Jacek Nędzyński (impresario of Prof. Jerzy Marchwiński)
Reflections after reading Musical Partnership, a book by Jerzy Marchwiński.
Publisher;Wydawnictwo Drugie, 2018 r.
I was extremely pleased to see Musical Partnership by Professor Jerzy Marchwiński
appear in print. Although many of the issues raised in this book have already been the subject of other
publications by the Professor, we have now received a compilation of the Author's earlier thoughts,
but their expansion with new aspects.
These new aspects, i.e. partnership understood not only in the purely musical sense,
may widen the circle of readers, attracting persons who are not directly connected
with musical performances and may also contribute to the continuation and further
exploration of the concept.
The idea of partnership promoted by the author is particularly close and important for
me as an impresario of classical music performers for nearly 40 years, the more so
that the respect for the principles of partnership has always been an essential
element of my cooperation with artists. My experience has shown that the
cooperation brings the best results when the partnership is fully respected by both
parties. There is no need to convince anyone that the beginning of the cooperation
between the artist and the impresario is an extremely important moment for both; the
artist entrusts his affairs to the impresario with the assumption that he will take proper
care of the organization and support his artistic career using his knowledge,
experience and contacts, while the latter’s professional existence and reputation is
based on the artistic development, successes, and public image of the artist. For this
the reason, the contact between them should be as personalized as possible and
based on the very concept of partnership, complete openness, and honesty. In such
case, the impresario offers help that reaches far beyond the simple acquisition of
contracts, placing the artist in a comfortable position when he can wholly focus on
his artistic tasks; on the other hand, the artist treats the impresario as a partner who
works for him and who often provide quite a significant input in the final artistic
success.
What I find most interesting in this book, however, is the aspect of partnership in non-
musical life, to which the Professor devoted more attention than in his earlier
publications. The author should be praised for his courage, because in popular
journalism and the media, as well as in the statements of the majority of prominent
people, partnership, and everything connected with it is associated with feminist and
LGBT communities are in a way considered “guilty” of it. While many people
are verbally enthusiastic about the partnership in life, the opposite is usually true in
practice. Ambitious people, both outstanding and mediocre, tend to be attracted to
leadership and power and eliminate any possible professional or political competitors,
while common people, despite sometimes quite spectacular displays of rebellion,
usually, long for either a dominating life partner who will solve the problems of
everyday life for them, or a dominating " beloved leader" or another chairman or
the president who will do the thinking for them, tell them what to do and what to say,
and above all - what a blissful feeling – will relieve them of any responsibility.
However, the partnership is primarily co-responsibility, as the author rightly points out.
I believe that this is the reason why Professor Jerzy Marchwiński's reflections and his
many years of professional activity aimed at realizing his life's passion, that is
popularisation and implementation of the principles of partnership - met with reserve
and even resistance of a part of the professional environment, despite general,
the superficial attitude of friendly approval. A symbolic example of this attitude maybe
the stubborn sticking to the term accompanist. Sociological laboratories and the
media show hardly any interest in the issue of partnership, which is truly surprising. I
can only hope that this publication will inspire them to explore the topic in-depth, so
that it should transgress discussions in academic or artistic communities and become
a part of the public debate.
Jacek Nędzyński
Poznań, February 10 th , 2019
