Alexander Ritter (1833-1896)

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Alexander Ritter's a composer who's very unsung and I wasn't able to find any recordings of his music. He's supposed to have written two operas, some lieder, a symphonic waltz and a symphonic poem. Ritter was married to Wagner's niece Franziska Wagner. They had a daughter Hertha, who married Siegmund von Hausegger in 1902.
Apparently Ritter had a strong influence on Richard Strauss, because he supported Strauss to write tone poems and to write his first opera Guntram.

So, has anyone found music by him, or he is so obscure that there's nothing to be found?

[eschiss1]

Almost nothing, I think. An LP of Lieder der Neudeutschen (EMI Electrola, 1975, Köln) had a song of his, his Op.10 No.1 (Primula veris to a text by Lenau), sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone ; Aribert Reimann, piano. Maybe something else is out there. (It was remastered on CD by EMI in 2000; also I think one can download that LP online from Naxos. One can hear this LP/CD in a rip on YouTube, fwiw, if one searches for Ritter Primula varis - note misspelling.)

(The Lieder of the New Germans LP also has a Raff item- a song "Unter den Palmen" to a text by Navarra.)

Ooh, there's also a 2014 CD with "Isolde Liebestod : scena finale da "Tristan und Isolde" di Richard Wagner / Alexander Ritter" this piano piece, among other things by other people - see Worldcat. Again not much, but that's probably longer than the Lied in question...

[Ebubu]

I'm in the process of reading the very interesting collection of biographical notes and writings by Strauss (collected and translated by Christophe Looten), and on several occasions, he mentions works that he deemed worth performing.  Among which Hans von Bulow symphonic poem Nirvana (which is findable on YT), and the lieders and 2 one-act operas of Alexander Ritter : Der faule Hans, and Wem die Krone.
"Since the beginning I owe Ritter's teaching and his Lieder the understanding of what one can learn from Wagner without imitating him".
That sounds like a convincing and sincere homage.
So hopefully, like Strauss had wished : "maybe one day a theater promoting German culture will give justice to these 2 works."
(doesn't need to be a German theater !  )

[Reverie]

I have briefly perused the full score of Der Faule Hans only a week or so ago and made a rendition of the overture and parts of Scenes 1, 2 & 3. It's as close to Wagner as you can get. Scene 5 has an obvious crib from the start of Rhinegold (the Rhine Maidens bit at the start). There are a few melodic leitmotifs which sound rather familiar. Despite all that Ritter's music is powerful and well crafted. The overture, after the first few bars has a beautifully exquisite section - sotto voce oboe handed to clarinet then flutes with high violins. It's gorgeous.

I must put what I have cobbled together into a final form so I can share it with everyone.

[Alan Howe]

That's an enticing and exciting prospect! Thanks in advance.

[Reverie]

Der faule Hans

Alexander Ritter was born in Estonia, and studied music with Joachim Raff in Frankfurt. In 1854 he married the niece of Richard Wagner, and by the time Richard Strauss arrived in Meinigen, he was an esteemed and outspoken member of the Meinigen orchestra. Ritter took an immediate liking to the young Richard, and began to engage him on the aesthetic beliefs of Liszt and Wagner, both of whom he regarded almost as gods.

Young Richard had grown up under the archconservative direction of his father Franz, whose artistic creed centered on the "trinity of Mozart (above all), Haydn and Beethoven." Franz Strauss was first horn of the Munich Court Orchestra, and he never missed an opportunity to rail against Richard Wagner's music. On the day of Wagner's death he was the only member of the orchestra who refused to rise in commemoration of the deceased. For Ritter, on the other hand, Brahms was the object of revulsion, and he did his best to steer Strauss away from his Brahms enthusiasm. Richard wrote to his friend Ludwig Thuille, "My upbringing had left me with some remaining prejudices against the works of Wagner and, in particular, of Liszt, and I hardly knew Wagner's writings at all. Ritter patiently introduced me to them and to Schopenhauer until I both knew and understood them. The fellow is magnificent and hellishly good for sharpening up one's poor wits." When the Meiningen Orchestra announced some cuts, Ritter applied for a position in Munich, so when Strauss got offered his job in Munich, his mentor was already there.

Richard's friendship with Ritter deepened, and a number of devotees met regularly in evenings "to exchange noble ideas and to listen to the teachings of the Lisztian Ritter." In his memoirs, Strauss credited Ritter with his so-called "conversion" to Wagner and the music of the future. Ritter's success in expanding Strauss's knowledge of Wagner, Liszt, Schopenhauer and Hausegger was the logical consequence of the composer's emerging personal style. Above all, however, it was his friendship with Ritter that spurred Strauss to devote himself to the musical theatre.

