Wieniawski, Henryk

Born in Lublin, in an educated and assimilated Jewish family ^[1] . His father, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warsaw , doctor Wolf Tobias Gelman (1798, Venyava - 1884, Lublin) was the son of a barber Gershl Meer Gelman ^[2] and Hitl Kelmanovich from the town of Venyava ^[3] - later the Jewish district of Lublin; adopting Catholicism in 1828, he changed his name to Tadeusz Wieniawski ^{[4] [5]} . His second wife (from 1833, the mother of the future composer) Regina Wolf (1811, Brody - 1884, Warsaw ) was the daughter of a doctor Joseph Wolf (1766—?) And his wife Eleanor Estraicher (1789-1859), and was a sister to the composer Eduard Wolf (1816-1880) and physician Maximilian Wolf (1809-1874) ^{[6] [7]} . In addition to him, the spouses gave birth to four more sons: the elder Julian (1834-1912, who became a writer), the twins Jozef (1837-1912, who became a pianist) and Alexander (1837-1916, who was briefly an opera singer; father of the composer Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski ), and Kayetan, who also died one year old (Konrad, 1839-1840) ^[8] . The musician also had a half-brother, Tadeusz Wieniawski (1816–1887) ^[9] , from his father’s first marriage, a doctor ^[10] .

He began to study music in his hometown under the leadership of Stanislav Servachinsky and Jan Hornzel . In 1843, at the age of 8, he entered the Paris Conservatory , where he studied under Lambert Massard (violin) and Hippolytus Colet (harmony and composition). He graduated from the Conservatory with a gold medal and as a Russian scholarship holder received the violin Guarneri (del Gesu) as a gift from the tsar.

At the end of the course in 1846, he embarked on an artistic journey and in 1848 gave concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow with his brother, pianist Jozef Wieniawski . In 1851 to 1853 he toured again in Russia and gave about 200 concerts. In 1858, he became close to Rubinstein and began to concert with him.

In the personal life of the musician, the year 1859 became a turning point, when his engagement took place with the daughter of Lord Hampton Isabella ( English Isabella Bessie Hampton , 1842-1928). The wedding took place in Paris on August 2, 1860, attended by G. Berlioz and J. Rossini. In marriage, seven children were born ^[11] .

From 1862 to 1868, Weniawski was the first professor of the violin class at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (later, in 1875-1877, he taught at the Brussels Conservatory ). From 1869 to 1872 he served as the court soloist of the Imperial Court and theaters in St. Petersburg.

The wife's family insisted that the composer insure his life for a large amount. The need for interest payments led the composer to seek additional sources of income, but the overall overload led to poor health. From 1872 to 1874, Wieniawski along with A. Rubinstein undertook a tour of America, from which he returned completely ill, but later was able to partially recover. With the participation of the violinist, the Russian concert was triumphantly held in the Trocadero Hall in Paris at the 1878 World Exhibition . The last year of Weniawski’s performances was 1879. That year, after a heart attack during a concert in Moscow, he ended up at the Mariinsky Hospital on Bozhedomka (modern address of the building: Moscow, Dostoevsky Street , Building 4, building 1; now it does not function as a hospital).

At the request of N. G. Rubinstein, he was taken from the Mariinsky Hospital by Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (nee Fralovskaya ; born January 29 [ February 10 ] 1831 , Smolensk Region , the village of Syrokorenya, Roslavl Uyezd . - d. 1 [13] January 1894 Nice). She provided impeccable care for the composer. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote to her: “The last days of his [Wieniawski] will be brightened up by your concerns about him. Very sorry for him. We will lose in him an inimitable violinist and a very talented composer. In this last respect, I consider Wieniawski to be very richly gifted ... ” In the house of N.F. von Meck on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, 12, the composer died on March 31, 1880 at the age of 44 years.

Wieniawski was an exceptional virtuoso; possessing a wonderful tone, bewitching melodiousness of the bow, highly artistic understanding of the performed and first-class technique, he enjoyed constant success and was a favorite of listeners from all countries.

As a composer, Wieniawski was distinguished by great taste and originality of thought. He wrote only for violin (two concerts and many separate plays were preserved). All his works are extremely grateful to the performer. Especially popular are his “Legend”, “Remembering Moscow”, Fantasy on themes from the “ Faust ” by Gounod . The first and second violin concerts of Weniawski were recorded by a number of outstanding performers, including: Boris Goldstein , Viktor Pikaisen , Oleg Krysa (concert number 1), Isaac Stern, Yasha Kheifets, Igor Oistrakh, Ida Handel and Joshua Bell (concert number 2).

The list below includes all surviving works of Henryk Wieniawski, as well as some of the lost.

