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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.

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.

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

Dear Alan,
thank you very much for posting the link to the article I wrote for the NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) to commemorate Adolf Reichel's 200th birthday. It is one of three similar articles I penned on that occasion.
A more detailed one, focussing more on Reichel's amazing lifelong friendship with the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin appeared in the Swiss review "Dissonance":
https://www.dissonance.ch/upload/pdf/136_19_hb_mso_reichel.pdf
A little breakthrough is that, on the basis of these articles, an author (unknown to me) wrote a German Wikipedia article on Reichel (I hope we'll soon find time to complete it):
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Reichel
Last but definitely not least, Sinnaj (who is working on a doctoral thesis about Reichel as you know) published a wonderful, fascinating book in Greek on Bakunin's relationship to music, with emphasis on Reichel, of course:
https://www.politeianet.gr/books/mallouchos-giannis-eleutheriaki-koultoura-to-tragoudi-ton-okeanidon-265457
Sinnaj is currently preparing a German version of this work.
What else? Adolf Reichel's manuscripts are now preserved in the library of the Hochschule der Künste in Bern, Switzerland, and being inventoried for the RISM.
An additional pile of Reichel works was found in the archives of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Hannover and donated to the Bern Hochschule.
My wife Regina is preparing printable versions of several works, including one of Reichel's magna opera, the Piano Quintet Op.30 of 1864, dedicated to his student Duke George II. of Sachsen-Meiningen, a weighty and brilliant work, apt to belie the common opinion that Reichel disliked Brahms.
A concert with live broadcast planned by the Bern Hochschule in cooperation with the Swiss Radio had to be cancelled for illness but one of the artists involved, the young French 'cellist Mathieu Gutbub, and pianist Jean-Jacques Dünki will at least perform one of Reichel's 'cello sonatas at the Wildt'sches Haus in Basle, Switzerland, on Sunday, September 10 at 11 a.m..
The undersigned is working on articles on the erratic life of Reichel's son Max, a.k.a. Henri Ern, while Regina is copying Ern's virtuoso pieces for solo violin that we found in Puerto Rico, and has performed one of them so far.
In short, things are progressing, not as speedily as we'd hoped, but pretty steadily.
Thank all you for your continued interest in A.R. and please excuse me for my lengthy silence, due to the vicissitudes of life.
With best wishes to all,
Florestano

Dear christopherjhoh,
of course we are interested and find it extremely exciting that there's somebody in Virginia working on Adolf Reichel and even going to the trouble of translating the lyrics of his works !
I'll get check our archive of mss. for "your" piece and get back to you ASAP !
Thank you for joining the Reichel community which is extending from Greece to Puerto Rico by now ! Not bad.
With kind regards
Florestano

  Sorry, folks, and thanks, eschiss1. The YouTube link was triplicated. I HAD previewed it but must have been shaky when pushing the "post" button  . Here it is again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow

Enjoy.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow]

Good news: Sinnaj just informed me that Reichel 2 is on back YouTube:

]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80zIb5KIow

Touch wood !

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mi6ecx7p1c4p9me/AAAUSE-U5n8uCuBPoaOFwqZOa?n=110958608]

Dear Adolf Reichel community,

for those of you who are curious to get an idea of Adolf Reichel's other finished symphony, no. 1 in D minor, I posted a MIDI recording in Dropbox.

MIDI, in this case, means that the sound is computer generated by the notation programme used for the score (Finale in this case). Sounds horrible of course, but better than nothing. Fortunately all of you have sampled and saved nice orchestral sounds in your heads.

The curious thing is that symphonies 1 and 2 have exactly the same duration - 37' or half a CD each - as if the composer had foreseen things to come.

Reichel 1 is even more beethovenian than no. 2. The unabashed quote of Beethoven 7 at the outset of the last movement is worth a smile. Almost a gag. Like Beethoven, Reichel likes simple themes, such as the initial nine-note-motive of the 1st movement, that allow him to show off his skills in developing banal material.

It's music written by a good teacher of composition, and a conservative one, showing his virtuosic craftmanship to advantage, but not in an merely academic way. I find the piece quite charming and romantic.
   
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mi6ecx7p1c4p9me/AAAUSE-U5n8uCuBPoaOFwqZOa?n=110958608

Enjoy.

Florestano

I am fully aware that this is not to the point but Robert Radecke's grandson, Ewald Radecke, happened to be my piano teacher (and wow, what a teacher !) I remember him telling me that his share of the royalties for his grandfather's "hit" "Aus der Jugendzeit" was still a substantial source of income for him and his familly. I also remember that Ewald owned the autographs of some Bach cantatas. One of his sons, Georg Radecke, is apparently still living in Winterthur, Switzerland. Maybe he can help with the missing recording.
Good luck
Florestano

[Wheesht]

Wheesht: Thank you very much for starting the discussion, for coming forward again and for your excellent tips !
Yes, we are going to contact the Berne Orchestra about the Reichel anniversary. I even happen to know their principal conductor, he recorded a disc with me, way back ... well, we'll do all we can !
JimL and Aramiarz: As I wrote earlier, the problem with the piano concerto is that the solo part is fragmentary and that the work can therefore not be performed - not yet, at least.

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

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

[Semloh:]

 :-)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 ! 

 

It's good to know there's at least a handful of people who are interested in Adolf Reichel. My wife is his great-great-granddaughter, and our two sons are the sixth consecutive generation of professional musicians in the Reichel dynasty. A couple of months ago, after decades of search, we received Adolf Reichel's compositional heritage, a dozen heavy boxes of manuscripts that we are currently inventorizing. My wife just finished reconstructing the score of Reichel's 1st symphony in D minor from the orchestral parts. It sounds beautiful and fascinating. We also own the 2nd symphony in C  you are referring to. We are convinced that both symphonies (and more works) deserve being performed, unfortunately, persuading an orchestra or conductor to do so is another story ... Reichel's memoirs, preserved in Amsterdam (the autograph, apart from the typescript which is an abridged version) is one of the most exciting testimonials of musical (and political) life in 19th century Europe, as thrilling as a novel, and would deserve being published in extenso. I am currently preparing Wikipedia articles on both Adolf Reichel and his son Max (1863-1930), a violinist and pupil of Joseph Joachim. He later called himself "Henri Ern" and was a soloist, composer and professor in the U.S.A.. It's all going to be a huge of work and we are looking for help from universities, publishers and libraries but have only met with total disinterest so far.
Would anyone kindly help me with the Wikipedia articles, like proof-reading them ?
Again, thank you very much for your interest.