Galician/Polish pianist and composer, pupil of Schenker's for a short period in 1896‒97.

Career Summary

Born Paulina, but publicly and privately styled Paula, Szalit was the daughter of Simon Szalit (1844–), accountant, and Reisel (née Bressler) (1846–) of Drohobycz, a town in what was then Galica and is now in the Ukraine. Until aged 8, she was taught music solely by her brother, Heinrich, who was eighteen years her elder. In about 1893 Heinrich took her to Vienna, where she studied first with Robert Fischhof, giving her first public recitals in 1895 to instant acclaim. In April 1896 she left Fischhof to study with Eugen d'Albert, but at the latter’s suggestion she worked with Heinrich Schenker for a several months before d’Albert could take her over. At this point there are the first hints of ill health. Schenker probably worked with her from October 1896 to March 1897, at which point d’Albert took over ostensibly until November of that year. D’Albert recommended that she give no public performances over the winter of 1897/98, but her father, who seems to have been controlling her life by this stage, insisted that on the contrary she increase her performances, and moved her away from d’Albert to a C. Hoffmann (whom d’Albert described as a “Polish dilettante”). Subsequently she studied with Theodor Leschetizky.

She was celebrated as a child prodigy. Eduard Hanslick described her in 1896 as “the rarest of musical phenomena” (Neue freie Presse, February 13). Indicative of her European reception in 1896 and 1897 is: Our season, already underway, has now acquainted us also with a wonder child, the ten-year-old pianist Paula Szalit. […] She has already made a big splash in several cities, such as Vienna and Berlin. Here in Leipzig, too, she has caused a sensation and established herself as a genuine phenomenon, through the astounding level of her achievements, both in the remarkable advancement for such a young person of her technical facility, and in the clarity and secure accuracy of her development, then also through the sheer innate musicality of the little girl […] (Signale für die musikalische Welt, November 9, 1897).

Her career in playing not only solo recitals but also concertos with leading orchestras and piano chamber music with major ensembles continued through to 1906, appearing in Austria, Germany, France, England, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Then in September 1906 she was appointed to the Lemberg Conservatory as the head of the advanced piano class – on hearing which Schenker commented in his diary: “‘Paula Szalit teacher in Lemberg’ ‒ that's the last we’ll see of the 'wonderchild'?!”. Thereafter, as the Wiener Hausfrauen-Zeitung for 1912 reported, “to the great regret of the many admirers of her superb artistry, [she] has in recent times disappeared from the public eye.”

Schenker was in indirect contact with her in 1914, 1915 and direct contact in 1918 (see below). Szalit advertised in Vienna in 1918 that she had again taken up giving piano lessons, citing her address as Porzellangasse 19 (Neues Wiener Tagblatt, October 17). In 1921 she again advertised, setting the bar lower: “Piano instruction: the well-known pianist Paula Szalit offers first-class tuition, now also including lessons in piano accompaniment and repetiteur work. Rotenlöwgasse 7” (Neue freie Presse, March 27). Thereafter, she presumably returned to Lemberg (by then Lwów).

Her death is recorded as on February 7, 1942 and her burial (“without coffin”) five days later, aged 56; the place of death was the Kulparkov mental hospital (near Lwów), where she may have been incarcerated for many years.

As a composer she wrote short character pieces for piano, in particular her four books of Morceaux pour piano, Op. 2 and her Clavierstücke, Op. 3, which continued to be played well into the 1930s.

Szalit and Schenker

Schenker reviewed what may have been her public debut in Vienna, in the Bösendorfer Recital Hall, on February 14, 1896 ‒ at which time Szalit was being taught by Robert Fischhof ‒ beginning his remarks with: On February 14 a nine-year-old child, Paula Szalit, demonstrated her wondrous talent. The little girl performed so astoundingly that ‒ to put it directly ‒ she surpassed the audience's expectations. The best of her qualities, which inhabit the wonderful depths of her instinct, did not permeate into the public's awareness, and this reiterated (at this, the little girl's first public foray) the well-known fact that the contact of the audience with a significant talent ceases at precisely the point at which that talent reveals its best and most subtle features. The most conspicuous qualities of her playing gave them pleasure: its splendid rhythm and its elegantly developed finger dexterity; but the way in which her refined feeling for mood, melody and harmony took effect passed them by. They overlooked her utterly subtle pedal technique, which she has in common, quite simply, with the most mature of mature virtuosos. This pedal technique is for her not a jolly pumping of the foot, but enables her, in a way that for most pianists is still a highly secret art, to realize her feeling for melody and harmony. [...]

On April 5 of that year, Eugen d'Albert, who was expecting to teach her in the near future, wrote to Schenker (OJ 9/6, [12]), saying: I wholeheartedly concur with the idea that she should study with you for the time being, for you are a serious musician and will point the young lady in the right direction. If you see Mr. Szalit, please give him my best thanks for his kind letter. I should very much like to know as soon as possible whether the young lady is definitely coming to me, and if so when. [...] So would you take over the continuation of the young lady's study on my behalf in the intervening period?

Schenker's 1897 diary (undated – d'Albert OJ 9/6, [18] reports in a postscript that Schenker was due to see her on May 26) records: "Paula Szalit prepared for concerts: among other things, J. S. Bach's Fugues in C-sharp minor (for 5 voices) and E-flat minor." A review (in which these works are not mentioned, so probably of a different concert) from November 28, 1897 begins: Paula Szalit, still very young, possesses a freely headlong-rushing, crackling technique that exhibits great temperament and a touch of genius. Dr. Heinrich Schenker introduced her to music with his unique thoroughness and instructional power, and her nature is now tamed in Leschetizky's appropriately named masterclass. (Wiener Abendpost: OC 2/p. 20)

Szalit was evidently in Galica from 1906 for some years. In 1914, her mother informed Schenker that her daughter had been “stricken with religious mania.” Schenker, commenting “Thus ends a life that had begun more brilliantly and promisingly than any other,” laid the blame on Leschetizky (diary, June 18). In 1915, Szalit’s brother Heinrich informed him that she had been “tragically injured in an accident,” stating that well-wishers were supporting her financially (diary, April 11), and asking if Schenker had contacts who might help her.

On November 13, 1918, Schenker recorded in his diary: "Mrs. Pairamall passes on to me a letter from Miss Szalit (OJ 14/37, [3]), in which the latter requests a meeting with me, constrained as she is by her very difficult predicament." This harrowing letter speaks of the lack of practice facilities to prepare for concert performance, the intensity of competition, and the difficulty in obtaining pupils. Schenker’s unsympathetic response by letter was: "I recommend patience: indefatigability when giving lessons is a tried and proven recipe."

Correspondence

One letter of 1918 from Szalit to Schenker survives, with two undated earlier calling cards (OJ 14/37, [1]‒[3]). A full-length portrait of her by the photographer "Zaklad Michala Friedmana, Nowy Sacz" and inscribed "Paula Szalit, 15.7.95" survives in Schenker's papers as OJ 72/22, No. 1. Six letters from Eugen d’Albert to Schenker give valuable information about Szalit in 1896 and 1897: OJ 9/6, [12], [18], [20], [22], [23], and [25].

Sources

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