Violin Sonata No. 9 (Beethoven) Rudolphe Kreutzer, which gave the composition its nickname. Kreutzer never performed the work, considering it "outrageously unintelligible". He did not particularly care for any of Beethoven's music, and they only ever met once, briefly. Referring to Beethoven's composition, Leo Tolstoy's novella "The Kreutzer Sonata" was first published in 1889. That novella was adapted in various stage and film productions, contributing to Beethoven's composition becoming known to the general public. Rita Dove's 2009 "Sonata Mulattica" reimagined the life of Bridgetower, the sonata's original dedicatee, in poetry, thus writing about the sonata that connected the composer and the violinist who first performed
The Kreutzer Sonata After the work had been forbidden in Russia by the censors, a mimeographed version was widely circulated. In 1890, the United States Post Office Department prohibited the mailing of newspapers containing serialized installments of "The Kreutzer Sonata". This was confirmed by the U.S. Attorney General in the same year. Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert." The ban on its sale was struck down in New York and Pennsylvania courts in 1890. In the Epilogue To The Kreutzer Sonata, published in 1890, Tolstoy clarifies the intended message of the novella, writing: Countering the argument that widespread abstinence would lead