Reutter, (Johann Adam Joseph Karl) Georg von
Reutter, (Johann Adam Joseph Karl) Georg von
Reutter, (Johann Adam Joseph Karl) Georg von , Austrian organist and composer, son of Georg (von) Reutter; b. Vienna (baptized), April 6, 1708; d. there, March 11, 1772. He began his studies with his father, and then had composition lessons with Caldara. By age 14 he deputized for his father as court organist. After a sojourn in Italy (17297–31), he returned to Vienna and was made court composer; he brought out many operas and oratorios. He was named 1st Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral upon his father’s death in 1738, having unofficially carried out those duties since about 1736. While searching for choristers in 1739–40, he recruited the youthful Haydn in Hamburg and took him into his own home in Vienna. Reutter was ennobled in 1740. After L.A. Predieri became 1st Kapellmeister in 1741, he was reduced to serving as a substitute until acquiring the post of 2nd Kapellmeister in 1747. Following Predieri’s retirement in 1751, Reutter took over the court Kapelle but did not receive the title of 1st Kapellmeister until Predieri’s death in 1769. In 1756 he also obtained the post of 2nd Kapellmeister at the Cathedral. The musical establishment at both the court and the Cathedral declined under his leadership, due in part to inadequate funding. Reutter produced a vast amount of music which is now totally forgotten.
Bibliography
N. Hofer, Die beiden R. als Kirchenkomponisten (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1915).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire