KREMSIER, (Czech, Kroměříž), a town of Austria, in Moravia, 37 m. E. by N. of Brünn by rail. Pop. (1900), 13,991, mostly Czech. It is situated on the March, in the fertile region of the Hanna, and not far from the confluence of these two rivers. It is the summer residence of the bishop of Olmütz, whose palace, surrounded by a fine park and gardens, and containing a picture gallery, library and various collections, forms the chief object of interest. Its industries include the manufacture of machinery and iron-founding, brewing and corn-milling, and there is a considerable trade in corn, cattle, fruit and manufactures. In 1131 Kremsier was the seat of a bishopric. It suffered considerably during the Hussite war; and in 1643 it was taken and burned by the Swedes. After the rising of 1848 the Austrian parliament met in the palace at Kremsier from November 1848 till March 1849. In August 1885 a meeting took place here between the Austrian and the Russian emperors.
KREUTZER, KONRADIN (1780-1849), German musical composer, was born on the 22nd of November 1780 in Messkirch in Baden, and died on the 14th of December 1849 in Riga. He owes his fame almost exclusively to one opera, Das Nachtlager von Granada (1834), which kept the stage for half a century in spite of the changes in musical taste. It was written in the style of Weber, and is remarkable especially for its flow of genuine melody and depth of feeling. The same qualities are found in Kreutzer’s part-songs for men’s voices, which at one time were extremely popular in Germany, and are still listened to with pleasure. Amongst these “Der Tag des Herrn” (“The Lord’s Day”) may be named as the most excellent. Kreutzer was a prolific composer, and wrote a number of operas for the theatre at Vienna, which have disappeared from the stage and are not likely to be revived. He was from 1812 to 1816 Kapellmeister to the king of Württemberg, and in 1840 became conductor of the opera at Cologne. His daughter, Cecilia Kreutzer, was a singer of some renown.
KREUTZER, RUDOLPH (1766-1831), French violinist, of German extraction, was born at Versailles, his father being a musician in the royal chapel. Rudolph gradually became famous as a violinist, playing with great success at various continental capitals. It was to him that in 1803 Beethoven dedicated his famous violin sonata (op. 47) known as the “Kreutzer.” Apart, however, from his fame as a violinist, Kreutzer was also a prolific composer; he wrote twenty-nine operas, many of which were successfully produced, besides nineteen violin concertos and chamber music. He died at Geneva in 1831.
KREUZBURG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, on the Stober, 24 m. N.N.E. of Oppeln. Pop. (1905), 10,919. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a gymnasium and a teacher’s seminary. Here are flour-mills, distilleries, iron-works, breweries, and manufactories of sugar and of machinery. Kreuzburg, which became a town in 1252, was the birthplace of the novelist Gustav Freytag.
KREUZNACH (Creuznach), a town and watering-place of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, situated on the Nahe, a tributary of the Rhine, 9 m. by rail S. of Bingerbrück. Pop. (1900), 21,321. It consists of the old town on the right bank of the river, the new town on the left, and the Bade Insel (bath island), connected by a fine stone bridge. The town has two Evangelical and three Roman Catholic churches, a gymnasium, a commercial school and a hospital. There is a collection of Roman and medieval antiquities, among which is preserved a fine Roman mosaic discovered in 1893. On the Bade Insel is the Kurhaus (1872) and also the chief spring, the Elisabethquelle, impregnated with iodine and bromine, and prescribed for scrofulous, bronchial and rheumatic disorders. The chief industries are marble-polishing and the manufacture of leather, glass and tobacco. Vines are cultivated on the neighbouring hills, and there is a trade in wine and corn.