- Josef Reicha
Josef Reicha ("Rejcha") (
12 February ,1752 –5 March ,1795 ) was a Czechcellist ,composer and conductor. He was theuncle of composer and music theoristAnton Reicha .Josef Reicha was born in
Chudenice . In 1761 he moved toPrague , where he was taughtcello byFranz Joseph Werner . In 1771 Reicha became first cellist in the Kapelle of Prince (Fürst) Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein. Together with the famousviolinist Anton Janitsch , who also played in the Kapelle, Reicha toured several european cities during late 1770s and visitedLeopold Mozart inSalzburg in 1778. In his letters to Wolfgang Amadeus, Leopold praised Reicha's cello playing and compared the style of one of his cello concerts to those by Wolfgang Amadeus.He adopted his nephew Anton Reicha in 1780 (Josef married in 1779, but the marriage produced no children) and subsequently taught him the
violin and thepiano . In 1785 Josef was made director of the Hofkapelle inBonn byMaximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne ; the whole family moved toBonn . Anton became a member of the Hofkapelle through his uncle. Other members included the young Beethoven, who played theviola and the organ, andNikolaus Simrock , founder of the Simrock music publishing firm, who played the horn in the orchestra. Simrock would later publish Josef's works. In 1789 Josef became director of the orchestra of the new theater, "Bonner Nationaltheater". Unfortunately, his musical career was cut short in 1791, when he contractedgout . He died four years later in Bonn.Reicha wrote music for
orchestra and chamber ensembles of different kinds. His works include symphonies, various concertos including 10 for cello, twelvepartita s forwind instrument s and miscellaneous other works. Most of Reicha's compositions were completed inWallerstein , before his Bonn years. His writing for strings and cello particularly is markedly virtuosic, reflecting his own skill. Music scholar Ludwig Schiedermair in 'Der junge Beethoven' (Leipzig, 1925) gave specific examples taken from Reicha's partitas and symphonies and has proven that these works influenced Beethoven. Other important admirers of Reicha included Leopold Mozart andMichael Haydn .References
* Claus Reinländer. "Reicha, Josef", "Grove Music Online", ed. L. Macy, [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access).
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