22 October 2005

The winner of the 15th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition will receive $25,000, a gold medal and a badge of honor: a laurel wreath.

A postwar building on Poznańska Street houses a company with an unusually long history, considering Warsaw's traumatic past: the Pracownia Sztuki Dekoracyjnej (Decorative Art Studio). It has existed since 1862, before the war as Bracia Łopieńscy (Łopieński Brothers). Today the studio is run by the founder's great-granddaughter, Anna Łopieńska-Lipczyk, together with her husband Wojciech Lipczyk. It is they who crafted the wreath to be presented to the competition's laureate this year.

The tradition's inception
On the table await yellowed photographs documenting the story of the family, for generations dealing with bronze work. Clanking in the distance: the work is in full swing.
"Professor Żurawlew turned to Ania's grandpa and father requesting them to make a laurel wreath for the winner of the first prize," says Wojciech Lipczyk. That marked the beginning of the story.
However, before the wreath appeared, there was a gold laurel branch, which was presented to Ignacy Jan Paderewski during the opening of the Warsaw Philharmonic in 1901. Further branches - silver ones - were presented by the Philharmonic authorities to world-renowned musicians visiting the institution. "The design author was Ania's grandpa Grzegorz; all the casts were made in our shop," says Wojciech Lipczyk. "There always was a spare branch, just in case," adds Łopieńska.
Prof. Żurawlew knew this tradition. When the idea of the competition emerged, he turned to the Łopieńskis asking for a wreath inscribed "God bless you in your artistic career. Initiator of the Competition Jerzy Żurawlew." The last laurel was handed to Halina Czerny-Stefańska, the first-prize winner in 1949. Then the tradition faded.

Delete God
Before the 5th Competition, representatives of the state authorities reported at Żurawlew demanding the mention of "God" be removed. The professor did not agree. Employees of the Ministry of Culture surreptitiously proposed Tadeusz Łopieński to make a wreath with a different inscription. "My father-in-law firmly refused to work behind professor Żurawlew's back," says Lipczyk. The authorities decided that, if not without God, then there will be no laurel at all.
And it was not until the year 2000 when the Chopin Society decided to resume the tradition. It turned out, however, that the execution of the wreath was not an easy task.

The wreath
"The company was nationalized back in 1950. Everything, including wreath molds, was seized," says Lipczyk. Fortunately, Czerny-Stefańska preserved her laurel, which could serve as a model, but only for a sketch as the silver wreath was too delicate to be used for a cast. "These leaves really must be thin and filed so as to look lifelike," says Łopieńska, demonstrating the wreath.

The monument
The nationalization of Bracia Łopieńscy has another Chopin story connected with it. "In 1950, the workshop already had molds prepared for the cast of the monument to Chopin in Łazienki Park damaged by the Germans during the war. But the firm was seized, the father-in-law was not even allowed to enter: his own caretaker barred his way. The worker/peasant management began here, after five months to produce a number of failed casts. Tadeusz Łopieński was reinstated as an employee in his own firm, at the position of artistic and technical director. When the monument was completed, my father-in-law was fired. In reward, he was presented - as a former capitalist - with a lifetime ban on practicing his profession," concludes Lipczyk.
The winner of the 14th Competition in 2000 Yundi Li took his silver wreath to China. What will be the laurel's destination this year?
Aleksander Laskowski

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