The IV International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, IV Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 15 September to 15 October 1949 in Warsaw. The first competition after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, it was held in connection with the centenary of
Chopin's death. Polish pianist
Halina Czerny-Stefańska
Halina Czerny-Stefańska ( xaˈlina t͡ʂɛrnɨ stɛˈfaj᷉ska31 December 19221 July 2001) was a Polish pianist.
Life
She studied piano under her father, Stanisław Szwarcenberg-Czerny, as well as with Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de ...
and Soviet pianist
Bella Davidovich
Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich (Бэлла Миха́йловна Давидо́вич; born July 16, 1928) is a Soviet-born American pianist.
Biography
Davidovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, into a Jewish family of musicians and began studyi ...
shared first place. Due to the wartime destruction of the
National Philharmonic, the auditions were held at the Roma Theatre on Nowogrodzka Street.
Awards
The competition consisted of two elimination stages and a final with 18 pianists. For the first time, competitors performed a piano concerto in its entirety in the final, as opposed to just two movements.
The following prizes were awarded:
{, class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" , Prize
! colspan="2" , Winner
, -
! rowspan="2" , 1st
,
,
Halina Czerny-Stefańska
Halina Czerny-Stefańska ( xaˈlina t͡ʂɛrnɨ stɛˈfaj᷉ska31 December 19221 July 2001) was a Polish pianist.
Life
She studied piano under her father, Stanisław Szwarcenberg-Czerny, as well as with Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de ...
,
, -
,
,
Bella Davidovich
Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich (Бэлла Миха́йловна Давидо́вич; born July 16, 1928) is a Soviet-born American pianist.
Biography
Davidovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, into a Jewish family of musicians and began studyi ...
,
, -
!2nd
,
,
Barbara Hesse-Bukowska
Barbara Stella Hesse-Bukowska (8 February 1930 – 9 December 2013) was a Polish pianist. Her family had a long-standing musical history, as her father was a violinist and conductor, her mother was a pianist and teacher, and her grandfather ...
,
, -
!3rd
,
,
Waldemar Maciszewski
,
, -
!4th
,
,
,
, -
!5th
,
,
Władysław Kędra
Władysław Kędra (16 September 191826 September 1968) was a Polish pianist.
Kędra was born in Łódź. He made his debut in 1933, performing Haydn's 11th Concerto and Camille Saint-Saëns's ''Rapsodie d'Auvergne''. He graduated from the Łó ...
,
, -
!6th
,
,
Ryszard Bakst
Ryszard Bakst (4 April 1926 – 25 March 1999) was a Polish pianist and distinguished piano teacher.
Background
Bakst was a descendant of the Russian artist Léon Bakst. His teachers were initially his mother and pianist Józef Turczyńsk ...
,
, -
!7th
,
,
Yevgeny Malinin
Yevgeny Malinin (8 November 19306 April 2001), PAU, was a Soviet and Russian pianist.
Biography
Malinin was born in Moscow. A disciple of Heinrich Neuhaus, he began his career while a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1949 he won (ex-a ...
,
, -
!8th
,
,
, {{flag, Poland, 1928
, -
!9th
, {{Currency, 300,000, PLN
, Tamara Gusiewa
, {{flag, Soviet Union, 1936
, -
!10th
, {{Currency, 250,000, PLN
,
Victor Merzhanov
Victor Karpovich Merzhanov (russian: Ви́ктор Ка́рпович Мержа́нов) (15 August 191920 December 2012) was a Russian pianist and People's Artist of the USSR (1990).
Biography
Merzhanov was born in Tambov and studied at Tam ...
, {{flag, Soviet Union, 1936
, -
!11th
, {{Currency, 200,000, PLN
,
Regina Smendzianka
, {{flag, Poland, 1928
, -
!12th
, {{Currency, 150,000, PLN
,
Tadeusz Żmudziński
Tadeusz Żmudziński (9 July 1924, in Chorzów – 17 October 1992, in Katowice) was a Polish pianist and educator.
In 1946, Żmudziński graduated with highest honours from the University of Music in Katowice, where he studied under Prof. Wład ...
