Henri Vieuxtemps photo Breitkopf & Härtel violin violinist

Description

Hello!
For sale I have a period postcard photo of violinist and composer Henri Vieuxtemps.  Printed in Germany by Breitkopf & Härtel.  Unused.  Excellent condition.  3.5 x 5.5 inches.  USPS Priority Mail insured.
I have been a professional violinist for 20 years. I currently teach violin at University of California, Berkeley, and play Concertmaster for the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. I've been buying and selling music memorabilia on eBay since it was invented and I've been buying antique art from European and American auction houses for a decade. All pieces for sale are guaranteed authentic and come from my personal collection, which numbers in the thousands.
To learn more about me before buying, visit danflanaganviolin dot com.
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps
(
French:
[ɑ̃ʁi fʁɑ̃swa ʒɔzɛf vjøtɑ̃]
17 February 1820 – 6 June 1881) was a
Belgian
composer
and
violinist.
He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century. He is also known for playing upon what is now known as the
Vieuxtemps Guarneri
del Gesù, a
violin
of superior workmanship.
Vieuxtemps was born in
Verviers
, Belgium (then part of the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
), son of a weaver and amateur violinist and violin-maker. He received his first violin instruction from his father and a local teacher and gave his first public performance at the age of six, playing a concerto by
Pierre Rode
. Soon he was giving concerts in various surrounding cities, including
Liège
and
Brussels
where he met the violinist
Charles Auguste de Bériot
, with whom he began studies.
In 1829, Bériot took him to
Paris
where he made a successful concert debut, again with a concerto by Rode, but he had to return the next year because of the
July Revolution
and Bériot's marriage to his mistress
Maria Malibran
and departure on concert tour. Back in Brussels, Vieuxtemps continued developing his violin technique on his own, his musicianship deepened by playing with the deeply musical mezzo-soprano
Pauline Viardot
, Malibran's sister. A tour of
Germany
in 1833 brought friendship with
Louis Spohr
and with
Robert Schumann
, who compared the boy to
Niccolò Paganini
. During the following decade he visited various European cities, impressing with his virtuosity not only audiences but also famous musicians such as
Hector Berlioz
and Paganini himself, whom he encountered at his London debut in 1834.
He had aspirations of becoming a composer as well and, having already taken lessons with the respected
Simon Sechter
in
Vienna
, spent the winter of 1835–1836 studying composition with
Anton Reicha
in Paris. His first violin concerto, later published as Concerto No. 2, dates from this time.
His Violin Concerto No. 1 was acclaimed when he played it in
Saint Petersburg
on his second visit in 1840 and in Paris the next year; Berlioz found it "a magnificent symphony for violin and orchestra". Based in Paris, Vieuxtemps continued to compose with great success and perform throughout Europe. With the pianist
Sigismond Thalberg
, he performed in the
United States
.
[1]
He was particularly admired in
Russia
where he resided permanently between 1846 and 1851 as a court musician of
Tsar Nicholas I
and soloist in the Imperial Theatre. He founded the violin school of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and guided the formation of a "Russian school" of violinists. In 1871, he returned to his native country to accept a professorship at the Brussels Conservatory, where his most illustrious pupil was
Eugène Ysaÿe
.
A paralytic stroke disabled his right arm two years later and he moved to Paris again, his violin class being taken over by
Henryk Wieniawski
. Although he seemed to be gradually recovering from his stroke, another one in 1879 ended his career as a violinist for good. He spent his last years in a sanatorium in Mustapha Supérieur,
Algeria
, where his daughter and her husband had settled, and continued to compose, though frustrated by his inability to play or, far from the musical centres of Europe, even hear his music played by others.
The bulk of Vieuxtemps' compositions were for his own instrument, including seven concertos and a variety of short salon pieces, though towards the end of his life, when he had to give up the violin, he often turned to other instruments, writing two
cello
concertos, a
viola
sonata and three
string quartets
among other things. It is because of his seven violin concertos, however, that Vieuxtemps is generally known to audiences and musicians around the world. Through his own concertos and his advocacy of the concertos of
Beethoven
(he also played Beethoven's sonatas and string quartets) and
Mendelssohn
, he added a more classical dimension to the violin repertoire which had tended towards technically brilliant but often shallow variations and fantasies on popular operatic themes.
[2]
Vieuxtemps never indulged in sheer virtuosity for its own sake, like some of his predecessors.
Eugène Ysaÿe
quotes him as saying "Not runs for the sake of runs - sing, sing!"
[3]
Vieuxtemps del Gesù
Vieuxtemps is also known for owning and playing what is now referred to as the
Vieuxtemps Guarneri
del Gesù, a violin, built in 1741, that is considered one of the finest examples of the craftsmanship of
Giuseppe Guarneri
and which is considered to be without defect despite its continued use over many years. The "del Gesù" (literally "of Jesus") refers to the manufacture by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri who incorporated the nomina sacra, I.H.S. (iota-eta-sigma) and a Roman Cross in the labels he affixed to his work. At Vieuxtemps' funeral the violin was carried upon a pillow behind the hearse carrying the body.
[4]
The instrument was later played by noted violin masters like
Yehudi Menuhin
,
Itzhak Perlman
and
Pinchas Zukerman
. In January 2012 the instrument was purchased, by a private collector, for an undisclosed sum and lifetime use of it bequeathed to violinist
Anne Akiko Meyers
.
[5]