Ernst Friedrich Richter. Lehrbuch des einfachen und doppelten Contrapunkts. Praktische Anleitung zu dem Studium desselbe...

Description

Ernst Friedrich Richter's "Manual of
Simple and Double Counterpoint,
A Practical Guide to its Study"

German musical theorist, teacher, and composer Ernst Friedrich Richter (1808-1879) attended the Gymnasium at Zittau from about 1818. In 1831 he went to Leipzig, where he began to study theology at the university, but soon turned to music. In 1843 he was appointed professor of harmony and counterpoint with Moritz Hauptmann at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, newly founded by Felix Mendelssohn. From 1843 to 1847 he conducted the Leipzig Singakademie, and after 1850 was organist at several churches. In 1868 he succeeded Hauptmann as cantor of the Thomasschule, conducting the Thomanerchor, an office he held until his death.

"As a composer, Richter was a classicist whose large choral works were influenced by Mendelssohn and Friedrich Schneider. His best-known compositions were the oratorio Christus der Erlöser (1849) and the cantata Dithyrambe op.48 (1859). He also wrote songs, sacred choral works, an overture, string quartets, organ works, violin and keyboard sonatas, and a cello sonata. Richter's theoretical writing proved immensely popular during the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th. His successful approach is presented in his earliest treatise, Die Grundzüge der musikalischen Formen und ihre Analyse (1851). In its preface, Richter stated his intention to follow the 'practical way to the goal'. Contrary to the extended treatment found in the 'newer composition manuals' (such as those by Gottfried Weber, A.B. Marx and J.C. Lobe), his method treats the subject 'in its most general, most important features and in the shortest, clearest possible demonstration'. Richter's Lehrbuch der Harmonie (1853), adopted as the official textbook at the Leipzig Conservatory, had appeared in 36 editions by 1953 and was translated into nine languages. Each of Richter's basic texts - Lehrbuch der Harmonie, Lehrbuch der Fuge (1859) and Lehrbuch des einfachen und doppelten Kontrapunkts (1872) - presents its material in a single, slim volume that proved suitable for beginners" (Janna Saslaw in Grove Music Online).

Richter's Lehrbuch des einfachen und doppelten Contrapunkts ("Manual of Simple and Double Counterpoint") was expressly prepared for the Conservatory of Music at Leipzig. It was translated and adapted from the German by Franklin Taylor as Treatise on Counterpoint (Boston: 1874).