Born: 14 December 1789, Poland
Died: 25 July 1831
Country most active: International
Also known as: Marianna Agata Wołowska
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Agata Szymanowska was born in Warsaw in 1795. Her musical talent was revealed early, when at the age of eight, she aroused the wonder of her audience by the unusual ability of her playing. She studied under Professor Lisowski, and the eminent pianist Field, and Professors Lessel, Eisner and Kurpihski of the Conservatory of Music in Warsaw. She wrote the music for three of the Songs of History of Niemcewicz, which enjoyed great popularity, and among her compositions are Etudes, Preludes, Romances, Songs, Serenades, and Ballads. In 1810, as a pianiste of established reputation, she married Teofil Szymanowski. She achieved great triumph in a concert tour of Europe, and was acclaimed everywhere by the critics and the public, “The Royal Court and the whole town of Weimar are deeply indebted to Mme. Szymanowska, for we lived, during her entire stay, in an atmosphere of melody and enjoyment.” These were the words written in a letter to Count Reinhardt by Goethe, who was not only a great German poet, but one of the greatest aesthetes and philosophers of the world. Mme. Szymanowska died in 1831 in Petersburg, while on tour. Celina, one of her two daughters, became the wife of Adam Mickiewicz, one of the greatest Polish poets of the nineteenth century.