Richard Carl Wilhelm Nitschke (1863 – 2 June 1944) was a South Australian baritone and in later years a racehorse owner.
[2] After some fifteen years of building stills for wineries, set up his own business "Nitschke & Co." at 109 Hindley Street, producing grape spirit.
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.
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.
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.