Composers / Fryderyk Chopin / Places catalog

Magnus's bookshop

A young person in Warsaw when Fryderyk Chopin was growing up there could have spent many a pleasant hour on ul. Miodowa – sitting in the Honoratka café, sampling sweets at Lourse’s and browsing the new releases at Dal Trozzo’s, Brzezina’s, Magnus’s or any other of the several bookshops there.

Magnus's bookshop was housed in a tenement building recently erected by banker Samuel Eleazar Kronenberg at what is now ul. Miodowa 20. Karol Ludwik Magnus (c.1793–1834) was a Warsaw merchant and publisher of Swedish extraction. He ran a shop selling musical instruments and sheet music in the Kronenberg building from March 1828.

Magnus played a major role in the life of the young Chopin by distributing his Variations, Op. 2, which had been published by Haslinger in Vienna. This is mentioned in Chopin’s correspondence. For example, he informed Tytus Wojciechowski, in a letter dated 17 April 1830, ‘Magnus went to Vienna a week ago. He is to return at the end of this month; not empty handed, I expect’. On 15 May, he wrote to Woyciechowski again: ‘I can give another concert, because I haven’t yet played my Variations, and they, according to what Blahetka reported to me in his letter, came out recently, and Haslinger has gone with them to the Easter Fair in Leipzig. I expect that when Magnus returns from Vienna (for he travelled to Galicia to see to his own affairs, and from there he was to set off for Vienna), he will bring them to me’.

Chopin was definitely waiting for the Variations, dedicated to Tytus Woyciechowski, to arrive in early July that year. On 16 July, the Kurier Warszawski [Warsaw courier] reported: ‘The Magnus music shop has received a large shipment of music from Vienna. The Variations of Mr Szopę are among the many new and beautiful compositions there’. Henryk Nowaczyk argues persuasively that the ‘Mr Szopę’ (i.e. Chopin) impatiently waiting for his printed composition had in fact received it a couple of days – or even weeks – earlier, as he performed it at a benefit concert for the singer Barbara Majerowa on 8 July 1830 (‘The Kurier Warszawski reported that Mr Chopin played Variations of his own composition on the piano. The thunderous applause, thrice renewed, testified to the delight of the audience, with both the composition and the playing’) and suddenly left for Poturzyn for five days on 12 July – most likely to hand Woyciechowski, the dedicatee of the work, a printed copy of it.

Karol Magnus died a few years later, and his widow, Józefa Magnus, née Mrozowski, ran the shop. In 1897, his son, Wiktor Władysław Magnus, had a statue of Fryderyk Chopin erected in Duszniki.

Place Category
Antoni Brzezina’s bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Antonin Manors / Palaces / Castles
Apartment of Dominik Magnuszewski Flats
Apartment of Stefan Witwicki Flats
Apartment of the family of Alfons Brandt Flats
Augsburg Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity Churches / Places of worship
Belvedere Appearances
Bielany, Camaldolese monastery Churches / Places of worship
Blue Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
‘Botanika’ Other
Brochów Churches / Places of worship
Brühl Palace Appearances
Buchholtz’s instrument store Other
Casimir Palace Flats
Chopin Monument in Łazienki Park Other
Czapski (Krasiński) Palace Appearances, Manors / Palaces / Castles
Dal Trozzo bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Duszniki Zdrój Hotels / Inns
Dziewanowski home Flats
Engraving studio of Fr Izydor Józef Cybulski and Antoni Płachecki Education
Franciszek Klukowski bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Fryderyk Chopin Museum Other
Fryderyk Skarbek’s apartment Flats
Gdańsk Hotels / Inns
Gładkowskis' apartment Flats
Golub Other
Holy Cross Church Churches / Places of worship
Home of Jan Matuszyński Flats
‘Honoratka’ Coffeehouses
Jabłonowski Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Jan Böhm’s townhouse Flats
Kalisz Other
Kikół Manors / Palaces / Castles
Kolbergs' apartment Flats
Kowalewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Kozłowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Krakow Other
Ludwik Dmuszewski’s house Flats
Magnus's bookshop Publishers / Bookshops
Marceli Celiński’s apartment Flats
Maurycy Mochnacki’s home Flats
Miss Kicka's Salon in Lubomirski Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
National Theatre Appearances
Obory Churches / Places of worship
Obrowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Ojców Other
‘Old’ Merchants' Hall Appearances
Patisserie Lourse Coffeehouses
Pieskowa Skała Other
Płock Other
‘Pod Kopciuszkiem’ and ‘Dziurka’ Coffeehouses
Poturzyn Manors / Palaces / Castles
Powązki Cemeteries
Poznań Other
Presbytery of St Jadwiga (Hedwig) parish church in Milanówek Other
Pruszak Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Residence of Józef Reinschmidt’s parents Flats
Rościszewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Sanniki Manors / Palaces / Castles
Saxon Palace Flats
Saxon Post Office Other
Skating rink Other
Sochaczew Other
Sokołowo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Staszic Palace Manors / Palaces / Castles
Strzyżew Manors / Palaces / Castles
Szafarnia Manors / Palaces / Castles
Toruń Other
Turzno Manors / Palaces / Castles
‘U Brzezińskiej’ Coffeehouses
Ugoszcz Manors / Palaces / Castles
Viceroy's Palace Appearances
Vilnius (Wileński) Hotel Hotels / Inns
Visitandine Church of St Joseph Churches / Places of worship
Waplewo Manors / Palaces / Castles
Warsaw Other
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Warsaw Conservatory Appearances
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Wieliczka Other
Wojciech Żywny’s apartment Flats
Wola Tollhouse Other
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Żelazowa Wola Flats
Żychlin Manors / Palaces / Castles