, {{flag, Poland, 1928
, -
! rowspan="5" , {{tooltip, HM, Honorable mentions
, {{Currency, 50,000, PLN
, Tony Vine Adnet
, {{flag, Brazil, 1889
, -
, {{Currency, 50,000, PLN
, {{ill, Oriano de Almeida, pt
, {{flag, Brazil, 1889
, -
, {{Currency, 50,000, PLN
, Carlos Rivero
, {{flag, Mexico, 1934
, -
, {{Currency, 50,000, PLN
, Ludmila Sosina
, {{flag, Soviet Union, 1936
, -
, {{Currency, 50,000, PLN
, Imre Szendrei
, {{flag, Hungary, 1949
One special prize was awarded:
{, class="wikitable"
!Special prize
! colspan="2" , Winner
, -
, Best Performance of Mazurkas
,
Halina Czerny-Stefańska
Halina Czerny-Stefańska ( xaˈlina t͡ʂɛrnɨ stɛˈfaj᷉ska31 December 19221 July 2001) was a Polish pianist.
Life
She studied piano under her father, Stanisław Szwarcenberg-Czerny, as well as with Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de ...
, {{flag, Poland, 1928
Jury
The jury consisted of:
{{div col, colwidth=18em
* {{flagicon, Sweden Godfrid Boon
* {{flagicon, Belgium {{ill, Emile Bosquet, nl
* {{flagicon, France Lucette Descaves
Lucette Descaves (1 April 1906 – 15 April 1993) was a French pianist and teacher, whose pupils included Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Geneviève Joy, Brigitte Engerer, Pascal Rogé, and Katia and Marielle Labèque.
Biography
Born in Paris, daughter o ...
(substitute)
* {{flagicon, Netherlands Sem Dresden
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Zbigniew Drzewiecki
Zbigniew Drzewiecki (; 8 April 189011 April 1971) was a Polish pianist who was for most of his life a teacher of pianists. He was especially associated with the interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's works. His pupils include several famous pian ...
(chairman)
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Jan Ekier
Jan Stanisław Ekier (29 August 1913 – 15 August 2014) was a Polish pianist and composer known for his authoritative edition of Chopin's music for the Chopin National Edition.
Biography
Ekier was born in Kraków, Poland. As a youth, he ...
* {{flagicon, Mexico, 1934 Blas Galindo Dimas
Blas Galindo Dimas (February 3, 1910 – April 19, 1993) was a Mexican composer.
Biography
Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory of Music (Mexico), Nation ...
* {{flagicon, France Lélia Gousseau
Lélia Gousseau (11 February 1909 – 14 February 1997) was a 20th-century French classical pianist.
Biography
Born in Paris, the daughter of pianist Fanny d'Almeida (disciple of Elie Delaborde) and organist William Gousseau (1870-1939), maît ...
(substitute)
* {{flagicon, England Arthur Hedley
Arthur Hedley (12 November 19058 November 1969) was a British musicologist, scholar and biographer of Polish- French composer Frédéric Chopin.
Arthur Hedley was educated at Durham and at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (buildi ...
(vice-chairman)
* {{flagicon, Hungary, 1949 {{ill, Hernádi Lajos, hu
* {{flagicon, Switzerland Franz Josef Hirt
Franz Josef Hirt (7 February 1899 – 20 May 1985) was a Swiss classical pianist.
Born in Lucerne, Hirt studied with Hans Huber, Ernst Levy, Egon Petri and Alfred Cortot. From 1930 he led a concert education class at the . For his commitment t ...
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Jan Hoffman
Jan Hoffman (11 June 1906 – 25 October 1995) was a Polish pianist and music educator.
Biography
Jan Hoffman was born in Kraków and studied with Józef Śliwiński and Wiktor Łabuński at the Conservatory of Music in Kraków, receiving a dip ...
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 {{ill, Roman Jasiński, pl, Roman Jasiński (pianista)
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Marcelina Kimonti-Jacynowa (substitute)
* {{flagicon, France Lazare Lévy
Lazare Lévy
Lazare Lévy, also hyphenated as Lazare-Lévy, (18 January 188220 September 1964) was an influential French pianist, organist, composer and pedagogue. As a virtuoso pianist he toured throughout Europe, in North Africa, Israel, the Sov ...
* {{flagicon, France Marguerite Long
Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music.
Life
Early life: 1874–1900
Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoin ...
