Fritz Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer, born in Vienna in 1875, who studied in Vienna and Paris and later worked in Berlin and New York, becoming a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Renowned for his sweet tone and expressive use of portamento and rubato, he composed violin concertos and sonatas, popular solo violin encores, operettas, string quartets, and cadenzas for major concertos. He died in New York in 1962, aged 86, from complications of a heart condition aggravated by old age.

Kreisler was among the most celebrated violin virtuosos of the early twentieth century, prized for his distinctive personal sound, and his short character pieces for violin remain staples of the recital and encore repertoire. He gained additional notoriety by composing pastiches he initially attributed to earlier composers such as Pugnani and Vivaldi, revealing his authorship only in 1935, an episode that underscored both his compositional skill and his mischievous relationship with musical authenticity.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Kreisler