Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880)

Henryk Wieniawski was born to a Jewish family in Lublin, Poland. His parents were Regina Wolff, a professional pianist, and Tadeusz Wieniawski, a physician who changed his birth name and converted to the Roman Catholic faith in order to assimilate into the Polish environment. Henryk was a child prodigy on the violin, and in 1843, at age eight, he was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire. He graduated from the Conservatoire with the first prize at age 11. At his mother's salon in Paris, he met many great artists of his day, including Frederic Chopin and Adam Mickiewicz. Wieniawski became a concert violinist and toured Europe extensively, giving recitals at which he was often accompanied by his brother Józef on the piano. In 1847, he published his first opus, a Grand Caprice Fantastique, the start of a catalogue of very important works in the violin repertoire. In 1860, he moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, at the invitation of pianist Anton Rubinstein, and served as the Imperial court violinist and taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. From 1872 to 1874, Wieniawski toured the USA with Rubinstein. In 1875, Wieniawski replaced Henri Vieuxtemps as violin professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. During his years in Brussels, Wieniawski's health declined. He started a tour of Russia in 1879 but became too ill to complete it. In February 1880, Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patron, took Wieniawski into her home to care for him. He died of a heart attack at age 45 a few weeks later. His daughter Régine Wieniawski, born the year before his death, also became a composer. The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competitions for violinists and violin makers has been held every five years in Poznań since 1952.