June 07, 2014 <Back to Index>
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Alexander Sascha Ritter (7 June 1833 – 12 April 1896) was a German composer and violinist. He was born in Narva, Estonia. He studied in Frankfurt am Main under Joachim Raff. In 1854 he married Wagner's niece Franziska (1829 - 1895). They had a daughter Hertha, who in 1902 became the wife of the Austrian composer Siegmund von Hausegger. Ritter had a strong influence on Richard Strauss. He persuaded him to abandon the conservative style of his youth, and begin writing tone poems; he also introduced Strauss to the essays of Richard Wagner and the writings of Schopenhauer. He later wrote a libretto for the Strauss opera Feuersnot. Ritter died in Munich. He wrote two operas - Der faule Hans and Wem die Krone?, a few songs, a symphonic waltz and two symphonic fantasias. |