Reutter, Hermann

Reutter, Hermann , outstanding German composer and pedagogue; b. Stuttgart, June 17, 1900; d. Heidenheim an der Brenz, Jan. 1, 1985. He studied with Franz Dorfmüller (piano), Ludwig Mayer (organ), Karl Erler (voice), and Walter Courvoisier (composition) at the Munich Academy of Music (1920–23). He began his career as a pianist in 1923, and later made numerous concert tours with the singer Sigrid Onegin (1930–35), including 7 separate tours in the U.S. He taught composition at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik (1932–36). After serving as director of the Berlin Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (1936–45), he became a teacher of lieder and composition at the Stuttgart Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (1952), serving as its director (1956–66). He then was prof. of music at the Munich Academy of Music. As a composer, Reutter followed the traditional line of German neo-Classicism, in which the basic thematic material, often inspired by German folk music, is arranged along strong contrapuntal lines, wherein a dissonant intervallic fabric does not disrupt the sense of immanent tonality. He excelled particularly in stage music and songs. He brought out an anthology of contemporary art songs, Das zeitgenössische Lied (4 vols., Mainz, 1969).

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Saul (Baden-Baden, July 15, 1928; rev. version, Hamburg, Dec. 21, 1947); Der verlorene Sohn (Stuttgart, March 20, 1929; rev. as Die Rückkehr des verlorenen Sohnes, Dortmund, 1952); Doktor Johannes Faust (1934–36; Frankfurt am Main, May 26, 1936; rev. version, Stuttgart, 1955); Odysseus (1940–42; Frankfurt am Main, Oct. 7, 1942); Der Weg nach Freundschaft: Ballade der Landstrasse (Göttingen, Jan. 25, 1948); Don Juan und Faust (Stuttgart, June 11, 1950); Die Witwe von Ephesus (1953; Cologne, June 23, 1954); Die Brücke von San Luis Key (Frankfurt am Main Radio, June 20, 1954); Hamlet (Stuttgart, 1980); also Der Tod des Empedokles, scenic concerto (1965; Schwetzingen, May 29, 1966); Hamlet (Stuttgart, Dec. 6, 1980). Ba11et : Die Kirmes von Delft (1936; Baden-Baden, March 20, 1937); Topsy (1950); Notturno Montmartre (1951; Stuttgart, Oct. 8, 1952). ORCH. : 4 piano concertos (1925; 1928; Sinfonische Fantasie, 1938; 1944); Violin Concerto (1932); Piano Concertino (1946); Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orch. (1949); Concert Variations for Piano and Orch. (1952); Prozession for Cello and Orch. (1956); Sym. for Strings (1960); Capriccio, Aria, and Finale for Piano and Orch. (1964); Figurinen (1972). CHAMBER: Violin Sonata (1925); Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (1938); 5 Caprichos sobre Cervantes for Viola (1968); Sonata monotematica for Cello or Bassoon and Piano (1972). OTHER : Piano pieces; choral works; about 200 songs.

Bibliography

H. Lindlar, ed., H. R.: Werk und Wirken: Festschrift der Freunde (Mainz, 1965).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire