The Strangely Innovative Piano Music of Beethoven’s Friend, Anton Reicha

One of the most interesting musicians of the early 19th century was Anton Reicha, who is remembered today for his teachings and theories rather than his compositions. I dove into Reicha's long-forgotten piano works, many of which have strangely innovative (or just plain weird) ideas hidden within them, to see what might still be worth salvaging, or simply encountering, today. This video is a virtual museum display packed with several of Reicha's most notorious pianistic curiosities, but even these only represent the tip of the iceberg within Reicha's prolific output.

All excerpts created exclusively for this video on a model 1826 Graf by Pianoteq.

A note on pronouncing Reicha’s name:
German: “RYE-kha”
Czech: “RAY-kha”
French: “Ray-SHA”

I chose “RYE-sha” to be neutral and consistent with how most Americans pronounce the name “Reich.” Reicha had an international career and probably heard his name spoken in all sorts of ways. I like to think he’d be cool with the many variations, as long as people are talking about his music.

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Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:33 Reicha's Background and Career
05:34 Fantasy on a Single Chord
07:55 Strange Fugues
11:28 The Art of Varying
18:31 The Value of Reicha's Piano Works
20:30 Bonus Performance: Fugue in E minor

Featured Reicha piano works (in order of appearance):
Practische Beispiele No. 20, Harmonie
Sight reading tests from Etudes Op. 30 with different keys and clefs
Four-staff sight-reading test from Pactische Beispiele and Etudes Op. 30
Fantasy on a Single Chord (in E major), No. 4 from Pactische Beispeiele
Alkan – Fa, Chants Op. 38b, Allegretto (inner voice fixed on F natural)
36 Fugues, Fugue No. 15 (six simultaneous subjects)
36 Fugues, Fugue No. 13 (modal, white keys only)
36 Fugues, Fugue No. 28 (combined meters)
36 Fugues, Fugue No. 18 (repeated notes)
L'Art de varier (The Art of Varying), Theme and Variations Nos. 1, 44, 50, 21, 32, 47, 56
36 Fugues, Fugue No. 7 (Mozart theme)
Etudes dans le genre fugué, Op. 97, No 1, Fugue in E minor