Niccolò Paganini’s 'Caprices' as Interpreted by Henryk Wieniawski
Abstract
Niccolò Paganini’s 'Caprices', one of the most demanding cycles in the violin repertoire, continue to pose a challenge for many violinists, as they did in the year of their publication, 1820. These 24 miniature showpieces had little to do with the original educational character of the genre. On the contrary, they were a virtuosic display of the skills of their composer, who would remain unrivalled to this day.
Though Paganini’s 'Caprices' did not occupy a major place in Henryk Wieniawski’s concert repertoire, they were well known to him. Extremely valuable in this respect is the copy of the Caprices now held in the library of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels, which bears traces of use by the Polish violinist. I take this copy of the Caprices as the starting point for analysis of the sources of his early fascination with Paganini’s performance style. I briefly discuss Wieniawski’s education in Joseph Lambert Massart’s class at the Paris Conservatoire, his interest in Apolinary Kątski’s manner of playing and his stay with Karol Lipiński in Dresden. I also address the role of Paganini’s 'Caprices' in Wieniawski’s work as a teacher at the St Petersburg and Brussels conservatories. At the centre of my article is a presentation of the Brussels copy of the Caprices, in terms of both the history of the source and the scope of Wieniawski’s interference in the original musical material of the edition. This analysis sheds valuable light on Wieniawski’s performance style, rarely considered in the subject literature.
Keywords:
Henryk Wieniawski, Niccolò Paganini, violin playing, nineteenth centuryReferences
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