Hans Richter (
János Richter) (4 April 18435 December 1916) was an
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n
conductorConducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.-Nomenclature:...
.
Richter was born in Raab (now
GyőrGyőr is the most important city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county, and lies on one of the important roads of Central Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. The city is the sixth largest in Hungary, and one of the seven main regional centres of the...
),
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He had a particular interest in the
hornThe horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, and developed his conducting career at several opera-houses in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He became associated with
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
in the 1860s, and in 1876 he was chosen to conduct the first complete performance of Wagner's
Der Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas or 'music dramas' by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
at the
Bayreuth FestspielhausThe Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
.
In 1877, he assisted the ailing composer as conductor of a major series of Wagner concerts in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, and from then onwards he became a familiar feature of English musical life, appearing at many choral festivals including as principal conductor of the
Birmingham Triennial Music FestivalThe Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. Its last performance was in 1912.-History:...
(1885-1909) and directing the
Hallé OrchestraThe Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
(1899-1911) and the newly-formed
London Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
(1904-1911).
Hans Richter (
János Richter) (4 April 18435 December 1916) was an
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n
conductorConducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.-Nomenclature:...
.
Richter was born in Raab (now
GyőrGyőr is the most important city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county, and lies on one of the important roads of Central Europe, halfway between Budapest and Vienna. The city is the sixth largest in Hungary, and one of the seven main regional centres of the...
),
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He had a particular interest in the
hornThe horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, and developed his conducting career at several opera-houses in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He became associated with
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
in the 1860s, and in 1876 he was chosen to conduct the first complete performance of Wagner's
Der Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas or 'music dramas' by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
at the
Bayreuth FestspielhausThe Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
.
In 1877, he assisted the ailing composer as conductor of a major series of Wagner concerts in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, and from then onwards he became a familiar feature of English musical life, appearing at many choral festivals including as principal conductor of the
Birmingham Triennial Music FestivalThe Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. Its last performance was in 1912.-History:...
(1885-1909) and directing the
Hallé OrchestraThe Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
(1899-1911) and the newly-formed
London Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
(1904-1911). In Europe his work was chiefly based in
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, where (transcending the bitter division between the followers of Wagner and those of
Johannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms , German composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
) he gave much attention to the works of Brahms himself,
Anton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. His symphonies are often considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
(who once slipped a coin into his hand after a concert by way of tip) and
Antonín DvořákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who employed the idioms and melodies of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. His works include operas, symphonic, choral and chamber music...
; he also continued to work at Bayreuth. In later years Richter became a whole-hearted admirer of Sir
Edward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO was an English composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies, instrumental concertos,...
, and he also came to accept
Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
[The subject's names are also transliterated Piotr, Petr, or Peter; Ilitsch, Ilich, Il'ich or Illyich; and Tschaikowski, Tschaikowsky, Chajkovskij and Chaikovsky...]
. On one occasion, he laid down his baton and allowed a London orchestra to play the whole second movement of Tchaikovsky's
Pathétique SymphonyThe Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathétique, Op. 74 is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's final symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The composer led the first performance in St. Petersburg on October 28 of that year, nine days before his death. The second performance, under Eduard...
itself. Never afraid to experiment on behalf of the music he loved, he lent his authority to an English-language production of The Ring at
Covent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London, England, located in the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwestern corner of the London Borough of Camden...
(1908). Failing eyesight forced his retirement in 1911. He died in
BayreuthBayreuth is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb and the Fichtelgebirge...
in 1916.
Richter's approach to conducting was monumental rather than mercurial or dynamic, emphasising the overall structure of major works in preference to bringing out individual moments of beauty or passion. Some observers regarded him as little more than a time-beater, but others, notably
Eugene GoossensSir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
, pointed out the remarkable rhythmic vitality of his work, a quality which hardly squares with the image of Richter as a rather stolid and static personality.
A rebuke he is supposed to have made to a musician in the Covent Garden orchestra is still sometimes quoted:
'Up with your damned nonsense have I put twice, or maybe once, but sometimes, always, by God, never'.
Notable premieres
- Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
SiegfriedSiegfried is the third of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring.-Composition:- Roles :- Act 1 :Mime, Alberich's brother, is forging a...
(1876)
- Wagner Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen . It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring....
(1876)
- Brahms
Johannes Brahms , German composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Symphony No. 2The Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 was composed by Johannes Brahms in the summer of 1877 during a visit to Pörtschach am Wörthersee, a town in the Austrian province Carinthia. Its gestation was brief in comparison with the fifteen years which Brahms took to complete his First Symphony...
(1877)
- Brahms Symphony No. 3
The Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, is a symphony written by Johannes Brahms. The work was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden, nearly six years after he completed his Second Symphony...
(1883)
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D
The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878, is one of the best known of all violin concertos. It is also considered to be among the most technically difficult works for violin.-Instrumentation:...
(1881; Adolph BrodskyAdolph Davidovich Brodsky was a Russian violinist.-Biography:He was born in Taganrog on the Sea of Azov. His grandfather and father were also violinists. He started music lessons at the age of five, a year after he first played his first violin, which he had bought at a fair. For four years he was...
, soloist)
- Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. His symphonies are often considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
Symphony No. 4Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with great success...
(1881)
- Bruckner Symphony No. 8
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna...
(1892)
- Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO was an English composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies, instrumental concertos,...
Enigma VariationsVariations on an Original Theme for orchestra, Op. 36 , commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
(1899)
- Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is an oratorio in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by Cardinal Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. It is widely...
(1900)
- Elgar Symphony No. 1
Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 was written in 1907–1908, and dedicated to "Hans Richter, Mus. Doc., true artist and true friend." It was premiered on 3 December 1908 in Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, with Hans Richter conducting the Hallé Orchestra...
(1908)