Henry Vieuxtemps

Henry Vieuxtemps is famous as a violinist and composer of violin music but not many know that he also played the viola and wrote viola music. Click on the player below to listen to and enjoy some of it while you read.

Henry was born in 1820 and died in 1881. From the age of four he studied the violin with his father and De Bériot and by the age of 17 he had already been travelling throughout Europe to Russia.

Praised by Hector Berlioz and other contemporaries both as a virtuoso and a composer, Vieuxtemps appeared in London in 1841 after which he started a world career. He spent five years in Russia as soloist to the tsar and professor of the violin, contributing significantly to the development of violin playing in Russia.

During his career Henry Vieuxtemps also did three tours to America with great success.

By the way, now that we are used to travel by plane or fast trains it always fills me with further admiration when I read of those performers who travelled such long distances with the slow means of transport they had available at their times.

Vieuxtemps was a fine violist and quartet player and was involved in the organization of recitals whose programmes included the works of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, together with Bach, Cherubini and others.

Compositions for viola

Being also a viola player, Vieuxtemps composed some works of great interest for viola, which could fit well any romantic music programme, or any programme, actually.

You heard them, here they are, for those who'd like to play them, click:

• Elégie for viola and piano, op. 30 (1854)
• Viola Sonata in B flat Major Opus 36 (Leipzig, 1863). Separate parts for viola and piano
  
• Capriccio Op. posthumous for solo viola, in C minor (composed in 1883). Quite virtuosic, with a melancholic mood
• An unfinished viola sonata, Allegro and Scherzo, in B flat for viola and piano, op.60 (1884), which is anyway a very good concert work.

By clicking on the cover or the title you can see the first page of the composition and buy it.

Capriccio, Op. Posthumous (Viola)  For Solo Viola. By Henri Vieuxtemps. Schott. 4 pages. Published by Schott.       Etude (Piano / Viola)  Viola and Piano. By Henri Vieuxtemps. String Solo. Published by G. Schirmer, Inc.     Viola Sonata in B flat Major  By Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881). Opus 36. Set of performance parts for viola and piano. 36 pages. Published by Edition Kunzelmann.

So, if anyone says there is no viola repertorie, here you have a few more answers.

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