The First International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Date23–30 January 1927 (1927-01-23 – 1927-01-30)
VenueNational Philharmonic, Warsaw
Hosted byWarsaw Music Society
WinnerSoviet Union Lev Oborin

The I International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: I Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was the inaugural edition of the International Chopin Piano Competition, held from 23 to 30 March 1927 in Warsaw. Soviet pianist Lev Oborin was awarded the first prize.

History

The competition was initiated by Jerzy Żurawlew, who began seeking funds for a piano competition in 1925, influenced by Aleksander Michałowski. Żurawlew recalled later: "I met with utter incomprehension, indifference and even aversion. The opinion among musicians was unanimous: Chopin is so great that he can defend himself. At the Ministry, it was announced that there were no funds for it [...] and that the whole idea was unfeasible". In this difficult situation, help arrived from Henryk Rewkiewicz—a businessman, music lover and board member of The Warsaw Music Society, who offered his personal financial guarantees to cover the entire deficit expected to arise from the first Competition.[1] Many years later Jerzy Żurawlew wrote, “[…] I was greatly helped by my friend Henryk Rewkiewicz, director of the Match Monopoly, who offered 15,000 złoty - a substantial sum at the time - for the Competition”.[2] Ultimately, things picked up with the election of a new Polish president, Ignacy Mościcki, who became the patron of the Chopin Competition.[3]

The competition was originally scheduled to start on 15 October 1926, the day of the unveiling of Wacław Szymanowski's Chopin Monument in the Łazienki Park, though it was delayed until 1927.[3]

Awards

Lev Oborin, winner of the inaugural Chopin Competition

26 pianists took part in the competition, including 16 competitors from Poland. After an elimination round, 8 pianists were admitted to the final, where they performed two consecutive movements of one of Chopin's two piano concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic.[3]

As Żurawlew was convinced that only Polish musicians could truly understand Chopin's music, the jury was composed almost entirely of Poles, Alfred Hoehn of Germany, who judged the finals only, being the sole exception. Throughout the competition, the Polish press only presented Polish competitors as the real contenders for the prize, leading the public to expect a Polish victory. When Lev Oborin was awarded the first prize, it came as a shock and as a national humiliation, the Polish–Soviet War having ended just six years before.[4]

A young Dmitri Shostakovich was among the participants, though he only received an honorable mention.[3]

The following prizes were awarded:[3]

Prize Winner
1st zł 5,000 Lev Oborin  Soviet Union
2nd zł 3,000 Stanisław Szpinalski  Poland
3rd zł 2,000 Róża Etkin  Poland
4th zł 1,000 Grigory Ginzburg  Soviet Union
HM Yuri Briuszkow  Soviet Union
Jakub Gimpel  Poland
Gui Mombaerts  Belgium
Leopold Münzer  Poland
Théo van der Pas  Netherlands
Edward Prażmowski  Poland
Dmitri Shostakovich  Soviet Union
Bolesław Woytowicz  Poland

One special prize was awarded:

Special prize Winner
Best Performance of Mazurkas Henryk Sztompka  Poland

Jury

The jury consisted of:[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Henryk Rewkiewicz". chopin.nifc.pl. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  2. ↑ Żurawlew, Jerzy. "Cel osiągnięty". Stolica. 1970, nr. 42 translated by Elżbieta Sozańska.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "I International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition". Fryderyk Chopin Institute. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  4. ↑ McCormick, Lisa (2018). "Pogorelich at the Chopin: Towards a sociology of competition scandals". The Chopin Review. Fryderyk Chopin Institute (1). ISSN 2544-9249.

Further reading

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