# Unknown composer #8: Józef Wieniawski



## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

*Józef Wieniawski [aka Joseph] (1837-1912)
*








*I - Biography (parts from a reference text by Anna Munia plus some additions)
II - List of Works
III - Recordings*

******************

*I - BIOGRAPHY*

Józef Wieniawski was born in Lublin on 23 May 1837 from a middle class family with strong patriotic traditions and musical interest. His father was involved in the 1830's November Uprising, and his mother was a decent pianist and singer and was his first teacher.
Jozef and his brother Aleksander were twins, and his older brother Henryk Wieniawski became a very famous violinist which is still remembered today.
Still at home he had lessons from Franciszek Synek and soon (from october of 1846) he went to Paris and was accepted in the Conservatory, there he studied under Pierre Zimmermann, Charles ALKAN, and Antoine Marmontel.

He made his premiere public concert playing with his brother in 12 february 1848, finished his studies in the conservatory in 1850 receiving the first prize ("Prémier Grand Prix") and started to tour with his brother for a while. The critics acclaimed Jozef as a great artist with extraordinary musical memory. The pianist, being thoroughly aware of his attributes, would make use of it on a number of occasions in the future stunning the audiences lucky enough to be able to hear him play.
Jozef Wieniawski made a pause in the concert schedule to spend some months in Weimar studying with Franz Liszt anyway he and his brother played at several soirées there.
Their concert trips had not stopped before the summer of 1855.
Durinng the years 1856-59 Jozef decided to study more and complement his musical education studying composing with Adolf Bernhard Marx in Berlin. As a direct result of this development of the pianist's knowledge in this field came his writing of the Piano Concerto in G minor op. 20 with orchestra, performed by the composer in Brussels in 1859. During his Berlin studies, Wieniawski tried to put into practice his idea of building a piano with two manuals, whereby the second would serve as the opposite of the first, i.e. having the basses on the right. Although the concept did not attract interest among instrument builders, as a trick of fate such a piano was indeed constructed and patented (!) in France in 1876, when the Paris-based company of Mangeot Bros displayed the instrument as their own invention. Still, it did not enjoy widespread acclaim and Wieniawski himself never performed on one.
A musical result of his experiences with these ideas is the symmetrical inversion of Chopin's Etude Op.25 No.11, one of the hardest etudes ever made.

Józef did eventually settle in Paris, a year later. There he spent his time giving private classes, sitting in the juries of various competitions organised by the Conservatory, and playing in concert.
Wieniawski became friend of Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner and Gioacchino Rossini. In
the course of one of the social gatherings at the latter's there happened to take place a funny situation, later frequently recalled to support Józef's ingenious musical memory.
The host having been asked to perform his own piece took out of the drawer the notes of one of his latest compositions and tightly covering the score played it on the piano.
One can easily envisage the surprise and thrill among the listeners, when towards the end of the meeting Józef sat at the instrument and... repeated the same music from memory!
Between 1864 and 1869, Wieniawski was active in Moscow as a teacher. In 1866, he accepted the post of professor of piano at the newly established Moscow Conservatory.
He lectured for one term, only to abandon the professorship and set up his own school of music, soon to be attended by no fewer than 700 students of piano.

Józef next settled in Warsaw, where he led an active artistic life, excelling in piano playing, teaching, and also conducting. When the Warsaw Music Society (Warszawskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne) was formally founded on 15 January 1871, Józef Wieniawski was among the respectable group of its founding members. He even served as director of the Society between 1875 and 1877. At that time he set up a mixed choir with Aleksander Michałowski as its tutor and accompanist, and a string quartet. Józef also actively engaged in numerous concerts of foreign artists performing in Warsaw, e.g. on 4 November 1877, he conducted the Piano Concerto in G minor by Camille Saint-Saëns with the composer himself in the part of the soloist.
In 1878, Wieniawski resolved to depart from the Wisła river city. His decision was equally dictated by a proposition to take over the position of professor from the conservatory in Brussels and tough conditions that prevailed in the Warsaw of the days: the Polish capital was languishing under the Tsarist Imperial Russian occupation and the situation was becoming unbearable. The last concert given by the pianist before he left the country took place on 13 December 1878 in his native town of Lublin. After that, Józef settled in Brussels, henceforth the base of his artistic voyages throughout the world. In 1889, Wieniawski married Melania Hilsheimer, the daughter of a Dresden based banker. This relationship was blessed with two children: Elżbieta was born 1892 and Marcella two years later. In the early twentieth century, Józef reduced his solo concerts and almost completely confined himself to teaching. He nevertheless remained fit and very active until the final days of his life. He died in Brussels on 11 November 1912 at the age of 75.

As a pianist Wieniawski played works by every known composer at those times, giving special attention to the Polish ones, and he is considered the pioneer of homogeneous programmes dedicated to Fryderyk Chopin. He was, after Franz Liszt, the first pianist to play in concert all Chopin's Etudes.

Wieniawski's own compositions are mainly affected by Chopin's music, although one can also find in them traces of Liszt, Alkan, Berlioz, and others.

One interesting fact is, Wieniawski, being the second pianist to play all Chopin Etudes in concert made in his own 24 piano Etudes as a kind of evolution after Chopin - each one is dedicated to a great virtuoso of those times - so in some aspects this is what Godowsky years later made using Chopin's etudes, anyway Wieniawski created his own etudes and also developed the symmetrical inversion techniques for piano playing using the Chopin's Etude Op.25 No.11 as reference.

