Introduction
While the nineteenth-century masters of the Romantic avant garde and even many composers of what Robert Schumann called the juste milieu have been dealt with significantly in musicological treatises, the more conservative composers still remain widely ignored. An example of the latter is August Gott-fried Ritter (1811-1885), an artist who was well known and highly revered in his lifetime not only as a performer and teacher but also as a composer and author of many reviews, musicological articles, and books. Today, however, Ritter is scarcely mentioned. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (1963) provides only a brief sketch of his life and a partial listing of his works, and the composer does not appear at all in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001).
The reason for Ritter's almost total obscurity is not that he lacked recognized accomplishments but rather that the focus of his activities, namely Protestant church music, appears to offer little attraction to present-day scholars. In their disinterest in Protestant church music of the nineteenth century, modern scholars actually reflect an aesthetic attitude inherited from the Enlightenment. The late eighteenth century was marked by a declining interest in the church itself, and music within the worship service was relegated to a less important role. Many church choirs were disbanded, and the concert hall gradually replaced the church as the leading musico-cultural force in the community. How much the organist and cantor suffered in artistic and social prestige is indicated by the Prussian Code of 1794, which lists both professions as "lower church employees . . . on a level with custodians."1 It is therefore not surprising that during the nineteenth century most of the talented musicians sought careers outside the conservative environment of the church and none of the major composers made church music the center of their compositional interest, even those who played and wrote for the organ.2
Generally speaking, by the time of Ritter's birth in 1811, church music had reached a nadir in comparison with achievements of earlier days. This does not mean, though, that traditions were totally abandoned and that no efforts were made by some dedicated few to stem the tide and to uphold excellence in church music. As Georg Feder points out, "the practice of sacred music in Saxony and Thuringia never really deteriorated."3 For example, in Erfurt, Ritter's birthplace, the church remained a major outlet for artistic expression even during the early nineteenth century. Nevertheless, one must add that it certainly no longer held center stage.
Ritter was quite aware of the changing compositional trends, and he wrote works in the current secular musical genres, such as orchestral overtures, symphonies, piano sonatas, and character pieces. However, Ritter soon began to direct his attention toward music for the organ. An early indication of this interest was his decision in 1834 to attend the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin. Nine years later, Ritter again showed a preference for church music, when he accepted the Domorganist position in Merseburg instead of a much more lucrative choral directorship in Berlin.4 At a time when interest in church music was waning and many professional musicians had already abandoned the church for employment in secular areas, Ritter thus elected to stay within the church and to do his utmost to improve the level of organ performance and organ composition.
Since Ritter's life is not well known, the following is a biographical account, including information about the composer's family, friends, teachers, and the different stages of his official career as church organist and music director.
Early Years in Erfurt
According to the Augustinerkirche baptismal register in Erfurt, August Gottfried Ritter was born on August25, 1811, at five o'clock in the morning and baptized at the church eight days later. He was the son of Johann Heinrich Ritter and Maria née Kegel (or Kögel).5
The infant Ritter and his parents resided on Gotthard Street near the monastery that Martin Luther (1483-1546) had entered in 1501, and not far from the neighborhood where Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813), the eminent poet and novelist, had once lived.6 Late nineteenth-century biographers have disagreed on the family's financial status. Robert Frenzel, in his article "Ein bekannter und doch wenig gekannter Orgelmeister" (1894), states that Ritter's father was well-to-do,7 while the Encyklopädie der evängelischen Kirchenmusik (1894), edited by Salomon Kümmerle, describes the family's living conditions as modest.8 Ritter's father, a commoner, was a flour merchant, a profession that must have run in the family, since church records and address catalogs back to the beginning of the eighteenth century indicate that there were a number of Erfurt residents by the name of Ritter, all of them millers or members of similar middle-class positions.9
The years surrounding Ritter's birth were marked by political instability, with most of Europe embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars. The town of Erfurt, which had become part of Prussia in 1802, came under French domination in 1806, and two years later was the site of Napoleon's meeting with Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia, and Württemberg. In 1813 the town was reconquered by the Prussians, who, with the help of their allies, defeated Napoleon Bonaparte during the famous "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig on October 16-19 of the same year.10 It was not quite a month later that Ritter's father died of "nerves and foul fever," as the Augustinerkirche records indicate, on November 13, 1813, at the age of twenty-seven.11
After his father's death, August Gott-fried was reared by an uncle. This fact, first mentioned in the Encyclopädie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften (1842), which contains the earliest article on Ritter,12 was reiterated and embellished upon in later biographical dictionaries, among them the Neues Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst (1851), which states that Ritter was "brought up by an uncle with love and care."13
The only personal reference to his parents and childhood is a letter, dated June 20, 1836, in which Ritter states that shortly after the death of his father, his mother married Johannes Christian Samuel Ritter, another flour merchant. However, the composer fails to mention whether or not his stepfather was also his father's brother.14 Nothing is known about when his mother died.
