Teofil Richter

Teofil Richter was a Russian and Soviet organist, pianist, music teacher, and composer of German origin. He was born in Zhytomyr in 1872 in the family of a musical craftsman and tuner, Daniil Richter, whose background was connected with the German Lutheran community. Teofil showed outstanding musical abilities early in life.

From 1893 to 1900 he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. After completing his studies, he returned to Zhytomyr, where he worked at the music school until 1916. There he also married Anna Moskalyova, one of his students and the daughter of a local landowner.

In 1916 Richter moved with his family to Odesa. In Odesa he became organist of the Lutheran church and was provided with an apartment in the church servants' house. At the same time he taught general piano at the conservatory. According to colleagues, because of his modesty he occupied a position lower than he deserved.

In 1925–1926 he was criticized by Soviet public authorities because he was considered a church worker and therefore, in their view, unfit to educate Soviet youth. After this he stopped working at the church despite the protests of the Lutheran pastor and became an orchestra artist at the opera theater. The theater had acquired a small organ, and Richter performed the organ parts there. To support his family, he also gave private lessons.

Richter was the father of the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, born in 1915, whom he and his wife began teaching music from early childhood. In August 1941 Teofil Richter was arrested on charges of treason based on visits to the German consulate in 1932–1936. He was sentenced to death with confiscation of property and was executed in Odesa on 6 October 1941, ten days before the beginning of the German occupation. He was posthumously rehabilitated in February 1962.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.