Rodolphe Kreutzer (15 November 1766 – 6 January 1831) was a French

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, teacher, conductor, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of forty

French opera French opera is both the art of opera in France and opera in the French language. It is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ra ...

s, including '' La mort d'Abel'' (1810). He is probably best known as the dedicatee of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47 (1803), known as the ''Kreutzer Sonata'', though he never played the work. Kreutzer made the acquaintance of Beethoven in 1798, when at Vienna in the service of the French ambassador,

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Charles XIV John (; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and King of Norway, Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John () and before he be ...

(later King of Sweden and Norway). Beethoven originally dedicated the sonata to George Bridgetower, the violinist at its first performance, but after a quarrel he revised the dedication in favour of Kreutzer.

Biography

Kreutzer was born in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, and was initially taught by his German father, who was a musician in the royal chapel, with later lessons from Anton Stamitz. He became one of the foremost violin virtuosos of his day, appearing as a soloist until 1810. He embedded with the Army of Italy under the command of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in 1797, charged with copying Italian musical manuscripts and returning them to France as trophies. He was a violin professor at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

from its foundation in 1795 until 1826. He was co-author of the Conservatoire's violin method with Pierre Rode and Pierre Baillot, and the three are considered the founding trinity of the French school of violin playing. For a time, Kreutzer was leader of the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

, and from 1817 he conducted there, too. He died in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and is buried in Paris at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

Work

Kreutzer was well known for his style of

bowing Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and Human head, head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many E ...

, his splendid tone, and the clearness of his execution. His compositions include nineteen violin concertos and forty

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s (including ''Jeanne d'Arc in Orléans'' 1790, ''Paul and Virginie'' 1791, ''Lodoïska'' 1791, ''Astianax'' 1801, ''Aristippe'' 1808 (dedicated to Hortense de Beauharnais), ''Abel'', 1810). His best-known works, however, are the '' 42 études ou caprices'' (42 '' études'' or '' capricci'', 1796) which are fundamental pedagogic studies.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreutzer, Rodolphe 1766 births 1831 deaths 18th-century French classical composers 19th-century French classical composers 18th-century conductors (music) 19th-century French conductors (music) French male classical violinists 19th-century French violinists 19th-century French male musicians Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Burials at Cimetière des Rois French male conductors (music) 19th-century French educators French people of German descent French opera composers French male opera composers Musicians from Versailles French Classical-period composers French string quartet composers Violin educators French Romantic composers Composers for violin 18th-century French violinists 18th-century French male musicians