Fritz Dietrich

Who was Fritz Dietrich?

Fritz Dietrich was a German musicologist and composer.

After graduating from school in Pforzheim, Dietrich first attended the technical university in Karlsruhe, before moving to music. He studied from 1925 in Freiburg with Wilibald Gurlitt and Heinrich Besseler. Later study saw him move to the University of Heidelberg, to where Besseler had moved. For a short time, Dietrich studied in Leipzig at the conservatory, under Karl Straube.

From 1931-4, Dietrich took a music assistantship in Heidelberg, whilst training to teach at university level. This he did in 1935, but what with the come-uppance of Nazism, there were fewer opportunities than usual for music teachers.

In the 1930s, Dietrich worked for the Bärenreiter-Verlag publishing house, and himself published a collection of small notebooks with music for laymen. He was conscripted into the army, and died on the eastern front in the area around Heiligenbeil.

Dietrich's known works were written for organ and recorder as well as much vocal music. He was an able player of the piano, organ, oboe and viola.