Ernst Richter

Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter (24 October 18089 April 1879), was a German musical theorist and composer, born at Großschönau, Saxony. He first studied music at Zittau, and afterwards at Leipzig, where he attained so high a reputation that in 1843 he was appointed professor of harmony and counterpoint at the conservatorium of music, then newly founded by Felix Mendelssohn. On the death of Moritz Hauptmann on 3 January 1868, he was elected cantor of Thomasschule zu Leipzig, conducting the Thomanerchor, an office he retained until his death. He is best known by three theoretical works: Lehrbuch der Harmonie, Lehrbuch des einfachen und doppelten Contrapunkts and Lehrbuch der Fuge, valuable textbooks known to English students through the translation by J.C.D Parker and Franklin Taylor. “Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter (1808-1879) …His compositions include psalms for chorus and orchestra, motets, two masses, a Stabat Mater (voices only), part songs, string quartets and sonatas, and also pieces for organ and for piano. But it is his treatise on the theory of music that will keep Professor Richter’s name from oblivion. As already mentioned, two English editions have appeared: one in Lond