Abstract

‘You really breathe Polish air there…’ – Riond-Bosson in the Polish press and personal accounts For more than forty years, Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s Riond-Bosson residence was a haven for the artist, his family and friends, and also an important meeting place for people from the academic and artistic worlds, as well as representatives of the Polish and global political elite. Poles visiting Paderewski there not infrequently shared their impressions of the residence itself, the atmosphere that reigned there and their host’s warm hospitality. Their accounts, published in the press or transmitted in memoirs and letters, constitute not just a source of factographic information, but also interesting material for research into the social reception of Paderewski and his work. They seem to have played a crucial role in forging the image of Riond-Bosson as a little patch of Poland abroad and in consolidating Paderewski’s image as a great Polish patriot. The primary source of material for this article was the Polish press from the period between 1898 and 1941. We find information and mentions regarding Paderewski’s Swiss residence and his guests there mainly in newspapers and periodicals of a conservative, national and Catholic profile. We must also consider social-cultural and musical publications, which were always interested in Paderewski’s activities. Information taken from such newspapers as the Kurier Warszawski, Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Narodowa (Lviv), Rodzina Polska, Słowo Polskie, Kurier Litewski, Ziemia Lubelska, Czas (Cracow) and Dziennik Poznański, as well as such periodicals as the Warsaw-based Muzyka and the Kurier Literacko-Naukowy of Cracow (a supplement to the Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny) were supplemented by personal accounts preserved in memoirs and letters.