“Who is Peter Ritter?”
is the question my research group and I have been trying to answer all summer. Johann
Peter Ritter, who lived from 1753-1846 (depending on your source), was a
prominent musician and composer in Mannheim, Germany. Throughout the centuries
between his death and this summer, well over a hundred pieces of his musical
legacy have found their way into the Library of Congress’ Music collection.
I thought I would be a
part of a straightforward transcription project: photograph some of this
composer’s works at the Library of Congress, and turn them into modern sheet
music. However, I learned skills I did not expect: how to use a reading room at
the Library of Congress, how to transpose scores for both modern and historical
instruments, how to work past language barriers in research. I learned how and
when to make educated guesses about historical documents. I developed an eye
for the many significant differences between compositions for different
purposes and different instruments. I learned my way around the best musical
and library-related search engines on the Internet.
I was also challenged
to present one of these transcriptions with live musicians. I have never
coordinated musicians or led a rehearsal before, and the exercise was definitely
out of my comfort zone. After long email threads, and a lot of nervous
hand-wringing, it was satisfying and downright delightful to see my School of
Music peers sign onto the project and finally bring Ritter’s music to life.
The Peter Ritter
research group has contributed its work to a collection of free music for
public consumption, and what better way is there to spend a summer than
performing works of musical public service? I like to imagine how happy Peter
Ritter would be to know that audiences will hear his music once again, two
hundred years after he wrote it.
