Eduard Ritz

Eduard Theodor Ludwig Ritz (17 October 1802, Berlin – 23 January 1832) was a German violinist. He was the son of the violist Johann Friedrich Ritz and the elder brother of the composer Julius Ritz.

Ritz began his musical studies with his father and later took lessons from Pierre Rode. He also studied theory and composition under Carl Friedrich Zelter, including work at the Berlin Sing-Akademie, where he often sang tenor parts.

He made his debut as a soloist in 1818. From 1819 to 1825 he played in the Berlin Court Orchestra and eventually became concertmaster, but later resigned following a conflict with the Kapellmeister Gaspare Spontini.

In 1819 Ritz became the first violin teacher of the ten-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. Teacher and pupil formed a friendship that lasted until Ritz’s death and was partly continued through his younger brother. Mendelssohn dedicated his early Violin Concerto in D minor (1822) to Ritz, and it is presumed that Ritz gave the first performance, although no reliable documentation survives; Mendelssohn later dedicated several chamber works to him as well.

In 1826 Ritz founded the instrumental ensemble of the Philharmonic Society associated with Zelter’s Berlin Sing-Akademie, and led it until the end of his life. He served as concertmaster in the orchestra that performed J. S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion on 11 March 1829 in a concert initiated by Mendelssohn, an event often regarded as the beginning of the revival of Bach’s music.

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