Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/123

 RITTER

RITTER

but the project was hindered by the turbulence of the Revolutiouary period. He served as en- gineer to the committee of safety, 1775 ; was a member of the general assembly and vice-presi- dent and presiding officer of the committee of safety in 1776 ; a justice of the peace, and a mem- ber of the state constitutional convention of Sept. 38. 1776. He was state treasurer, 1777-89, resigning in 1789, and was made a member of the council of safety in 1777. He observed the tran- sit of Mercury in November, 1776. and two eclipses of the sun in January, 1777. and June. 1778, re- spectivel}''. He was one of the commissioners to settle the territorial dispute between Pennsyl- vania and Virginia, 1779-84 ; held the chair of astronomy in the University of Pennsylvania, 1779-83 ; was elected a trustee of the loan office in 1780 ; determined the western and southern boundai-ies of Pennsylvania in 1784-85, and in December, 1785, was made a commissioner for running the line between Massachusetts and New York. He was appointed by President Washing- ton, March 26, 1791, to receive subscriptions in Pennsylvania to the Bank of the United States ; was one of the three "agents of information" for the "opening and improving of certain roads, rivers and navigable waters in Pennsylvania," and on April 14, 1792, was commissioned director of the U.S. mint, which position he resigned, June 30, 1795. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1767, of which university he served as trustee, 1779-80, 1782-91, and by re-election, 1791-96, and as vice-provost, 1780-82. He also received the degrees, A.M., 1773, and LL.D., 1788, from the College of Nnv Jersey. He was elected a mem- ber of the American Philosophical society, 1768 ; its secretary, 1771 ; vice-president, 1790, and in 1791 succeeded Benjamin Franklin as president. He was elected a fell-iw of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1782, and an honorary fellow of the Roy .1 Society of London in 1795. His name received six votes for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in October, 1900. His scientific papers in the Transactions of tlie American Philosophical society, include Aii Oration on Astronomy (1775). His biography was written by William Barton (1813), and by James Renwick in Sparks's American Biography (1834). He died in Philadelphia, June 26, 1796,

RITTER, Fanny Raymond, author, was born in Leeds, England, in 1830 : daughter of Richard and Catherine Malone. She married, in 1867, Frederic L. Ritter (q.v.). She was a mezzo-soprano soloist, conducting a series of historical recitals, 1869-70 ; translated Louis Ehlert's " Letters on Music to a Lady " (1870 ; London, 1871), and Robert Schumann's "Music and Musicians" (London, 1877), and is the author of : Woman as a Musician IX. — 8

(1876) ; Some Famous Songs (London, 1878) ; Troubadours and Minnesingers, and Haydn's "Seasons" (1881); Madrigals (1882), and Songs and Ballads, poems (1887). She died in Pough- keepsie, N.Y., Oct. 26, 1890.

RITTER, Frederic Louis, musician, was born in Ittenheim, near Strassburg, Alsace. June 22, 1828 : a descendant of Spanish ancestors on tlie piternal side, whose name was originally Cabal- lero. He began the study of music under Hauser in Strassburg and Hans M. Schletterer in Fene- strange and Deux Ponts, continued in Paris, France, under Georges Kastner, a relative of his mother, in 1850, and under several of the best masters in Germany, 1850-52, becoming professor of music in the Protestant seminary of Fene- strange at Lorraine in 1852 ; and conducting a series of concerts at Bordeaux. He immigrated to the United States with his sister in 1853. and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he awakened an interest in musical matters and organized the Cecilia Vocal society and the Philharmonic or- chestra, both of which produced works new to the United states. He removed to New York city in 1861 ; was conductor of the Sacred Harmonic society, 1863-69 ; of the Arion Ciioral society for several years, and in 1867 organized and con- ducted at Steinway hall the first musical festival ever held in that city. He was professor of music in Vassar college, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1867-91, and made his home in Poughkeepsie from 1874 until his death. He was prominent as a com- poser, his instrumental works including several symphonies and overtui-es for full orchestra, a septet for flute, horn and string quintet, and string quartets and compositions for the piano and organ, many of which have been rendered by the leading orchestras and musical club,s. Among his sacred music are the 23d and 95th Psalms, for female voices : the 4th Psalm ; O Sahitaris, and an Ave Maria. His vocal comno^itions number more than one hundred German songs. He re- ceived the degree of Mus. Doc. from the Univer- sity of the City of New York in 1878. He was divorced from his first wife, the mother of his two children, and was married secondly, in 1867, to Fanny Raymond. He contributed articles on musical topics to English, French and German periodicals, and is the author of : A Histoi'y of Music in the Form of Lectures (1870-74, 2d ed., 1876); Music in Engla7id (18SS): Music in America (1883); Manual of Musical History, from the Epoch of Ancient Greece to our Present Time (1886): Musical Dictation (1S88), and a Practical 3Iethod for the Instniction of Clwrus Classes. He also edited the English edition of " Das Reich der Tone," and compiled with the Rev. J. Ryland Kendrick, The Woman's College Hymnnl (1887). He died in Antwerp, Holland, July 6, 1892.