Teodor Leszetycki

 

From THEODORE LESCHETIZKY, 1903 by Angèle Potocka

THEODORE LESZETYCKI (or Leschetizky, as the name is now spelled)1 was born on June 22, 1830, near Lemberg, Poland, on an estate belonging to a younger branch of the Potocki family.  (Etc.)

      1 To make its correct pronunciation more evident to foreigners.

Theodore Leschetizky : an Intimate Study of the Man and the Musician
by Comtesse Angele Potocka ; tr. from the French by Genevieve Seymour Lincoln.
New York : Century 1903, p. 3.

 


 

Josef Leschetizky

 

From THEODORE LESCHETIZKY, 1903 by Angèle Potocka

'Count Alfred [Potocki] gave great personal care and attention to the education of his children ; and believing that his daughters had attained an age when their musical studies required the guidance of an expert teacher, he applied to the great pedagogue Karl Czerny, requesting him to send one of his best pupils as music-master to the young countesses. Czerny recommended Leschetizky, strongly advising the latter to accept the situation, at least for the summer. Josef Leschetizky, father of Theodore Leschetizky, was born in Nestolitz, Bohemia, on March 19, 1801. A musician by natural gifts and inclination, he had studied law with the intention of following it as a profession, believing it more substantial and remunerative. Music might perhaps have played a secondary part in Josef Leschetizky's life, had it not been that at the time of Count Alfred's proposition, considerations of a very different nature came to counterbalance those suggested by worldly prudence, appealing to him with such force that the sterner advantages of a legal career were unheeded. For, in the close vicinity of Lancut resided a lady whose charms had played havoc with the young man's affections and resolves. Thé:rèse von Ullmann was one of those peculiarly fascinating women who, in early youth, seem made to draw men giddily on to the brink of despair ; but who later prove that they have in reality led them safely to a haven of rest, where their gentle, unobtrusive ministrations of physical comfort and enlightened advice are the source and chief element of content in the home, and their happiness seems to touch all who have the good fortune to come even remotely within their influence. The Ullmanns, notwithstanding their German name, are true Poles established for centuries in Galicia, where they bear titles of nobility in recognition of their signal services as first importers of the Spanish sheep ( merino ) into Poland. The Potocki encourage the union between Leschetizky and the handsome Thérèse ; the young couple were married at Lancut, and established in a wing of the castle.   (Etc.)

Theodore Leschetizky : an Intimate Study of the Man and the Musician
by Comtesse Angele Potocka ; tr. from the French by Genevieve Seymour Lincoln.
New York : Century 1903, pp 6-8.

 

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