Conductor. He is remembered for leading the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle" at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1876. Born Janos Richter to a musical family, he was raised in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, trained at the Vienna Conservatory, then refined his art at several of his country's small opera houses. Becoming associated with Wagner in the 1860s he was eventually chosen to conduct the first complete "Ring" in 1876 which included the world premieres of "Siegfried" and "Goetterdammerung". Though Richter remained active at Bayreuth and conducted the Halle Orchestra from 1899 to 1911 and the London Symphony Orchestra between 1904 and 1911, his main base was Vienna where he was a supporter of Antonin Dvorak and Anton Bruckner and provided one of the few bridges between the ardent fans of Wagner and Brahms. While in the Austrian capital his significant world premieres included Brahms' Symphony No. 2 (1877) and Symphony No. 3 (1883), the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D with Adolph Davidovich Brodsky as soloist on December 4, 1881, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in 1881 and Symphony No. 8 in 1892. An early champion of Sir Edward William Elgar, he was to present the first performances of three of his pieces, the "Enigma Variations" at London in 1899, "The Dream of Gerontius" at Birmingham in 1900, and the Symphony No. 1 in 1908 at Manchester. After retiring due to visual problems in 1911 Richter spent his final years in Bayreuth. A bit of a strange man, he is reported to have once told a Covent Garden musician "Up with your damned nonsense will I put twice, or perhaps once, but sometimes always, by God, never".
Conductor. He is remembered for leading the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle" at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1876. Born Janos Richter to a musical family, he was raised in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, trained at the Vienna Conservatory, then refined his art at several of his country's small opera houses. Becoming associated with Wagner in the 1860s he was eventually chosen to conduct the first complete "Ring" in 1876 which included the world premieres of "Siegfried" and "Goetterdammerung". Though Richter remained active at Bayreuth and conducted the Halle Orchestra from 1899 to 1911 and the London Symphony Orchestra between 1904 and 1911, his main base was Vienna where he was a supporter of Antonin Dvorak and Anton Bruckner and provided one of the few bridges between the ardent fans of Wagner and Brahms. While in the Austrian capital his significant world premieres included Brahms' Symphony No. 2 (1877) and Symphony No. 3 (1883), the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D with Adolph Davidovich Brodsky as soloist on December 4, 1881, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in 1881 and Symphony No. 8 in 1892. An early champion of Sir Edward William Elgar, he was to present the first performances of three of his pieces, the "Enigma Variations" at London in 1899, "The Dream of Gerontius" at Birmingham in 1900, and the Symphony No. 1 in 1908 at Manchester. After retiring due to visual problems in 1911 Richter spent his final years in Bayreuth. A bit of a strange man, he is reported to have once told a Covent Garden musician "Up with your damned nonsense will I put twice, or perhaps once, but sometimes always, by God, never".
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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