Henry Vieuxtemps (1820-1881)
Violin Concertos Nos. 5 –7
The son of a weaver, amateur violinist and violin-maker,
Henri Vieuxtemps was born in the Belgian town of Verviers in 1820 and had his
first violin lessons at the age of four from his father, followed by study in
his native town with a locally respected teacher. At the age of six he appeared
as soloist in a concerto by Rode and after further success at home he embarked
with his father and teacher on a concert tour of the Low Countries. A
successful appearance in Brussels led the violinist Charles de Bériot to offer
lessons there and the boy later accompanied his new teacher to Paris, making
his first concert appearance there in 1829, again in a concerto by Rode. With
the revolution of the following year and de Bériot’s marriage and departure on
tour, Vieuxtemps, following his teacher’s advice, returned to Brussels, where
he worked on his own, developing his technique and his musical knowledge and
taste, not least through the duets he played with de Bériot’s sister-in-law,
Pauline García, later Viardot and mother of the violinist Paul Viardot. A year
younger than Vieuxtemps, she was a piano pupil of Liszt, although, like her
sister, she made her later career as a singer. A concert tour of Germany in 1833 brought friendship with
the violinist-composer Louis Spohr and in Vienna acquaintance with those who
had worked with Beethoven, whose Violin Concerto he performed in Vienna in
March 1834, after a mere two weeks of study. In Leipzig he was acclaimed by
Schumann, who compared the boy to Paganini, whom he met in London in 1834. In
Paris once more he took composition lessons from Antonín Reicha, who directed
his attention to the composition of concertos, resulting in the Violin Concerto
in F sharp minor, Op.19, of 1836, later published as Violin Concerto No. 2
(Naxos 8.554114).
Vieuxtemps
made his first visit to Russia in 1837, returning there the following year and
appearing in concerts, after prolonged recuperation from an illness contracted
in the course of the journey. It was in Russia that he wrote the Violin
Concerto No.1 in E major, Op.10I, (Naxos 8.554506). The work was heard there and at home in Brussels, before, in
1841, Vieuxtemps introduced it to the public in Paris, winning general critical
acclaim for a work that added a new dimension to the current violin repertoire,
which had tended rather towards technically brilliant variations and fantasies
on familiar operatic melodies.
Concert
tours continued in the following years. In 1844 Vieuxtemps was in America,
wooing audiences with variations on Yankee Doodle. In Vienna and London he
appeared in Beethoven quartets and in concerts there and elsewhere in Europe.
In 1846, however, he accepted an invitation to move to St Petersburg as court
violinist and soloist in the Imperial Theatre. He remained there until 1852 and
it was during this period that he wrote his Violin Concerto No. 4 in
D minor, Op.31 (Naxos 8.554506). In a busy career, he
continued to compose, appeared as a soloist in concerts, gave lessons and took
part in chamber music recitals. In particular, he added a more classical
dimension to violin repertoire. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was now part of his
repertoire, and he also gave a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto,
which was still a novelty. With Anton Rubinstein he was able to play
Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas and appeared together with him in concerts in Paris,
after leaving Russia in 1852 to resume a largely peripatetic career as a
virtuoso. He was eventually prevailed upon to accept a teaching position at the
Brussels Conservatoire, where his own teacher de Bériot had taught, followed by
Hubert Léonard, settling in Brussels again in 1871, but continuing to give
concerts.
It
was in 1873 that Vieuxtemps suffered a stroke that paralysed his right arm. He
moved to Paris and his violin class was taken over in 1875 by Wieniawski.
Composition was still possible and gradually he found himself able to play
chamber music again, at least in private. In 1879, finally giving up any hope
of resuming his career in Brussels, he moved to Algeria, where his daughter and
son-in-law had settled. Here he continued to compose, although frustrated by
his inability to play what he had written or, in general, to hear it played. He
died in June 1881.
Vieuxtemps
was undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists of his time, combining superb
technical command with deeper musical understanding. He may be seen as representative of the Franco-Belgian
school of players, the successor of de Bériot, while those who were taught by
him or fell under his direct influence include his pupil Eugène Ysaÿe, Jenö
Hubay and Leopold Auer.
The
fifth of Vieuxtemps’ completed violin concertos, the Concerto in A minor,
Op.37, was written in 1858 and 1859 for Hubert Léonard at the Brussels
Conservatoire, who wanted the work as a competition piece. The work was much
admired by Léonard and by the legendary Leopold Auer. The three movements are
joined together to make what is virtually a single extended movement. The first
movement starts with an orchestral exposition, introducing three contrasting
themes, before the dramatic entry of the soloist, who proceeds to a lyrical
theme. A second theme for the soloist, in C major, offers a further lyrical
element, which the soloist accompanies, during its repetition by the
orchestra. The extended
development brings further opportunities for virtuosity, before the cadenza, of
which Vieuxtemps offers two versions. The second of these, played here, makes
contrapuntal use of elements already heard, in an inventive display. There is a
brief Moderato link to the lyrical Adagio, with its moving A minor theme. A
modulation to A major leads to a C major melody from Grétry’s opera Lucile, an
allusion that earned the work its nickname. There follows the short A minor
Allegro con fuoco, with which the concerto ends.
The
Violin Concerto No. 6 in G major, Op.47, and the Violin Concerto in A minor,
Op.49, belong to the last year of Vieuxtemps’ life, spent at Mustapha Supérieur
in Algeria. He set some store by these works, although he was unable to make
any final revisions that might have been possible had he been able to hear the
hoped for performance by Eugène Ysaÿe. He dedicated the sixth concerto to the Czech
violinist Wilma Normand-Neruda and the seventh to Jenö Hubay, both of whom were
among his visitors in Algeria. The
first of the two makes use of an unusual four-movement form. It opens with an
abridged sonata-form movement, with an exposition for the orchestra and for the
soloist, the latter entrusted with the expected lyrical material. The second movement is a gentle
Pastorale, followed by an Intermezzo in which the characteristic Siciliano
rhythm is given to the soloist in 12/8 compound metre, while the orchestra is
in simple quadruple metre, an unusual experiment in contrasting rhythms. The
concerto ends with a final Rondo, its charming principal melody almost
something from lighter operatic repertoire.
The
seventh concerto makes marginally greater demands on virtuosity. The first
movement, briefly introduced by the orchestra, offers the two themes of
traditional sonata form, which return in recapitulation in E minor and A major
respectively, leading to a brilliant coda. The slow movement, with the apt
title Mélancolie, is in A minor. It leads to a final movement with an opening
Tarantella theme, followed by a theme of Spanish implication, echoed in its
orchestral accompaniment.
Keith Anderson