From old recordings...
One of the exhibits in the collection of Henryk Wieniawski Musical
Society is an Edison celluloid phonograph cylinder donated by Ewa and
Jeremiusz Glensk. It contains a recording of Henryk Wieniawski’s “Legende” Op. 17
made in the early years of the 20th century (between 1910 and 1930).
The piece was performed by the American player of Polish origin, Richard R. Czerwonky
(1886-1949). With kind assistance from Jacek Jackowski, Manager of the
Phonographic Collection of the Polish Academy of Science’s Art
Institute, between 23 and 25 May 2011, the recording was digitalised at
the Phonogrammarchiv in Vienna. The Society is proud to present it on our webpage:
Richard Czerwonky, Legende op. 17.mp3 4.22 MB
Richard Rudolph Czerwonky (b. May 23, 1886 Birnbaum, Posen - d. April 16, 1949 Chicago, Illinois USA) made his debut with the Philharmonic orchestra in Berlin in 1910 and played throughout Europe. He was assistant concertmaster of the Boston Symphony in 1907-08 and concertmaster and soloist for Minneapolis Symphony 1909-18. From 1918-32 he was head of the violin dept. of the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago and was vice president of the Chicago Conservatory from 1932-35. He founded the Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago and was conductor of the Chicago Philharmonic from 1925-45. Composed extensively for violin, piano, voice and orchestra.
(After W. R. Denslow, Harry S. Truman, Famous Freemasons from A to J, Kessinger Publishing, 1957, p. 275-276)
Listen to a modern recording of "Legende" op. 17 performed by Konstanty Andrzej Kulka (violin) and Andrzej Tatarski (piano):