Ritter received his earliest and most profound musical inspiration and education through the institution of the church. Such an experience was not unusual, since the dominant cultural force in the community had traditionally been the church. For example, Martin Luther had obtained part of his well-rounded musical education at the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, where in 1524 two Enchiridia, among the first Protestant hymnals, had been published.15
Young August Gottfried attended the Augustiner-Parochial-Schule, and his family worshipped at the Augustinerkirche. When Andreas Ketschau (1798-1869), the organist at that church, learned of the young boy's interest in music, he began to instruct him in piano, organ, and harmony. The exact dates for these lessons are not known, but Ritter must have begun at an early age and progressed very rapidly, for he publicly performed a Mozart piano concerto at the age of eleven.16
Andreas Ketschau was a significant figure in the musical life of Erfurt, and the importance that accompanied his position as organist and teacher was not at all unusual. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, church musicians, especially organist-composers, had determined the direction of Erfurt's musical development. Members of J. S. Bach's family had taught at church schools and occupied almost all church organist positions of the town.17 Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), Michael Altenburg (1584-1640), the prestigious Predigerkirche organist Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748), and Jakob Adlung (1699-1762) had also numbered among Erfurt's most notable church musicians.18 During the late eighteenth century it was Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809), author of the influential Der angehende praktische Organist (in three parts, 1801, 1803, 1808;3d ed. in 1831), who upheld the tradition of excellence in Erfurt's church music. Deeply revered as the last pupil of J. S. Bach, Kittel was an organ virtuoso whose concerts attracted such prominent individuals as Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from nearby Weimar.19 Although cultural entertainment in Erfurt expanded in the late eighteenth century to include operettas, theatrical productions, and a choral society, the tradition of church music, particularly organ music, remained strong.20 It can thus be readily assumed that Ketschau instilled in the young August Gottfried Ritter a deep sense of reverence for early music.
Erfurt's general cultural life declined from 1806 through 1813, the years of French occupation. The local choral society was disbanded, and there were no concerts by touring German artists. Entertainment instead featured Parisian ballets and visiting actors of the French theatre, but these events were under French auspices and not intended for the average Erfurt citizen.21 Even the participants in the grand music festival in 1811, held in honor of Napoleon's birthday, were mostly musicians from other towns in Germany and not Erfurt residents.22 In fact, the scarcity of concerts prompted one critic to complain in the winter of 1812 that Erfurt public concerts were at a "standstill."23 Only church music continued to be cultivated much as it had been in the past.
