Henri Vieuxtemps

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Henri Francois Joseph Vieuxtemps 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.

Vieuxtemps was born in Verviers, Belgium, 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 Liege and Brussels where he met the violinist Charles Auguste de Beriot, with whom he began studies.

In 1829, Beriot 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 Beriot's marriage to his mistress Maria Malibran and departure on concert tour