(b Lublin, 10 July 1835; d Moscow, 31 March 1880). Polish violinist and composer. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he embarked on the career of a travelling virtuoso, giving concerts in Russia, Germany, Paris and London. At the bidding of Anton Rubinstein he settled in St Petersburg (1860-72) and exerted a decisive influence on the growth of the Russian violin school. Meanwhile he composed his best works including the demanding Etudes-caprices op.18, the Polonaise brillante op.21 and his masterpiece, the Second Violin Concerto in D minor op.22. Further world travels, notably to the USA and Russia, and a period as violin professor at the Brussels Conservatory (1875-7) contributed to the breakdown of his health. One of the most important violinists of the generation after Paganini, he was known for the emotional quality of his tone. As a composer he combined the technical advances of Paganini with Romantic imagination and Slavonic colouring, showing Polish nationalism in his mazurkas and polonaises. His brother Józef (1837-1912) was an accomplished pianist who taught in Moscow, Warsaw and Brussels; their nephew Adam (1879-1950) was a director of the Chopin Music School in Warsaw.
Often compared to Paganini, Wieniawski was one of the greatest violinists of the Romantic era. As a performer, he dazzled audiences with his stupendous technique, expressive phrasing, and rich tone. As a composer, he succeeded in blending brilliant virtuosity with true Romantic inspiration. Like his compatriot Chopin, Wieniawski wrote music which celebrated the spirit of Poland, with his popular Polonaise in D major serving as a sterling example. Wieniawski's talent as a composer came to the fore in his extraordinary Violin Concerto No. 2, regarded as one of the great works of the Romantic violin repertoire.
Born in Poland while the country was under foreign rule, Wieniawski was a member of a family which produced several remarkable musicians. Recognized as a prodigy, Wieniawski auditioned for the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine. In 1846, he received first prize in violin. Two years later, Wieniawski embarked on a career as a concert violinist, performing first in Paris and then in St. Petersburg. After achieving great success in St. Petersburg, Wieniawski returned to Paris to study composition.
Between 1851 and 1853, Wieniawski lived in Russia, giving concerts with his younger brother Joseph. In many ways the typical Romantic virtuoso, Wieniawski was also developing into a serious composer. The works published by the time he was 18 included the Polonaise in D major and the Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor. A work in which musical inspiration may have been, as critics later maintained, subordinated to the virtuoso's need to demonstrate his sheer technical prowess, the Violin Concerto No. 1 nevertheless hugely impressed European audiences, launching Wieniawski's international career as a violinist-composer.
Wieniawski's career entered a new phase in 1860, when he moved to St. Petersburg. Wieniawski immediately became one of the country's principal musical figures. First violinist to the Tsar and professor of violin at the newly-founded Conservatory, he also led the Russian Musical Society's orchestra and string quartet. He exerted a tremendous influence on the Russian violin tradition; his unusual bowing style, with a stiff wrist and raised elbow, later became a trademark of Russian violinists, who, despite the seeming discomfort of the technique, kept rising to the pinnacle of violin performance. Wieniawski also matured as a composer. The Violin Concerto No. 2, composed in Russia in 1862, supports the violin with an orchestral part which, going beyond mere accompaniment, fully participates in the composition's thematic development. Also, anticipating cyclical compositional forms, Wieniawski reiterates the soulful second theme of the first movement in the final movement.
Wieniawski's Russian period ended in 1872, when he resumed his career as an international virtuoso. Following a grueling, two-year North American tour, Wieniawski returned to Europe to succeed Vieuxtemps as professor at the Brussels Conservatory. He kept that post until 1877 while maintaining his busy concert schedule. In 1878, although weakened by a serious heart condition, Wieniawski played in Paris, Berlin, and Moscow. In Berlin, on November 11, 1878, Wieniawski collapsed while performing his second violin concerto; in Moscow, on December 17, he was unable to complete his performance of Beethoven's "Kreutzer" sonata. Undaunted, Wieniawski started a Russian tour in 1879, but was taken to the hospital in Odessa. On February 14, 1880, Wieniawski was brought to the house of Tchaikovsky's patroness Nadezhda von Meck. The dying Wieniawski was also in a desperate financial situation, and friends had to raise money for a life insurance payment in order to secure the future of his family. Two months after Wieniawski's death, his youngest daughter, Irene, was born.
He was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, into a Jewish family. His father, Tobiasz Pietruszka, had converted to Catholicism. His talent for playing the violin was recognized early on, and in 1843 he entered the Paris Conservatoire. After graduation, Wieniawski toured extensively, giving many recitals on which he was often accompanied by his brother Józef on piano. In 1847 Henryk Wieniawski published his first opus, a Grand Caprice Fantastique, the start of a modest but important catalog of 24 opus numbers.
When his engagement to Isabella Hampton was opposed by her parents, Wieniawski wrote Légende, Op. 17; this work helped the parents change their mind, and the couple married in 1860.
During his residence in Brussels, Wieniawski's health was in obvious decline, often stopping him in the middle of concerts. He started a tour of Russia in 1879, but was unable to complete it. He was taken to hospital in Odessa after a concert; on 14 February 1880 Tchaikovsky's patroness Nadezhda von Meck took him in to her home and provided him with medical attention.[1][2] His friends arranged a benefit concert for him to help provide for his family. He died in Moscow a few weeks later, from a heart attack. He is interred in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
Henryk Wieniawski - Coin
His daughter Régine Wieniawski, born in Brussels the year before his death, also became a composer. She published her early works as "Irène Wieniawska", but after marrying Sir Aubrey Dean Paul and becoming a British subject, she used the pseudonym "Poldowski".[3]
Works
Henryk Wieniawski was considered a violinist of genius and wrote some of the most important works in the violin repertoire, including two extremely difficult violin concertos, the second of which (in D minor, 1862) is more often performed than the first (in F♯ minor, 1853). His "L'Ecole Moderne, 10 Etudes-Caprices" is a very well-known and required work for aspiring violinists. His Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op. 16 and Légende, Op. 17 are also frequently performed works. He also wrote two popular mazurkas for solo violin and piano accompaniment (the second one, Obertas, in G Major), using techniques such as left-hand pizzicato, harmonics, large leaps, and many double stops. Wieniawski has been given a number of posthumous honors. His portrait appeared on a postage stamp of Poland in 1952 and again in 1957. A 100 Złoty coin was issued in 1979 bearing his image.
What is sometimes called the "Russian bow grip" ought to be called the "Wieniawski bow grip": Wieniawski taught his students his own kind of very stiff bowing that allowed him to play a "devil's staccato" with ease.
2 Mazurkas, Obertasse et Le Menetrier, Op. 19 (NB. No 2 is known as both 'The Bagpipe Player' [ABRSM Vln Gr VIII Syllabus], and 'The Village Fiddler' [Naxos Records])
^ Three pieces (University of Southern California collection Mus.6024 - Mus.6027)) with ms dedications to the violinist Paul Kochański noted by Tyrone Greive, " Kochański's Collaborative Work As Reflected in His Manuscript Collection" Polish Music Journal1.1, (Summer 1998); (on-line text).
