Richard Heinrich Stein

Richard Heinrich Stein (28 February 1882 – 11 August 1942) was a German composer and musicographer. He is best known for the symbols he developed to notate quarter-tones, which Stein first used in his Op. 26 pieces, the Zwei Konzertstücke für Violoncello und Klavier. Three of the symbols Stein uses in these pieces have become part of the standard system of quarter-tone notation known as the Stein-Zimmermann accidentals. The Zwei Konzertstücke are among the earliest pieces of music published in Europe to incorporate quarter-tones. From 1891 through 1898, Stein attended the Hallenser Städtische Gymnasium in Halle. He later attended schools in Wernigerode and Merseburg before graduating from the Königliche Domgymnasium in Magdeburg. Stein received his doctorate from the University of Erlangen in 1911 after completing his dissertation on psychologist Wilhelm Wundt.

Stein left Germany during World War I and lived in the Canary Islands between 1914 and 1919. After returning to Berlin, Stein directed his own music school in Nikolassee from 1920 to 1922, served as the musical director at the Urania Theater, and directed the Berliner Rundfunk for a short time.

Stein was an advocate for quarter-tone music, and wrote his first quarter-tone pieces, the Zwei Konzertstücke für Violoncello und Klavier, op. 26 in 1905. Stein also had both a clarinet and a piano specially constructed to be able to play quarter-tones. Stein retracted the publication of his op. 26 pieces as well as his quarter-tone clarinet in 1914 as he did not want to be jointly responsible for the development of quarter-tone music. so Stein likely felt his use of quarter-tones in the Zwei Konzertstücke would equate to an endorsement of their more widespread use. Stein later embraced the use of quarter-tones once again, hosting the First International Quarter-tone Conference at his home in 1922, the attendees of which included both Hába and Wyschnegradsky. After the Conference, Stein wrote an article titled "Vierteltonmusik" (Quarter-tone Music), published in Die Musik in 1923, where he advocates for their use.

Stein worked as a composer, pianist, and piano pedagogue in Steglitz until at least 1929 Stein returned to the Canary Islands, building his own house which he called his ‘Casa del Sol’ in Santa Brígida. On the islands, Stein participated in conferences, published several articles, and organized musical evenings both at his home and at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas. Zwei kleine Lieder, op. 4 (by 1907) Drei Gedichte von Theodor Storm, op. 5 (by 1904) Drei Lieder, op. 6 (by 1904)