Umińska, Eugenia (EN)

Umińska, Umińska-Jaworska, Eugenia, *4 October 1910 Warszawa, †20 November 1980 Kraków, Polish violinist and teacher. In 1915–1918, she studied with G. Jabłońska and M. Michalowicz, and from 1918 to 1927, she studied under J. Jarzębski at the conservatory in Warsaw. She took supplementary studies under O. Ševčík at summer courses in Písek (1927–1928) and under G. Enescu in Paris (1930–1932). Umińska began her concert career as a member and soloist of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and, from 1934, of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw. She performed on Sunday mornings at the Philharmonic Hall, at radio concerts (with pianists Z. Dygat and A. Brachocki, among others). Furthermore, she took part in the broadcasts of the Towarzystwo Wydawnicze Muzyki Polskiej (Polish Music Publishing Society), in numerous national tours (mainly with Dygat), and in the concert action of the Musical Movement Organisation (Organizacja Ruchu Muzycznego, ORMUZ). On 5 January 1934, she debuted performing Brahm’s Violin Concerto at a subscription concert of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of C. Krauss. She performed in other countries, among others, with K. Szymanowski at the piano at composer concerts in Bologna (1933) and Berlin (1934). In 1937, she appeared at the Salle Erard in Paris (recital with Dygat) and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris under the baton of A. Rodziński (Violin Concerto No. 2 by Szymanowski). Umińska was the second performer, after P. Kochański, of this composition. She presented it, among others, with the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by G. Fitelberg at a concert at the Wawel Royal Castle (1938) and at a broadcast concert in Warsaw (28 March 1939).

During the years of World War II, Umińska, extremely active as a soloist and chamber musician, took part in clandestine and public concerts in Warsaw (including in the cafes of Lardelli and B. Woytowicz) and Kraków (at Dom Plastyków). In the autumn of 1942, she appeared with R. Padlewski as pianist in a series of public and private concerts in Rzeszów, Tarnów, Jarosław, Zarzecze, and Przeworsk. From 1939 to 1942, she was part of a piano trio with K. and M. Wiłkomirski, and in February 1941 she formed a string quartet with R. Padlewski (second violin), H. Trzonek (viola) and K. Wiłkomirski (cello). The ensemble’s repertoire included classical and works of the 20^th century (Debussy, Ravel, Respighi, Szymanowski), and it also premiered quartets written during the war, including Padlewski, Z. Turski, S. Wiechowicz, G. Bacewicz, K. Wiłkomirski, and W. Rudziński. Umińska directed the quartet until November 1943, when she had to go into hiding because of her refusal to take part in a concert for the Germans at the Stadttheater in Warsaw. At one of the last Warsaw secret concerts in the Augersteins’ salon on ul. Szpitalna (3 May 1944), she performed Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No.2 with the Lutosławski–Panufnik piano duet in their own arrangement of the accompanying part.

After the war, Umińska began to perform in Poland (Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra under A. Panufnik, June 1945) and abroad (the premiere of R. Palester’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under G. Fitelberg, London, 14 July 1946), combining these with teaching at the State Higher Music School in Kraków as lecturer (1945–1980, from 1963 as associate professor), head of the String Instruments Department (from 1957), rector (1964–1966) and vice-rector (1966–1969). Her students were W. Wiłkomirska (private student in Warsaw), K. Danczowska, T. Głąbówna, J. Kaliszewska, K. Teutsch, W. Kwaśny, J. Tawroszewicz and violist J. Kosmala, among others.

Umińska was, alongside I. Dubiska and T. Wroński, one of the pillars of 20^th century Polish violin music as a performer, teacher, and editor. From her first performances in Warsaw, she enjoyed critical acclaim. She was praised for her “playing without pretending” and the captivating simplicity of her performance, stemming from her nature (Sz. Waljewski, “ABC” of 31 March 1933, translation K. Kloc). Furthermore, she was admired for “the great tone, purity of technique, vividness and nobility of her playing” (K. Stromenger after the performance of W.A. Mozart’s Violin Concerto and Poème for violin and orchestra by E. Chausson, “Gazeta Polska” of 2 December 1934, translation K. Kloc). From the K. Szymanowski’s composer’s concert in Zakopane (18 June 1930), she took part in almost all subsequent events of this kind, performing Violin Concerto No.1 and No. 2, as well as all of Szymanowski’s works for violin and piano, most often accompanied by the composer. She was also a long-time promoter of other contemporary Polish composers as a primarius of string quartets in Warsaw and Kraków (premiere of the K. Meyer’s Kwartet, 1961) and soloist in symphonic and chamber concerts. She premiered, among others, R. Palester’s Sonata for two violins and piano (with I. Dubiska and J. Ekier, Warsaw 1940), G. Bacewicz’s Suite for two violins (with I. Dubiska, Warsaw 1943), Palester’s Violin Concerto (London and Kraków 1946), W. Lutosławski’s Recitativo e arioso with J. Szamotulska at the piano (Kraków 1952). As an editor, she has contributed to the expansion of the violin repertoire with over 100 works transcribed for PWM Edition, including all of Szymanowski’s violin works. Umińska was a member of the jury at many international violin competitions, including the J. Kubelík competition in Prague (1949), the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (from 1951), the H. Wieniawski Competition in Poznań (1952-72), Budapest, Genoa, Helsinki, Lisbon, and Moscow (Tchaikovsky Competition 1978). Continuing Umińska’s tradition of co-initiating string instrument competitions in Poland and to honouring her merits, Umińska’s students initiated the Eugenia Umińska Competition for Young Violinists in 2005.

Literature: K. Wiłkomirski Wspomnienia, Kraków 1971.