KARL  RICHTER

Born into a family of pastors from Saxony, from 1951 in Munich, Karl Richter (1926 - 1981) was cantor at the Church of Saint Mark, Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, conductor of the Münchner Bachchor und Bachorchester, leading harpsichordist and organist and above all a universal musician.

AT A TIME OF RE-DISCOVERY OF GERMAN BAROQUE MUSIC.

EIN “GESAMMTKUNSTWERK” WITH THE STAMP OF THE 70S.

In May 2021, things in life were such that, in the happiest of circumstances, his working organ, built in the second half of the 1970s, found a place in the large hall of AIDA-LÉMAN, in Gland.The fine expertise of Karl Richter, added to the complicity of the talented German organ builder Paul Ott, have made this instrument a jewel of subtle design.The overall educational project of AIDA-LÉMAN, based on the transdisciplinary, intergenerational and inclusive artistic education convinced the Richter family of the merits and legitimacy of the place of this magnificent instrument within our institution.

In close collaboration with Marcelo Giannini, professor at the HEM in Geneva, one of Karl Richter's last students and thanks to the skills of people internal to AIDA-LÉMAN, notably our organ professor Humberto Salvagnin and especially Benjamin Hatt, director, himself a first-class organ builder, this magnificent

“GESAMTKUNSTWERK” was dismantled in Karl Richter's family home in Erlenbach (ZH), transported and reassembled in record time.

AVAILABILITY AND VISIT

The instrument now remains at the disposal of professional organists and professional students who would like to come and discover the spirit and finesse of the design of the instrument: the large room being very busy with the activities of the academy, visits cannot can only be made by written reservation, sent by email or by post to the management.

A musical bridge builder to the beyond

KARL RICHTER (1926 – 1981)

A story of impact

In the second half of the 20th century, the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Karl Richter established himself as a monolith in the history of Protestant religious music and in the interpretation of Bach.

Inspired by the function of Kapellmeister, in the pure tradition of his country, central Germany, and made very early aware of the sounds of Saxon organs particularly through the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, as a young adult, he decided to devote his life at the Musica sacra.
Starting from a deep reflection, analyzing the fascination that emanated from the musical creation of Karl Richter, Roland Wörner, (lic. fine arts, letters, specialist in German Baroque, expert and biographer) edited this new publication on the occasion of Karl Richter's 90th birthday in 2016, after more than 20 years of research. He set himself the task of collecting and commenting, as far as possible, on all the essential testimonies that have been published in various places on Karl Richter .It makes accessible to the interested reader, portraits, concert interviews and record reviews from German and international sources, but also, all the concert dates found including the participating artists.The work is self-published by the author in order to spare its subject control and standardization by peer-reviewing. May it find an impartial and understanding readership.