George Bridgetower was a celebrated violinist of complex ancestry, best remembered today as the original intended dedicatee of Beethoven's Kreuzter sonata, of which he gave the premier performance with the composer at the piano. The sonata's subsequent dedication to Kreutzer instead came about as a result of a falling out between Beethoven and Bridgetower.
Bridgetower's exact origins are not clearly known, but his father, who later claimed to be an African prince, hailed from from the English colonies in Barbados and at some point emigrated to Europe, where he was personal page to Prince Nicholas Esterházy by 1780; his mother was of Austro-German or Polish ancestry.
He was a prodigy violinist who made his debut before the age of ten. He claimed to have studied with Haydn, which is plausible given his father's connections to the Esterháhzy family. In 1789 he traveled with his father to England, where he found particular success among the English aristocracy and eventually secured the support of the Prince of Wales, later George IV. He enjoyed a successful career there, but in 1802 left for Dresden to visit his mother, during which time his brief acquaintance with Beethoven arose.
He returned to England for several years, but eventually settled in Paris and Rome for an extendted period before finally returning to England once more in his final years.
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