(Following is the first in a series of occasional articles to be published in the LC Information Bulletin on the Library's new acquisitions or newly available collections.)
The Music Division has recently completed the processing of the papers of Henryk Szeryng, a renowned violinist who was also a teacher, diplomat, philanthropist and patron of the arts.
His widow, Waltraud Szeryng, donated all of her husband's music and papers after his death in 1988. These collected materials, together with various other photographs and papers donated by Szeryng's friends and associates, constitute the Henryk Szeryng Collection, which is now available for study.
James W. Pruett, Music Division chief, noted that "Mrs. Szeryng's gift to the Library not only provides documentation of Szeryng's musical career, but also reveals the extraordinary scope of his generosity to fellow musicians, especially his dedication to teaching."
A detailed guide to the collection is available at the Circulation Desk in the Performing Arts Reading Room of the Madison Building.
Henryk Szeryng was born in 1918 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland, the same Warsaw suburb in which Chopin was born. He began his study of the violin at the age of seven, soon moving from Poland to Berlin to study with violinist Carl Flesch. Szeryng made his first concert tour of Warsaw, Bucharest, Vienna and Paris in 1933 at the age of 15 and received the Paris Conservatory "Premier prix" for violin in 1937.
Szeryng's promising career was interrupted by World War II when, in 1941, he went to London and was appointed a liaison officer and interpreter for the Polish government. During the war he not only gave more than 300 concerts for Allied troops in Europe, Africa and the Americas, but also went to Latin America to find homes for 4,000 Polish war refugees.
His wartime association with Mexico and his appreciation of the country's acceptance of the refugees led to his return there after the war. He was named director of the String Department at the National University of Mexico in 1945 and was granted Mexican citizenship shortly thereafter. In 1956 he was named Mexico's Cultural Ambassador of Good Will and enjoyed the title of ambassador for many years thereafter.
Szeryng's international concert career was revived in 1954, when Artur Rubinstein heard Szeryng play in Mexico and immediately contacted impressario Sol Hurok and other agents on Szeryng's behalf. In the years that followed, Szeryng performed in 65 countries on five continents.
His recordings include two complete sets of the solo sonatas and partitas of Bach, as well as Mozart and Beethoven sonatas and an extraordinary number of violin concertos from the Baroque to the modern era. His ties with Mexico led to his active promotion of several Latin American composers as well, such as Manuel Ponce, Cristobal Halffter and Reynaldo Hahn.
The Henryk Szeryng Collection, now housed in the Music Division, consists of more than 11,000 items that document the diversity of Szeryng's talents and activities. The largest component of the collection is Szeryng's vast musical library, consisting primarily of the printed scores from which he played. Many of those prints feature Szeryng's handwritten annotations and emendations. Of particular interest are the manuscript scores in the collection -- not only Szeryng's own compositions but also his numerous arrangements and revisions of both standard and little-known works. Among the latter is Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 3, work that Szeryng himself rediscovered, edited and brought back to the public through his performances worldwide.
Other materials in the collection include Szeryng's personal papers and various records of his teaching, concert performance and recording activities. The correspondence consists of letters between Szeryng and many prominent violinists, pianists and conductors, including Isaac Stern, Schlomo Mintz, Yehudi Menuhin, Rafael Kubelik, Erich Leinsdorf and Eugene Ormandy. Notes from the 30 years of master classes Szeryng held from 1952 until 1982 document his tireless activities as an educator. The more 1,000 photographs in the collection depict Szeryng with other prominent musicians, diplomats and ambassadors, and his many awards and citations constitute an eloquent testament to his worldwide acclaim and popularity and to his many philanthropic activities.
Szeryng's accomplishments went far beyond those of a great violinist. His ability to speak and write in eight languages was paralleled by his uncanny ability to discern every part in the orchestra as well as his own. Violinist Henri Temianka has recounted a remarkable lecture-discussion at UCLA between Szeryng and Temianka on the Beethoven Violin Concerto -- a spontaneous exchange of insights that ended with an unrehearsed performance of the entire concerto, with Temianka playing the violin solo and Szeryng playing the piano reduction of the orchestra part -- from memory.
Szeryng's dedication to the encouragement of young violinists was pursued through his teaching and through the donation of several precious violins to younger colleagues and orchestras. Waltraud Szeryng perpetuates the spirit of that dedication by making available to both performers and scholars the music, writings and teachings of a great violinist and educator. In addition, she has established the Henryk Szeryng Foundation to provide financial and practical assistance to young violinists beginning their careers. On March 6 the first recipients of the new Henryk Szeryng Foundation Award had the opportunity to perform with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra in Monaco.
Henryk Szeryng's association with the Library of Congress was established in 1970, when he performed in LC's Coolidge Auditorium with pianist Gary Graffman. He and Graffman performed there again in December, 1971, and recordings of both recitals are housed in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. The recording of their 1970 recital has recently been broadcast as part of a special series of archival radio broadcasts distributed nationwide by the American Public Radio Network as well as in France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and the former Soviet Union.
