1907). See J. Methuen-Campbell, Chopin Playing from the composer to the present day (Victor Gollancz Ltd, London 1981), pp. 40, 86, 231. Methuen-Campbell, however, does not mention Kleczyński.
↑ Litmanowicz, Władysław & Giżycki, Jerzy (1986, 1987). Szachy od A do Z. Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa. ISBN 83-217-2481-7 (1. A-M), ISBN 83-217-2745-X (2. N-Z).