A student of Stamitz, Rodolphe Kreutzer was growing out of his "child prodigy" phase and had entered a career as a composer and soloist when his parents abruptly died within three months of each other. Taking pity on the young man, the Count of Artois introduced him to Marie Antoinette - who was so taken with Kreutzer that she brought him into court life at Versailles. The precise role played by Marie Antoinette in Kreutzer's rise to fame is open to question, but his early operas did receive their first performances during her reign. The Queen, of course, was guillotined in 1793; around that time, Kreutzer was offered a professorship at the music school (later known as the Paris Conservatoire) where he would later write his famous 42 études ou caprices. Though Kreutzer played solo concerts until a carriage accident ended his career, he thought of himself mainly as an opera composer; in that light, it seems cruel that his operas are rarely performed today.
