Richard Nitschke

Richard Carl Wilhelm Nitschke (1863 – 2 June 1944) was a South Australian baritone and in later years a racehorse owner.

Nitschke was born in Adelaide the second son of Wilhelm Nitschke (c. 1817 – 3 August 1889) and his wife Elise Catharine Nitschke, née Mehrtens ( – 1909)

Richard was educated at E. P. Nesbit's North Adelaide Educational Institution from 1873 or earlier, followed by Pulteney Street School, then St. Peter's College, perhaps only for the year 1878. He studied singing under W. R. Pybus (1848–1917); his public singing began by contributing items at Town Hall concerts in 1882 and 1883, and diverse entertainments such as the Kent Town Wesleyan Band of Hope in 1884, the Adelaide Yorick Club and a benefit for the Home for Incurables at the (Adelaide) Albert Hall in 1885 and a German Shooting Club social in 1886. It is unlikely that he was paid for any of these performances. He frequently appeared at the "Saturday Night Pops" in the Town Hall organised by P. A. Howell; some other notable contributors being Ada Crossley, Armes Beaumont, Bert Holder and organist Dr. Harold Davies, later director of the Elder Conservatorium. His repertoire consisted mostly of "drawing room ballads" such as Never More (Mattei) and Queen of the Earth, Bedouin Love Song and Good Night (Pinsuti), and patriotic songs, which constituted the popular music of the period, more than the classical and operatic canon. He was often called on to contribute to concerts farewelling visiting artists such as R. Squarise, Charles Santley, Lili Sharp and Lucy Stevenson, when he might include compositions by fellow South Australian Moritz Heuzenroeder such as The Vision, Thou Art My Queen or Margaretha. In June 1891 it was Nitschke's turn to be farewelled when he left with Richart Stewart, jun. on an Australian tour of Heuzenroeder's operetta The Windmill.

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