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The Student's History of Music: The History of Music, From the Christian Era to the Present Time (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Student's History of Music: The History ...)

Music In Its Relation To Intellectual Life: Romanticism In Music. Two Lectures

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Musical Dictation, Vol. 2 of 2: A Practical Guide for Musical Students (Classic Reprint)

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History of Music: In the Form of Lectures (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from History of Music: In the Form of Lectures B...)

History of Music: In the Form of Lectures Volume 1

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Manual Of Musical History From The Epoch Of Ancient Greece To Our Present Time...

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Music in America...

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Music In England (1884)

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Music in England and Music in America; Volume 1

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Practical Harmony, Especially Designed for the Use of Piano-Forte Students,

Frédéric Louis Ritter

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Background

Frédéric Louis Ritter was born on June 22, 1834 in Strasbourg, Alsace, and was descended from a Spanish family named Caballero.

Education

He showed musical talent at an early age, and studied with Hans Schletterer and Franz Hauser, and with his cousin, J. G. Kastner, in Paris.

Career

He became professor of music at the Protestant Seminary of Fénéstrange in Lorraine in 1852. Four years later he accompanied his parents to America. He established himself in Cincinnati and founded there the Cecilia Society (choral) and the Philharmonic Orchestra.

Though the city at the time of Ritter's advent boasted several German male choruses and a sacred choral organization, the best patronized musical entertainments were the concerts of the Negro minstrel troupes. With the two societies he had founded Ritter gave programs of the best classic music and promoted musical appreciation in his section of the Middle West.

In 1861 he left Cincinnati to settle in New York, where he was very active during the period after the Civil War, and he played his part in the intensive development of interest in music that marked the time.

He was the conductor of the Sacred Harmonic Society and the "Arion" male chorus society, and directed a series of seven annual concerts for the latter group. In 1867 he became professor of music at Vassar College and retained the position until his death. After he went to Vassar, Ritter devoted his time to his academic work and to writing.

Achievements

His History of Music was followed by Music in England (1883), Music in America (1883), a Manual of Musical History (1886), and some works of practical pedagogy, including Musical Dictation and Practical Harmony (1888). In collaboration with the Rev. J. Ryland Kendrick, he compiled Laudamus: A Hymnal (1877). He also contributed English, French, and German articles to musical journals. His Music in America, the most interesting of his works, at the time of its publication was especially valuable in calling attention to a neglected subject. Its author was in various ways unfitted to treat his subject sympathetically and with the necessary breadth of viewpoint, and many of his conclusions are open to question, but the work was distinctly useful. His compositions included three symphonies, a symphonic poem, "Stella, " a concert-overture, "Othello, " concertos for piano and for 'cello, and a fantasia for bass-clarinet with orchestra, as well as some chamber-music - a string quartet, three piano quartets, and trios. They were all played in their day by orchestras and chamber-music organizations in New York, Brooklyn, and Boston. He also composed an organ fantasia and fugue, choral settings for the fourth, twenty-third, forty-sixth, and ninety-fifth Psalms, and more than a hundred songs.

Works

$The Student\'s History of Music: The History of Music, From the Christian Era to the Present Time (Classic Reprint) The Student\'s History of Music: The History of Music, From the Christian Era to the Present Time (Classic Reprint)$ Music In Its Relation To Intellectual Life: Romanticism In Music. Two Lectures Music In Its Relation To Intellectual Life: Romanticism In Music. Two Lectures