(1752–1795)
Joseph Reicha
The cellist Joseph Reicha, born on 12 February 1752 in Chudenice near Klatovy (West Bohemia), received his musical training in Prague. In 1774 he joined the court orchestra at Wallerstein as principal cellist, and from around 1780 he also took on the role of Kapellmeister of that orchestra. A year later, in 1781, he took his later famous nephew Anton Reicha (1770–1836) into the orchestra and taught him several instruments, possibly also composition.
Prince Kraft Ernst evidently valued his Kapellmeister highly, since Reicha’s salary of 750 gulden was twice as high as the highest income of the other musicians in the orchestra. Despite this esteem, Reicha left the court of Wallerstein in 1785 to enter the service of the Archbishop of Cologne, Maximilian Franz, as concertmaster. Shortly afterwards the Archbishop appointed him director of concerts of the Bonn court orchestra, with a salary of 1,000 gulden. In 1790 his nephew Anton also played in this orchestra as violinist and flautist, alongside the young Beethoven as violist.
Reicha suffered from gout in the early 1790s and died in Bonn on 5 March 1795. His compositions were written almost exclusively during his eleven years in Wallerstein and include symphonies, solo concertos and chamber music.
The Parthia in D for 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns, 2 Bassoons and Double Bass
was composed around 1784 in Wallerstein. The autograph score is held under the shelfmark HR III 4 1/2 4°496 in the Oettingen-Wallerstein court library, now kept at Augsburg University Library.
In 1783 Prince Kraft Ernst’s court music was expanded by two flautists and an additional bassoon. On this occasion two flute parts were added to the Parthia in F (ROM 79), already composed in 1782, though these merely doubled other parts. In the present Parthia in D, by contrast, the two flute parts are independently composed.
A particularly notable feature of the score is that the two clarinets are written somewhat less prominently. According to reports on the court orchestra, the standard of the two clarinettists was somewhat below that of the other wind players at this time.
1st movement: Adagio – Allegro