INTERNATIONAL HENRYK WIENIAWSKI
VIOLIN MAKING COMPETITION
In time, International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, the oldest event of this kind in the world (first edition held in Warsaw in 1935; contest relocated to Poznań in 1952), took in two more areas of artistic rivalry. And if, for various reasons, the composer competition did not take off the ground, the violin-making contest became a truly world-class event.
It all began in 1952, when grain merchant
Zdzisław Szulc founded and became manager of a unique collection of
musical instruments. It was the germ of the museum which today, as
branch of the National Museum, is ranked among the most distinguished
establishments of this type in Europe. Five years later, in 1957, it was
host to First International Violin-Making Competition, to which 130
instruments manufactured by violin-making artists from 16 countries of
the world were submitted; the violin-making and functional properties of
instruments by the Czech Josef Vavra, and Frenchman Rene Quenoil were
judged best: these two violin-makers open the list of laureates of the
competition, which to date has earned a reputation and high prestige in
both hemispheres and is ranked alongside events in Cremona, Mittenwald,
Moscow, or London. Its previous ten editions featured over 1400
instruments from 30 countries of all continents. Nearly sixty
award-winning instruments make up a state collection, which regularly
lends its instruments to young violin players.
The Poznań
competitions, which in time began attracting highly talented violin
makers and jurors of extraordinary skill and universally recognized
authority, greatly contributed to the revival of this important area of
artistic craft, which – in Poland and elsewhere – was seriously
neglected in the post-war period. Symposia and conferences (in most
cases held concurrently) became skill-sharing platform for various
schools and violin making traditions – a factor whose cultural
significance cannot be overestimated. It is also worth noting that
Poznań is the only centre in Poland where violin-makers receive both
secondary and higher education; we owe this to Prof. Włodzimierz
Kamiński (1930-1993), successor to Zdzisław Szulc (d. 1959), who raised
the status of the museum to this of a prominent institution and research
centre.
Zdzisław Szulc.
The competition is organized by Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society in Poznań (Towarzystwo Muzyczne im. Henryka Wieniawskiego w Poznaniu) in cooperation with Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers (ZPAL - Związek Polskich Artystów Lutników) and National Museum in Poznań.
