Anton Reicha / Antonín Rejcha

Biography

Born in Prague in 1770; died in Paris in 1836. A composer and music theorist born in the same year as Beethoven, he exerted significant influence in early 19th-century Europe, particularly in theoretical and educational spheres.

1. Departure from Home ~ Bonn Court Orchestra Period (1770–1794)

Born into a turbulent era symbolized by the French Revolution, and with the early death of his father shortly after his birth, Reicha spent the first half of his life moving from place to place until 1808. His departure from his native Bohemia in his teens and his move to Wallerstein, where his uncle Joseph Reicha (a composer and cellist who would later also teach Beethoven) served as principal cellist, can be considered the beginning of Reicha's first significant musical education (he moved in 1780/81). There, Reicha received instruction from his uncle in German, French, violin, flute, and keyboard instruments. In 1784, when his uncle was invited to become Kapellmeister of the Cologne Elector's Court Orchestra, Reicha accompanied him and became a member of the Bonn Court Orchestra (flute and violin). This marked the beginning of his interactions with Beethoven and the Romberg brothers, violinist Andreas and cellist Bernhard. From a young age, Reicha was interested in theoretical matters, and according to his autobiography, he secretly began studying composition against his uncle's wishes. In 1789, he enrolled at the University of Bonn with Beethoven, attending lectures on Kantian philosophy and algebra. This strong interest in mathematics undoubtedly laid the groundwork for Reicha's career as a theorist. However, while it is said that he read music theory treatises by Marpurg and Kirnberger from his time in Bonn, this point is not certain.

2. Wanderings and Encounters (1794–1818)

In 1794, to escape the French invasion, Reicha, like other young musicians, left Bonn and wandered across Europe. While traveling through Hamburg, Paris, and other cities, he failed to secure a stable position as a composer in theaters, but during this period of relocation, he gained important experiences for his later career. One was his encounters with other musicians. His friendships with violinist and composer Pierre Rode, Pierre Baillot, and the internationally renowned composer Luigi Cherubini, in particular, later provided an opportunity for Reicha to introduce these musicians to Beethoven and Haydn. Furthermore, his reunion with Haydn may have been the catalyst that led to Reicha's decision to move to Vienna. The second was his inclination towards theory. During this period, Reicha began to theorize about composition and compositional instruction, and he started composing some of the fugues that would later be published as Trente six fugues. His work as a composer, theorist, and keyboard instructor in Hamburg, undertaken to support himself, likely fostered this systematic approach to inquiry. Unable to achieve his goal of establishing himself as an opera composer, Reicha arrived in Vienna to visit Beethoven and Haydn (the exact date is unknown, but around 1800). Here, Reicha, like his friend and former colleague Beethoven, studied with Salieri (though there are theories that he also studied with Haydn and Albrechtsberger, these lack confirmation). Regarding his career, he did not achieve success in opera in Vienna and, moreover, declined an offer for a position from Prussia. Thus, Reicha spent his time as a freelancer, utilizing the freedom from official duties to compose important instrumental works. His theoretical 36 Fugues, which he had been working on since before his move to Vienna, were, according to Reicha, written in a “completely new method.” It is a well-known anecdote that this provoked Beethoven's indignation, leading Beethoven himself to write to his publisher that his own variation works, Op. 34 and Op. 35, were composed “in a new manner.” Other significant works from this period include L’Art de Varier, a series of string quintets, Missa pro defunctis, and the cantata Lenore based on Gottfried August Bürger's ballad (see relevant section). After arriving in Vienna, Reicha again traveled to Leipzig, Prague, and other cities to perform his works and visit his mother in his hometown. The situation in Europe at this time was unstable due to the Napoleonic Wars, and even after completing his travels, Reicha could not settle in Vienna upon his return. He left Vienna in 1808 and moved to Paris again.

3. Paris Period (1818–1836)

His initial life in Paris revolved around private lessons, composition, and writing theoretical treatises. In 1818, he finally secured a stable position as Professor of Counterpoint and Fugue at the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Declamation (known as the Royal School of Music and Declamation under the Bourbon Restoration; hereinafter referred to as the Paris Conservatoire). Reicha's Cours de composition musicale (Course on Musical Composition) replaced the traditional conservatoire textbooks, emphasizing learning from practice and contemporary music rather than solely from old compositional principles. This textbook also inadvertently led to the misconception that free composition was permissible and that one did not need to diligently study composition based on harmony and strict counterpoint as immutable foundations.

