Reicha, Anton - Quintetto op.100 No.1 F-major for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon

Anton Reicha — also known as Antonín Rejcha — was born on 26 February 1770 in Prague and died on 28 May 1836 in Paris. His father, a baker, died before Anton's first birthday. In 1781, at the age of eleven, the boy moved to Wallerstein to live with his uncle Joseph Reicha, who, though childless himself, raised him as his own son. Under his uncle's guidance, Anton — who until then had spoken only Czech — received a thorough education, learned German and French, and threw himself into the study of flute, violin and piano. How much of this instruction came directly from his uncle is not precisely known. Together they joined the court orchestra of the Elector Maximilian Franz of Cologne in Bonn, where Reicha is recorded as a violinist in 1790 and also appeared as a flautist at the Cologne National Theatre. Within the orchestra he became friends with Beethoven and encountered works of the Mannheim School and Viennese Classicism — but above all French opera, which further nurtured his fondness for wind instruments.

In 1790 Reicha also met Joseph Haydn, who stopped in Bonn on his first journey to London. When the Bonn court orchestra was disbanded after the outbreak of the French Revolution, Reicha left his uncle and moved to Hamburg in 1794, where he worked as a private teacher. In 1799 he settled in Paris, drawn by its vibrant musical life and more liberal climate. In the winter of 1801/02 he left the city again for Vienna, where Haydn received him warmly and he completed his training in composition under Haydn, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, while also renewing his friendship with Beethoven. He turned down an offer to become Kapellmeister to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, and by this time he was already a highly regarded teacher of composition.

In October 1808 Reicha settled permanently in Paris. His operas met with little success despite his efforts, but his instrumental works — above all his wind quintets — won lasting acclaim, and as a teacher he achieved great renown. A professorship was created for him at the Paris Conservatoire, which he took up on 1 January 1818. Alongside Cherubini, Paër, Lesueur, Berton and Boieldieu, he served on the Comité d'enseignement. In addition to his compositions, his theoretical writings were also published. In 1819 Reicha married a Frenchwoman, and in 1829 he became a French citizen. In recognition of his services to music he was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur in 1831, and on 23 March 1835 he succeeded Boieldieu as a member of the Institut de France. Shortly afterwards he fell seriously ill and died.

His pupils included Adolphe Adam, George Onslow, Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Charles Dancla, Georges Franck and Jean-Georges Kastner.

For a long time now, string instruments alone have held the exclusive privilege of capturing listeners' attention in musical entertainment. Is it not regrettable that wind instruments — which come closest of all to the human voice — should be all but excluded from it? They have been reproached for lacking music that recommends itself through good composition as well as fine performance. Yet the progress of any instrument owes more to composers than to players: the masterworks of Haydn and Mozart, difficult as they at first were to perform, have since given string instruments the upper hand. We wish to do justice to the amateurs for whom these works were written; undeterred, they are now reaping the fruit of their efforts and their perseverance. By the same path we shall reach the same goal. To play these quintets well, each player must study their part carefully and rehearse together often, so as to grasp the composer's intention. Music meant to please through unified performance always presents a few difficulties that may at first be discouraging, but are easily overcome. Forte, mezzo-forte and, above all, piano must be strictly observed. The voice carrying the melody must be allowed to predominate and must never be covered. To achieve this degree of perfection, one must strive to render the indicated shadings, without which all music loses its interest. By careful attention to what has been said, one will be able to perform these quintets properly. This has also been our own endeavour. If teachers and lovers of wind instruments follow our example, they will encourage the author to enrich his collection further. Through perseverance they will overcome the reluctance that keeps composers from working in this field, spur a rivalry with the string instruments, and remove an imbalance whose principal cause we have indicated.