For violin and orchestra

Concerts

• D-dur Concert (1847; unfinished, lost)
• Concert No. 1 fis-moll, Op. 14 (first performance 1853)
• Concert No. 2 d-moll, Op. 22 (first performance 1862)
• Concert (No. 3) a-moll (1878, lost)

Concert Pieces

• Concert Polonaise (No. 1) D-dur, Op. 4 (c. 1852)
• Elegance Adagio A-dur, Op. 5 ( Adagio élégiaque ; 1852)
• “Memory of Moscow” e-moll, two songs by A. E. Varlamov with variations, Op. 6 ( Souvenir de Moscou ; 1852)
• Scherzo Tarantella g-moll, Op. 16 (1855)
• The legend of g-moll, Op. 17 (1859)
• A brilliant fantasy on themes from Faust by Gounod A-dur, Op. 20 (1865)
• Brilliant polonaise No. 2 A-dur, Op. 21 (1870)

For violin and piano

• The Great Fantastic Capriccio E-dur, Op. 1 ( Grand caprice fantastique ; 1846/1847)
• Allegro g-moll, Op. 2 (together with Jozef Wieniawski ; 1848)
• Concert rondo in Russian style D-dur ( Rondo russe ; 1848; preserved to manuscript; original version of rondo from Op. 10)
• A large concert duet on the theme of the Russian anthem “God Save the Tsar!” G-dur (together with Jozef Wieniawski ; 1851; preserved in the manuscript)
• “Recollection of Poznan” d-moll, characteristic Mazurka No. 1, Op. 3 ( Souvenir de Posen ; 1854?)
• Kuyaviak a-moll, Mazurka No. 2 (1851)
• Capriccio Waltz E-dur, Op. 7 (1852)
• Grand Duet in Polish Style, Op. 8 ( Grand Duo Polonaise ; together with Jozef Wieniawski ^[12] ; 1852)
• Song without words and graceful rondo d-moll, Op. 9 ( Romance sans paroles et Rondo élégant ; 1852)
• “Russian Carnival”, humorous improvisations and variations on the theme of the Russian folk song “Along Pavement Street”, Op. 11 ( Le Carnaval Russe ; 1852)
• Two Salon Mazurkas, Op. 12 (1853):
  • Pastoral D-dur ( Polish Sielanka , French La Champêtre );
  • Polish song d-moll ( Polish Pieśń polska , French Chanson polonaise )
• Variations on A-dur (a-moll), Op. 15 (1854)
• Romance of Anton Rubinstein ^[13] Es-dur (c. 1860).
• Two Characteristic Mazurkas, Op. 19 (c. 1860):
  • Oberek G-dur ( fr. Obertas );
  • "Village violinist" D-dur ( Polish. Dudziarz , FR. Le Ménétrier )
• Three Album Leaves, Op. 23 (only No. 1 was published: Gigue e-moll, c. 1876; published in 1880)
• Oriental Fantasy a-moll, Op. 24 ( Fantasie orientale ; 1876, published posthumously)
• Violin solo for Caesar Pugni 's ballet The Golden Fish a-moll (published c. 1924)

Other works

• Modern School, [10] caprices for violin solo, Op. 10 ( L'École moderne ; 1853-1854)
• Pastoral Fantasy, Op. 13 ( Fantaisie pastorale ; lost)
• Polish song F-dur for voice and piano (1854)
• Daydream (Rêverie) fis-moll for viola and piano (1855)
• [8] Caprices for violin, accompanied by another violin, Op. 18 (1862)

Cadences

• Cadence for violin concerto No. 7 a-moll, Op. 9 Pierre Rohde (1848)
• Cadence for violin concerto D-dur, Op. 61 Ludwig van Beethoven (1854)
• Cadence for violin concerto No. 22 a-moll by Giovanni Battista Viotti (1861)
• Cadence for violin concerto No. 17 d-moll Giovanni Battista Viotti (1862)
• Cadence to the aria from the opera “Meadow of the Scribes” by Ferdinan Gerold
• Cadence for fis-moll violin concerto (“Pathetic”), Op. 23 Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1860)
• Cadence for violin concerto No. 2 D-dur (“Military”), Op. 21 Karol Lipinsky (1850/1851; lost)
• Cadence for violin concert e-moll, Op. 64 Felix Mendelssohn (1853; lost)
• Cadence for violin concerto No. 5 a-moll (“Gretry Concert”), Op. 37 Henry Vyotana (1864; lost)

In memory of Wieniawski since 1935 , the Wieniawski International Violin Competition has been held , the founder and first leader of which was his nephew Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski . The daughter of Weniawski Irena Wieniawska also enjoyed a certain fame as a composer. In 2001, Poland issued a commemorative coin in denominations of 10 zlotys in memory of Henryk Wieniawski. The coin is issued from 925 sterling silver, weighing 14.14 grams.

• Wieniawski, Henry // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Achille Desfossez . Henri Wieniawski, esquisse. - Le Haye, 1856.
• Edmund Grabkowski . Henryk Wieniawski i jego muzyka. - Warszawa, 1990.
• Anna Hahn . Twórczość Henryka Wieniawskiego (1835-1880) w aspekcie źródeł, literatury oraz stylu i formy koncertów skrzypcowych i kadencji koncertowych (praca mgr., Zakład Muzykologii Instytut HistorAMzz. - Poznań, 1999.
• Renata Suchowiejko . Henryk Wieniawski - kompozytor na tle wirtuozowskiej tradycji skrzypcowej XIX wieku. - Poznań: Towarzystwo Muzyczne im. Henryka Wieniawskiego, 2005.

• WENEVA . Great Russian Encyclopedia
• Henryk Wieniawski: sheet music at International Music Score Library Project
• Website of the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Partnership .
• Thematic catalog of works by Henryk Wieniawski .
• Henryk Wieniawski - Life and work .
• Venyavsky // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : in 66 volumes (65 volumes and 1 additional) / Ch. ed. O. Yu. Schmidt . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1926-1947.
• Henryk Wieniawski - Biography / Special Radio, 2009