Even after moving to Paris, Reicha himself continued to aim for success in the field of opera, but unfortunately, his hopes were not realized, and his operas from the Paris period, with the exception of Cagliostoro, Natalie, and Sapho, remained unperformed. Nevertheless, his reputation as a music educator and theorist was high. Even after he ceased composing after 1826, he acquired French nationality in 1829, was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1831, and became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1835.

Compositional Style, Theoretical Works

Reicha's compositional style and the music theories he developed were innovative, not bound by existing principles, and are said to have particularly influenced the progressive school in Paris. His compositional style strongly explored novelty while departing from tradition. General characteristics noted include a very rich thematic invention, bold harmonic practices characterized by mediant relationships and chromaticism, colorful instrumentation, intense contrasts, and free formal construction.

As an example of these characteristics, his representative work, 36 Fugues, can be cited. While this work shows a connection to tradition by quoting themes from Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti, it also possesses features unusual for didactic fugues, such as bold key relationships, meter changes, and the virtual absence of counter-subjects. Similarly, L’Art de Varier, Op. 57, incorporates traditional elements like the gavotte while demonstrating a departure from existing variation forms, with its innovative use of timbre, including the exploitation of extreme registers. Furthermore, Études, Op. 97, with 29 out of 34 pieces paired as prelude and fugue, is structured in a way that evokes Well-Tempered Clavier and serves as a guide for young composers.

Another genre that received acclaim during Reicha's lifetime was the wind quintet (e.g., Opp. 88, 91, 99). Reicha stated his intention to elevate the wind quintet to the level of the string quartet. His works demand high performance skills, suitable for professional players (the difficulty of performance was likely determined by his anticipation of professional wind ensembles, such as Dauprat, who would become his colleague at the Paris Conservatoire), and he was able to employ structures that, while starting from traditional forms, developed significantly from them.

The series of string quartets, whose composition began during his stay in Vienna, also feature innovative techniques and compositional methods, such as fugues in the final movements, multiple tempo changes within the same movement, and movement structures that do not conform to existing formal models. Reicha's works have received high praise from composers for their orchestration and use of timbre. His instrumentation is said to have influenced Berlioz, and acoustic similarities between the two are particularly noted in Lenore (1805), a representative large-scale vocal work.

Reicha's series of theoretical treatises, as an excellent educator, are also significant in music history. Below are a few examples from his numerous theoretical works:

• Traité de mélodie (Treatise on Melody), published in 1814, is considered a work in which Reicha attempted to parallel Rameau's theory of harmony with a theory of melody, a field that lacked a consistent pedagogical tradition. In this book, Reicha emphasized the importance of identifying and analyzing short musical groupings that constitute melody (motives, figures, phrases, periods) and argued for the significance of refining the entire work by manipulating the elements that form melodic coherence.
• Furthermore, in Traité de haute composition musicale (Treatise on Advanced Musical Composition), instrumental fugue is juxtaposed with traditional vocal fugue as a new development of Reicha's era. In this treatise, Reicha referred to sonata form as “grand binary form,” designating the exposition as the “first section” and the development and recapitulation as the “first half” and “second half” of the second section, respectively, thus outlining a theory of form that corresponds to today's textbook sonata theory.

Reicha's significance and influence as a theorist and teacher are undeniable. His pupils include numerous composers who remain famous today. For example, among his pupils from before his appointment at the Paris Conservatoire was George Onslow, and after his appointment, they included Adolphe Adam, famous for ballet works such as Giselle, as well as Berlioz, Louise Farrenc, Franz Liszt, César Franck, and Charles Gounod. Reicha's excellence as a teacher was acknowledged by himself and others; his writings spread through translations not only in France but also in multiple languages, attracting the attention of musicians across Europe. These included Meyerbeer and Schumann, and Smetana also owned Reicha's works in Czerny's translation. Considering these facts, Reicha is a composer who deserves renewed attention today.