Henryk Wieniawski’s concert tours in Norway

Dagmara Łopatowska-Romsvik

Abstract

Numerous publications dedicated to Henryk Wieniawski’s life and concert activity note his frequent performances in Denmark and Sweden. We know some details of his journeys to these countries and of the concerts he gave there. The some studies also mention the Polish violinist’s concerts in Norway. Still, the information we have is of very general character, and the dates of the concerts are either misquoted or inconsistent. This paper reports the results of source studies on Henryk Wieniawski’s contacts with the audience in Norway. In the course of my research, I have established that the virtuoso visited Norway three times, and each of these tours was organised by Carl Warmuth’s concert agency operating in the country’s capital at that time. During each tour Wieniawski gave at least several concerts. The research has also demonstrated that the violinist performed not only in the Norwegian capital, but also in other cities situated in the south of the country. I have managed to reconstruct the contents of the artist’s performances on the basis of surviving concert programmes, while the press notes on Wieniawski’s tours reflect the atmosphere that accompanied his appearances. The reception was invariably enthusiastic, and the concert halls were filled to capacity. Following Wieniawski’s death, however, the press virtually forgot about him. Only his music lived on, performed there in the following decades by both Norwegian and foreign artists.