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

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

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 Defi ...

of forty

French opera French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part i ...

s, including ''

La mort d'Abel ' (''The Death of Abel'') is an opera by the French composer Rodolphe Kreutzer. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman, deals with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. It was first performed in a three-act version at the Salle Montansier by ...

'' (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. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

'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 sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius , spouse = , issue = Oscar I of Sweden , house = Bernadotte , father = Henri Bernadotte , mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean , birth_date = , birth_place = Pau, ...

(later King of Sweden and Norway). Beethoven originally dedicated the sonata to

George Bridgetower George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (11 October 1778 – 29 February 1860) was a British musician, of African descent. He was a virtuoso violinist who lived in England for much of his life. His playing impressed Beethoven, who made Bridge ...

, 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 ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, and was initially taught by his German father, who was a musician in the royal chapel, with later lessons from

Anton Stamitz Anton Thadäus Johann Nepomuk Stamitz (November 1750 – ) was a German composer and violinist. Anton was born during a family visit to Deutschbrod, and baptised there on 27 November 1750. He and his brother Carl received their first violin ...

. He became one of the foremost violin virtuosos of his day, appearing as a soloist until 1810. He was a violin professor at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as 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 ...

from its foundation in 1795 until 1826. He was co-author of the Conservatoire's violin method with

Pierre Rode Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode (16 February 1774 – 25 November 1830) was a French violinist and composer. Life and career Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Pierre Rode traveled in 1787 to Paris and soon became a favourite pupil of the great Gi ...

and

Pierre Baillot Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot (1 October 1771 – 15 September 1842) was a French violinist and composer born in Passy. He studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris together with Pierre R ...

, 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 ...

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

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and is buried in Paris at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

Work

Kreutzer was well known for his style of

bowing Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and 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 European coun ...

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

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

s and forty

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s. His best-known works, however, are the '' 42 études ou caprices'' (42 ''

étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...

s'' or '' capricci'', 1796) which are fundamental pedagogic studies.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreutzer, Rodolphe 1766 births 1831 deaths 18th-century classical composers 19th-century classical composers 18th-century conductors (music) 19th-century conductors (music) 18th-century French male classical violinists 19th-century French male classical violinists Conservatoire de Paris faculty Burials at Cimetière des Rois French male classical composers French male conductors (music) French conductors (music) French educators French people of German descent French opera composers Male opera composers People from Versailles French Classical-period composers String quartet composers French Romantic composers Violin pedagogues 19th-century French composers 18th-century French composers