Rudolphe Kreutzer was a French composer and violinist. He grew up in the Duc de Choiseul's Swiss Guard in Paris, where his father was a wind musician and violin teacher. He was in Napoleon's service and taught at what would become the Paris Conservatoire. Marie Antoinette and the Count of Artois inspired him, and it was they who most certainly negotiated his entry into the king's music in 1785. By 1789, he was recognized as a leading virtuoso, composing chamber music and conducting more of his violin concertos.