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Rodolphe Kreutzer
(1766-1831)

Honours

Knight of the Legion of Honour, 1821 (France)^[H77]

Positions Held

Director of music of the Paris Opera, 1824-26^[E6L]
Chief conductor of the Paris Opera, 1817-24^[E6L]
Second conductor of the Paris Opera, 1816-17^[E6L]
Master of the Royal Chapel, 1815^[E6L]

Biographical

Violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer.^[E6L]
His father began to teach him the violin, and from 1778, Antoine Stamitz was his teacher for violin and composition.^[E6L]
Received as a prodigy in 1780 after performing a concerto at the Concert Spirituel, Paris.^[E6L]
Performed his own First Violin Concerto at the Concert Spirituel, 1784.^[E6L]
Came under the influence of Marie Antoinette and the Count of Artois after his parents' death.^[E6L]
As a leading virtuoso, he moved from Versailles to Paris, 1789.^[E6L]
Taught the violin at the Institut National de Musique, 1793, and the Conservatoire de Paris, 1795-1826.^[E6L]
Member of the council of the Conservatoire de Paris, 1825-30.^[E6L]
Beethoven dedicated his Violin Sonata op. 47 (the 'Kreutzer' Sonata) to him.^[E6L]
His career as a soloist ended in 1810 after he broke his arm in a carriage accident.^[E6L]
Retired from his public posts in 1826.^[E6L]

Place of birth: Versailles^[E6L]
Place of marriage: church of Notre-Dame, Versailles^[J78]
Place of death: Geneva^[E6L]
Place of burial: Père Lachaise, Paris^[R17]