Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter (24 October 1808 – 9 April 1879), was a German musical theorist, born at Großschönau, Saxony.
He first studied music at Zittau, and afterwards at Leipzig, where he attained so high a reputation that in 1843 he was appointed professor of harmony and counterpoint at the conservatorium of music, then newly founded by Felix Mendelssohn. On the death of Moritz Hauptmann on 3 January 1868, he was elected cantor of Thomasschule zu Leipzig, conducting the Thomanerchor, an office he retained until his death.
He is best known by three theoretical works: "Lehrbuch der Harmonie", "Lehre vom Contra punct" and "Lehre von der Fuge", valuable textbooks known to English students through the excellent translation by Franklin Taylor.
His compositions include psalms for chorus and orchestra, motets, two masses, a Stabat Mater (voices only), part songs, string quartets and sonatas, and also pieces for organ and for piano.
Richter's method of instruction—and the academic approach to harmonic education overall—was criticized by Arnold Schoenberg in his 1911 text, Harmonielehre, or Theory of Harmony. Schoenberg denounced the respective isolation of harmonic theory, counterpoint, and form in compositional education as productive only of an "artless and primitive" approach to composition.
Richter's approach may be "academic", but the phrasings of this makes it is a worthy example of the trio school, and follows the great Bach's footsteps with its solid and noble phrases.
Music link:
http://imslp.org/wiki/6_Organ_Trios,_Op.20_(Richter,_Ernst_Friedrich)
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