Antonín Rejcha (1770-1836)
- Overture in D (c.1823)
Performers: Prague Philharmonia; Kaspar Zehnder (conductor)
Further info: Antonín Rejcha (1770-1836)
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Czech composer, active in France and Austria. Nephew and pupil of Joseph
Reicha (composer and violinist, leader and later Kapellmeister, of the
Electoral orch. at Bonn). In 1785 the family moved to Bonn, where Reicha
became a member of the Hofkapelle of Max Franz, Elector of Cologne,
playing violin and second flute in the court orchestra under his uncle's
direction. The young Beethoven entered the Hofkapelle as violist and
organist in 1789 and Reicha befriended him. From about 1785 Reicha
studied composition secretly, against his uncle's wishes, composing and
conducting his first symphony in 1787 and entering the University of
Bonn in 1789, where he studied and performed until 1794, when Bonn was
attacked and captured by the French. He managed to escape to Hamburg. In
1799 he moved to Paris, hoping to achieve success as an opera composer
but in 1801 he moved on to Vienna. Once there, he studied with Antonio
Salieri and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Reicha's life and career in
Vienna were interrupted by Napoleon's November 1805 occupation of the
city by French troops. Then Reicha decided to move back to Paris. He was
soon teaching composition privately, future prolific composer George
Onslow being one of his pupils by 1808. This time three of his many
operas were produced, but they all failed; yet his fame as theorist and
teacher increased steadily, and by 1817 most of his pupils became
professors at the Conservatoire de Paris. The following year, Reicha
himself was appointed professor of counterpoint and fugue at the
Conservatoire with the support of Louis XVIII. In 1818 he married
Virginie Enaust, who bore him two daughters. Reicha stayed in Paris for
the rest of his life. He became a naturalized citizen of his adopted
country in 1829 and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1835. That same
year, he succeeded François-Adrien Boieldieu at the Académie française.
Though a prolific composer, he was of particular importance as a
theorist and teacher in early 19th-century Paris.
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