Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 1 Premiered in 1853

The first performance took place on October 27, 1853, in Leipzig, featuring Wieniawski as the soloist, accompanied by the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

The concerto was dedicated to the Prussian king, Frederick William IV, who honored the composer with the Great Golden Medal of Arts and Sciences a year later.

Replete with technical difficulties, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp stands as a remarkable composition due to the technical challenges it requires of its soloist. The work shows clear influences from Niccolò Paganini, Karol Lipiński, Henri Vieuxtemps, and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.

The concerto was also ahead of its time in terms of its use of harmony, foreshadowing later composers like Bruckner. Impressively, it was written when Wieniawski was seventeen.

Also of note, is Wieniawski introduction of the cadenza as an essential and integral part of the concerto.

He started composing his Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor a few years later in 1856. The Violin Concerto No. 2 is considered more mature, yet technically less demanding than the first. Due to its technical complexity, the Concerto in F sharp minor wasn't widely performed until the latter half of the 20th century.

VC ARTIST SOYOUNG YOON | WIENIAWSKI | VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 IN F SHARP MINOR, OP. 14 | MAREK PIJAROWSKI & THE POZNAŃ PHILHARMONIC | 2011 WIENIAWSKI INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE