Ritz, Julius

August Wilhelm Julius Ritz took the first music lessons from his older brother, then learned to play the cello from Bernhard Romberg , studied composition under the direction of Karl Friedrich Zelter . Thanks to the friendship of his elder brother with Felix Mendelssohn, he was supported by the latter after the untimely death of Eduard Ritz and in 1834 he became Mendelssohn's assistant at the post of bandmaster of the Düsseldorf Opera, a year later replaced Mendelssohn in this position, and in 1836 became general music director . In the Düsseldorf period, Ritz composed a symphony in G minor, numerous theatrical music, several overtures, one of which, “Hero and Leander,” was performed by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Mendelssohn in 1841 .

In 1847, Ritz moved to Leipzig , where he directed the Singing Academy, the Opera Theater Orchestra, and since 1848, the Gewandhaus Orchestra . At the same time, Ritz taught at the Leipzig Conservatory , where among his students were, in particular, Waldemar Bargil , Ernst Rudorf , Friedrich Hegar , Salomon Jadasson . In 1859, the University of Leipzig awarded him a doctorate in honoris causa. A year later, Ritz was appointed court bandmaster at the Saxon royal court in Dresden, and in 1874 he was appointed general director of the kingdom.

Ritz also prepared for publication the first volume of the collected works of Georg Friedrich Handel , which was then continued by Friedrich Chrysander .

• Ritz, Julius // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1899. - T. XXVIa. - S. 831.
• Ritz // Musical Dictionary : in 3 vols . H. Riemann ; add. Russian department with staff. P. Weimarn and others; per. and all ext. under the editorship of Yu. D. Engel . - Per. from the 5th of it. ed. - Moscow — Leipzig: ed. B.P. Jurgenson , 1904 . - T. 3. - S. 1123-1124.
• Ritz, Julius: sheet music at International Music Score Library Project