Maria Agata Wolowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a Jewish family with limited means. She taught herself piano from an early age and played at family gatherings, often improvising and accompanying her mother’s singing. Later, she studied piano with local teachers Antoni Lisowski and Tomasz Gremm. Maria made her debut as a pianist in 1810, performing in Warsaw and Paris. That same year, she married a rich landowner named Josef Szymanowski and had three children. She became a well-known concert pianist, admired for her skill and charm across Europe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reportedly admired her and expressed his feelings in his poem "Aussöhnung" in 1823. Her frequent tours caused problems in her marriage, leading her to separate from her husband and raise her children alone. To support her family, she gave concerts and taught piano. Maria composed 110 works, including songs, chamber music, and piano pieces such as nocturnes, waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas, and études. Her music was published in Russia and Poland, and it likely influenced Chopin. In 1822, she became the first female pianist at the Russian court and performed in the Russian Society of Musical Amateurs. After some years of intense concert life, she moved to St. Petersburg, where she focused on raising her children, teaching, and organizing her manuscripts, now kept in the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków. Maria also hosted salons at her home for musicians, poets, and artists. She died at age 42 from cholera while living in St. Petersburg. Despite her brief life, she made important contributions to piano and vocal music.