Ritter's childhood was marked by a revival of general musical activities in Erfurt. In February of 1815, two years after the ouster of the French troops, a touring violin virtuoso named Ochernal presented two concerts.24 Vocal lessons were given at the newly-founded Erfurt Teachers Seminary,25 and in 1816, Prussian soldiers stationed in a garrison near the town are reported to have received instruction in part-singing.26 In 1819 the local choral society was re-established, this time as the Soller'sche Verein, and on August3, 1821, the Society, assisted by amateurs and musicians from neighboring villages, successfully performed in public for the first time. This concert, held in honor of the birthday of Frederick William III, King of Prussia, marked the beginning of an Erfurt tradition that became known as the King's Birthday Festival, an event that later expanded into an annual series of concerts for which Erfurt became famous, and in which Ritter became an active participant.27 In 1826 a second choral group, the Erfurt Musikverein, was founded, with Ketschau, Ritter's music teacher, as its artistic director. This choral group consisted of206 dilettantes and musicians (eighty-four singers, fifty-two instrumentalists, the remainder non-performers), all of whom paid monthly dues to support a full orchestra, a string quartet, a Liedertafel, and a singing school by 1835.28
The repertoire of both choral societies, and particularly the pronounced purpose of the Erfurt Music Society, are worth mentioning, for they reveal attitudes typical for the musical climate of Erfurt at that time. At the first King's Birthday Festival, the Soller'sche Society performed Johann Christian Friedrich Schneider's (1786-1837) oratorio Weltgericht in the Predigerkirche,29 and for the second Festival, members of the Teachers Seminary combined forces with the Soller'sche Society to perform Haydn's oratorio The Seasons.30 Although these were not the kinds of pieces that would appeal to a public infatuated with the more modern, fashionable genres, the constituent members of the Erfurt Music Society, like those of the Soller'sche Society, had resolved to perform music that is "not subject to fashionable taste of the time, and for that reason, variable."31 In 1835 an anonymous reviewer could state that the Erfurt Music Society's "praiseworthy" goal had been achieved.32 Continuing its tradition, this Music Society four years later successfully performed Mendelssohn's St. Paul, and once again an anonymous reviewer enthusiastically approved the Society's choice of repertoire.
. . . ist es doch sehr erfreulich zu wissen, dass ungeachtet des durch eine burleske und frivole Muse nur zu sehr verflachten Zeitgeschmacks die ernste heilige Musik auch hier der Verehrer nicht wenige zählt. Des sollen Dankes dieser kann sich der Musik-Verein unter allen Umständen versichert halten.33
[. . . it is, however, very gratifying to know that in spite of contemporary taste, which has become very shallow through a burlesque and frivolous muse, devoted admirers of serious religious music number not a few here. In any case, the Music Society should be assured of thanks.]
Education in Erfurt and Weimar
As an impressionable young child, Ritter was deeply affected by the conservative cultural climate that prevailed in Erfurt--respect for tradition, disregard for the taste of the masses, and a preference for serious religious music, even when not in vogue. All of these attitudes became Ritter's own and determined the ultimate direction of his life. Ritter attended the Gymnasium, where he continued his music lessons, and shortly before Easter of 1828, he passed the entrance examination to the Erfurt Teachers Seminary. Among his instructors there were the theologian Friedrich Ritschl, a philologist named Pabst,34 and Johann Immanuel Müller (1774-1839).35 Müller probably taught singing and conducting, since he had been credited in 1821 with the "blossoming of an excellent school for vocal song" and had served as music director of the first two King's Birthday Festivals.36
It was as a student at the Teachers Seminary that Ritter "dedicated himself with earnestness in the direction of organ playing."37 His organ teacher there was Michael Gotthard Fischer (1773-1829), a former pupil of Kittel and, at that time, the most prestigious organist in Erfurt. Fischer became seriously ill during Ritter's year of study with him and died in January of 1829; nevertheless, he must have exerted a decisive influence upon the young artist. When Ritter left the Seminary, he was given a superior rating,38 and many years later, in a letter to someone named Heindl, Ritter mentioned Fischer as one of his most influential teachers.39
One might assume that Ritter completed his education at the Teachers Seminary in 1829, since the composer himself said that he became the Andreaskirche organist in the fall of that particular year.40 His statement, however, is contradicted by the fact that this Erfurt church was closed for repairs from 1827 until 1830. Church records also indicate that Ritter was named teacher at the Andreasschule on October 1, 1830, but did not officially become church organist until January 1, 1831.41
Another imprecise statement made by Ritter concerns his studies with Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837). While discussing his education after leaving the Seminary, Ritter mentions that he received piano lessons from Hummel in Weimar and attended the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin "during a lengthy absence" from Erfurt.
während lingerer Abwesenheit von Erfurt dazwischen Schüler von Hummel in Weimar, Ludwig Berger in Berlin, von C. v. Winterfeld protegiert . . .42
[During a lengthy absence from Erfurt, in the meantime a student of Hummel in Weimar, Ludwig Berger in Berlin, protégé of C. v. Winterfeld . . . .]
