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Koczalski, Raoul [Raul] (Armand Georg) (b Warsaw, 3 Jan 1884; d Poznań, 24 Nov 1948). Polish pianist and composer. A child prodigy of sensational attainments, he had given nearly 1000 performances by the age of 12. His only significant teacher was Chopin's pupil Karol Mikuli, with whom Koczalski underwent intensive instruction for four summers from 1892 in Lwów. He was thus initiated into a seemingly authentic tradition of Chopin interpretation that marks his 1930s recordings of much of the Polish composer's oeuvre as a source of considerable documentary importance. Koczalski lived in France, Germany and Sweden, before returning to Poland after World War II, where he settled in Poznań, remaining active as a recitalist to the time of his death. Although remembered primarily as a Chopin player of great refinement, supple technique and authority of idiom, he also performed the complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas, as well as other repertory. Koczalski composed more than 70 virtuoso works for piano, many of which are founded on Polish national melodies, as well as two operas, Rymond (Elberfeld, 1902) and Die Sühne (Mühlhausen, 1909). WRITINGS Frédéric Chopin: Betrachtungen, Skizzen, Analysen (Cologne, 1936) Über die Aufführung Chopinscher Werke (nach Hinweisungen Mikulis) (n.p., n.d.) BIBLIOGRAPHY B. Vogel: Raul Koczalski (Leipzig and Warsaw, 1896) M. Paruszewska: Biographische Skizze und künstlerische Laufbahn Raul Koczalskis (Poznań, 1936) (JAMES METHUEN-CAMPBELL)