Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860 to 1941) was a famous concert pianist and composer. He wrote a piano concerto in 1888 – at just 18 – an opera in 1901, and a symphony in 1907. His international fame opened doors for him in diplomatic circles, which Paderewski took advantage of to push for Polish independence. Paderewski played an important role in meeting with President Woodrow Wilson, and obtaining the explicit inclusion of an independent Poland as point 13 in Wilson’s WWI peace terms, called the Fourteen Points. But the story doesn’t end here! Paderewski was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in January of 1919 for the newly-independent Poland. He represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference that year, and signed the Treaty of Versailles. He lost many political supporters, however, and resigned from both roles before the end of 1919! Paderewski retired entirely from politics in 1922.
He returned to the world where he first found fame, doing concerts as a pianist. Paderewski’s first performance upon his return to music filled Madison Square Garden. He continued to perform through the 1920s and 1930s, taught some particularly talented young pianists, and even appeared in a film presenting his talent on the silver screen! His wife gone, Paderewski consented to do the film reluctantly – he was mostly retired from public life by the late 1930s.
But World War II was coming and it would sweep Paderewski back into public life. After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Paderewski returned to politics, once again fighting for Polish independence. In 1940 he became the head of the National Council of Poland, a Polish parliament in exile in London. The eighty-year-old artist also restarted his Polish Relief Fund and gave several concerts (most notably in the United States) to gather money for it. While on tour, Paderewski fell ill with pneumonia. He died in New York City at the age of 80. He never got to see Poland liberated from the Germans, but he also never saw it immediately taken over by the Soviet Union. It would be another thirty-five years before Poland was once again independent.
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