Polish Violinist Henryk Szeryng Died in 1988

Szeryng was a student of Carl Flesch Jacques Thibaud, Gabriel Bouillon, Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Frenkel, and Willy Hess 

 

Henryk Szeryng was born in 1918 in the same village as Chopin — Żelazowa Wola, Poland. Trained in piano at age five by his mother, he instead took up formal violin lessons two years later with Maurice Frenkel, who was a pupil of Leopold Auer.

After hearing Szeryng play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1928, violinist and family friend Bronisław Huberman convinced him to travel to Berlin to continue his training. There, Szeryng learned first from Willy Hess and then from Carl Flesch. 

In 1933, Szeryng debuted in Warsaw performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto Op. 61 with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Bruno Walter. He played in Bucharest, Vienna, and Paris, that same year, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Between 1933 and 1939, Szeryng took violin lessons with Jacques Thibaud and Gabriel Bouillon and studied composition with Nadia Boulanger.

During World War II, Szeryng performed over 300 concerts for Allied troops, and later relocated to Mexico, serving on the staff of the exiled Polish premier General Sikorski as a translator. A polyglot, Szeryng spoke Spanish, Polish, German, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese. After meeting pianist Arthur Rubinstein in 1950, Szeryng ventured further from Mexico for a number of concert tours. 

In 1946, Szeryng received Mexican citizenship and began a teaching career, leading the violin faculty at the National Autonomous University of Mexico from 1945 to 1956. Following his return to the stage in 1954 in New York, he began appearing with major orchestras and conductors across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Noted for his powerful playing and steady pacing, Szeryng performed acclaimed interpretations of music from J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, and 20th-century composers including Bartók, Berg, Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Szymanowski, and Sibelius. He was also a proponent of contemporary music, performing a new piece for violin and orchestra each year.

His recordings won the Grand Prix du Disque six times and were the recipients of other prizes and national honors. Additionally, Szeryng became a special music advisor to UNESCO in 1970 and served as a cultural ambassador for Mexico. He also co-organized many international violin competitions, including the Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznań, where he was a member of the jury in 1967, and jury chair in 1981. 

On March 3, 1988, in Kassel, Germany, Szeryng died unexpectedly at age 69 from a cerebral hemorrhage whilst on tour.

 

BRAHMS | VIOLIN CONCERTO OP. 77 | HENRYK SZERYNG | JERUSALEM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | GARY BERTINI | 1980

More videos of Szeryng's playing can be found here.