(1752–1795)
Joseph Reicha
Joseph Reicha was born on 12 February 1752 in Chudenice near Klatovy (West Bohemia) and studied cello in Prague. He was engaged as first cellist at the Wallerstein court orchestra in 1774, and six years later he even became Kapellmeister. In 1781 he took his nephew Anton Reicha (1770–1836) into his household and taught him several instruments, probably composition as well.
That Prince Kraft Ernst valued Joseph Reicha highly is shown by his salary of 750 gulden, twice as much as the other musicians earned. Nevertheless, Reicha left the orchestra in 1785 for a post with Maximilian Franz, Archbishop of Cologne. A short time later he became concertmaster of the court orchestra in Bonn, earning 1,000 gulden. Musicians of note also belonged to this orchestra, among them his nephew Anton, playing violin and flute, and the young Beethoven, playing viola.
In 1790 Joseph Reicha fell ill with gout, and he died on 5 March 1795 in Bonn.
The main period of his output was at Wallerstein. Within those eleven years he composed symphonies, solo concertos and chamber music.
Parthia in F for 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 3 Horns and 2 Bassoons
The Parthia in F presented here was composed in 1783 in Wallerstein. The choice of three horns, together with the hunting-related character of the music, was used to reflect the court’s hunts in its music as well. The part of the third horn is especially remarkable: it opens the work with a hunting signal and includes notes in the low register that lie outside the natural harmonic series. These peculiarities of the third horn part support the assumption that Franz Zwierzina played it. As this example shows, the second horn player, too, could be a soloist at the time.
This edition, in this scoring, is based on the autograph score of the Wallerstein court library, now kept at Augsburg University Library under the shelfmark HR III 4 1/2 4°490. Additional parts for violone and two flutes also survive. The flute parts were added later, to employ the newly hired flutists. The violone plays the same line as the basso (2nd bassoon).
1st movement: Allegro