Composer and Flautist Anton Reicha (1770-1836)
Antoine (Joseph) Reicha was a flautist in his youth and an influential theorist. A Bohemian-born naturalized French composer, he was born on February 26, 1770, in Prague, and died on May 28, 1836.Today, he is best known for his substantial contribution to the wind quintet literature in his day, twenty-five works (written in Paris) which were played all over Europe.
Reicha claimed in his memoirs that his wind quintets filled a void: "At that time, there was a dearth not only of good classic music, but of any good music at all for wind instruments, simply because the composers knew little of their technique."