A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wieniawski, Henri
WIENIAWSKI, Henri, one of the most eminent of modern violinists, was the son of a medical man, and born at Lublin in Poland, July 10, 1835. His great musical talent showed itself so very early that his mother, a sister of the well-known pianist Ed. Wolff, took him at the age of 8 to Paris, where he entered the Conservatoire, and was soon allowed to join Massart's class. As early as 1846, when only 11, he gained the first prize for violin-playing. He then made a tour through Poland and Russia, but returned to Paris to continue his studies, more especially in composition. In 1850 he began to travel with his brother Joseph, a clever pianist, and appeared with great success in most of the principal towns of the Netherlands, France, England and Germany. In 1860 he was nominated solo-violinist to the Emperor of Russia, and for the next twelve years resided principally at St. Petersburg. In 1872 he started with Anton Rubinstein for a lengthened tour through the United States, and after Rubinstein's return to Europe, extended his travels as far as California. Returning to Europe (1874), he accepted the post of first professor of the violin at the Conservatoire of Brussels, as Vieuxtemps' successor; but after a few years quitted it again, and though his health was failing, resumed his old wandering life of travel. An incident connected with this last tour deserves record. During a concert which he gave at Berlin, he was suddenly seized by a spasm and compelled to stop in the middle of a concerto. Joachim, who happened to be among the audience, without much hesitation stepped on to the platform, took up Wieniawski's fiddle, and finished the programme amid the enthusiastic applause of an audience delighted by so spontaneous an act of good fellowship.
Struggling against his mortal disease, Wieniawski made for Russia, but broke down at Odessa, and was conveyed to Moscow, where he died April 2, 1880.
Wieniawski was one of the most eminent modern violin-players; a great virtuoso, distinguished from the mass of clever players by a striking and peculiar individuality. Technical difficulties did not exist for him—he mastered them in early childhood. Left hand and right arm were trained to the highest pitch of perfection, and while the boldness of his execution astonished and excited his audience, the beauty and fascinating quality of his tone went straight to their hearts, and enlisted their sympathy from the first note. The impetuosity of his Slavish temperament was probably the most prominent and most characteristic quality of his style, in which respect he much resembled his friend Rubinstein; but warm and tender feeling, as well as gracefulness and piquancy, were equally at his command. At the same time he was so thoroughly musical as to be an excellent quartet-player, though perhaps more in sympathy with the modern than with the older masters. He was one of the privileged few who, by sheer force of talent, take hold of an audience and make even the cold critic forget his criticism. Impetuous, warm-hearted, witty, an excellent story-teller—such was the man, and such were the qualities which shone through his performances. He has been accused of now and then overstepping the bounds of good musical taste, and indeed his fiery temperament led him sometimes to a certain exaggeration, especially in quick movements, or to such errors as the introduction of an enlarged cadenza in Mendelssohn's concerto; but who would not readily forgive such peccadilloes to so rare and genuine a talent?
His compositions—two concertos, a number of fantasias, pièces de salon, and some studies—are not of much importance. The best-known are the fantasia on Russian airs, that on airs from Faust, and a set of studies.