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Charles Auguste de Beriot (1802-1870) 4th violin concerto

September 4, 2010 at 6:43 PM

Charles Auguste de Beriot (1802-1870) wrote 10 violin concerto's and was the pupil of Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) in Brussel Belgium, who wrote 7 violin concerto's. Perhaps 2th rank pieces but nevertheless funny and on conservatory used as study violin concerto's. Except 6 and 10 all have been recorded on cd with orchestra. Here the 4th:

This is probably one of his more difficult concertos,  I spend a great deal of my time reading these concertos for technical practice. Musically there is alot to do, these are con bravura pieces. I hardly think  they're student concertos though, I would love to see a student play this in an artistic way and not hack through it and their phrases are choppy, and they never end them convincingly, I understand why though, they're eager to have it over with! Many students aren't comfortable with these pieces, they prefer more melodic concertos such and Brahms, Mendelssohn and Bruch. It's a shame they're not programed more.

ERRATUM: Charles de Bériot was not the student of Vieuxtemps.Born in 1802 He studied with André Robberechts,himself a student of Viotti. He was the lover of the famous singer, "La Malibran" He was already a famous virtuoso in 1821 in all Europe.

Vieuxtemps was born in 1820. His career begun circa 1833 as a child prodigy

You are right. I made a mistake. Vieuxtemps was a pupil of Beriot, the founder of the Belgian violin school.

It does not matter...I like your posts anyways. They are instructive.

Marc

Bram, thank you very much for posting. I do think it's a pity these pieces aren't programmed more. I first came across de Beriot in one of those "a bit of everything" albums - everything from a derangement of a movement of Mozart 39 to Winiawski Polonaise. It had the Scene de Ballet and a couple of Air Varie. Maybe they just appeal to my hooligan nature!