Théodore Ritter

Toussaint Prévost, known under the pseudonym Théodore Ritter (5 April 1840 – 6 April 1886) was a 19th-century French composer and pianist.

Biography The son of composer Eugène Prévost, he was a student of Hector Berlioz. He began his career as a baritone singer at La Monnaie in Brussels under the name Félix, then studied the piano with Franz Liszt. He quickly became a renowned pianist and began an international career under the name "Théodore Ritter".

A member of the "Société des derniers concerts de Beethoven" (1860), he undertook a concert tour in Canada and the US with the violinist Frantz Jehin-Prume and the operatic singer Carlotta Patti in 1869–1870.

Among others, he was the teacher of Isidore Philipp and Samuel Sanford.

Married with the singer Alice Desgranges; his niece Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi was also famous as a singer.

A chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (1880), he is buried at cimetière du Père-Lachaise (20th division)

He composed numerous pieces for piano and transcriptions, as well as piano versions of L'enfance du Christ and Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz .