Eugène Léon Vivier (1821–1900) Percy A. Scholes. "Vivier, Eugène Léon" in ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press, 1964. was a French

horn player This list of horn players and pedagogues includes notable players of French horn, German horn, natural horn, Vienna horn, tenor (alto) horn, and alphorn. B *Radek Baborák, former Principal horn Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Phil. Orch ...

, admired by

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

Life

He was born in 1821 in

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

, Corsica; his father was a tax collector. He moved to Paris, where he became a member of the orchestra of the Théâtre-Italien."Vivier, Eugene Leon"
Grande Musica. Retrieved 14 April 2019."Vivier, the Horn Player: Practical joking which was in vogue under Napoleon III"
''Daily Journal'' (Telluride, Colorado), May 1, 1900. He studied under Jacques-François Gallay. He became a successful soloist, and played for

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

at the

Château d'Eu The Château d'Eu is a former royal residence in the town of Eu, in the Seine-Maritime department of France, in Normandy. The Château d'Eu stands at the centre of the town and was built in the 16th century to replace an earlier one purposely de ...

. On his recommendation, Vivier visited London in 1848, where he appeared at the Wednesday Concerts at

Exeter Hall Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings by promoters of human bettermen ...

. From 1870 he was a favourite of

, who gave him

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...

s, including an inspectorship of mines. With a secret device, he was able to play up to four notes at once on the horn. He was known for playing practical jokes: an obituarist wrote that "in their day they were the talk of Europe". He published in 1900 an autobiography, said to be largely fictitious, ''La Vie e les Aventures d'un Corniste''."Vivier, Eugène-Léon"
''The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer: 1791–1839''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999. Page 241. Vivier died in Nice in 1900.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vivier, Eugene Leon 1821 births 1900 deaths French classical horn players 19th-century French musicians Musicians from Ajaccio 19th-century classical musicians