Adolf Reichel

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, does anything like a catalogue, or partial catalogue, of his work exist? I've never seen one.

[JimL]

The tempo of the finale (of Symphony No.2) is Allegro.  I haven't been able to find a score to see the designation for the scherzo.

[This refers to the download available here. MT]

[JimL]

Florestano, do you have the tempo indication for the 3rd movement scherzo of the C Major Symphony?

[eschiss1]

out of curiosity- I gather some here have had the opportunity to read his autobiography - not asking someone to go through the substantial amount of trouble of digitizing it, even assuming all the ducks are in a row in that regard; just have a question -does he mention much about his symphonies (I'd say either, but I don't know if he wrote more than 2) - composition, performance details, dates, etc., any or all at all- in that autobio?... Or other compositions for which some information might be useful to augment what information is available (publication date and such)?

Thanks

[eschiss1]

... was Friedrich Reichel (who composed a Spring Symphony in D, Op.25, published 1878 by Kistner, Leipzig) a relative of his, any idea?...

btw for such performers as are interested and like the symphony, imslp.org has performance material for Adolf Reichel's string quartet and some piano music (and score and parts to his piano trio in E-flat, Op.17, also.) Also a small amount of choral music (4-part lieder). So far, anyway. (see category.)

[Mark Thomas]

The tempo of the finale (of Symphony No.2) is Allegro

Thanks, Jim. I've amended my post.

[DennisS]

Without checking, I downloaded this symphony, listened to it on my computer etc. and then tried to save it in my music folder, only to be told I already had it! Mark did of course say it was already in the archive and I obviously forgot that I downloaded it first time round. No matter. It made me listen to the symphony again and I have listened to it 3 times in the last 2 days. It is a most enjoyable work, as has been said, in the Beethoven/Schubert/Mendelssohn vein and I can't think why I didn't re-discover this symphony earlier! Listening to this symphony again, with fresh ears, has made all the difference!Is there any chance Florestano, that Reichel's first symphony (and also the second symphony) will be commercially recorded in the near future?

[Alan Howe]

Dennis' experience reflects my own with Reichel's Symphony in C. I too already had the work, but had pretty well forgotten about it. Now this may be because it's not a masterpiece of the front rank; I'd simply thought of it as a fairly typical, if very attractive mid-century symphony in the broad conservative German tradition. But actually it may simply be that I hadn't 'placed' it adequately in terms of its character and ambition...
...And so a thought: Reichel lived in Paris from 1844 to 1857 and knew Gounod there. Gounod apparently wrote his own two symphonies in 1855. So could Reichel have been influenced by Gounod? Or might it have been vice versa? After all, Gounod's idiom seems very close to Reichel's. Do try a comparison and see what you think...

[Florestano]

 :-)Thank you all for accepting me into your illustrious society. My wife, Regina Reichel, and I are not only pleasantly surprised but downright moved to get this amount of feedback and encouragement. We badly needed it... Isn't the world much better than we had thought. Of course we are fully aware that Reichel was not a genius composer but a profoundly conservative mind, musically as well as politically (which makes his selfless support for anarchists and revolutonaries all the more amazing) but he was a musician who thoroughly knew his trade, and not only his own - he also wrote poetry ! Incidentally, apart from his Harmonielehre that appeared in print in 1862, he wrote a book on form, "Allgemeines und Besonderes über musikalische Form und Formen", finished in 1891, the manuscript of which is among our papers. However, writing the Wikipedia articles has priority - a person without such an article is simply nonexistent.

Semloh: Thank you ! I am interested in unsung composers because I was an orchestral musician for many years, playing the "sung composers" so often that nowadays I prefer a Nobody's symphony over one by Beethoven that I know by heart.

Mark Thomas: Thank you so much for uploading the 2nd symphony again. It used to be on YouTube but was removed there a couple of weeks ago, God knows why. Perhaps by the orchestra, for copyright reasons. As to the catalogue of Reichel's works, my wife is in the process of making it (see below) and I'll be happy to post it here when it is finished. By the way, I don't think we have ALL - some of the manuscripts, such as two unfinished symphonies, are in libraries.

Alan Howe: One year in Detmold (or Wetmold, as Anglosaxon students call it) may be O.K. but 28 years were more than I could take - I'm recovering from that in Italy now.

