Musicians - Anton Reicha

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	Musicians - Anton Reicha

Anton (or Antonin or Antoine) Reicha (or Rejcha) (Prague, February 26, 1770 – Paris, May 28, 1836) was a Bohemian-born naturalized French composer, a flautist in his youth, and above all an influential theorist. He is best known today for his substantial early contribution to the wind quintet literature, beginning with a piece he wrote in 1811 in Paris and discarded, but published in 1820 a set of six (Op. 100) , which were soon played all over Europe, he recorded in his memoirs, encouraging him to add eighteen more, making twenty-four quintets and individual movements in all. His wind quintets filled a void: "At that time, there was a dearth not only of good classic music, but of any good music at all for wind instruments, simply because the composers knew little of their technique." . Today some of Reicha's wind quintets have joined the regular repertoire (all have been recorded).

He wrote for many other musical ensembles as well, including eight symphonies, many with thematically-connected movements; seven operas; piano music including a set of thirty-six fugues; a clarinet quintet; 24 trios for three horns (Op.82, published in Paris, 1815) , ten string quintets and at least thirty-seven string quartets, only three of which were performed during the 20th century, most recently a few years ago (see Drummond link, below). The ten Vienna string quartets (1801-6) are amongst his most important works; though largely ignored since Reicha's lifetime, they were highly influential during. In the early years of the 21st century, quartet ensembles in Europe have begun programming Reicha's quartets, and first modern editions and first recordings are in the works.

Reicha moved with his family to Bonn in 1785, where he played the flute under the direction of his uncle Josef Reicha a cellist, in the Hofkapelle (1790–94) with the young violist Ludwig Beethoven. In 1801 having worked in Hamburg and having attempted an opera in Paris, he was in Vienna, where he visited Haydn, with whom he struck up a friendship. He renewed his friendship with Beethoven and took lessons from the outstanding Viennese theorists, Albrechtsberger and Salieri. After years of travelling, he settled in Paris after the Restauration and taught at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was appointed in 1818 professor of counterpoint and fugue. Most of the first-rank French composers of the Romantic generation studied at least for a time under Reicha, most notably Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod and, briefly, César Franck. Reicha's influence was transmitted at second-hand as well, through the teaching of his pupils and his published treatises, especially the Traité de haute composition musicale.

His publications included:

Traité de mélodie (1814);
Cours de composition musicale (1818);
Traité de haute composition musicale (2 vols. 1824–1826; a German translation by Carl Czerny
appeared about 1835). His main work.
L’art du compositeur dramatique (4 vols., 1833) Concerns the writing of opera and provides documents of performance techniques of the time.

The standard monograph on Reicha is Olga Šotolová, 1990. Antonín Reicha: A Biography and Thematic Catalogue. Deryck Viney, translator (Prague: Supraphon)

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