Wieniawski: Gigue (Viool en Piano)

The Gigue, Op. 23 is one of the two works by H. Wieniawski with an opus number that were published after his death; the second one is Fantaisie Orientale, Op. 24. The Gigue was created when the composer was working at the conservatory in Brussels and giving many concerts in leading European cities, such as Paris, London, Warsaw, Vienna, Prague, Leipzing, and Hamburg. As the Gigue has not been found in surviving programmes and concert reviews from that time, it seems that Wieniawski did not include it in his repertoire. Today , the work can rarely be found in the programmes of the concerts. The first edition was dedicated to the outstanding violinist Wilma Norman-Neruda (after 1888 Lady Halle), with whom young Wieniawski kept competing for the primacy and favour of the Russian audience. In spite of the lack of an autograph, we can assume that the dedication was the composer's initiative rather than the publisher's suggestion.