Biography
Christian Ritter (c.1645/48–after 1725) was a German organist and composer whose career linked the courts of Halle, Dresden and Stockholm with the rich manuscript culture of the Düben Collection. Research reported by Peter Wollny identifies him as probably originating in Kamenz, Saxony, and studying at Leipzig University during Sebastian Knüpfer's period as Thomaskantor. Ritter became court organist and vice-Kapellmeister in Stockholm, worked in corresponding posts at Dresden from 1683, and returned to Swedish service from 1688 to 1699 before later appearing in Hamburg.
His surviving music includes more than twenty vocal works alongside a small but distinctive keyboard repertory. The manuscript sources preserve the sacred O amantissime sponse Jesu—now known to rework music by Vincenzo Albrici—the German aria Iris ich komm hier geschritten, and keyboard suites and a Sonatina transmitted in the Möller and Andreas Bach manuscripts. Ritter is unusually well represented on record for a composer of his present obscurity: O amantissime has been recorded repeatedly since 1959, while modern releases also include Miserere Christe mei, Salve, mi puerule and the F-sharp-minor Suite.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.