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
William Kreutzer Jr. William Kreutzer Jr. William J. Kreutzer Jr. (born 1969) is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted of killing one officer and wounding 18 other soldiers when he opened fire on a physical training formation on October 27, 1995 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Kreutzer was sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life in prison by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals in connection with concerns regarding mental illness. At trial, Kreutzer's high school vice principal Ms. Witczak testified that he was an "above average" student. He graduated from the University of Maryland. At