Ritter's reference to the "lengthy absence" must obviously apply only to his stay in Berlin. Since Weimar is not more than thirteen miles from Erfurt, it stands to reason that Ritter, while employed at the Andreaskirche, traveled each week from Erfurt to Weimar for lessons with Hummel, as two of Ritter's biographers indicate.43
Ritter's studies with Hummel proved invaluable. Hummel, a former child prodigy and student of Mozart, was considered one of Europe's foremost pianists, both as a performer and as a teacher.44 By 1830 Hummel had already instructed a number of well-known pianists, including the young Mendelssohn, Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885), probably Sigismund Thalberg (1812-1871), who later competed intensely with Franz Liszt,45 and Adolf Henselt (1814-1889). Under Hummel's guidance, Ritter developed "a proper, clean handling of the piano" and learned "how to charm through clever and tasteful interpretation." More importantly, Hummel also imparted to his young student the art of improvisation, a skill in which Hummel excelled and one that would later bring renown to Ritter.46
While studying in Weimar, Ritter became exposed to the town's rich and culturally varied milieu. Diverse types of music--opera, chamber music, concerto, symphony--were already well-established there before the arrival of Hummel as grand-ducal Kapellmeister in 1818.47 As one of Hummel's students, Ritter could very well have met important friends of his teacher, such as Carl Eberwein (1786-1868), the Weimar opera director, and the eminent organist and city cantor Johann Gottlob Töpfer (1791-1870). Ritter later published several of Töpfer's organ pieces in his keyboard editions.48
If the lessons in Weimar took place before 1832, Hummel may have also introduced Ritter to the venerable Goethe, who lived in Weimar,49 and to Goethe's close friend, Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832), a frequent visitor from Berlin and founder of the Royal Institute for Church Music.50 It would not have taken long for Zelter to discover Ritter's penchant for old music, and it could have been Zelter who first advised Ritter to come to Berlin for further studies. As director of the Institute, Zelter may have also arranged for Ritter to meet Johann Albrecht Friedrich von Eichhorn, the Prussian Minister of Schools who provided Ritter with a government grant to attend the Institute in 1834.51
After Ritter received word of his governmental assistance, he informed the council of the Andreaskirche that he wished to "improve myself in music" and had made plans to attend the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin.52 He was given a leave of absence, and Eduard Bochmann was appointed Ritter's substitute at the Andreaskirche. Bochmann, himself an excellent organist, stated that he was "full of honor" to serve in Ritter's place.53
Berlin
When Ritter arrived in Berlin during September of 1834, he entered a musical environment in which the music of J. S. Bach was revered and cultivated by a small group of intellectuals. Even during the middle of the eighteenth century, when changing musical styles had dictated a reaction against the older contrapuntal style, Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783), Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795), Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774), and Princess Amalia, sister of Frederick the Great, had collected and preserved Bach manuscripts.54
During the 1770s Kirnberger had summarized the essence of Bach's theoretical teachings in Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, and in 1782 he wrote a short pamphlet, Gedenken über die verschiedenen Lehrarten in der Komposition, unconditionally praising Bach's approach.55 Nine years later Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800) formed the Berlin Singakademie, whose purpose was to revive sacred vocal music of the past. As one of the earliest institutions to organize historical concerts, the Singakademie performed Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV299 and other motets during a period in which Bach's music was not widely known.56 In 1801 Das wohltemperierte Klavier was made available to the public almost simultaneously by three different publishing firms,57 and in the following year Johann Nikolaus Forkel's (1749-1818) significant biography, Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst, und Kunstwerke, appeared.58 Later on, admiration for Bach was further expressed by the Sing-akademie's now-famous 1829 performance of the St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. This concert was therefore not an isolated phenomenon but simply a step in a series of events which reflected the increasing enthusiasm for Bach's music, eventually culminating in the establishment of the Bach Gesellschaft in 1850 and a complete critical edition of all of Bach's compositions.59
In Berlin the appreciation of music from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was not limited solely to Bach. Carl Heinrich Graun's (1703-1759) Der Tod Jesu was regularly performed during Passion Week, and Handel oratorios, including Messiah, which premiered in Berlin in 1786, were also frequently performed.60 Johann Friedrich Reichardt's (1752-1814) Berlin Concert Spirituel often featured works by Handel and his contemporaries.61 As founder-editor of the Musikalisches Kunstmagazin, Reichardt also wrote articles about other early masters and included numerous examples of their music.62 Interest in "ancient" music continued to proliferate during the early nineteenth century, and music scholars began to produce practical performance editions of older music.
