Adolf Reichel

[Double-A]

I just noticed that Reichel's birth date is given as 1820 on IMSLP.  Are we certain enough about 1816 to go and correct this?

[Alan Howe]

Yes.

[Florestano]

1816 is sure. I copied Reichel's entry in the civil register of his community.

[Alan Howe]

Eric: can you change the details at IMSLP, please? His dates should read: 30 August 1816 - 5 March 1896.

Thanks!

[eschiss1]

Done.

[Florestano]

Incidentally, we heard a wonderful performance of Adolf Reichel's Sonata in D major, Op.33, for violoncello and piano yesterday in Basle, Switzerland, by Matthieu Gutbub ('cello) and Jean-Jacques Dünki (piano), in a "period" rendition (played from Reichel's autograph on a classical 'cello without endpin, with very sparse vibrato, and a gorgeous Blüthner grand piano of 1859). The piece was composed in Bern in 1867 (the year when Reichel moved there from Dresden) and dedicated to the legendary cellist Friedrich Grützmacher who was active in Dresden at the same time as Reichel and had presumably been teaching Reichel's son Alexander, 14 years old at that time and later a prominent left-wing politician and judge in the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, playing chamber music (and drinking) with painter Paul Klee in his spare time. This sonata is a first-rate composition, exciting and dramatic, and we are confident now that Adolf Reichel wil be "sung" more often soon. The performance was recorded, and we hope we'll be allowed to post it.

[Alan Howe]

Thank you, Eric.

[Alan Howe]

We definitely look forward to hearing the Cello Sonata here, Florestano!

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, that's an exciting prospect.

[Florestano]

Sorry for staying away from UC for such a long time, the reason being, as usual, mundane annoyances of all kinds.
Anyway, as to Adolf Reichel, we have stayed active and there are some news that are not quite unexciting:
(1) Some time ago, Regina (Reichel) finished engraving the score of the Piano Quintet Op. 30 in A minor of 1864 and, as we are fed up with going door to door for a publisher, we'll post in in the Petrucci Library sooner or later. We'll also post a MIDI recording somewhere ASAP. We think this work is sensational and bet it will be international repertoire pretty soon. It has surprising touches of Brahms (whom Reichel is said to have disliked, though he never said he did) and a splendid neo-baroque finale based on the favorite hymn of duke George II of Saxony-Meiningen to whom it is dedicated, Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.
(2) The Hochschule der Künste in Bern that preserves Reichels mss. is encouraging young ensembles to perform Reichel's works, resulting in a few performances of chamber music that sounded more than promising - we're becoming aware that even we might have been underestimating Reichel.
(3) eschiss1: Anton Reichel (1892-1984) is my grandfather-in-law, Adolf's grandson, violinist and composer, and yes, his compositions are in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Alexander Reichel (1853-1921) was Adolf's second-born son, a thoroughly trained musician, cellist, pianist, conductor and composer who was playing chamber music and drinking with painter Paul Klee but was a lawyer by profession, judge at the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne.
(4) Sinnaj's book on Adolf Reichel and Mikhail Bakunin is now also available in German: Mallouchos, Jannis: Der Gesang der Okeaniden. Michail Bakunin und die Musik.Vienna: bahoe books 2017, ISBN 978-3-903022-66-9 . Sinnaj keeps working hard on his doctoral thesis, making one incredible discovery after the other.
(5) We have opened TheReichelChannel in YouTube and are gradually posting compositions and performances by all six generations of the Reichel dynasty.
Thank all of you for reviving Adolf Reichel. You'll keep hearing of him.

[Alan Howe]

Here's the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmDULd3IB1fRZoX9nh1JyOA

Great to hear from you, Florestano!

[Wheesht]

There is now an Adolf Reichel Society, founded in December of last year. The website, which is work in progress, can be found here.

[adriano]

On 28th October 2016, Max Sommerhalder published an article on Adolf Reichel (alias Henri Ern) in the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" - on the occasion of the composers' 200th birthday. Online this article is only accessible against payment or to subscribers. The text is slightly different from the one Sommerhalder wrote in Reichel's Website. Reichel's legacy is deposited at the RISM section of the Swiss National Library in Berne.
The performance of his 2nd Symhpony was uploaded on YouTube again in 2018, but the old link is still in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0y_qcyhoFk

Conductor Niklaus Aeschbacher is the brother of the pianists Adrian Aeschbacher and Rudolf am Bach. The latter changed his name in order to avoid confusion. Rudolf was a friend of mine for many years.

[Wheesht]

Thank you for this interesting information about the three brothers. May I make two corrections? 1) Henri Ern was the name Adolf Reichel's son, the violinist Max Reichel (1863-1920) used (I have no idea why he doesn't appear on the Adolf Reichel Society website), and 2) as far as I know, Adolf Reichel's estate is held by HKB, Bern University of the Arts.

[adriano]

Thanks - and sorry, Wheesht. I should take care in the future in order not to tell such nonsense :-)
It's one of those days, anyway, where everything goes wrong...
Since I was researching at RISM some time ago, and their address is the upper floor of Berne's National Library, I thought everything was there. In fact, many manuscripts of Swiss composers are there - like, for example, Peter Fassbänder's (who was one of Fritz Brun's Lucerne teachers). In other words, RISM has just made the inventory of Rechel's estate.

PS: There is another conductor from the Aeschbacher family: Matthias Aeschbacher, a son of Adrian Aeschbacher...