A youthful friend of Beethoven, with whom he played in the Bonn orchestra in 1785, Antoine Reicha settled in Paris and in 1818 took over the composition class at the Conservatoire. Berlioz, Liszt, Gounod and César Franck would come out of it: no other teacher in the house trained such a list. Born in Prague in 1770, he died in 1836, and his pupils had a monument raised to him.
The story
Born in Prague on 25 February 1770, Antoine Reicha lost his father as a small child and in 1785 followed his uncle Josef Reicha, a cellist and director of the court music, as far as Bonn. In that orchestra, from 1789, he played beside a viola player of his own age: Beethoven. They would remain friends.
He settled in Paris in 1808. In 1818 the Conservatoire gave him the class in counterpoint and fugue, left vacant by the death of Méhul — the most coveted in the school.
His pupils made the French music of the century: Berlioz, Liszt, Gounod, César Franck. No other teacher at the Conservatoire can show a list like it.
A member of the Institut and a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, he left a considerable body of theory and wind quintets that are still in the repertoire.
He died in Paris on 28 May 1836. His friends and his pupils — Paër, Le Sueur, Baillot, Adam — formed a committee and had his monument raised in 1837, in Division 7, on Avenue Casimir-Perier: a marble high relief by the sculptor Dominique Molchneth, in which a Muse holds a flute in each hand — his instrument. The City of Paris restored it in 2010.
The grave
A marble high relief set up in 1837, a year after his death: the musician's bust, a small winged genius playing the lyre, and a Muse holding a flute — his instrument. The work is by the sculptor Dominique Molchneth, to the plans of the architect François Thiollet, and was funded by a committee of friends and pupils on which sat Paër, Le Sueur, Baillot and Adam. The City of Paris restored it in 2010. The inscription details his titles: “A REICHA (Antoine Joseph), professeur de contrepoint, au conservatoire de musique, membre de l'Institut et de la Légion d'honneur, né à Prague le 25 février 1770, décédé à Paris le 28 mai 1836.” — to Reicha (Antoine Joseph), professor of counterpoint at the Conservatoire, member of the Institut and of the Legion of Honour, born in Prague on 25 February 1770, died in Paris on 28 May 1836.
On site, do not miss
The high relief of 1837: the professor's bust, a winged genius playing the lyre and a Muse holding a flute — Reicha's instrument. The monument was paid for by his pupils.
Visitors' questions
Where is Antoine Reicha's grave?
In Division 7, avenue Casimir-Perier, first row, beneath a marble high relief of 1837: his bust, a small winged genius playing the lyre and a Muse holding a flute. The City of Paris restored it in 2010.
RachelDid Reicha know Beethoven?
Yes, from 1789: they played in the same orchestra at the court of Bonn, Beethoven on the viola, Reicha on the flute. They were the same age, and they remained friends all their lives, Paris and Vienna notwithstanding.
Luigi CherubiniWhich pupils did Antoine Reicha train?
Berlioz, Liszt, Gounod and César Franck, among others. He had succeeded Méhul as professor of composition at the Conservatoire in 1818: no other teacher in the institution can boast a comparable roll-call.
Étienne-Nicolas MéhulWho had his monument erected?
His friends and pupils, gathered into a committee — Paër, Le Sueur, Baillot, Adam. The marble high relief is by the sculptor Dominique Molchneth, to plans by the architect François Thiollet, and was set in place in 1837.
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