Léon Charles François Kreutzer (September 23, 1817 — October 6, 1868) was a French

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, music historian, and composer.

Life and career

Born in Paris, Léon Charles François Kreutzer was the son of composer and violinist Jean Nicolas Auguste Kreutzer. He studied piano and composition with his father and other private instructors. In 1840 he began writing for the French publication '' L’union'' on the history of opera, and other topics related to that art form. In 1849 he began working as a music critic for François-Joseph Fétis's ''

Revue et gazette musicale de Paris The ' was a weekly musical review founded in 1827 by the Belgian musicologist, teacher and composer François-Joseph Fétis, then working as professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire de Paris. It was the first French-language ...

''; publishing a series of articles in that magazine from February 4 and September 23, 1849. After this he worked as a music critic for a number of 19th century French magazines, including ''L’opinion publique'', ''Le théâtre'', and ''Revue contemporaine'' (from 1854). He contributed several articles to the French language encyclopedia ''Encyclopédie du XIXe siècle'' (later published as ''Essai sur l’art lyrique au théâtre'' in Paris, 1849). These included articles on 'Opéra' and ‘Opéra-Comique' which were co-authored with Edouard Fournier. As a composer, Kreutzer produced two

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, approximately 50

art song An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such songs ...

s, four

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

s, and several keyboard compositions. These latter pieces included works for the piano and organ; including a piano trio and three piano sonatas. He also penned two operas which have never been performed, ''Serafine'' and ''Les filles d’azur''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreutzer, Leon 1817 births 1868 deaths 19th-century French composers French music historians French music critics Musicians from Paris