Scan 87
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.3, 1907
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1stance, a task he executed with great facility. In 1796 he produced 'Imogène, ou la Gageure indiscrete,' a three-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.
3In 1798 Kreutzer was in Vienna in the suite of Bernadotte,1 and acquired that friendship with Beethoven which resulted later2 in the dedication to him of the sonata (op. 47) which will now be always known by his name—though he is said3 never to have played it—and 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 in 1795, 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,' three acts (Apr. 12, 1801); 'Aristippe' (May 24, 1808), the success of which was mainly due to Lays; and 'La Mort d'Abel' (Mar. 23, 1810), in three 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.
5He was appointed first 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 de Musique in 1816, and conductor in chief from 1817–24. A broken arm compelled him to give up playing, and he retired from the Conservatoire in 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.'
7Besides his thirty-nine operas and ballets, all produced in Paris, he published:
9Nineteen vln. concertos; duos, and two symphonies concertantes, for two vlns.; études and caprices for vln solo; sonatas for vln. and vcl.; fifteen trios, and a symphonie concertante, for two vlns. and vcl.; fifteen string quartets; and several airs with variations. (See Q.-L.)
11G. C.
131 Thayer, ii. 21.
142 See Beethoven's letter to Simrock, Oct. 4, 1804. Krebbiel, ii. 21.
153 See Berlioz, Voyage, i. 264, for this and for an amusing account of Kreutzer's difficulties over Beethoven's second symphony.
17Rodolphe 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 Études 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 twenty-four caprices, and is generally considered as leading up to this second standard work of studies.
19Kreutzer, on the testimony of Baillot (Art du violon, 1834, p. 183), and of A. L. Blondeau (Hist. Mus., 1847, ii. p. 161), was probably one of the greatest improvisers of his time. There is a medallion of him by Peuvrier (1823).
21Rodolphe's brother, (2) AUGUSTE (b. Versailles, Sept. 3, 1778; d. Paris, Aug. 31, 1832), 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. His son, (3) LÉON (b. Paris, Sept. 23, 1817; d. 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.
23BIBL.—JOSEPH HARDY, Rodolphe Kreutzer, sa jeunesse à Versailles (Paris, 1910); PAUL FROMAGOT, in Les Compositeurs de musique versailles (Versailles, 1906).
25KREUZ, EMIL (b. Elberfeld, May 25, 1867), violinist and composer. Began to play at the age of 3, but did not begin to study for the profession until his 10th year (under Japha of Cologne). In 1883 he gained an open scholarship at the R.C.M., where he studied for five years under Holmes (violin) and Stanford (composition). During the last two years he made a special study of the viola, making his début with that instrument on Dec. 11, 1888, in the 'Harold in Italy' solo at a Henschel concert. He was soloist at Leeds Festival 1889, member of Gompertz Quartet 1888–1903, and of the Queen's Band 1900–3. He also played frequently at the Popular Concerts. In 1903 he joined the Hallé Orchestra in order to work under Richter. He left England before the war (1914). Amongst his compositions are a concerto for viola with orchestra, a trio for piano, violin and viola, op. 21, a prize quintet for horn and string quartet, op. 49, many songs and numerous pieces useful for teaching purposes.
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