Julius Rietz
Illustration — August Wilhelm Julius Rietz August Wilhelm Julius Rietz (28 December 1812 – 12 September 1877) was a German composer, conductor, cellist, and teacher. His students included Woldemar Bargiel, Salomon Jadassohn, Arthur O'Leary, and (by far the most celebrated) Sir Arthur Sullivan. He also edited many works by Felix Mendelssohn for publication.
Also recorded as August Wilhelm Julius Rietz
Julius Rietz
Illustrirte Zeitung 1790 vom 20. Oktober 1877, S. 313 · Public domain
- Born
- 1812 · Berlin.
- Died
- 1877 · Dresden.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Prussia · Kingdom of Saxony
- Occupation
- conductor · composer · university teacher · cellist
- Fields
- symphony · opera
- Teachers
- Bernhard Romberg
- Honours
- Royal Order of the Polar Star · Albert Order
- Languages
- German
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Illustration — August Wilhelm Julius Rietz August Wilhelm Julius Rietz (28 December 1812 – 12 September 1877) was a German composer, conductor, cellist, and teacher. His students included Woldemar Bargiel, Salomon Jadassohn, Arthur O'Leary, and (by far the most celebrated) Sir Arthur Sullivan. He also edited many works by Felix Mendelssohn for publication.
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wikidata · Q63745 · wikipedia · Julius Rietz
In this article
Biography
Biography
Training under Bernhard Romberg is recorded. Woldemar Bargiel, Ernst Rudorff and Salomon Jadassohn are recorded as having studied under Julius Rietz. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are symphony and opera. Employment is recorded with University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. Positions recorded include court chapel master. Distinctions recorded are Royal Order of the Polar Star and Albert Order.
Rietz was born in Berlin, and studied the cello under Bernhard Romberg and composition under Carl Friedrich Zelter. At 16, he joined the orchestra of Berlin's Königstädter Theater, for which he wrote the music to Karl Eduard von Holtei's play Lorbeerbaum und Bettelstab. In 1834, he was appointed assistant conductor at the Düsseldorf Opera under Mendelssohn, whom he succeeded the following year. He moved in 1847 to Leipzig, where he served as kapellmeister and conductor of the Singakademie. During 1848, a year after Mendelssohn's death, Rietz took over Mendelssohn's former role as conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts in the same city, and as teacher of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. He was called to Dresden in 1860 to succeed Carl Gottlieb Reissiger as court kapellmeister. Here he spent the rest of his life, frequently appearing as an opera conductor, and also undertaking the direction of the Dresden Royal Conservatory.
Operas
Operas
• Jery und Bätely (1839) • Das Mädchen aus der Fremde (1839) • Der Korsar (1850) • Georg Neumann und die Gambe (1859)
Symphonies
Symphonies
• Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 (1843) • Symphony No. 2 in A major, Op. 23 (1846?) • Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 31 (1855)
Overtures
Overtures
• Concert Overture in A major, Op. 7 • Hero und Leander, Op. 11 • Lustspielouvertüre, Op. 53
Concertos
Concertos
• Clarinet Concerto, Op. 29 • Concert Piece for Oboe and Orchestra, Op. 33 • Cello Concerto, Op. 16
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
His recorded language was German. He was the child of Johann Friedrich Rietz. One child is recorded: Friedrich Rietz.
Identity
Identity
Julius Rietz is recorded as having received Royal Order of the Polar Star and Albert Order.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1812
Julius Rietz born at Berlin.
1877
Julius Rietz died at Dresden.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Berlin.
Birth place
Dresden.
Death place
Compositions
In terms of his own composing, Rietz belonged to the classically inclined school (Mendelssohn's output, as might be expected, had a big influence upon him) and he was strongly opposed to the musical radicalism of Liszt and Wagner. Among his works are the operas, three symphonies, several overtures to plays, flute sonatas, violin sonatas, motets, masses, psalms, and a quantity of other church music.
Legacy
The Louisville Orchestra First Edition series contained, besides many works mostly by modern composers (usually American), Rietz' Concert Overture, opus 7 (coupled with the second symphony of Max Bruch), and recorded around 1970. This may have been the same concert overture commissioned by the Lower Rhenish Music Festival to commemorate an anniversary.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
He trained under Bernhard Romberg. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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