Two years before Ritter arrived in Berlin, Zelter had died, but his legacy was still felt and perpetuated by his students and assistants who instructed Ritter at the Royal Institute for Church Music. Ritter's organ teacher at the Institute was August Wilhelm Bach (1796-1859), to whom Ritter remained deeply "indebted for his art of registration and accompaniment."63 A. W. Bach, too, was a former teacher of Mendelssohn, and after Zelter's death, he was named the new director of the Royal Institute for Church Music.64 Ritter and A. W. Bach developed a warm admiration for each other and remained close friends long after Ritter's departure from Berlin. It was on Bach's request that Ritter presented an organ concert at the Marienkirche in Berlin on April 18, 1843,65 and eighteen years later Bach attended Ritter's dedicatory recital on the new Domorgel in Magdeburg.66
Ritter's composition teacher at the Institute was Karl Friedrich Rungenhagen (1778-1851), a primarily self-taught musician who had firmly established himself as a composer and conductor in Berlin's musical life. The high esteem in which he was held is evident from the fact that Zelter offered Rungenhagen the position of assistant director of the Singakademie in 1815. Upon Zelter's death in 1832, Rungenhagen was elected his successor to the Singakademie, although Eduard Grell (1800-1886) and Mendelssohn, both former students of Zelter and prominent Berlin musicians, had also been candidates for the position. Rungenhagen continued his predecessors' devotion to tradition, and under his leadership the Singakademie performed Bach's St. John Passion, as well as an abbreviated version of the Mass in B Minor in 1835.67
During his sojourn in Berlin, Ritter also studied piano with Ludwig Berger (1777-1839),68 a concert virtuoso who had taught the young Mendelssohn.69 However, it was not Ritter's teachers in Berlin but two scholars that he met there, Georg Pölchau (1773-1836), and Carl Georg Vivigens von Winterfeld (1784-1852), who significantly altered the direction of Ritter's life. Both men owned large music libraries--Pölchau had purchased many items from the estate of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788),70 and Winterfeld had collected and copied numerous music manuscripts during his travels throughout Italy in 1812 and 1813--and it is evident that they shared their library holdings with Ritter and encouraged him to pursue his interests in music history.71 Without a doubt, Pölchau and Winterfeld can be credited with showing Ritter "new ways in the history of music, particularly organ music."72 In Winterfeld, Ritter discovered an especially kindred spirit who shared his enthusiasm for music history and for church music. Years later, Ritter fondly remembered his Berlin mentor by dedicating the sixth volume of Der Orgelfreund to him,73 and in his autobiographical letter of 1857, Ritter specifically mentions Winterfeld as having been of significant influence on him while in Berlin.74
Later Years in Erfurt
In April of 1835 Ritter left Berlin to return to his former post as organist at the Andreaskirche in Erfurt, but he did not resume his previous teaching posts at the Andreasschule (since 1830) and at the Augustinerschule (since 1831).75 Ritter instead accepted a new teaching position at the Barfüsser-und-Thomas-Mädchen Mittelschule, and three years later he became headmaster of a Knabenoberschule.76
J. I. Müller, Ritter's former music teacher at the Erfurt Teachers Seminary and organist at the Kaufmännerkirche, died in April of 1839, and Ritter was appointed his successor on July 1 of that year.77 The organist position at the Kaufmännerkirche was traditionally reserved for prominent virtuosos. Centuries earlier such renowned organists as Heinrich Buttstett (1666-1727), who had received the title Ratsorganist in 1693, and Johann Bernhard Bach (1676-1749), a distant cousin of J. S. Bach and organ teacher of Walther, had served as organist at the Kaufmännerkirche.78 Before Ritter, the post had been filled by Kittel, G. H. Kluge (1789-1835), and, of course, his teacher Müller. Both the minister and congregation enthusiastically supported church music, and Müller had regularly presented concerts that were reviewed in the Erfurt newspaper.79 Records indicate that Ritter had performed in concert only two times before this appointment--in Weimar in 1834, probably jointly with the Leipzig organist-composer Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-1877),80 and in August of 1838 during the fourth Songfest in Jena.81 However, Ritter must have concertized on other occasions as well. It was thus indeed quite an honor for Ritter, who was not yet twenty-eight years of age, to be selected to this prestigious post.
