Jerzy Petersburski

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Gold & Petersburski Orchestra

Jerzy Petersburski (1895 – 1979) was a Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renown mostly for his Tangos, some of which (such as Ta ostatnia niedziela, Już nigdy and Tango Milonga) were milestones in popularization of the musical genre in Poland and are still widely known today, more than half a century after their creation.

Jerzy Petersburski was born April 20, 1895, to a family of Jewish roots. He graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory, where his professor was Antoni Sygietyński. Afterwards he moved to Vienna, where he continued his studies at the faculty of piano of the local Music Academy. A talented pianist, he was persuaded by his friend Imré Kálmán to devote himself to popular rather than classical music. In Vienna he also debuted as a composer for Alexander Vertinsky, a renown Russian poet and songwriter, famous for his romances.

Upon his return to Poland, he became well known for music for cabaret and theaters in Warsaw. Among them was Julian Tuwim's and Marian Hemar's Qui Pro Quo, one of the most famous Polish cabarets of the interbellum. In late 1920's and 1930's, Petersburski became one of the most popular Polish composers as several of his songs became hits on Polish Radio and in music theatres throughout the country. Apart from Marian Hemar, the list of lyricists for his songs included some of the most renown of their times: Andrzej Włast, Ludwik Szmaragd and Artur Tur. Also the performers of Petersburski's songs added to his popularity: Wera Bobrowska (Już nigdy), Hanka Ordonówna (Sam mi mówiłeś), Tola Mańkiewiczówna (Ty, miłość i wiosna), Ludwik Sempoliński (Cała przyjemność), Chór Dana and Mieczysław Fogg (Bez śladu) and Adolf Dymsza (Ja i żonka ma).

Despite being the writer of numerous waltzes and foxtrots, as well as two operettas (Kochanka z ekranu and Robert i Bertram), Petersburski is best known for his tangos. In 1928 he composed a song for Stanisława Nowicka titled Tango Milonga in Polish. The song became a major hit and was almost instantly translated to several languages, gaining much popularity abroad, both in Europe and in America (the English and German title being Oh, Donna Clara. The song was sung by many foreign artists, including Al Jolson, Henry Varny and Édith Piaf. Petersburski also wrote music for four Polish films in the 1930s, including Eugeniusz Bodo's successful Królowa przedmieścia of 1938. In the 1930s the orchestra he founded with Henryk Gold (in 1926) also gave weekly concerts at Warsaw's Adria, the most expensive and the most prestigious dancing restaurant in Poland, frequented by Poland's high society. Their orchestra gave concerts there for 8 years, longer than any other artist.

During the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Petersburski served with the Polish Air Force. After the country was overrun, he moved to the Soviet-occupied part of Poland. In 1940 he was allowed to continue his career and became the leader of the Belarusian Jazz Orchestra band. He performed many of his pre-war hits with new, Russian language lyrics. Among the original compositions of that time was the very popular tango Sinii Platochek (The Blue Handkerchief) performed by Klavdiya Shulzhenko. Other of his popular Russian songs (performed by, among others, the Isaak Dunayevsky's Orchestra) was Utomliennoye solntse (Weary sun), in fact a Russian version of pre-war Ta ostatnia niedziela. See also Burnt by the Sun.

After the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement of 1941 he joined the Polish II Corps under Władysław Anders. Evacuated with the rest of the Polish Army to Persia, he moved to Cairo where he started working for the Polish Radio. In the years 1947–1967 he lived in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela. In Argentina, for almost 20 years he was the main conductor of the National Theatre of Buenos Aires. In 1967 he returned to live in Poland and married Sylwia Klejdysz, a renown opera singer. His son Jerzy Petersburski Jr. was born in 1969. Jerzy Petersburski died October 7, 1979 in Warsaw and is buried in Powązki Cemetery.