Anton Reicha- 12 Duos pour violon & Violoncello, precedes d’un petit Traite… Op. 84, Bk. 1 & 2. (Paris : Gambaro, [n.d.])Peter Sheppard Skaerved-Violin, Beate Altenburg-Cello

Duo No 2. G Major Adagio-Presto

There is little doubt that part of the fault with Reicha’s absence from the concert stage lies with the composer himself. He notd later in life that he had ‘a particular aversion to taking the necessary steps necessary to have my works performed. I consider this a waste of time, and preferred to work at home in my study.’ (Courtesy Ron Drummond) . It is unclear when these duos were written-the first edition is undated. However, I have a suspicion that the 12 Duos (if not the Treatise which accompanies them) were written/or conceived during Reicha’s first sojourn in Paris between 1799 and 1801. My reason for this is the style of the music itself, which has much in common with the pedagogical repertoire which was appearing from the new-minted Paris conservatoire-not only from the string players, Rode, Baillot, Levasseur (who taught Lamarre, with whom these duos are associated), but also the scale and etude accompaniments which Reicha’s friend Cherubini was writing. This is, I admit, little more than a hunch-Reicha left Paris in 1801 (having failed to have make an impact), an renewed his discussions wit Beethoven, now in Vienna.

Link to Duo No 1

Anton Reicha (1770-1836) Charles-Louis Constans after a painting by Louis Walter