Reutter, Georg (von)

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Reutter, Georg (von)

Reutter, Georg (von) , Austrian organist and composer, father of (Johann Adam Joseph Karl) Georg von Reutter; b. Vienna (baptized), Nov. 3, 1656; d. there, Aug. 29, 1738. He may have studied with J.C. Kerll, whom he succeeded as organist of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in 1686. In 1695 he was in Italy, where he was ennobled by Prince Sforza. Returning to Vienna, he was a continuo player on the theorbo at the Imperial Court Chapel (1697–1703). He was made court organist in 1700, and became Vice- Kapellmeister in 1712 and Ist Kapellmeister in 1715 of the Cathedral, where he remained until 1728; retired as Cathedral organist in 1720 and was succeeded by his son. He wrote a number of toccatas and many Versetteln (brief organ preludes); his secular works are lost. A Ricercare, 2 Capriccios, and most likely the canzona on Christ ist erstanden attributed to him in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, XXVII, Jg. XIII/2, are by Strungk.

Bibliography

N. Hofer, Die beiden R. als Kirchenkomponisten (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1915).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire