Juliusz Zarebski

Juliusz Zarębski (1854–1885) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was born on March 3, 1854, in Zhytomyr, now Ukraine. His mother was his first piano teacher. In 1870, he completed his education at the gymnasium with honors and moved to Vienna to study composition with Franz Krenn and piano with Josef Dachs. Two years later, he graduated with two gold medals, even though his curriculum indicated a musical training of six years. The following year he moved to St. Petersburg and studied there for three more years, passed his examination and obtained his diploma of "free artist." A year later, he moved to Rome and stayed there until 1875. In Rome, he studied piano with Franz Liszt, his friend for some time. The Hungarian composer, who would orchestrate his Danses Galiciennes in 1881, greatly helped Zarębski, appearing with him in concerts and using his contacts to publicize the works of the Polish composer. His career as a virtuoso pianist began in spring 1874 with concerts in Odessa and Kiev. His performances in Rome, Naples, Constantinople, Warsaw, Paris, London and other European cities were a great success. He was interested in the two piano keyboards, a new invention of Edouard Mangeot, which in two months mastered. He developed his repertoire in this new instrument and performed on it with great acclaim in the 1878 Paris Exhibition. He established himself in Brussels, where he served as teacher of piano master classes at the Royal Conservatory. Two years before his death he had to put an end to his career as a virtuoso as he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, throwing himself into teaching. Zarębski's compositions evoke those of Liszt and Chopin. He set to music the writings of Adam Mickiewicz and Włodzimierz Wolski. Though he continued composing nearly exclusively for the piano, the summit of his output would be his cyclical Piano Quintet in G minor of 1885.