Richard Ritsing (25 March 1903 – 8 July 1994) is an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n composer, choral conductor. He composed mainly

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

choral music. Ritsing was born in

Räpina Räpina ( vro, Räpinä, german: Rappin) is a town in Põlva County, Estonia. Räpina was administrative centre of Räpina raion from 1950 until 1961, currently it is the administrative centre of Räpina Parish. The oldest commercial enterpri ...

. In 1929 he graduated from

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

in philosophy. He has studied several musical disciplines at

Tartu Music School The Heino Eller Tartu Music College is a music school in Tartu, Estonia, founded in 1919. It got its current name in 1971, after the Estonian composer and music teacher Heino Eller, who taught in the school from 1920 until 1940. Tartu School ...

. 1934-1957 he was the music teacher at the Tartu University. 1945-1980 he taught choral conducting at the Heino Eller Tartu Music School. 1950-1980 he was the artistic leader of

Estonian Song Celebrations The Estonian Song Festival (in Estonian: ''laulupidu'', ) is one of the largest choral events in the world, a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It is held every five years in July on the Tallinn Song Festival Grou ...

, and in 1980, 1985 and 1990, Honorary Leader. He was one of the key person to start student song festival Gaudeamus. Since 1944 he was a member of the

Estonian Composers' Union Estonian Composers' Union (abbeviation ECU; et, Eesti Heliloojate Liit) is an Estonian creative union which encompasses professional composers and musicologists in Estonia. The chairman of ECU is Märt-Matis Lill. Since 2005, ECU is a member of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsing, Richard 1903 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Estonian composers Estonian conductors (music) University of Tartu alumni People from Räpina Soviet composers