Henryk Pachulski

Who was Henryk Pachulski?

Henryk Pachulski was a Polish-born pianist, composer and teacher who spent most of his life in Russia.

Of noble birth, he was born the son of a surveyor and forester, in Łazy, near Siedlce, Poland. He studied at the Warsaw Institute of Music under Stanisław Moniuszko and Władysław Żeleński, then at the Moscow Conservatory from 1880, studying with Alexander Michalowski, Pavel Pabst, Nikolai Rubinstein, and Anton Arensky. From 1886 to 1917 he was professor of piano at the conservatory. He never returned to his native country.

Pachulski wrote a Suite for orchestra, a Méditation for string orchestra, a Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra, works for cello, piano, and numerous songs, as well as many four-handed piano transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's orchestral music. His Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 19, was dedicated to Arensky, and his Piano Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op, 27, to Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Some of his works have been recorded by Lubow Nawrocka

His brother Władysław Pachulski also went to Russia and was employed as a musician by Nadezhda von Meck, the patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He was a secretary to the von Meck family and married von Meck's daughter Yuliya. He is the prime suspect in the breakdown of the relationship between Tchaikovsky and his patroness.