Henri Vieuxtemps

"... look to the left, at the first violins and shout so that everyone thinks that you have recognized them individually. There are only world celebrities there. This one, at the first desk, is Vieuxtemps..." Could you read (perhaps you have?) on page 373 of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita (Inculte editions). And to ask yourself, why, of all the famous musicians, is this name that appears here?...

Born in 1820 in Verviers (Belgium), a true young musical prodigy, he played Rode's 5th concerto on stage, with orchestra, at the age of 6... Then, at the age of 7, he made his first tour in the Netherlands, where he was noticed by Charles de Bériot who took charge of his musical training. When he left Belgium, his teacher encouraged him to continue as an autodidact, in order to "become himself", and not a "little Bériot"... He was then 11 years old.

He perfected his skills with different masters, in Germany, then in Vienna (...) In 1837, he played his concerto No. 1 in Saint Petersburg, where he returned in 1846, as musician at the court of Nicholas I. , soloist at the imperial theater and founder of the violin school of the Conservatory of the Russian capital... He will remain 6 years at the court of the Emperor, then will resume his international tours, acclaimed all over the world. Hector Berlioz said of him: "If Vieuxtemps were not such a great virtuoso, (...) we would hail him as a great composer!"...

An absolutely prodigious career, which will end in pain, unfortunately. In 1868, his wife (and accompanist) succumbed to cholera and died in his arms (*). Then in 1873, a stroke left him partially paralyzed, which prevented him from playing. He nevertheless continued to compose and give private lessons, notably to his most famous student, Eugène Ysaÿe. The worsening of his health forced him to retire in 1879 to his son-in-law's nursing home in Algiers, where he died two years later.

To those who think that classical music is reserved for an "elite"... Allow me to submit to you this photo of the funeral (translation of the ashes) of Vieuxtemps in Verviers on August 28, 1881. Photo in view of which Anne Akiko-Meyers, the virtuoso who, after among others Eugène Ysaÿe and Yehudi Menuhin, still today makes the master's Guarnerius Del Gesù vibrate on stage (nicknamed "le Vieuxtemps" **) exclaimed: "He must have been the greatest Rock Star of his time!"

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(*) happy century when one could die of cholera in the arms of a loved one, without causing any contamination or being made "responsible" for an epidemic...
(**) Vieuxtemps owned around fifteen exceptional violins (Stradivarius, Guarnerius Del Gesù, Maggini, Amati, Vuillaume...) most of which were given to him by the Russian nobility as a sign of gratitude. His favorite being the Guarnerius Del Gesù which he received from Baron Pereyra in 1846 in Vienna.

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