Élégie Op.30 (1854?)

Like Paganini, whom he admired enormously and who had scarcely less admiration for his younger colleague, Vieuxtemps took a virtuoso interest in the viola as well as the violin. Although he wrote nothing like as much for the viola as he did for violin, what he did write for it reveals a true understanding of the instrument. The Élégie - composed in the 1850s between the Fourth and Fifth (of seven) Violin Concertos - might not betray much sympathy for the piano but the string part was clearly conceived to exploit the rueful kind of expression and the linear flexibility so characteristic of the viola. The bravura scoring towards the end is thoroughly integrated with the romantic passion generated by that climactic point.

Like an even more famous violinist, Nicolò Paganini – whom he admired enormously and who had scarcely less admiration for his younger colleague – Vieuxtemps took a virtuoso interest in the viola as well as the violin. Although he wrote nothing like as much for the viola as he did for violin, what he did write for it reveals a true understanding of the instrument. The Élégie – composed in the 1850s between the Fourth and Fifth (of seven) Violin Concertos – might not betray much sympathy for the piano but the string part was clearly conceived to exploit the rueful kind of expression and the linear flexibility so characteristic of the viola. The bravura scoring towards the end is thoroughly integrated with the romantic passion generated by that climactic point.