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Scan 105
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904
22 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 94. See the scan on archive.org.
1much of his great practical knowledge of the stage and stage business. In Jan. 1875 he conducted a grand orchestral concert in Vienna, which had the effect of attracting much public attention to him, and accordingly, after the retirement of Dessoff from the Court opera, Richter was invited to take the post, which he entered upon in the autumn of 1875, concurrently with the conductorship of the Philharmonic Concerts. In 1884-90 he acted as conductor of the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.
3He had conducted the rehearsals of the 'Nibelungen Ring' at Bayreuth, and in 1876 he directed the whole of the rehearsals and performances of the Festival there, and, at the close of the third set of performances, received the Order of Maximilian from the King of Bavaria, and that of the Falcon from the Grand Duke of Weimar. In 1877 he produced the 'Walküre' in Vienna, and followed it in 1878 by the other portions of the trilogy. In 1878 he was made court capellmeister, and received the Order of Franz Josef. His first introduction to English audiences was at the famous Wagner Concerts given in the Albert Hall in 1877, when he shared the duties of conductor with Wagner himself. In 1879 (May 5-12), 1880 (May 10-June 14), and 1881 (May 9-June 23) were started what were at first called 'Orchestral Festival Concerts,' but afterwards the 'Richter Concerts,' in London, which excited much attention, chiefly for the conductor's knowledge of the scores of Beethoven's symphonies and other large works, which he conducted without book. [The Richter Concerts went on for many years with great success, but after the great conductor went to live in Manchester in 1897, as director of the Manchester Orchestra, the London concerts were given less regularly. In 1882 and 1884 he conducted important performances of German operas in London, introducing 'Die Meistersinger' and 'Tristan' to the London public. The special performances of German opera which form part of the Covent Garden season have been conducted by Richter since 1904. Since 1885 he has conducted the Birmingham Festival. In that year he received the honorary degree of Mus.D. at Oxford. He has numberless decorations. (See Musical Times, 1899, pp. 441-6.) A special concert in celebration of his thirty years' work in England took place at the Queen's Hall, June 3, 1907.]
5Herr Richter is certainly one of the very greatest of conductors. He owes this position in great measure to the fact of his intimate practical acquaintance with the technique of the instruments in the orchestra, especially the wind, to a degree in which he stands alone. As a musician he is a self-made man, and enjoys the peculiar advantages which spring from that fact. His devotion to his orchestra is great, and the high standard and position of the band of the Vienna opera-house is due to him. He is a great master of crescendo and decrescendo, and of the finer shades of accelerating and retarding the time.
7F. G.
9RICOCHET. The employment of the bounding staccato—staccato à ricochet—is thus indicated in violin music. As the best examples of this bowing are to be found in the works of the French and Belgian composers, it is probable that it owes its invention to the father of virtuosity—Paganini. The same system which governs the flying staccato—so brilliantly applied by Paganini, de Bériot, Wieniawski, Vieuxtemps, and latter-day virtuosi, to the execution of swift chromatic passages—dominates the ricochet, but being thrown upon the strings less rapidly, and with more force, the effect is heavier. To accomplish this style of bowing neatly, the stick should be held so that the full breadth of the hair at the upper part shall fall upon the strings accurately. The wrist must remain flexible, while the fingers grip the bow firmly and relax to allow the bow to rebound. Two graceful examples of the application of the ricochet are to be found in the Bolero of de Bériot's 'Scène de Ballet,' and in the Polonaise of Vieuxtemps's 'Ballade et Polonaise.' O. R.
11RICORDI, GIOVANNI, founder of the well-known music-publishing house in Milan, where he was born in 1785, and died March 15, 1853. He made his first hit with the score of Mosca's 'Pretendenti delusi.' Since that time the firm has published for all the great Italian maestri, down to Verdi and Boito, and has far outstripped all rivals. The Gazzetta musicale, edited with great success by Mazzucato, has had much influence on its prosperity. It possesses the whole of the original scores of the operas it has published—a most interesting collection. Giovanni's son and successor Tito (born Oct. 29, 1811, died Sept. 7, 1888) further enlarged the business. The catalogue issued in 1875 contains 738 pages large 8vo. The present head of the firm is his son GIULIO DI TITO, born Dec. 19, 1840, who is a practised writer, a skilled draughtsman, a composer of drawing-room music, under the pseudonym of Burgmein, and in all respects a thoroughly cultivated man.
13F. G.
15RIDDELL, JOHN (or 'Riddle'), composer of Scottish dance music, born at Ayr, Sept. 2, 1718. It is stated in 'The Ballads and Songs of Ayrshire,' 1846, that Riddell was blind from infancy, also that he was composer of the well-known tune 'Jenny's Bawbee.' This latter statement is not authenticated. Burns mentions him as 'a bard-born genius,' and says he is composer of 'this most beautiful tune' ('Finlayston House').
17Riddell published about 1766 his first 'Collection of Scots Reels, or Country Dances, and Minuets,' and a second edition of it, in oblong folio, in 1782. He died April 5, 1795.
19F. K.
21RIDDELL, ROBERT, a Scottish antiquary,
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