1803: Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Sonata No.9 (aka The Kreutzer Sonata) premieres.
1889: Leo Tolstoy's novella The Kreutzer Sonata is published, taking inspiration from Beethoven's work.
1923: Leoš Janáček writes String Quartet No.1 (aka Kreutzer Sonata), taking inspiration from Tolstoy's work.
2010: Laura Wade's play Kreutzer vs Kreutzer premieres, taking inspiration from the work of Beethoven, Tolstoy and Janáček.
It's the perfect example of how artists and creatives inspire one another across the barriers of time and language, and how the work of one genius can provoke the best in others (although it seems only people whose names begin with the letter L). Laura Wade's Kreutzer vs Kreutzer - billed as "a play for voices" - is the perfect last lap in an artistic relay race that's been running for over 200 years. She manages to throw the individual works which serve as her inspiration into sharp focus, while also knitting them together into one cohesive and immensely rewarding whole.
