Today marks the bicentennial of the birth of Carl Reinecke (1824-1910). What, no fireworks? Perhaps there should be.

Reinecke lived an unusually long life for his day. But it is the amount of incident crammed into that life that makes it seem even more so.

A musical prodigy who composed from the age of 7, and performed in public from the age of 12, Reinecke lived and worked in Copenhagen, Paris, Cologne, and Leipzig. He studied with Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt. His concert tours took him all over Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the British Isles.

He taught in Cologne, Breslau, and Leipzig. Among his pupils were Isaac Albéniz, Max Bruch, Ferruccio Busoni, Mikalojus Čiurlionis, Edvard Grieg, Leoš Janáček, Julius Röntgen, Christian Sinding, Charles Villiers Stanford, Johan Svendsen, and Felix Weingartner. Furthermore, he was music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for 35 years. (The final, seven-movement version of Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem” was among the works he premiered.)

Somewhere along the way, he found time to compose. I mean a lot. Look at the opus numbers on the links below! Operas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and instrumental works – some 300 pieces published. As if that’s not enough to make one sit up and take notice, it’s not far into the Opp. 200s that he’s writing in the 20th century. Think about that. I don’t know, it blows MY mind. It really brings home just how short music history is.

At the time of his birth, Beethoven and Schubert were still alive. In fact, he was born the same year Schubert wrote his “Death and the Maiden” quartet. He died the year Alban Berg wrote HIS String Quartet. It was a totally different world.

Toward the end of his life, between 1904 and 1907, Reinecke made some 27 piano rolls, 12 of which document performances of his own music. He was the earliest born musician to have his artistry as an interpreter preserved in any format. Among the other composers whose music he “recorded” were Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann.

He died in 1910 at the age of 85.

And where is he now? Flutists, I suppose, still know “Undine.” Pianists may be familiar with the cadenzas he wrote for the Mozart and Beethoven concertos. He also composed a fun “Toy Symphony” I used to enjoy broadcasting around Christmas.

Mostly, however, his works remain cherished secrets for the blessed few, like holy relics preserved in the hearts and libraries of the most devout musical monastics.

You’ll find plenty to enjoy below. Take a few minutes today to celebrate Carl Reinecke!

Flute Sonata in E minor, Op. 167 “Undine” (1882) – the subtitle alludes to a novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, very popular among the Romantics, that tells the story of a water spirit who marries a knight in order to gain a soul

Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 283 (1908)

Harp Concerto in E minor, Op. 182 (1884)

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 144 (1877)

Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 141 (1876), composed for Joseph Joachim

Toy Symphony, Op. 239 (first 15 minutes of this LP)

Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 34 (1853)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R45wVXFx6ac

Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 264 (1903)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM1IG1Wm7nU

Octet for Winds in B-flat major, Op. 216 (1892)

Hupfeld piano roll, c. 1908, of Reinecke and his wife, Margharite, playing selections from his suite “Nutcracker and Mouse King,” composed in 1855 – predating Tchaikovsky’s ballet on the same subject by nearly 40 years

More piano rolls

https://www.forte-piano-pianissimo.com/carlreinecke.html

Reinecke cadenza for Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21

Carl Reinecke: He had the chops – mutton and otherwise