IV International Chopin Piano Competition

The Fourth International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Date	15 September – 15 October 1949 (1949-09-15 – 1949-10-15)
Venue	Roma Theatre, Warsaw
Hosted by	Polish Ministry of Culture and Art
Winner	Halina Czerny-Stefańska Bella Davidovich

The IV International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: IV Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 15 September to 15 October 1949 in Warsaw. The first competition after World War II, it was held in connection with the centenary of Chopin's death. Polish pianist Halina Czerny-Stefańska and Soviet pianist Bella Davidovich shared first place. Due to the wartime destruction of the National Philharmonic, the auditions were held at the Roma Theatre on Nowogrodzka Street.

Awards

Halina Czerny-Stefańska (1959) and Bella Davidovich (1966)

The competition consisted of two elimination stages and a final with 18 pianists. For the first time, competitors performed a piano concerto in its entirety in the final, as opposed to just two movements.

The following prizes were awarded:

Prize		Winner
1st	zł 1,000,000	Halina Czerny-Stefańska	Poland
	zł 1,000,000	Bella Davidovich	Soviet Union
2nd	zł 800,000	Barbara Hesse-Bukowska	Poland
3rd	zł 600,000	Waldemar Maciszewski	Poland
4th	zł 550,000	Georgy Muravlov	Soviet Union
5th	zł 500,000	Władysław Kędra	Poland
6th	zł 450,000	Ryszard Bakst	Poland
7th	zł 400,000	Yevgeny Malinin	Soviet Union
8th	zł 350,000	Zbigniew Szymonowicz	Poland
9th	zł 300,000	Tamara Gusiewa	Soviet Union
10th	zł 250,000	Victor Merzhanov	Soviet Union
11th	zł 200,000	Regina Smendzianka	Poland
12th	zł 150,000	Tadeusz Żmudziński	Poland
HM	zł 50,000	Tony Vine Adnet	Brazil
	zł 50,000	Oriano de Almeida	Brazil
	zł 50,000	Carlos Rivero	Mexico
	zł 50,000	Ludmila Sosina	Soviet Union
	zł 50,000	Imre Szendrei	Hungary

One special prize was awarded:

Special prize	Winner
Best Performance of Mazurkas	Halina Czerny-Stefańska	Poland

Jury

The jury consisted of:

• Godfrid Boon
• Emile Bosquet
• Lucette Descaves (substitute)
• Sem Dresden
• Zbigniew Drzewiecki (chairman)
• Jan Ekier
• Blas Galindo Dimas
• Lélia Gousseau (substitute)
• Arthur Hedley (vice-chairman)
• Hernádi Lajos
• Franz Josef Hirt
• Jan Hoffman
• Roman Jasiński
• Marcelina Kimonti-Jacynowa (substitute)
• Lazare Lévy
• Marguerite Long (vice-chairwoman, after 1 October)
• Joseph Marx
• Frantisek Maxian (vice-chairman)
• Alfred Mendelssohn
• Dimitar Nenov
• Lev Oborin (vice-chairman) ( I)
• Pavel Serebryakov
• Stanisław Szpinalski ( I)
• Henryk Sztompka
• Magda Tagliaferro (vice-chairwoman)
• Margerita Trombini-Kazuro
• Bolesław Woytowicz
• Carlo Zecchi
• Jerzy Żurawlew

During the first two rounds, blind auditions were held, with participants competing anonymously under numbers they had drawn, as the jury listened behind wooden shutters. This format was not repeated again in subsequent editions of the competition.

Further reading

• Ekiert, Janusz (2010). The Endless Search for Chopin: The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1st ed.). Warsaw: Muza. ISBN 978-83-7495-812-7.
• Arendt, Ada; Bogucki, Marcin; Majewski, Paweł; Sobczak, Kornelia (2020). Chopinowskie igrzysko. Historia Międzynarodowego Konkursu Pianistycznego im. Fryderyka Chopina 1927–2015 [The Chopin Games. The History of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition 1927–2015] (in Polish) (1st ed.). Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. ISBN 978-83-235-4127-1.
• Ossowski, Jerzy; Brodska, Halina (2010). The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in photographs. Warsaw: Fryderyk Chopin Institute. ISBN 978-83-61142-36-2.

External links

• Chopin Institute's channel on YouTube