Kreutzer, Rodolphe. (1766-1831)
40 Études ou Caprices pour le Violon
Paris: Magasin de musique de Cherubini, Mehul, R. Kreutzer, Rode, Nicolo Isouard, et Boieldieu. [1807]. First edition, first issue. Dédiées à Monsieur le Comte | de Bondy, | par | R. KREUTZER | Premier Violon de Sa Majesté L'Empereur. [2], 51, [1] p. of music [page 49 and last page blank]; 34 cm. Engraved throughout, [PN] 411. The later ticket of Chez Imbault pasted over the original publisher's information and with the later stamp of J. Frey at the lower edge of the title page. Bound in full green cloth, gilt lettering on spine and front board. In very fine condition throughout. RISM K 2392.Very rare. RISM records only 3 copies worldwide.
The French violinist and composer Rodolphe Kreutzer was one of the most famous and influential virtuosos of his time. From 1795 he was professor at the Paris Conservatory, and from 1801 to 1821 he was concertmaster and director of music of the Paris Opera. At this time, Kreutzer wrote about 40 operas and numerous works for violin. In 1803, he published together with Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode and Pierre Marie François Baillot the "Méthode de violon" ("System for the violin"), which soon after had become the official manual of exercises for the violin at the Paris Conservatory. Kreutzer befriended Ludwig van Beethoven during his visit to Vienna in 1798 and Beethoven later wrote that he was "a good and nice person, it was indeed a pleasure to spend time with him". Seven years later (1805), Beethoven dedicated his Violin Sonata in A Major, op. 47 to Rodolphe Kreutzer, now known as the "Kreutzer-Sonate".
"Kreutzer’s 42 études ou caprices (originally 40) for unaccompanied violin occupy an almost unique position in the literature of violin studies; Kreutzer met the challenge of the modern violin by aiming partly at fluency in contraction and extension of the left hand. As Szigeti (1969) pointed out, extensions and unisons were easier on the old short-necked violin; in the ‘practically unknown nineteen Etudes-Caprices … it is obvious that the great teacher was already conscious of the need for the “opening up” of the hand’." (David Charlton, Grove Online) (6014)
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