George Wenzel Ritter (1748–1808) was a bassoonist at the Mannheim court and was known throughout Europe as a virtuoso player. Many composers wrote bassoon parts in their own works with Ritter in mind, and Ritter himself composed for the instrument. His quartets for bassoon and strings show the technical level at which he operated and which rivaled that of the flute and string instruments. Very little chamber music for bassoon is known to survive from the eighteenth century, since the instrument ...