Fritz Reuter (9 September 1896 – 4 July 1963) was a German musicologist, music educator, composer and Kapellmeister. Reuter was one of the most important German music educators of the 20th century. After studying music and musicology in Dresden and Leipzig, with Teichmüller, Riemann, Schering and Abert, he received his doctorate in 1922 (Dr. phil.). In 1945, he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Volksoper in Dresden. In 1949, he was appointed as the first professor of music education at a German university (University of Halle). He was also director of institutes at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and the Humboldt University Berlin. In 1955, he was one of the initiators of the first Hallische Musiktage.
Life Origin and music studies Born in Löbtau, now part of Dresden, Reuter came from a Saxon artisan family from the Ore Mountains.Günther Noll: Fritz Reuter (1896–1963). A tribute on the occasion of his 100th birthday. In Rudolf-Dieter Kraemer (ed.): Musikpädagogische Biographieforschung. Fachgeschichte – Zeitgeschichte – Lebensgeschichte (Music Education Research. Vol. 18). Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 1997, , , here . He was born as the son of the master builder and carpenter Friedrich August Reuter (born 1868)Erich H. Müller (ed.): Deutsches Musiker-Lexikon. W. Limpert-Verlag, Dresden 1929. in a working-class suburb. His father worked his way up to become the owner of a construction business. Reuter's mother Johanna, née Noack (born 1878), had Sorbs Roots and was the driving force in his musical education. He received piano lessons from Max Stranssky and Richard Schmidt, both teachers at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden, as well as theory lessons from Paul Walde. Schmidt also introduced him to Baroque music by Johann Sebastian Bach, which Reuter learned to love. He passed an exam in 1912 and later taught music theory and piano himself at the "Dresdner Lehranstalt für Musik", founded by Walde in 1914. Reuter came into early contact with the music pedagogy of the Dresden music school director Richard Kaden – his Walter Clemens, Werner Busch: Zum Gedenken an Fritz Reuter. In Heinz Wegener (editor): Gedenkschrift Fritz Reuter (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe 15 (1966) 3). pp. I-VI, here: P. I. – which stood in a line of tradition with the approaches of the philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause.
Reuter first attended the Bürgerschule, and in 1916 he passed the Abitur at the in Dresden. During the First World War (1916/17) he was trained as an infantryman (grenadier) in Dresden, but was not called up for military service. Unwilling to take over his father's business, he broke with his parental home and began studying music instead. He financed this through two "Riemann scholarships", which he received for the best annual musicological works, as well as interrupting his studies as a répétiteur at the famous Dresden circus Sarrasani (1917) and as a theatre conductor in Allenstein/East Prussia.Günther Noll: Fritz Reuter (1896–1963). A tribute on the occasion of his 100th birthday. In Rudolf-Dieter Kraemer (ed.): Musikpädagogische Biographieforschung. Fachgeschichte – Zeitgeschichte – Lebensgeschichte (Music Education Research. Vol. 18). Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 1997, , , here: p. 21. At the same time, Reuter studied in Leipzig at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig.Association of German Composers and Musicologists, Music Information Centre (ed.): Komponisten und Musikwissenschaftler der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Short biographies and lists of works. 2nd expanded edition, Verlag Neue Musik, Berlin 1968, . His teachers included among others Otto Weinreich and Robert Teichmüller in piano, Stephan Krehl in composition and Bernhard Porst in bandmaster training, as well as Hugo Riemann, Hermann Abert and Arnold Schering in musicology. He also studied German with Albert Köster and Eduard Sievers and philosophy and pedagogy with Eduard Spranger, Theodor Litt, Johannes Volkelt and Hans Driesch.
In 1922, he was awarded a Dr. phil. from the University of Leipzig for his dissertation Die Geschichte der deutschen Oper in Leipzig am Ende des 17. und am Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts (1693–1720). The referees for the thesis were Hermann Abert and Rudolf Kötzschke.Karl Josef Funk: Hermann Abert – Musiker, Musikwissenschaftler, Musikpädagoge. J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart 1994, , .
