A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kreutzer, Rodolphe

by Gustave Chouquet

KREUTZER,^[1] Rodolphe, violinist and composer, born at Versailles, Nov. 16, 1766. He studied first under his father, a musician, and according to Fétis had lessons on the violin from Stamitz, but he owed more to natural gifts than to instruction. He began to compose before he had learnt harmony, and was so good a player at 16, when his father died, that through the intervention of Marie Antoinette, he was appointed first violin in the Chapelle du Roi. Here he had opportunities of hearing Mestrino and Viotti, and his execution improved rapidly. The further appointment of solo-violinist at the Théâtre Italien gave him the opportunity of producing an opera. 'Jeanne d'Arc,' 3 acts (May 10, 1790), was successful, and paved the way for 'Paul et Virginie' (Jan. 15, 1791), which was still more so.

The melodies were simple and fresh, and the musical world went into raptures over the new effects of local colour, poor as they seem to us. The music of 'Lodoïska,' 3 acts (Aug. 1, 1791), is not sufficiently interesting to counterbalance its tedious libretto, but the overture and the Tartar's March were for long favourites. During the Revolution Kreutzer was often suddenly called upon to compose opéras de circonstance, a task he executed with great facility. In 1796 he produced 'Imogène, ou la Gageure indiscrète,' a 3-act comedy founded on a story of Boccaccio little fitted for music. At the same time he was composing the concertos for the violin, on which his fame now rests. After the peace of Campo Formio (Oct, 17, 1797) he started on a concert-tour through Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands; the fire and individuality of his playing, especially in his own compositions, exciting everywhere the greatest enthusiasm.

In 1798 Kreutzer was in Vienna in the suite of Bernadotte (Thayer's 'Beethoven,' ii. 21), and we must presume that it was at this time that he acquired that friendship with Beethoven which resulted, 8 years later, in the dedication to him of the Sonata (op. 47) which will now be always known by his name—though he is^[2] said never to have played it—and that he became 'first violin of the Academy of Arts and of the Imperial chamber-music'—titles which are attributed to him in the same dedication. He had been professor of the violin at the Conservatoire from its foundation, and on his return to Paris he and Baillot drew up the famous 'Méthode de Violon' for the use of the students. He frequently played at concerts, his duos concertantes with Rode being a special attraction. On Rode's departure to Russia in 1801, Kreutzer succeeded him as first violin solo at the Opéra, a post which again opened to him the career of a dramatic composer. 'Astyanax,' 3 acts (April 12, 1801); 'Aristippe' (May 24, 1808), the success of which was mainly due to Lays; and 'La Mort d'Abel' (March 23, 1810), in 3 poor acts, reduced to two on its revival in 1823, were the best of a series of operas now forgotten. He also composed many highly successful ballets, such as 'Paul et Virginie' (June 24, 1806), revived in 1826; 'Le Carnaval de Venise' (Feb. 22, 1816), with Persuis; and 'Clari' (June 19, 1820), the principal part in which was sustained by Bigottini. He was appointed 1st violin in the chapelle of the First Consul in 1802, violin-solo to the Emperor in 1806, maître de la chapelle to Louis XVIII. in 1815, and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1824. He became vice-conductor of the Académie in 1816, and conductor in chief from 1817 to 1824. A broken arm compelled him to give up playing, and he retired from the Conservatoire with the year 1825. His last years were embittered by the decline of his influence and the impossibility of gaining a hearing for his last opera, 'Mathilde.' An apoplectic seizure affected his mind, but he lingered till June 6, 1831, when he died at Geneva.

Besides his 39 operas and ballets, all produced in Paris, he published 19 violin-concertos; duos, and 2 symphonies concertantes, for 2 violins; études and caprices for violin solo; sonatas for violin and cello; 15 trios, and a symphonie concertante for 2 violins and cello; 15 string quartets; and several airs with variations.

Kreutzer's brother Auguste, born at Versailles 1781, was a member of the Chapelle de l'Empereur, and of the Chapelle du Roi (1804–30); and succeeded his brother at the Conservatoire, Jan. 1, 1826, retaining the post till his death, at Paris Aug. 31, 1832. His son Leon, born in Paris 1817, died at Vichy Oct. 6, 1868, was musical critic to 'La Quotidienne,' feuilletoniste to the 'Union,' and contributed a number of interesting articles to the 'Revue contemporaine,' the 'Revue et Gazette musicale,' and other periodicals.

[ G. C. ]

Rodolphe Kreutzer is the third, in order of development, of the four great representative masters of the classical Violin-School of Paris; the other three being Viotti, Rode, and Baillot. His style, such as we know it from his concertos, is on the whole more brilliant than Rode's, but less modern than Baillot's. Kreutzer did not require Beethoven's dedication to make his name immortal. His fame will always rest on his unsurpassed work of studies—'40 Etudes ou Caprices pour le Violon'; a work which has an almost unique position in the literature of violin-studies. It has been recognised and adopted as the basis of all solid execution on the violin by the masters of all schools—French, German, or any other nationality—and has been published in numberless editions. In point of difficulty it ranks just below Rode's 24 Caprices, and is generally considered as leading up to this second standard work of studies. Kreutzer's concertos afford excellent material for the student, but are less interesting than those of Viotti and Rode, and, with the exception of the 19th, in D minor, are now hardly ever played in public.

[ P. D. ]

1. His name has been often transmuted into Kretsche by Frenchmen who thought they were pronouncing like Germans. [App. p.693 "We need not complain of this, for in the advertisements of Ernst's concert in the London papers of 1884 it is given as 'Greitzer'! See 'Mus. World,' June 20, 1844, p. 209c."]
2. See Berlioz, 'Voyage,' i. 264, for this and for an amusing account of Kreutzer's difficulties over Beethoren's Second Symphony.