Hans Richter

Hans Richter (1843-1916), Austro-Hungarian conductor (see Conducting), one of the first conductors to gain an international reputation as an interpretative artist. Richter was closely associated with many of the great composers of his day, and he gave the premieres of many of their major works.

Born János Richter in Raab (now Györ), Richter was trained at the Vienna conservatory in Austria from 1860 to 1865 before being recommended as an assistant to German composer Richard Wagner. In 1868 Richter conducted at the Munich Opera under the tutelage of German composer and conductor Hans von Bülow. In 1875 he made his conducting debut in Vienna, and the following year Wagner chose him for the task of conducting the first complete performance of the four operas of his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, 1876) at Bayreuth, Germany. From 1875 to 1898 Richter also conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the 1880s he began to conduct in Britain, introducing Wagner's operas Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nürnberg) and Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde) to London audiences in 1882 and 1884, respectively. From 1897 to 1911 he settled in Manchester, England, as chief conductor of the Hallé Orchestra. From 1904 to 1911 he also conducted the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Germany in 1912 and lived at Bayreuth until his death.

Richter was unusual in promoting the music of German composer Johannes Brahms as well as that of Wagner, at a time when the two composers were felt to represent opposite poles in music. Richter conducted the first performances of Brahms's 2nd and 3rd Symphonies (1877 and 1883, respectively), and was one of the few musicians of his time to take seriously the work of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, conducting the first performances of four of his symphonies. In his later career Richter was particularly known for his championing of English composer Sir Edward William Elgar; he conducted the first performances of Elgar's Enigma Variations (1899), The Dream of Gerontius (1900), and 1st Symphony (1908), which is dedicated to Richter. During his time at Manchester, Richter also introduced works by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and by Hungarian composer Bela Bartók.