Reinecke, Carl

Reinecke, Carl

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.1 in F sharp minor, Op.72

Preface
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke, composer, conductor, pedagogue and writer on music, was in no doubt that his music was unlikely to survive long after his death. “But I will not indulge in the misleading hope that my works are set to endure for very long, maybe except for those that I wrote for young people.” 1

Today, despite his many songs for children and legends, and his many years of service as director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, only a few “initiates” realize just how varied and wideranging his compositions are, comprising more than 280 works, covering almost every musical genre.

Born in Altona, Reinecke received right from his early years a comprehensive practical and thorough musical training from his father, a music teacher. Rather than sending him to school, his father decided to teach him the full range of subjects at home, for reasons of health. Under the strict guidance of his father, the young Reinecke soon developed into an impressive pianist, performing at an early age works by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. A grant from Danish King Christian VIII enabled the young musician to fulfil his long ambition to visit the musical city of Leipzig, where he made contact with such musical eminences as Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. He spent three years in this centre of the musical world, composing and studying on his own, and increasingly establishing himself in the city’s artistic life. He finally made his debut at the Gewandhaus, in a concert conducted by Mendelssohn, and became a familiar figure in the salons of prosperous Leipzig families.

In 1847/48, Reinecke was appointed as court pianist to the Danish Royal Family. The turmoil in the Schleswig-Holstein uprising of 1848 caused him to give up his position in the Court, and return to Leipzig. He then travelled on to Weimar, to meet Franz Liszt. Soon afterwards, Reinecke relocated to Bremen, where he gave concerts with such as Clara Schumann and Liszt, who gave him a testimonial recommending him to Hector Berlioz, enabling the young musician, now a figure of some eminence, to make his way to Paris in 1851.

Once in Paris, he was cordially received by Berlioz, performing both publicly and in private salons, and giving piano lessons to such pupils as Liszt’s daughters, Blandine and Cosima. Reinecke’s meeting in the French capital with the composer Ferdinand Hiller proved particularly fruitful. Hiller appointed Reinecke as a teacher at the Cologne Conservatory – the Rhineland’s music academy – where he had been director since 1849.

The three years Reinecke spent in Cologne, from 1851 to 1854, proved very successful, both professionally and in his private life. He gave concerts in the city and its vicinity, composed works including a symphony and his first songs for children

Komplettes Vorwort lesen > HERE