Antoine Reicha, born Antonín Rejcha in Prague, was a Professor of Counterpoint and Fugue at the Paris Conservatoire and was granted French citizenship.
Compositional Technique
Reicha's wind quintets establish each instrument (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon) on an equal footing, similar to Haydn's mature string quartets.
Composer Biography
Reicha was a flautist in the Bonn Court orchestra alongside Beethoven, who was born the same year as Reicha.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Reicha's advanced composition course advocated broadening a composer's means by introducing folk melodies, irregular meters, polytonality, and quarter-tones.
Composition History
Reicha's 24 wind quintets were composed because there was a dearth of good music for wind instruments, and composers knew little of their technique.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Reicha believed in progress in art and sought a systematic and logical method for composition, questioning traditional harmony treatises.
Critical Reception
Reicha's Wind Quintets were so popular that Balzac mentioned them in one of his novels as a special attraction, and a critic claimed they surpassed Haydn and Mozart in chamber music.
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