The Kaufmännerkirche organist position was coupled with teaching duties at the Stadtschule. According to a personnel evaluation form for the academic year 1840-1841, Ritter demonstrated "skill in teaching, which with increasing experience will still undoubtedly grow."82 The anonymous critic also noted that Ritter was eager to quit his teaching duties, since "for him . . . music [is] closer to the heart."83 In fact, Ritter later complained to the pastor that he did not enjoy the double position as organist/teacher, for it "demands too much of my health."84 In 1839 the music reviewer Gustav Keferstein, who appreciated Ritter's talents and understood his dilemma, had already expressed his hope that Ritter would receive another government grant, since he was "too busy teaching and earning a living . . . to be able to develop and improve his musical talent completely."85
There is no mention of the subjects Ritter was responsible for at any of his Erfurt academic positions. However, he must have given music lessons, either officially or privately, since his pedagogical techniques in piano and composition were discussed briefly in two separate reviews. Keferstein, in an 1839 article on musical activities in Erfurt, observed that Ritter followed the Logier method of group instruction and harmony lessons for keyboard students.86 Ritter must have learned of this approach while in Berlin, where Johann Bernhard Logier (1777-1846) had lived from 1821 until 1826.87 A second comment about Ritter's teaching appeared in another review by Keferstein in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. In 1842 he noted that Ritter's students composed commendable fugues and that Ritter himself followed the principles of Adolf Bernhard Marx (1795-1866), the author of two instructional manuals for the musically untrained.88
Ritter married sometime during his stay in Erfurt, probably during his years of service at the Kaufmännerkirche. His wife, a native of Erfurt and daughter of a blacksmith, had lived on Gotthard Street, where Ritter had his home as a young boy.89 Robert Eitner, in his biographical article on Ritter, reports, without specifying a date, that Ritter's wife received a "considerable inheritance" from her father.90 The money from the inheritance must have been welcome, since the salary from Ritter's prestigious teacher/organist position was small, and they always needed some additional income.91
During his Erfurt years Ritter conducted and performed at the King's Birthday Festival, and he organized a series of local concerts in which he participated both as a piano soloist and as a member of an ensemble. He also taught piano, composed music, contributed articles to the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, and began to edit keyboard works for Gotthilf Wilhelm Körner (1809-1865), who had established a music publishing firm in the town in 1838. During the 1840s Ritter and Körner, with whom he formed an enduring friendship, co-edited a number of keyboard collections, some of which contained works of the older masters that Ritter himself had copied earlier from manuscripts.92
Merseburg
The year 1843 was a crucial turning point in Ritter's life. Von Eichhorn, the Prussian Minister of Schools who had earlier secured a grant for Ritter's studies in Berlin, offered Ritter a position as second director of the Berlin Domchor.93 This invitation is particularly significant, since Von Eichhorn was not always helpful to young musicians. Just a few years later he thwarted several attempts by Mendelssohn to establish a conservatory for the arts in Berlin. Such a move led Mendelssohn's older sister Fanny to indignantly remark that "this person, Eichhorn, really seems to have sworn death to any free intellectual activity . . . ."94 However, as "a political representative of the Protestant Church"95 and one who was interested in church music, Von Eichhorn must have sensed a special camaraderie in Ritter. Around the same time as Von Eichhorn's offer, Wilhelm Schneider (1783-1843), cathedral organist in Merseburg, had died, and Ritter was asked whether he would take over the vacant position. Not surprisingly, Ritter followed "his inner call" and accepted the organist position in Merseburg, even though the salary of the Berlin directorship was four times greater.96 Church music was declining in importance, but Ritter's sense of values, undoubtedly originating from his firm religious convictions and from a devotion to the improvement of the level of organ performance, remained steadfast.
