Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian violinist, composer, and music teacher. He was born in Verviers on February 17, 1820. His father, an amateur violinist and guitar maker, began teaching him violin after noticing his musical ability. Vieuxtemps took part in home concerts from the age of four and soon wrote his first piece, “The Rooster’s Song.”
With help from M. Genin, Vieuxtemps studied with the professional violinist Leclu-Dejonc in Verviers. He performed publicly there in 1827 and then toured cities in Belgium and the Netherlands. The violinist Charles-Auguste de Bériot secured him a scholarship from the King of the Netherlands and took him to Brussels and later Paris, where Vieuxtemps made his debut in 1829. He began touring more widely in 1833, earning praise from Robert Schumann.
While living in Vienna, Vieuxtemps studied music theory with Simon Sechter. He returned to Paris in 1835 to study composition with Anton Reicha. His early major works included a concerto in F-sharp minor, published as No. 2, and the E-major concerto known as his First Concerto, as well as fantasies including Fantasy-Caprice and “Memories of Russia.” He wrote some works with the cellist François Servais, a fellow Belgian and friend.
In 1844 Vieuxtemps married the Viennese pianist Josephine Eder, who accompanied him on many concert tours. From 1846 he lived and worked in St. Petersburg as a soloist with the Imperial Theaters and as a teacher. During his seven years there, he composed several pieces, including his Fourth Concerto. After returning to Paris, he resumed touring across Europe, Turkey, and America.
Following the deaths of his father in 1866 and his wife in 1868, and after an exhausting tour of America that included 121 concerts in six months, Vieuxtemps reduced his performing schedule and focused more on teaching. In 1871 he became a professor at the Brussels Conservatory. His students included the Belgian violinist, conductor, and composer Eugène Ysaÿe and the Romanian violinist, conductor, and composer Eduard Caudella. A stroke in 1873 left him partly paralyzed and forced him to leave his post. After some recovery, he gave up his concert career and concentrated on composition and, to a lesser extent, teaching. He settled in Algiers in 1878 and died there on June 6, 1881, after another stroke.
Vieuxtemps wrote seven violin concertos, two cello concertos, a Grand Sonata for violin and piano, a sonata for viola and piano, a Suite in the Old Style, fantasies, variations, masses, concert études, songs without words, and other pieces. His violin arrangement of Alexander Alyabyev’s song “The Nightingale” is also widely known.