Biography
Georg Reutter “the Elder” (1656–1738) was a Viennese organist, theorbist, and composer whose working life bridged the musical worlds of St Stephen’s Cathedral and the Habsburg court chapel. After a period connected with Italy in 1694/95, he built a long career in Vienna: he is securely documented as organist at St Stephen’s from 1694 to 1715, held a Hofmusikkapelle appointment as theorbist (1697–1703), and from 1700 served as an organist of the Hofmusikkapelle until his death. He rose to senior chapel leadership in the 1710s, becoming second Kapellmeister (1712) and then first Kapellmeister at St Stephen’s (1715), later handing on the second Kapellmeister post in 1727/28.
Reutter’s name sits at the head of a small St Stephen’s dynasty: among his children were Karl Joseph Reutter (1699–1736), an organist who served at St Stephen’s from 1720, and Johann Adam Joseph Karl Georg Reutter (1708–1772), the composer known as Georg Reutter “the Younger,” who received early training from his father and became the next major figure in the cathedral’s musical life. As a composer, the elder Reutter is especially associated with virtuosic organ toccatas and numerous short organ versets preserved and catalogued within the Central European organ tradition.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.