Ritter's departure for Merseburg presumably occurred in late 1843 or early 1844. Wilhelm Schneider had died on October9, 1843, and François-Joseph Fétis, in his biographical article on Ritter, named 1843 as the year when Ritter left Erfurt.97 On the other hand, Ritter himself lists 1844 as the year of his departure,98 and a brief announcement concerning his acceptance of the Merseburg position appeared in August of 1844.99
Like the Erfurt organist posts, the position as cathedral organist and music director in Merseburg was accompanied by teaching duties. Ritter served as instructor of singing and of geography at the local Gymnasium.100 He also continued to be involved in various musical activities. He founded a Liedertafel,101 a male singing society, and it is quite likely that his song, Immer 'rein in den Bund! for men's chorus dates from this era. In general, Ritter's activities as a performer, conductor, and composer slowed down considerably during his stay in Merseburg from 1843 to 1847. He no longer concertized on the piano at all, and he gave only two public organ recitals--one jointly with Becker, on October 16, 1844, in Halle,102 and another on November 10, 1845, in Merseburg.103 Ritter also conducted only once. During the Lenten season of 1846, he directed a performance of Pergolesi's (1710-1736) Stabat Mater in the Merseburg Cathedral.104 Ritter instead channeled his energies more and more toward the publication of his own works and his editions of other composers' music. During the Merseburg years, Ritter's first organ sonata, his three-volume Die Kunst des Orgelspiels, and several volumes of Der Orgelfreund appeared in print. In 1844 Ritter and his friend Körner also founded a new journal for organists, the Urania, and Ritter began to turn his attention toward historical research about the organ and organ music.
Magdeburg
Sometime during 1844, Ritter was asked to assume a position in Halle, but he declined. However, three years later, when Johann Friedrich Möller, General Superintendent of Saxony and Cathedral Minister of Magdeburg, offered Ritter the position of organist at the Cathedral, he accepted.105
As the new Magdeburg Domorganist and successor of Heinrich Leberecht August Mühling (1788-1847), Ritter finally occupied not only a highly prestigious position but also a well-paying one. Unlike his previous appointments, the Magdeburg position was not accompanied by teaching duties, and Ritter had the leisure to absorb himself completely in rewarding musical activities. One of his first accomplishments was to establish a series of public concerts. When Ritter had arrived in Magdeburg in 1847, the only public musical performances were garden concerts in the summer and the Magdeburg Cathedral choir programs, which were presented twice a month during the "regular" season. There were two music societies, but their performances were open only to members and their guests and relatives.106 Ritter quickly founded a chamber group, consisting of Mühling (probably Julius, the son of August Mühling) on the violin, someone named Meyer as cellist, and Ritter himself as pianist. By the end of 1848, Ritter was inviting "all those who like good music" to attend the trio's concerts, which were held at his residence. According to an anonymous reviewer, who described these programs as "opportunities to hear good Hausmusik," Ritter was attempting to educate an audience "that belongs to all walks of life." The reviewer also predicted that "the indirect effect of all this will certainly be felt and produce results."107 The musical situation in Magdeburg did indeed improve, for which Ritter should receive some credit.108
Ritter continued to compose during the late 1840s and throughout the 1850s, and it is quite likely that his Das Hausorchester, op.39, for piano and strings, was written for the Magdeburg chamber ensemble. Ritter concertized twice after moving to Magdeburg. In 1855 he could experience his "greatest triumph" when he was judged the best performer during a concert at the Marienkirche in Lübeck.109 His last performance was the dedicatory concert for the new Domorgel in Magdeburg in 1861.110 By the early 1860s, though, Ritter had cultivated interests in other aspects of music, and he virtually ceased composing and concertizing.
