View source for Rodolphe Kreutzer

{{Short description|French violinist and composer (1766–1831)}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2009}}
{{Infobox composer
| name          = Rodolphe Kreutzer
| image         = Rodolphe Kreutzer by Riedel.jpg
| alt           = 
| birth_date    = 15 November 1766
| birth_place   = [[Versailles]], France
| death_date    = 6 January 1831
| death_place   = [[Geneva]], Switzerland
| occupation    = Violinist, Composer
| notable_works = <!-- Add notable works if applicable -->
}}
'''Rodolphe Kreutzer''' (15 November 1766<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k67111t/f275.pagination|title=Rodolphe Kreutzer – sa jeunesse à Verailles|pages=264 (257–284)|language=fr|author=J. Hardy (Académie de Versailles, des Yvelines et de l'Ile-de-France)|journal=Revue de l'histoire de Versailles et de Seine-Et-Oise|publisher=L. Bernard (Versailles); H. Champion (Paris); [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] (online)|issn=1158-2677|year=1909}}</ref> – 6 January 1831) was a French [[violin]]ist, teacher, [[conducting|conductor]], and [[composer]] of forty [[French opera]]s, including ''[[La mort d'Abel]]'' (1810).

He is probably best known as the dedicatee of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven)|Violin Sonata No.&nbsp;9]], [[Opus number|Op.]]&nbsp;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, [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte]] (later King of Sweden and Norway).<ref>{{Cite journal| last1 = Schwarz | first1 = Boris| doi = 10.1093/mq/XLIV.4.431| title = Beethoven and the French Violin School| journal = [[The Musical Quarterly]]| issue = 4|volume=XLIV| pages = 431–447| year = 1958}}</ref> 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, Yvelines|Versailles]], and was initially taught by his German father, who was a musician in the royal chapel,<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Kreutzer, Rudolph |volume=15 |page=925}}</ref> with later lessons from [[Anton Stamitz]].<ref>{{Britannica|323458}}</ref> He became one of the foremost violin virtuosos of his day, appearing as a soloist until 1810. He embedded with the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] under the command of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1797, charged with copying Italian musical manuscripts and returning them to France as trophies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martens |first1=Frederick H. |last2=Prod'homme |first2=J.-G. |title=Napoleon, Music and Musicians |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=October 1921 |volume=7 |issue=4 |page=583 |jstor=738191 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/738191 |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref> He was a violin professor at the [[Conservatoire de Paris]] 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]], and from 1817 he conducted there, too. He died in [[Geneva]]<ref name=EB1911/> and is buried in Paris at the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]].

== Work ==
Kreutzer was well known for his style of [[bow stroke|bowing]], his splendid tone, and the clearness of his execution. His compositions include nineteen [[violin concerto]]s and forty [[opera]]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 ''[[étude]]s'' or ''[[Capriccio (music)|capricci]]'', 1796) which are fundamental pedagogic studies.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Kreutzer, Rodolphe|cname=Rodolphe Kreutzer}}
*{{AllMusic|id=mn0001624842|tab=biography|author=Keith Johnson}}

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