Alexander Reinagle (1756-1809)
- Miscellaneous Overture in D Major
Performers: Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä; Patrick Gallois (conductor)
Further info: Alexander Reinagle (1756-1809) - Sonata No.1 (c.1790)
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English teacher and composer. Son of Joseph Reinagle (?-c.1775), a
German immigrant, he received his earliest musical education from his
father and Raynor Taylor, musical director of the Theatre Royal in
Edinburgh where Reinagle made his first known public appearance on 9
April 1770. Although trained as a merchant, he was active in the concert
life of Edinburgh, publishing his first works there during the 1770s.
On 23 October 1784, he accompanied his brother Hugh Reinagle (1759-1785)
to Portugal. On 8 January 1785 he appeared in a public concert and a
week later performed for the royal family. After his brother's death, he
returned to England and became a member of the Royal Society of
Musicians in London. In 1786 he moved to New York, where he was active
as a teacher, and two months later he settled in Philadelphia, where he
wrote operas for the New Chestnut Street theatre, becoming one of the
leading musicians in the city. From 1790 he was a partner with the
English actor Thomas Wignell and Wignell’s successors in a theatrical
company operating in Philadelphia and Baltimore. In his 15 years with
the company he composed or arranged music for hundreds of productions,
the extent of his responsibility ranging from a single incidental song
to a completely new score, or the orchestration of an existing score. In
1803 he moved to Baltimore to take over the direction of the Holliday
Street theatre. As a composer, his works include 25 operas, three medley
overtures, four keyboard sonatas, as well as various marches and dance
tunes. He also wrote several cantatas, odes, and dirges, such as the
Monody on the Death of George Washington of 1799. His music is
characterized by its use of Scottish tunes, as well as a good foundation
in melody and harmony. As a teacher, his pupils included Nellie Custis,
the granddaughter of George Washington, with whom he was on friendly
terms. His younger brother Joseph Reinagle Jr. (1762-1825) was also a
composer.
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