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Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski ([vʲɛˈɲafskʲi]; 10 July 1835 – 31 March
1880) was a Polish violinist and composer.
Contents
Life
Works
Legacy
Compositions
Published works, with opus numbers
Unpublished works, and works without opus numbers
References
External links
Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland (Russian Empire). His father, Tobiasz
Pietruszka (Wolf Helman), was the son of a Jewish barber named Herschel Meyer Helman, from
the Jewish Lublin neighbourhood of Wieniawa, when barbers were also practising dentists,
healers, and bloodletters. Wolf Helman, also known as Tobiasz Pietruszka, changed his name to
Tadeusz Wieniawski, taking on the name of his neighbourhood to blend into his Polish
environment better. Prior to obtaining his medical degree, he had converted to Catholicism. He
married Regina Wolff, the daughter of a noted Jewish physician from Warsaw, and out of this
marriage Henryk was born.
Henryk's talent for playing the violin was recognised early, and in 1843 he was accepted by the
Paris Conservatoire, where special exceptions were made to admit him, as he wasn't French and
was only nine years old. He attended the Conservatoire from 1843 to 1846, an returned for another
year in 1849. After graduation, he toured extensively and gave many recitals, where he was often
accompanied by his brother Józef on piano.[1] In 1847, he published his first opus, a Grand
Caprice Fantastique, the start of a catalogue of 24 opus numbers.
When his engagement to Isabella Hampton was opposed by her parents, Wieniawski wrote
Légende, Op. 17; this work helped her parents change their mind, and the couple married in 1860.
At the invitation of Anton Rubinstein, Wieniawski moved to St. Petersburg, where he lived from
1860 to 1872, taught many violin students, and led the Russian Musical Society's orchestra and
string quartet. From 1872 to 1874, Wieniawski toured the United States with Rubinstein.
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Wieniawski replaced Henri Vieuxtemps as violin professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles
in 1875.
During his residence in Brussels, Wieniawski's health declined, and he often had to stop in the
middle of his concerts. He started a tour of Russia in 1879 but was unable to complete it, and was
taken to a hospital in Odessa after a concert. On 14 February 1880, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's
patroness Nadezhda von Meck took him into her home and provided him with medical
attention.[2][3] His friends also arranged a benefit concert to help provide for his family. He died in
Moscow a few weeks later from a heart attack and was interred in the Powązki Cemetery in
Warsaw.
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."[4] Another
daughter, Henriette, would go on to marry Joseph Holland Loring in 1904, who was among the
victims of the Titanic disaster.
Wieniawski was a player in the Beethoven Quartet Society in London, where he also performed on
viola.
Works
Henryk Wieniawski was considered a violinist of great ability and wrote some very important
works in the violin repertoire, including two technically demanding violin concertos, the second of
which (in D minor, 1862) is more often performed than the first (in F-sharp minor, 1853). His
L'École moderne: 10 Études-caprices is a very well known work for aspiring violinists. His
Polonaise Brillante, Op.4, Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op.16 and Légende, Op.17 are also frequently
performed works. He also wrote several mazurkas for violin with the piano accompaniment
(including the popular Obertass in G major), using techniques such as left-hand pizzicato,
harmonics, large leaps, and double stops.
Legacy
Wieniawski was given a number of posthumous honours. 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 commonly called the "Russian bow grip" is sometimes called the "Wieniawski bow grip",
as Wieniawski taught his students his own kind of very rigid bowing technique (like the Russian
grip) that allowed him to play what he called a "devil's staccato" with ease. This "devil's staccato"
was used to discipline students' technique.
The first violin competition named after Wieniawski took place in Warsaw in 1935. Ginette Neveu
took first prize, David Oistrakh second, and Henri Temianka third. The International Henryk
Wieniawski Violin Competition has been held every five years since 1952.
Compositions
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References
1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wieniawski, Henri" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop
%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Wieniawski,_Henri). Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 623.
2. LLC, Classical Archives. "Henryk Wieniawski - Classical Archives" (http://www.classicalarchive
s.com/composer/3561.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about). www.classicalarchives.com.
3. Greene, David Mason (11 August 1985). "Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers" (
https://books.google.com/books?id=m3S7PIxe0mwC&pg=PA708). Reproducing Piano Roll
Fnd. – via Google Books.
4. 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 Journal 1.1, (Summer 1998);
(on-line text (http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/issue/1.1.98/kochanski_part1.html)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20121002022349/http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/
PMJ/issue/1.1.98/kochanski_part1.html) 2012-10-02 at the Wayback Machine).
5. Mentioned in Grabkowski's Henryk Wieniawski (Warsaw : Interpress, 1986)
6. "Prone to Violins" (http://pronetoviolins.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html).
pronetoviolins.blogspot.com.
External links
Pilatowicz, Maria. "HENRYK WIENIAWSKI" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060408011110/http
://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/wieniawski.html). Archived from the original (http:/
/www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/wieniawski.html) on 2006-04-08. Retrieved
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