Francois Habeneck

François Antoine Habeneck was a French violinist, composer, and conductor born on January 22, 1781 (Mozart was about 25 years old and would only live another ten years.) He was initially taught by his father (what else is new?), and by the age of ten was already playing in public. In 1801, he entered the Paris Conservatory. In the same year, he joined the orchestra of the Opera Comique, but shortly afterwards moved to that of the Opera. In 1817 (at age 36), Habeneck succeeded Rodolphe Kreutzer as concertmaster at the Opera, and in 1821 he became its director, a position which he held until 1846. During that time, he conducted the premiere performances of many operas. In 1828, Habeneck became the founding conductor of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra. By means of this orchestra’s concerts, he introduced Beethoven’s symphonies to a French audience. Paganini once commented, after playing a concert at which Habeneck conducted the accompaniment, that he had the best orchestra in all of Europe. He composed two concertos, small violin pieces, and several songs. Habeneck also wrote a violin method book which was published in 1835. That book curiously incorporates some of Viotti's writings on violin study which, up to that time, had remained unpublished.  In that particular fragment, Viotti (1755-1824) advises strongly that the study of scales should be given great emphasis, something which Paganini, Sivori, Ysaye, and Heifetz also emphasized and recommended for daily practice.  Habeneck died on February 8, 1849, at age 68. A famous Stradivarius violin bears his name. I’ll try to locate a picture of it.