Richard Strauss
3. Who was Alexander Ritter and why was he important?
Alexander Ritter was a German composer and violinist who married the niece of Richard Wagner. He befriended the young Strauss and encouraged him to abandon his ultra-conservative writing and begin to compose programmatic music with rich Wagnerian harmonies. The shocking tone poems of the 1890s would not have been possible without the great influence of Ritter.
