Julian Fontana

Julian Or Jules Fontana 31 July 1810 – 23 December 1869 Was A Polish Pianist Composer Lawyer Author Translator And Entrepreneur Best Remembered As A Close Friend And Musical Executor Of Frédéric Chopin. Born In 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. In 1835 In London He Participated In A Concert With Music Played By 6 Pianists The Others Including Ignaz Moscheles Johann Baptist Cramer And Charles-Valentin Alkan. In 1840 Chopin Dedicated His 2 Polonaises Op. 40 To Fontana. These Included The "Military Polonaise" In A Major. He Took Up A Wandering Life That Included - England And France 1833-1837 - Havana Cuba 1844-45 On 8 July 1844 He Played The Music Of Chopin For The First Time In Cuba. His Pupils There Included Nicolás Ruiz Espadero.
- New York 1845-51 He Gave Concerts With Camillo Sivori
- Montgeron Paris 1852 - Becoming Part Of The Literary Scene And Friends With Adam Mickiewicz. In New York On 9 September 1850 Fontana Married Camilla Dalcour Tennant 1818–1855 Widow Of Stephen Cattley Tennant 1800–1848 A Merchant And Mother Of Enriqueta Augustina Tennant 1843-1908 And Four Other Children. Their Son Julian Camillo Adam Fontana Was Born In Paris On 10 July 1853. Camilla Died On 30 March 1855 Of Pneumonia While Pregnant With Her 7th Child. Fontana Took Her Children From Her First Marriage To Be Looked After By Her First Husband's Family In England. He Then Returned To New York Where He Was Naturalised An American Citizen On 7 September The Same Year. Also In 1855 He Published A Collection Of Chopin's Unpublished Manuscripts Under The Opus Numbers 66-73. He Then Travelled To Cuba In An Unsuccessful Bid To Recover His Late Wife's Estate. He Spent Some Years Travelling Between Havana New York Paris And Poland. In 1859 He Published 16 Of Chopin's Polish Songs As Op. 74 A Later Edition Increased This To 17 Songs . In 1860 Louis Moreau Gottschalk Dedicated Two Compositions To Fontana La Gitanella And Illusions Perdues. In The 1860s Fontana Translated Cervantes' Don Quixote Into Polish. In 1869 He Published A Book Of Folk Astronomy. He Succumbed To Deafness And Poverty And Committed Suicide In Paris. He Was Buried In Montmartre Cemetery. He Had Arranged Prior To His Death To Have His Son Looked After By His Wife's Family In England read less