08/24/2026
On this first day of a new academic year, one of the foundational pillars of our institute, department, and field has passed: Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Baroque Violin Stanley Ritchie.
No words can fully capture the extent of Stanley's contributions to the study and performance of Baroque violin in this country. It would be impossible to tell the story of the early music movement in the United States, or of Baroque violin pedagogy in particular, without reference to his work and influence.
During nearly forty years at Indiana University, Stanley shaped generations of musicians through his wisdom, guidance, and unwavering support. Tributes are already pouring in from former students, both recent and long past, whose artistic lives were profoundly influenced by his teaching and mentorship.
At this moment, we express our deepest condolences to Elisabeth Wright, Jessica Ritchie, Robina Ritchie Barker, Alyson Rinaldi, and granddaughter Arianna.
Further information will be shared as it becomes available.
Rest in peace, dear Stanley - you will always be lovingly remembered.
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See below an obituary circulated from the Dean to the Jacobs School within the hour:
Stanley Ritchie served on the Jacobs School of Music early music/historical performance faculty from 1982 to 2021 and was named distinguished professor in 2016.
Ritchie’s career as a violinist spanned continents, styles, orchestras, and generations. What began with violin lessons at the local convent in a farming town in New South Wales, Australia, become a storied career as a violinist, conductor, author, and teacher. Lessons at the convent led to graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music then further studies in Paris, New Haven, and New York with some of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century.
While he is best known as a pioneer in the early music field, Ritchie began his career as a professional violinist in the orchestra pit of two prominent opera companies: New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1963, he was appointed concertmaster of New York City Opera then served as associate concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera from 1965 to 1970. From 1970 to 1973, he performed as a member of the New York Chamber Soloists and served as assistant concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony from 1973 until 1975, when he joined the Philadelphia String Quartet in residence at the University of Washington in Seattle as first violinist.
At 35 years old, Ritchie began a musical partnership with harpsichordist Albert Fuller that ignited Ritchie’s interest in period performance and baroque music, which had been simmering since his days as a student in Sydney, when he pondered “What is meant by ‘style’ in music?” as part of a written exam. While still making a living playing modern violin in the 1970s, he began exploring the technique and repertoire of baroque music that would become his second, and even more remarkable, career. Fuller remained an influence in his life and was the dedicatee of his 2012 book, Before the Chinrest: A Violinist’s Guide to the Mysteries of Pre-Chinrest Technique and Style, published by Indiana University Press.
In 1974, Ritchie formed Duo Geminiani, named after the eighteenth-century Italian composer Francesco Geminiani, with harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright, and they were soon recognized as foremost interpreters and performers of the works of J. S. Bach. Wright remained a collaborator, companion, colleague, and friend, arriving in Bloomington with him in 1982 and joining him in the retiring faculty class of 2021. The two were first appointed as visiting faculty, but their value was immediately recognized, and permanent positions for both soon followed.
Even with a full teaching load, Ritchie did not stop performing and continued to appear as soloist or conductor with a number of major early music orchestras, among them the Academy of Ancient Music, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra. He served on the jury at the Leipzig International Bach Competition and was a frequent guest at Kloster Michaelstein, in Blankenburg, Germany, where he gave master classes in baroque and classical technique and interpretation. He was also a faculty member of the Accademia di Musica Antica in Bruneck (Südtirol) for over 20 years and artistic director of the Bloomington Early Music Festival for 10 years. In 2009, he received Early Music America’s highest honor, the Howard Mayer Brown Award for Lifetime Achievement in Early Music.
At Jacobs, Ritchie taught generations of baroque violinists and historical performance majors. He contributed to the education and school experience of many students outside his department as well, as both modern and baroque string players populate the Baroque Orchestra, a period-instrument ensemble that he established shortly after his arrival in Bloomington and conducted until his retirement. His course “Interpreting Unaccompanied Bach” was rarely not at capacity with a waitlist, and its major tenets are in his second book, The Accompaniment in “Unaccompanied” Bach: Interpreting the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin, published in 2016 by Indiana University Press.
Ritchie’s former students continue to win awards and competitions and carry forward his curiosity and musical sensitivity as prominent teachers and performers in their own right.
May his memory be a blessing.
