Jadwiga Sarnecka

Jadwiga Sarnecka (1877 or 1883 – 29 December 1913) was a Polish composer and pianist whose composition Ballade for piano won second place in a 1910 competition in Lviv (today in Ukraine) commemorating Chopin’s centenary. She also composed works for voice and piano.

Biography Sarnecka was born in Slavuta, Volhynia (today in Ukraine). She studied piano with Felicjan Szopski and Władysław Żeleński in Krakow, Poland; Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski and Aleksander Michalowski in Warsaw; and Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. She presented piano recitals throughout Austria, Germany and Poland.

Sarnecka’s compositions were not always favorably reviewed. She self-published her initial works. Arts patron Feliks Jasienski (pseudonym “Manggha”) (1861-1929) funded the publication of subsequent works. Eventually, Sarnecka’s compositions received favorable reviews from Polish music critics Adolf Chybinski, Zdzislaw Jachimecki, and Jozef Wladyslaw Reiss, and A. Piwarski & Company began publishing them. After winning second prize at the Lwów (Lviv) competition in 1910, Sarnecka was the only woman asked to present a paper at the first Congress of Polish Musicians later that year. She wrote about Creativity vs Virtuosity in Musical Composition.

Sarnecka died from tuberculosis in Krakow in 1913. Her music is currently published by Polish Music Editions. Her compositions include:

Piano Cinq Morceaux, opus 7

Etude in f minor

''Intermezzo

"Tenebrae" (text by Sarnecka; dedicated to Mademoiselle la Baronne Casimire Blazowska)