Strauss's first brief mention of Ritter, 31 years his senior and with whom he clearly enjoyed good relations in Meiningen, dates from 8 October 1885. He writes in a letter to his mother: "A. Ritter is coming to Munich tomorrow [...]" and asks: "[...] has Papa anything to do with his opera?"1 As first horn player in the court orchestra, Strauss's father Franz was most likely involved in the performance of Ritter's opera Der faule Hans, which had been composed 1876-1878 in Würzburg (where Ritter, with little success, ran a music shop). On 15 October 1885 its extremely successful première took place at the Court Opera, conducted by Hermann Levi with Heinrich Vogl in the title role. (Ritter's biographer Siegmund von Hausegger records that Franz Liszt, to whom the work was dedicated "with the utmost respect", did not arrive in Munich until after the première was over, having missed a connecting train in Meiningen.2)

In the subsequent decades and right into old age, Strauss remained very praising of Ritter's Der faule Hans and of his second opera, Wem die Krone? [Whose Crown?] of 1889/90. He was particularly drawn to the libretti and plots of both one-act operas. Towards the end of his life, Strauss increasingly took a broad historical view of his own compositions, and in a late essay fragment ,,Meine Freunde u. Förderer meines Werkes" (1945) ["Friends and supporters of my works"] he commends Ritter's work most highly: "[Ritter's] operas Der faule Hans (after a poem by Felix Dahn) and Wem die Krone? (libretto his own creation) are in terms of their libretti the first autonomous operas in the style of Rich. Wagner [...] and should be regarded by German opera houses as pioneering and ground-breaking. They function as a prequel and a transition to my compositions. I am indebted to Ritter's teaching, his songs and both his one-act operas, [...] for introducing me to Wagner without slavishly imitating him. Perhaps in the future, another German opera house will again do justice to his works.

Plot summary

Count Hartung has seven sons, six of whom are chivalrously inclined. Hans is the misfit, preferring, in scene 1, to lie under a lime tree and day-dream. Hartung returns from a day's hunt with his other sons and is so annoyed by this that he promptly instructs the blacksmith to chain Hans to an oak stump and forbids his sons and servants alike to talk to him. Hans regrets angering his father but he conceals this and, tethered, lies down on the straw. Before falling asleep he remembers his late mother by whom he had always felt understood and who used to encourage him to "look within himself", which led him quietly to recognise certain things that remained hidden to others.

Hans is awakened and mocked by a group of maidens (whose music is an unmistakeable allusion to the Rhine Maidens' taunting of Alberich at the start of Rhinegold). Night falls and Ralf, one of Hans's brothers who is musically very gifted, approaches him and assures him of his loyalty. Ralf goes on to tell him that the northernmost part of their kingdom has come under Danish attack from Harald Hildetand and five giants. Harald demands the kingdom and also the hand of the queen. Should he be refused, he will cut off the queen's golden hair and throw her into a nunnery. Hans, who has never laid eyes on the queen, is initially unmoved.
When his brothers arrive at dawn ready for battle, the queen appears at the castle, looking for shelter from Count Hartung. Hans sees her for the first time and is struck by her beauty. While the giants slay their opponents with ease and march up to the castle, the queen is impressed by the calmness that radiates from Hans. Once Harald arrives, however, Hans suddenly throws off his chains and overcomes Harald and the giants with the oak stump that has been restraining him. Then he has them tied up and gagged. The queen as well as Hartung are impressed with Hans's heroic defense of his country. As a sign of her gratitude she wants to give him half of her kingdom – which Hans rejects. He prefers her hand in marriage, and she acquiesces. All present join in a triumphant chorus lauding Hans's true qualities: " Let all cry / With one voice / For the mighty Hans".

In a subsequent monologue, Hans emphasises once again the importance of staying calm and composed, always keeping an inward glance. He advises the giants, whom he tows away, never again to take on the Germans. To the strains of the final chorus: "Praise to the German ethos / That remains loyal and pure!" Hans accompanies the queen into the castle.

............................................................

The work is in one Act with eleven scenes. There follows the Overture along with some excerpts from some of the earlier scenes to give the listener a taster. APOLOGIES now for the fact that I don't have any singers prepared to perform for me so you will have to make do with Noteperformer voices which are poor but hopefully not too abysmal.

LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUc1U6J4wPk

[Alan Howe]

I'm sure this'll be of great interest. I'll be sure to listen in after the Easter weekend.

[Mark Thomas]

Once again, and as ever it seems, we are indebted to you Martin for expanding our musical horizons. I too very much look forward to hearing this.

[Mark Thomas]

The overture itself, well written though it is, is very much one of those seemingly legion "Lustspiel" Overtures of which most late 19th century German composers seem to have composed at least one example, but the orchestral extracts are much more individual and mouth-watering, illustrating as they do Richard Strauss' observation quoted above that Ritter introduced him "to Wagner without slavishly imitating him".

[Alan Howe]

At its best, some very exciting Wagnerian-style music featuring some lovely orchestral writing. Thanks, Martin, for unearthing this.

[Reverie]

Fair summary Mark. I think Wagner wrote a few hidden (or maybe not so hidden?) "Lustspiel" moments in his music too! I guess you have to balance the lighter moments with the more profound statements to make a mark.