III International Chopin Piano Competition

The III International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: III Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 21 February to 13 March 1937 in Warsaw. It was the last competition before the outbreak of World War II, and the competition would not be held again until 1949.

The Third International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition
Date	21 February – 13 March 1937 (1937-02-21 – 1937-03-13)
Venue	National Philharmonic, Warsaw
Hosted by	Warsaw Music Society [pl]
Winner	Yakov Zak
← 2nd · Chopin Competition · 4th →

80 pianists from 22 countries took part in the competition, including two participants from Japan. Contestants could choose between pianos manufactured by Bechstein, Bösendorfer, Pleyel and Steinway. Soviet pianist Yakov Zak was awarded the first prize.

Awards

Władysław Korsak, Deputy Minister of the Interior, giving the inaugural speech in the Warsaw Philharmonic

Yakov Zak, winner of the first prize, during the competition

Laureates of the competition: Yakov Zak, Rosa Tamarkina, Witold Małcużyński and Lance Dossor

Out of 80 pianists in the elimination stage, 21 were admitted to the final, where they performed two consecutive movements of one of Chopin's two piano concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic.^[1]

The two female Japanese pianists Miwa Kai [jp] and Chieko Hara [jp] received great acclaim among critics and the public. When news broke that Hara, who reached the final, was not among the prize-winners and was merely awarded an honorable mention, a commotion broke out. Fearing that the frenzied crowd would cause damage to the Philharmonic, industrialist Stanisław Meyer sponsored a special award for Hara.^[2]

16-year-old Evi Wächter from Austria was the first pianist to perform in the elimination stage

The following prizes were awarded:^[1]

Prize		Winner
1st	5,000zł	Yakov Zak	Soviet Union
2nd	2,500zł	Rosa Tamarkina	Soviet Union
3rd	2,500zł	Witold Małcużyński	Poland
4th	2,000zł	Lance Dossor	United Kingdom
5th	2,000zł	Agi Jambor	Hungary
6th	1,000zł	Edith Axenfeld	Germany
7th	1,000zł	Monique de La Bruchollerie	France
8th	500zł	Jan Ekier	Poland
9th	500zł	Tatiana Goldfarb [ru]	Soviet Union
10th	500zł	Olga Iliwicka [pl]	Poland
11th	500zł	Pierre Maillard-Verger	France
12th	250zł	Lélia Gousseau	France
13th	200zł	Halina Kalmanowicz [pl]	Poland
HM		Jan Bereżyński	Poland
		Maria Bilińska-Riegerowa [pl]	Poland
		Márta Blaha	Hungary
		György Faragó [ru]	Hungary
		Colette Gaveau	France
		Zbigniew Grzybowski	Poland
		Chieko Hara [jp]	Japan
		Natalia Hornowska-Pęzińska	Poland
		Nina Jemelianowa	Soviet Union
		Helena Landau	Poland
		Fryderyk Portnoj	Poland
		Paulina Szmukler	Poland
		Viktorie Švihlíková [cs]	Czechoslovakia
		Marie Aimée Warrot [Wikidata]	France
		Jozsef Weingarten	Hungary

Two special prizes were awarded:

Special prize		Winner
Best Performance of Mazurkas	250zł	Yakov Zak	Soviet Union
Best Performances of a Sonata	500zł	Lance Dossor	United Kingdom

Jury

The jury consisted of:^[1]

The final of the competition. The jury sits on the left.

• Guido Agosti
• Wilhelm Backhaus (vice-chairman)
• Attilo Brugnoli [it]
• Zofia Buckiewiczowa
• Marian Dąbrowski
• Zbigniew Drzewiecki
• Emil Frey
• Alfred Hoehn
• Imre Keeri-Szano [hu]
• Lazare Lévy
• Loris Margaritis [el]
• Eugeniusz Morawski-Dąbrowa [pl]
• Heinrich Neuhaus
• Marie Panthès
• Isidor Philipp (vice-chairman)
• Zofia Rabcewicz [pl]
• Lucyna Robowska
• Richard Rössler
• Emil von Sauer (vice-chairman)
• Paul Schubert [Wikidata]
• Imre Stefaniai [hu]
• Andrei Stojanow [bg]
• Stefan Śledziński [pl]
• Józef Śmidowicz [pl]
• Magda Tagliaferro
• Józef Turczyński
• Adam Wieniawski [pl] (chairman)
• Bolesław Woytowicz (secretary)
• Jerzy Żurawlew