Henryk Szeryng collection
Contributors: Halffter, Cristóbal, 1930-; Paganini, Nicolò, 1782-1840; Ponce, Manuel M. (Manuel María), 1882-1948
Published: 1933
Language: eng
Number of pages: 11000
Subjects: Correspondence; Photographs; Violin music; Instruction and study; Scores and parts; Violinists; Violin teachers; Orchestral music; Music; Archives; Arranged Violin music; Violin; Manuscripts
Description: The bulk of the collection is comprised of music manuscripts and printed scores. Much of the printed music contains annotations by Szeryng, and the manuscripts include a number of Szeryng's own compositions. The collection also contains arrangements and revisions of both standard and little-known works, including Paganini's Violin concerto, no. 3, which Szeryng himself rediscovered. In addition, there are manuscripts of composers whose works Szeryng promoted, including Manuel Ponce and Cristóbal Halffter. The correspondence includes letters to and from Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Yehudi Menuhin, Eugene Ormandy, and Waltraud Szeryng. Szeryng's career as a teacher is reflected in various pedagogical items, including master-class writings and papers and books that detail the principles of the Leopold Auer, Carl Flesch, and Eugène Ysaÿe schools of violin playing. In addition, the collection includes Szeryng's writings; business papers and financial records; performance files presenting an overview of the evolution of Szeryng's concert and recording career; articles, clippings, programs, and publicity materials; photographs; awards and citations; scrapbooks; and books from his personal library that relate to his music interests or contain noteworthy inscriptions.
Notes: Open to research.

Access Advisory: Not all materials in this collection may be readily accessible; please request accessibility information well in advance of your visit http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact

Henryk Szeryng Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.

Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.

Gift; Waltraud Szeryng (bulk), Gerhild Baron, Andree Desautels, Angela Lalauni, and others; 1990.

transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.

transferred to various divisions within the Library of Congress.

Henryk Szeryng (b. Warsaw, September 22, 1918; d. Kassel, March 3, 1988) was a violinist who was also known as a teacher, patron of the arts, and cultural ambassador. On the advice of Bronisław Huberman, he was sent to Berlin in 1928 to study with Carl Flesch. In 1933, he made débuts in four European capitals. An interest in composition led him to spend six years as a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After the Nazi invasion of Poland, his fluency in seven languages brought about his appointment to the staff of General Sikorski, head of the Polish government in exile, with whom he travelled to Mexico to find homes for refugees. Szeryng gave more than 300 concerts for Allied troops in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In 1946, he began teaching at the University of Mexico eventually becoming a naturalized citizen of that country. Under Artur Rubinstein's encouragement, he resumed concert touring in 1954, gaining widespread admiration for his technical command, stylistic versatility and patrician elegance in established works of the concerto repertory. Szeryng premiered numerous works that were written for him, including compositions by Chavez, Maderna, Montsalvatge, and Penderecki. In 1971, he gave the first modern performance of Paganini's Violin concerto no. 3, thought to have been lost.  Among his recordings are the complete Mozart works for violin and orchestra, concertos by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, Berg, and Khachaturian, and much chamber music, notably an eloquent set of Beethoven's violin sonatas with Ingrid Haebler.

Materials primarily in English, French, German and Spanish. There are additional items in Hebrew, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese.

Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room and at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu010015