Biography
A globe-trotting master of the violin, Vieuxtemps stood perhaps second only to Paganini among the leading virtuosos of his era. His concert itinerary began in Algiers, the city of his birth, and extended through Vienna, London, St. Petersburg, Paris, the United States, and Brussels. From 1871 onward he served on the faculty of the Brussels Conservatory, remaining until a stroke ended his work there. Touring, composing, and teaching therefore formed the principal pattern of his career. Before any public appearances he received lessons from his father and from Lecloux-Dejonc. His first appearance before an audience took place when he was six. Later he studied violin with Beriot and counterpoint with Spohr. Friendships with musicians who had known Beethoven prompted him to restore the nearly forgotten “Violin Concerto.” Comparisons to Paganini never dampened his eagerness to explore new musical territory. While in Paris he pursued composition with Reicha and completed his “Violin Concerto in F-sharp Minor.” In retrospect, composition was never Vieuxtemps’ strongest gift, yet Berlioz and others praised him for reviving the violin concerto in France. He freed the genre from both the whimsical virtuosity Paganini had demanded and the rigid classicism of Kreutzer, achieving a workable equilibrium even though musical substance was sometimes missing from his scores.