Henryk Wieniawski was one of the most important composers of virtuoso violin music in the second half of the 19th century. Among his most popular showpieces are the exhilarating Polonaise de Concert (1852), the dazzlingly brilliant Scherzo-Tarantelle (1855) and the introspective Légende (1859). On a larger scale, his passionately Romantic and melodically memorable Violin Concerto No. 2 (1870), dedicated to the great 19th-century violinist Pablo de Sarasate, is championed by many of today’s leading soloists. Born in Lublin, Poland in 1835, Wieniawski was awarded a scholarship to study the violin at the Paris Conservatoire when only eight years of age. Following his graduation, he gave many concerts throughout Europe, before accepting a permanent teaching post in St Petersburg between 1860 and 1872 on the invitation of Anton Rubinstein. After undertaking a mammoth two-year concert tour of the US alongside Rubinstein, Wieniawski succeeded Henri Vieuxtemps as professor of violin in Brussels in 1875, but began to suffer increasingly poor health. He died in Moscow in 1880 at the age of 44.