Origin and music studies Born in
Löbtau, now part of Dresden, Reuter came from a
Saxon artisan family from the
Ore Mountains. He was born as the son of the
master builder and
carpenter Friedrich August Reuter (born 1868) in a working-class suburb. – which stood in a line of tradition with the approaches of the philosopher
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause. At the same time, Reuter studied in Leipzig at the
University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and at the
University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. His teachers included among others
Otto Weinreich and
Robert Teichmüller in piano,
Stephan Krehl in composition and
Bernhard Porst in bandmaster training, as well as
Hugo Riemann, Hermann Abert and
Arnold Schering in musicology. He also studied German with
Albert Köster and
Eduard Sievers and philosophy and pedagogy with
Eduard Spranger,
Theodor Litt,
Johannes Volkelt and
Hans Driesch.
Lecturer in Leipzig As a sideline, Reuter initially also worked as a
music critic for the
Leipziger Musik- und Theater-Zeitung, which appeared in 1921. As a result of a report by Reuter in the 1920s, the
Sächsischer Landtag introduced the school subject "music" at
Volksschules and higher schools. In 1925, moreover, he became a member of the examination board for the musical state examination at the University of Leipzig. In particular, due to his
Daghestanian Suite for Orchestra (1927), composed for the
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of
Dagestan, and his conducting of Leipzig (
Michaelsche Chöre), he lost his teaching positions after the
Machtergreifung by the
Nazis in 1933. His works were banned from performance and the
Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft cancelled current contracts with Reuter.) and his cantata
Huttens letzte Tage (1930 together with the baritone
Karl Kamann) had been responsible for, attested to the composer's "strong talent" in his autobiographical notes in 1970. Reuter and Szendrei became friends and – interrupted by the Second World War – maintained correspondence.
Saxon school service To make a living In 1934, he additionally became a member of the party organisations
Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt and in the
Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund. On the other hand, in the 1940s, Reuter proposed to succeed
Günther Ramin (
Thomaskantor) as artistic director of the
Gymnasium Leipzig, which had been founded by the National Socialists in 1941.
Professor in Halle and Berlin After the Second World War in 1945, he was initially dismissed from the teaching profession. In addition, Reuter taught
music theory and
composition at the from 1950. In 1952, he was appointed professor with
chair at the University of Halle. In Halle, Reuter established a year-long specialist course for music teachers who had served in the war and could thus catch up on their specialist qualifications. From 1955 until his Soviet-critical departure in 1962 he headed the Institute for Music Education at the Faculty of Education of the
Humboldt University of Berlin. There he campaigned for the construction of a new concert hall. From 1951 until he was replaced by
Walther Siegmund-Schultze in 1955, Reuter was the first chairman of the Halle-Magdeburg district association of the . Alongside
Walter Draeger,
Gerhard Wohlgemuth and others, he was one of the initiators of the 1st
Hallische Musiktage, held in 1955, as a board member of the Halle Working Group. It was also he who, in October 1954, had for the first time "concretised" the previously "raised idea of such music days. In the GDR, Reuter worked for a time as head of department Ultimately, it is thanks to him that music education became a university discipline.
Family and estate Fritz Reuter was of
Lutheran denomination He had been married to the singer since 1924 Erna Sophie,
née Votteler (1896–1968), married On the 25th anniversary of Reuter's death (1988), a small exhibition on his person was opened at the same place. Further documents are located among others in the
Saxon State and University Library Dresden, the in Schwerin, the university library of the
Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig, the
Monacensia of the and the as well as the Steven Swanson Collection in Frisco, Texas. A correspondence with his West Berlin colleague
Hermann Grabner (former Leipzig ) from 1951/52 was published in the
Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe. == Work ==