(vice-chairwoman, after 1 October)
* {{flagicon, Austria Joseph Marx
Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic.
Life and career
Marx was born in Graz and pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earni ...
* {{flagicon, Czechoslovakia Frantisek Maxian (vice-chairman)
* {{flagicon, Romania Alfred Mendelssohn
Alfred Mendelsohn (17 February 1910 – 9 May 1966) was a Romanian composer.
Mendelsohn studied from 1927 to 1931 at the Music Academy in Vienna with Joseph Marx
Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian comp ...
* {{flagicon, Bulgaria, 1946 Dimitar Nenov Dimitar Nenov ( bg, Димитър Ненов; December 19, 1901 in Razgrad – August 30, 1953 in Sofia) was a Bulgarian classical pianist, composer, music pedagogue and architect.
Dimitar Nenov belongs to the Interwar period generation of Bulgar ...
* {{flagicon, Soviet Union, 1936 Lev Oborin
Lev Nikolayevich Oborin (russian: Лев Николаевич Оборин, ''Lev Nikolaevič Oborin''; Moscow, Moscow, 5 January 1974) was a Soviet and Russian pianist, composer and pedagogue. He was the winner of the first International Chopin ...
(vice-chairman) ({{Gold1 I)
* {{flagicon, Soviet Union, 1936 Pavel Serebryakov
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Stanisław Szpinalski ({{Silver2 I)
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 {{ill, Henryk Sztompka, pl
* {{flagicon, Brazil, 1889 Magda Tagliaferro
Magdalena Maria Yvonne Tagliaferro (19 January 18939 September 1986) was a Brazilian-born pianist of French parentage.
Magdalena Tagliaferro was born in Petrópolis, Brazil. Her father, who had studied piano with Raoul Pugno in Paris, was a voi ...
(vice-chairwoman)
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 {{ill, Margerita Trombini-Kazuro, pl
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Bolesław Woytowicz
Bolesław Woytowicz (5 December 189911 June 1980) was a Polish pianist and composer.
Woytowicz was born in Dunaivtsi. In 1924 he was appointed a piano and music theory teacher in the Warsaw Conservatory, where he had been trained under Aleksander ...
* {{flagicon, Italy Carlo Zecchi
Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and conductor.
Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a concert pianist at o ...
* {{flagicon, Poland, 1928 Jerzy Żurawlew Jerzy Żurawlew (December 25, 1886October 3, 1980) was a Polish pianist, conductor, teacher, and founder of the International Chopin Piano Competition.
Life
Żurawlew was born at Rostov-on-Don in Russia in 1886. He studied with Aleksander Micha ...
{{div col end
During the first two rounds,
blind auditions were held, with participants competing anonymously under numbers they had drawn, as the jury listened behind wooden shutters. This format was not repeated again in subsequent editions of the competition.
References
{{reflist
Further reading
* {{Cite book, last=Ekiert, first=Janusz, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/670048637, title=The Endless Search for Chopin: The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, date=2010, publisher=Muza, isbn=978-83-7495-812-7, edition=1st, location=Warsaw
* {{Cite book, last1=Arendt, first1=Ada, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1153285192, title=Chopinowskie igrzysko. Historia Międzynarodowego Konkursu Pianistycznego im. Fryderyka Chopina 1927–2015, last2=Bogucki, first2=Marcin, last3=Majewski, first3=Paweł, last4=Sobczak, first4=Kornelia, date=2020, publisher=Wydawnictwa
Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, isbn=978-83-235-4127-1, language=pl, edition=1st, location=Warsaw, trans-title=The Chopin Games. The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition 1927–2015
* {{Cite book, last1=Ossowski, first1=Jerzy, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/802743657, title=The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in photographs, last2=Brodska, first2=Halina, date=2010, publisher=
Fryderyk Chopin Institute
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute ( pl, Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina) is a Polish organization dedicated to researching and promoting the life and works of Poles, Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. It was created in 2001 as the result of legi ...
, isbn=978-83-61142-36-2, location=Warsaw
External links
* {{YouTube, title=Chopin Institute, custom=chopininstitute
{{Chopin competition
{{Authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Chopin Piano Competition 4
International Chopin Piano Competition
1949 in music
1949 in Poland
1940s in Warsaw