Julian Fontana

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Julian (or Jules) Fontana (July 31,^{[citation needed]} 1810 - December 23,^{[dubious – discuss]} 1869) was a Polish pianist, composer, lawyer, author and entrepreneur, best remembered as a close friend and musical executor of Frédéric Chopin.

Born Warsaw, Fontana studied law at the University of Warsaw and music under Józef Elsner at the conservatory where he met Chopin. Fontana left Warsaw in 1831, after the November Uprising and settled in Hamburg, before becoming a pianist and teacher in Paris in 1832.^[1] He took up a wandering life that included:

England and France (1833-1837);^[1]
New York and Havana (1842-1851) - he gave concerts with Camillo Sivori;^[1]
Montgeron, Paris (1852) - becoming part of the literary scene and friends with Adam Mickiewicz.^[1]

In Paris, some time after 1848, Fontana married Juana Camila Dalcour (1818–1855), widow of Stephen Cattley Tennant (1800–1848), a merchant, and mother of Enriqueta Augustina Tennant (1843-1908).^[2]

He succumbed to deafness and poverty and committed suicide.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dziębowska (2007)
^ Farnie (2006)

[edit] Bibliography

Dziębowska, E. (2007) "Fontana, Julian, Grove Music Online, access date 19 August 2007 (subscription required)
Ekier, J. (2000). Chopin Studies 7. Warsaw: Frederick Chopin Society, 3-77.
Farnie, D.A. (2006) "Rylands , Enriqueta Augustina (1843–1908)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edn, Oct 2006 , accessed 20 August 2007 (subscription or UK/ Ireland public library membership required)
Ferrer, C. T. (1988). "Julian Fontana: El introductor de Chopin en Cuba". Revista de Musicologia: 1-28.
Hardynski, W. (1948) "Jules Fontana", Polski Slownik Biograficzny, 7.58–9
Janta, A. (1982). A History of Nineteenth Century American-Polish Music. New York: Kosciuszko Foundation. ISBN 9992999330.
Michałowski, K. (1970). Bibliografia Chopinowska 1849–1969. Kraków.
Poradowska, M. (1902). "Lettres inédites de Fredéric Chopin au compositeur Fontana". Revue Hebdomadaire: 25 January.
Sydow, B.E. (ed.) (1955). Korespondencja Fryderyka Chopina. Warsaw. , French translation, 1953–60; English translation, abridged, 1962