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Anton Reicha
Anton Reicha
Czech-born French composer
1
Georg Druschetzky
Georg Druschetzky
Czech oboist, timpanist, and composer
2
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák
Czech composer (1841-1904)
3
Václav Smetáček
Václav Smetáček
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4
Josef Mysliveček
Josef Mysliveček
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Leopold Koželuch
Leopold Koželuch
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Rudolf Firkušný
Rudolf Firkušný
Czech pianist
7
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian composer of the Classical period
8
Georg Matthias Monn
Georg Matthias Monn
Austrian composer, organist and music teacher
9
Pražák Quartet
Pražák Quartet
Czech string quartet established in 1972
10
Lillian Fuchs
Lillian Fuchs
American musician
11
Karel Velebný
Karel Velebný
Czech actor, music educator, musician and vibraphonist
12
Václav Talich
Václav Talich
Czech conductor, violinist, music educator, professor, university educator and director conductor of Czech philharmony
13
Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz
Lithuanian violinist
14
Josef Suk
Josef Suk
Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor (1929-2011)
15
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Austrian conductor
16
William Steinberg
William Steinberg
American conductor
17
Walter Susskind
Walter Susskind
Czech conductor, composer and pianist
18
Josef Suk
Josef Suk
Czech composer and violinist (1874-1935)
Josef Reicha
Czech composer and violoncellist

Josef Reicha

Intro
Czech composer and violoncellist
Music

Josef Reicha (Rejcha) (12 February 1752 – 5 March 1795) was a Czech cellist, composer and conductor. He was the uncle of composer and music theorist Anton Reicha.

Josef Reicha was born in Chudenice. In 1761 he moved to Prague, where he was taught cello by Franz Joseph Werner. In 1771 Reicha became first cellist in the Kapelle of Prince (Fürst) Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein. Together with the famous violinist Anton Janitsch, who also played in the Kapelle, Reicha toured several European cities during the late 1770s and visited Leopold Mozart in Salzburg in 1778. In his letters to Wolfgang Amadeus, Leopold praised Reicha's cello playing and compared the style of one of his cello concerts to those by Wolfgang Amadeus.

Reicha adopted his nephew Anton in 1780 (Josef married in 1779, but the marriage produced no children) and subsequently taught him the violin and the piano. In 1785 Josef was made director of the orchestra in Bonn by Maximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne; the whole family moved to Bonn. Anton became a member of the Hofkapelle through his uncle. Other members included the young Beethoven, who played the viola and the organ, and Nikolaus Simrock, founder of the Simrock music publishing firm, who played the horn in the orchestra. Simrock would later publish Josef's works. In 1789 Josef became music director of the new theater, Bonner Nationaltheater. Unfortunately, his musical career was cut short in 1791, when he contracted gout. He died four years later in Bonn.