Reichel/Gounod: A very interesting idea of yours, especially since Reichel had a misgiving that Gounod didn't like him, for having offended him in some way. I'll have to check the Gounod symphonies !

Aramiarz: We do own the score of a piano concerto in B-flat major with the complete orchestra parts but the piano part is incomplete, it has gaps (maybe Reichel, like Beethoven, did not fully write out his part but play from sketches). We know that the concerto was performed in Berne on March 7, 1868, with Reichel himself as a soloist. As to Reichel's other works, we're still busy making a list of them and haven't had time to thoroughly assess and evaluate them. Most of the stuff is vocal or chamber music, but there are a short opera, "Jery und Baetly" after Goethe (also set to music by other composers), and two concert ouvertures. There is a 10-piece wind ensemble that sounds interesting.

eschiss1: We are planning to have symphonies 1 and 2 published. We, too, shall scan a few printed works and put them on IMSLP later on. Thank you for laying the foundation !
Quite some printed music by Reichel is in the Swiss National Library in Berne.

Symphonies in the autobiography: Reichel does mention a symphony he wrote at age 19 (we have it, it has remained a torso). There are two more unfinished symphonies, plus the two completed ones. Reichel conducted his 1st symphony in D minor in 1869 in Berne (that whas not the premiere, however), and #2 in C major also in Berne, in 1870. In his memoirs, Reichel does not write much about his own works. I must admit that we own and have read only the typescript of the work (made by Reichel's great-granddaughter Suzanne Reichel) which is an abridged version of the autograph. The latter is a thick book filled with neat but tiny handwriting. We shall have it scanned as soon as we have time. I'll keep you updated. Dates of composition etc. will be in the catalogue of his works that we are preparing. (By the way, Reichel's second wife, the Russian Mariya Ern, wrote two versions of her own memoirs, one in German and one in French, that aren't less interesting than her husband's.)

Friedrich Reichel was not a relative of Adolf's.

JimL: The tempo marking for the scherzo of Reichel's C major symphony is Allegro non troppo presto.

DennisS: My wife just finished the score of symphony #1 with Finale, and we can hear the midi. It is a very "intellectually" composed work - no catchy tunes to hum on the way home after the concert :-( but well written and fascinating. My wife had played the symphony under her father as a child but then her dad left the family and gave all the manuscripts to someone whose name he couldn't remember when he was old. We found the stuff 3 months ago by coincidence and are only just beginning to really check it out. Of course we want to have the two symphonies recorded, together with one or two more orchestral works (there is, for instance, a concert overture "Arnold of Brescia") but this means having to find a conductor, an orchestra and sponsors. I have done that with other composers I unearthed and believe me, it takes time and perseverance.

As I said, I'll keep you updated but that might take some time as I'am still working as a music teacher.

Again, thank you so much for your interest and support ! 

 

[Alan Howe]

Thank you for such a full reply - and update. Very good of you. I would certainly be interested to know when Symphony No.2 was written. To me it's very much in the 'lighter' mould of the Gounod symphonies. Anyway, I'd be glad of your opinion in this regard...

And so do keep in touch. There's a lot of interest in Herr Reichel out there!

[Mark Thomas]

Florestano, I'm touched that you've been so encouraged by our interest in Reichel. Believe me, you truly are amongst friends here  and I'm sure that we'll be able to help you in promoting Reichel's music when the time comes. Quite a few of us have experience in different ways of how best to get a hearing for an unsung composer.

[eschiss1]

I'm getting the impression from all the discussion that it was not published (yet, anyway. Reichel would not have been alone in not having gotten his larger-scale works published while getting many smaller-scale ones accepted. Thinking of an emigrant American named Frederic Louis Ritter who had, among his manuscripts, quite a few concertos, symphonies, etc. but whose published work output was almost entirely rather less "ambitious", iirc ...)

[Florestano]

JimL, the tempo designation for the Scherzo (of Symphony No.2) is "Allegro non troppo presto".
Florestano

Thanks, Florestano: I have duly added this to the information which accompanies the download.
Alan Howe

[JimL]

Florestano, do you have any materials that might help Aramiarz with the piano part of the concerto?

[Alan Howe]

Moderator's note: all posts in the thread on Symphony No.2 have now been merged with this general thread about the composer.

Alan Howe