******************

*II - LIST OF COMPOSITIONS BY JOZEF WIENIAWSKI
*
Op.1 - 2 Idylles 
Op.2 - Allegro de Sonate for violin and piano (G minor; 1848?, in collaboration with his brother Henryk Wieniawski)
Op.3 - Valse de concert No.1 (D♭ major)
Op.4 - Tarantelle No.1 (E minor)
Op.5 - Grand Duo Polonais in E minor for Violin and Piano (1852, in collaboration with his brother Henryk (Op.8))
Op.6 - Fantasia on Themes from 'La sonnambula' 
Op.7 - Valse de salon (F major)
Op.8 - Pensée fugitive (D♭ major)
Op.9 - Barcarolle-Caprice (B minor)
Op.10 - Romance-Étude (A minor) 
Op.11 - Polka brillante (D major)
Op.12 - Souvenir de Lublin, Romance varié (G♭ major)
Op.13 - Polonaise No.1 (C major)
Op.14 - 8 Romances sans paroles (2 books)
Op.15a - Un entrée a Cachemire
Op.15b - Rondeau (G minor)
Op.16 - Modlitwa (Modlitwa do Najświętszej Maryi Panny Ostrobramskiej; A♭ major) for voice & piano (organ)
Op.17 - Songs 
Op.18 - Souvenir d'une valse (F minor)
Op.19 - Impromptu No.1 (B major)
Op.20 - Piano Concerto (G minor; ca.1858)
Op.21 - Polonaise No.2 (A♭ major)
Op.22 - Piano Sonata (B minor)
Op.23 - 8 Mazurkas (2 books)
Op.24 - Violin Sonata (D minor)
Op.25 - Fantaisie et Fugue (B♭ minor)
Op.26 - Cello Sonata (E major)
Op.27 - Polonaise No.3 (G♯ minor)
Op.28a - Overture in E major for orchestra (1862?) 
Op.28b - Sur l'océan, Contemplation (B major) 
Op.29 - Etude for the left hand alone
Op.29b - Barcarolle (B♭ major)
Op.30 - Valse de concert No.2 (E major)
Op.31 - Ballade (E♭ minor)
Op.32 - String Quartet (A minor; pub. 1882)
Op.33 - Etude de concert No.1 (G major)
Op.34 - Impromptu No.2 (F major)
Op.35 - Tarantelle No.2 (A minor)
Op.36 - Etude de concert No.2 (A major)
Op.37 - Nocturne (E minor)
Op.38 - 4 Songs 
Op.39 - 6 Pièces romantiques 
Op.40 - Piano Trio (G major)
Op.41 - Suite romantique for orchestra 
Op.42 - Fantasia for 2 Pianos (or for piano and orchestra)
Op.43 - Guillame le Taciture, Overture dramatique for orchestra
Op.44 - 24 Études de mécanisme et de style for Piano (4 books)
Op.45 - No.1: Rêverie (E major)
Op.46 - Valse-caprice (A major)
Op.47 - 6 Gesänge for 2 voices with piano 
Op.48 - Polonaise No.4 (G major; pub. 1892)
Op.49 - Symphony in D major for orchestra (pub. 1890)
Op.50 - 6 Lieder
Op.51 - 4 Klavierstücke (4 Morceaux / Pièces)

WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBER

Overture for orchestra (D major; 1856?)
Adagio e rondo giocoso (1857)
Fantaisie brillante (1858)
Menuet grany podczas przedstawienia obrazu z żywych osób "Szlachectwo" (D major; Ruch Muzyczny, 1859)
Duet na motywach fińskich (Duo on Finnish themes) for violin & piano (1851)
Polonaise triomphale (pub.1862 by Gérard for piano) (possibly a version of his 2nd Polonaise?)

COLLABORATIONS

Duo Concertant on the theme of Russian Hymn (by A. Lwow), with Henryk Wieniawski (1851) 
Andantino (with Rossini)

TRANSCRIPTIONS

Henryk Wieniawski - Souvenir de Posen, Op.3
Henryk Wieniawski - Kujawiak in A minor
Henryk Wieniawski - 2 Mazurkas, Op.12: 
Fryderyk Chopin - Etude in a minor, Op.25 No.11

******************

*III - RECORDINGS
*
Most part of Wieniawski is recorded by Acte Prealable, and before the end of September they probably will anounce the remaining CDs finishing the complete piano music series (since "piano works 4" I am the responsible to record the missing pieces from now, and I'm finishing this! We are celebrating Wieniawski 180 years in 2017!!!!)

Piano works 1
http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0184.html

Piano works 2
http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0291.html

Overture "Guillaume le Taciturne" op. 43 - Symphony in D major op. 49
http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0331.html

Piano works 3
http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0405.html

Piano works 4 - 24 Etudes Op.44
http://www.acteprealable.com/albums/ap0406.html

There was also an interesting recording from 1980 of 4 Wieniawski's Etudes (from his set pf 24) recorded by Bernard Ringeisen.

So, here some examples:

Etude Op.44 No.20 (piano: Artur Cimirro)





Fantasie et Fugue Op.25 (piano: Valentina Seferinova)





Valse de Concert Op.3 (piano: Tomasz Kamieniak)





Piano Concerto in G-minor Op.20 (piano: Beata Bilinska)
(Orchestra: Polish Radio Orchestra of Warsaw Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz)





Fantasia for 2 pianos Op.42 ((The Kepska Piano Duo)





More recordings to come soon...


----------



## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

For the ones who, like me, enjoy these images


----------

