Introduction

Biography

Peter the son of obo­ist Ge­org Wil­helm Rit­ter, and nephew of bas­soon­ist Ge­org Wen­zel. Like Mey­er­beer and We­ber, he was a pu­pil of Ab­bé Vog­ler.

Ritter be­gan play­ing cel­lo in the Mann­heim Na­tion­al The­a­ter or­ches­tra in 1786, and be­came one of its con­cert mas­ters in 1801. From 1803–23, he was its Ka­pell­meis­ter.

In ad­di­tion to more than 20 works for the stage, in­clud­ing Shakes­peare’s The Mer­ry Wives of Wind­sor, Rit­ter com­posed church mu­sic and va­ri­ous in­stru­ment­al works.

His bro­ther Hein­rich Lud­wig Rit­ter be­came known as a vio­lin­ist, and his son Karl Au­gust as a sing­er.