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Rodolphe Kreutzer | |
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| Born | 15 November 1766 Versailles, France |
| Died | 6 January 1831 Geneva, Switzerland |
| Occupation(s) | Violinist, Composer |
Rodolphe Kreutzer (15 November 1766[1] – 6 January 1831) was a Frenchviolinist, teacher,conductor, andcomposer of fortyFrench operas, includingLa mort d'Abel (1810).
He is probably best known as the dedicatee ofBeethoven'sViolin Sonata No. 9,Op. 47 (1803), known as theKreutzer 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 (later King of Sweden and Norway).[2] Beethoven originally dedicated the sonata toGeorge Bridgetower, the violinist at its first performance, but after a quarrel he revised the dedication in favour of Kreutzer.
Kreutzer was born inVersailles, and was initially taught by his German father, who was a musician in the royal chapel,[3] with later lessons fromAnton Stamitz.[4] He became one of the foremost violin virtuosos of his day, appearing as a soloist until 1810. He embedded with theArmy of Italy under the command ofNapoleon Bonaparte in 1797, charged with copying Italian musical manuscripts and returning them to France as trophies.[5] He was a violin professor at theConservatoire de Paris from its foundation in 1795 until 1826. He was co-author of the Conservatoire's violin method withPierre Rode andPierre Baillot, and the three are considered the founding trinity of the French school of violin playing. For a time, Kreutzer was leader of theParis Opera, and from 1817 he conducted there, too. He died inGeneva[3] and is buried in Paris at thePère Lachaise Cemetery.
Kreutzer was well known for his style ofbowing, his splendid tone, and the clearness of his execution. His compositions include nineteenviolin concertos and fortyoperas (includingJeanne 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 the42 études ou caprices (42études orcapricci, 1796) which are fundamental pedagogic studies.