During the 1850s Ritter assisted with the renovation of organs in Magdeburg, and under his leadership all the large organs in town were newly built or restored.111 Ritter held a particularly high opinion of the organ builder Christian Adolf Reubke (1805-1875), who, although primarily self-trained, had quickly established a reputation as one of the best in Germany. Reubke moved to Magdeburg and, with Ritter's support, was awarded the contract to build new organs for the Cathedral (1858) and St. Jacobi in Magdeburg.112
Ritter's admiration for Reubke must have been mutual, for Ritter became the first music teacher of Reubke's youngest son, Carl Ludwig Gebhardt Otto (1842-1913), who later studied with Hans von Bülow (1830-1894) at the Berlin Conservatory and spent most of his professional career at the University of Halle.113 Among Ritter's other students were G. August Brandt, composer-organist, the composers Karl Martin Reinthaler (1822-1896)114 and Hermann Schroeder (1843-1909),115 and Rudolph Palme (1834-1909), who later became the Royal Music Director and organist at the Heilige Geistkirche in Magdeburg.
Ritter's life in Magdeburg was especially propitious for research, since this was the first time he had both the financial freedom and the leisure to purchase and examine numerous manuscripts. When Robert Eitner founded the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung in 1869, Ritter became one of its first members, and within a few years he contributed three scholarly essays to the society's journal, Monatshefte für Musik-Geschichte.116 Ritter also authored four monographs on early organ composers, all of which were published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and later incorporated into his treatise Zur Geschichte des Orgelspiels.117
Ritter's last years were filled with sorrow and misfortune. During the 1873 economic crisis in Prussia, brought on in part by Bismarck's policies of protectionism and tax increases,118 Ritter lost all of his private financial holdings.119 About the same time Ritter's "musically highly talented" son passed away, an event that "robbed him [Ritter] to a large degree of life's happiness."120 The son must have shared his father's love for organ music and developed a certain proficiency on the instrument, possibly with the prospects of a brilliant career ahead of him. Following a concert at the Magdeburg Domkirche in 1869, an anonymous reviewer reported that the "son of the composer," who performed Ritter's second organ sonata, played with "welcome clarity, even in the most intricate and difficult passages."121 The son's untimely death was compounded not much later by the death of Ritter's "faithful, beloved" wife.122
During these years of personal suffering, it must have required all of Ritter's faith and strength to continue working on his Zur Geschichte. Although he maintained his position as organist at the Domkirche, Ritter withdrew from the "noisy, external world," which seemed to him increasingly remote.123
Ritter "never aimed for medals or decorations; yet he had no lack of them."124 In 1845 he was awarded the title, Royal Music Director,125 and on August24 of the following year Ritter, along with Grell and Friedrich Karl Kühmstedt (1809-1858), was named corresponding member of the Niederländischen Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der Tonkunst.126 In 1872 Ritter received the Red Eagle Award Fourth Class.127 Seven years later he was designated "Professor,"128 and in 1880 Ritter was decorated with the "Crown Order Third Class."129 In 1881, fifty-one organist-composers, including such contemporaries as Gustav Merkel (1827-1885) and Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901), contributed compositions in honor of Ritter's fifty years of service as church organist. More than200 individuals and institutions from throughout Europe and even the United States subscribed to this collection of pieces, which was edited by Palme and entitled the Ritter Album für die Orgel.130
A. G. Ritter died on Wednesday, August 26, 1885, at the age of seventy-four. The preceding Sunday he had, as always, played for the morning worship service, during which he is said to have improvised a "touching" prelude to the chorale Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille. On Sunday afternoon, while preparing for the evening service, he suffered a severe heart attack and, without regaining consciousness, passed away three days later.131 Although in his last years Ritter had led such a secluded existence that hardly anyone in Magdeburg knew him any longer, a large gathering of friends attended his funeral on Saturday, August29, 1885.132 n
