Kreutzer, Rodolphe (1766-1831)

French violinist and composer of German descent. Beethoven dedicated his violin sonata Op. 47 to him, known as the Kreutzer Sonata.

Kreutzer was born at Versailles, and was taught mainly by his father. When he was 16 the French queen Marie Antoinette appointed him first violin in the royal chapel, where he learnt much from hearing Nicola Mestrino (1748-1789) and Giovanni Battista Viotti. Later he became leader at the Théâtre Italien, where he began to write operas of his own. He toured much and became violin professor at the Paris Conservatory in 1795. In 1798 he went to Vienna, Austria, in the suite of Count Bernadotte and got to know Beethoven. He often played violin duets with Pierre Rode, and on the latter's departure to Russia in 1801, Kreutzer became leader at the Paris Opéra. He later held court appointments under both Napoleon I and Louis XVIII. He compiled a Méthode de violon with the violinist Pierre Baillot.

Works Opera Jeanne d'Arc à Orléans (1790), Paul et Virginie (after Saint-Pierre), Lodoïska (1791), Imogène, ou La Gageure indiscrète (after Boccaccio, 1796), Astyanax, Aristippe (1808), La Mort d'Abel (1810), Mathilde and many others.

Ballet Paul et Virginie, Le Carnaval de Venise, Clari, and others.

Orchestral 19 violin concertos (1783-1810), 4 Symphonies concertantes.

Chamber 15 string quartets; 15 trios; sonatas, caprices, studies, airs with variations for violin.