Josie Dixon lecture "From Vilnius to Edinburgh: story of Felix Yaniewicz (1762 - 1848)"

Before the concert of  Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra there will be an illustrated talk (in English) by Josie Dixon, descendant of the composer Felix Yaniewicz, and curator of an exhibition held in Edinburgh last year about his life and musical legacy.  

 

Yaniewicz was born in Vilnius in 1762, and first rose to prominence as a violinist in the Polish Royal Chapel.  Stanislaw August Poniatowski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, paid for Yaniewicz to travel to Vienna, where he encountered Haydn and Mozart.  After a few years in Italy, he made his debut in Paris at the Concert Spirituel in the Tuileries Palace, but the outbreak of Revolution cut short his French career and he fled to Britain where he would spend the rest of his life.  By 1792 he was a prominent virtuoso and orchestral leader on London’s musical scene; he also became an energetic impresario, bringing some of Beethoven’s music to Britain, and played a founding role in the Philharmonic Society and the first Edinburgh music festival in 1815.  He is now best remembered for his violin concertos, which combine an elegant Mozartian idiom with traditional folk dances from his homeland in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

 

Attendance is free of charge, please register to the event.