Lecturer in Leipzig As a sideline, Reuter initially also worked as a music critic for the Leipziger Musik- und Theater-Zeitung, which appeared in 1921. Because of his activity as a composer, he became a teacher of music theory at the Royal or State Conservatory of Music in Leipzig in 1921. There, on Riemann's recommendation, he introduced the basso continuo into theory teaching. He also devoted himself to the psychological foundation of ear training. In addition, from 1922 he was active at the of the Leipzig Conservatory, where he taught ecclesiastical composition and music theory as well as the history of church music. In addition, in 1924/25 he took on a teaching position for the pedagogy of school music at the University of Leipzig. From 1932 he also taught music history.Siegmund Helms, Reinhard Schneider, Rudolf Weber: Neues Lexikon der Musikpädagogik. Personenteil, Bosse, Kassel 1994, , pp. 191f. As a result of a report by Reuter in the 1920s, the Sächsischer Landtag introduced the school subject "music" at Volksschules and higher schools.Günther Noll: Fritz Reuter (1896–1963). A tribute on the occasion of his 100th birthday. In Rudolf-Dieter Kraemer (ed.): Musikpädagogische Biographieforschung. Fachgeschichte – Zeitgeschichte – Lebensgeschichte (Music Education Research. Vol. 18). Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 1997, , , here . In 1925, moreover, he became a member of the examination board for the musical state examination at the University of Leipzig. In addition to his university lectureship, Reuter passed the state examination for the higher teaching profession in the subjects of music and German in 1931.Walter Clemens, Werner Busch: Zum Gedenken an Fritz Reuter. In Heinz Wegener (Red. Ed.): Gedenkschrift Fritz Reuter (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe 15 (1966) 3). , here .
In particular, due to his Daghestanian Suite for Orchestra (1927), composed for the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Dagestan, and his conducting of Leipzig (Michaelsche Chöre), he lost his teaching positions after the Machtergreifung by the Nazis in 1933. He also maintained contacts with Jewish musicians (et al. Alfred Szendrei of the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra, whose Dirigierkunde he was to publish in 1956) and social democratic politicians.Günther Noll: Fritz Reuter (1896–1963). A tribute on the occasion of his 100th birthday. In Rudolf-Dieter Kraemer (ed.): Musikpädagogische Biographieforschung. Fachgeschichte – Zeitgeschichte – Lebensgeschichte (Music Education Research. Vol. 18). Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 1997, , , here . His works were banned from performance and the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft cancelled current contracts with Reuter. Szendrei, who gave the world premieres of his Cello Concerto (1929 together with the cello virtuoso Fritz Schertel at the Heinz Wegener: Bibliographie Fritz Reuter. In Derselbe (Red. Ed.): Gedenkschrift Fritz Reuter (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe 15 (1966) 3). , here P. IVf.) and his cantata Huttens letzte Tage (1930 together with the baritone Karl KamannHeinz Wegener: Bibliographie Fritz Reuter. In Derselbe (Red. Ed.): Gedenkschrift Fritz Reuter (Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe 15 (1966) 3). , here .) had been responsible for, attested to the composer's "strong talent" in his autobiographical notes in 1970. Reuter and Szendrei became friends and – interrupted by the Second World War – maintained correspondence.Alfred Szendrei: "Meine Leipziger Jahre". In Max Pommer (ed.): In the turquoise-blue garden. The path of the Kapellmeister A. S. from Leipzig to emigration, told by himself. Verlag J. G. Seume, Leipzig among others 2014, , , here .
Saxon school service To make a living and because he wanted to resume his profession, he accommodated himself to those in power and, with effect from 1 May 1933 he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party member number 2.429.811) relatively early.Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945. 2nd ed., Kopf, Kiel 2009, , p. 6104. In 1934, he additionally became a member of the party organisations Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt and in the Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund.
After the stations as and assessor he became Studienrat for music and German at the in Leipzig-Connewitz in 1934. There he built up a pupils' wind orchestra. In 1937, he moved to the in Dresden and was given the "supervision of school music affairs" in the Gau Saxony. In 1944, he was promoted to Oberstudienrat. Until 1945, he taught at a secondary school in Dresden-Plauen.
The music historian Fred K. Prieberg (2009) classified individual statements in older articles on Reuter as "pseudohistory". For example, he had held no "prominent offices" before 1933 – apart from his teaching duties – and then made a career in the teaching profession in the Third Reich.Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933–1945. 2nd ed, Kopf, Kiel 2009, , . On the other hand, in the 1940s, Reuter proposed to succeed Günther Ramin (Thomaskantor) as artistic director of the Gymnasium Leipzig, which had been founded by the National Socialists in 1941.Werner Heldmann: Musisches Gymnasium Frankfurt 1939–1945. Eine Schule im Spannungsfeld von pädagogischer Verantwortung, künstlerischer Freiheit und politischer Doktrin. Lang, Frankfurt among others 2004, , pp. 599f.
Professor in Halle and Berlin After the Second World War in 1945, he was initially dismissed from the teaching profession. He became a member of the Free German Trade Union Federation and was engaged by the Soviet occupation forces as dramaturge and Kapellmeister at the Volksoper in Dresden-, the later . In 1946, his denazification took place, so he was able to prove, among other things, that he had supported a Jewish woman and had been under surveillance by the Gestapo. According to his student Günther Noll (1997), he maintained contact "with his Jewish friends and helped them to escape, despite the existential dangers involved, also hiding them at his home".