#vieuxtemps

[hanselw]

World Violin Day Cookies

finally made them to 9

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Hilary Hahn’s playlist for her Mozart and Vieuxtemps album, directed by Paavo Järvi. (From her official channel). 

[lesser-known-composers]

Vieuxtemps:  Sonata for Viola and Piano in B flat major, op. 36 

Jossalyn Jensen, viola Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, piano

[musicainextenso]

While I know a good amount of works where the viola is a prominent instrument, I didn’t know of any for the viola alone. That’s most likely because any violin piece can be transposed for viola, so most of viola soloists are violin works. But the register of the viola, between the violin and the cello, feels warmer to me. It sounds closer to the human voice, so when the melodies play, they *sing*.

Vieuxtemps - Capriccio “Hommage à Paganini”

Even though capriccios are expected to be lively, the great violinist Paganini used them in the same way Chopin used the étude to elevate technical exercises to poetic statements. And while Vieuxtemps wrote this capriccio as a homage to Paganini’s set, he didn’t write it for the violin. And he wrote this almost like an elegy, a longing melody accompanied by gigantic chords throughout, and while there are a few virtuosic flourishes here and there, none are done for the sake of difficulty or showing off, they are [again, like Chopin did wrote] natural transitions that add more to the expression, rather than taking anything away.

Stay tuned this week for more music for the viola, the mysterious instrument, here on Musica in Extenso! - Nick Olinger

[lesser-known-composers]

Sonata for viola & piano in B flat major, Op. 36 - VIEUXTEMPS, by Cristina I. Maestoso-Allegro, II. Barcarolla

[postcard-from-the-past]

Belgian violinist Vieuxtemps on a vintage postcard

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Legendary 19th Century virtuoso violinist and composer Henri Francois Joseph Vieuxtemps (1820 – 1881) is born in Belgium. Vieuxtemps stands out as perhaps the single most important exponent of the so-called “Franco-Belgian” violin school during the mid-19th century. The son of a weaver and an amateur violinist / violin-maker, Vieuxtemps actually received his first violin instruction from his father before going on to study with Charles Auguste de Beriot (1802 - 1870). Notably, Vieuxtemps himself later taught fellow super-virtuoso Eugene Ysaye (1858 - 1931). Vieuxtemps also harbored aspirations of becoming a composer, however – and so even as he pursued a very busy concert career, he nevertheless made time to study composition with Anton Reicha (1770 - 1836) in Paris and Simon Sechter (1788 - 1867) in Vienna. The bulk of Vieuxtemps' original compositions are written for his own instrument, and they include seven concertos and a variety of short salon pieces -- many of which are still programmed by violinists today. Vieuxtemps also owned what is now referred to as the “Vieuxtemps Guarnieri del Gesu,” a violin built by master Italian craftsman Giuseppe Guarneri (1698 – 1744) in 1741 which is widely considered to be one of the very greatest violins ever made. At Vieuxtemps's funeral, this extraordinary instrument was actually carried upon a pillow behind the hearse that transported him to the graveyard; it has since been played by Yehudi Menuhin (1916 - 1999), Izhak Perlman (b. 1945), and Pinchas Zukerman (b. 1948), respectively... PICTURED: A c. 1910 real photo postcard, showing the elderly Vieuxtemps posed in a particularly regal position.

[lesser-known-composers]

How Henri Vieuxtemps Became a Great Violinist...and Composer!

We look at the career of Henri Vieuxtemps.

Henry Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) interlude.hk