Reinecke, Carl (EN)

Reinecke Carl Heinrich Carsten, *23 June 1824 Altona, †10 March 1910 Leipzig, German composer, pianist and conductor. He learned to play the piano and violin and studied music theory with his father, Johann Peter Rudolf (*22 November 1795 Hamburg, †14 August 1885 Altona), a respected teacher and author of music textbooks (harmony, thorough bass, basics of music). He showed musical talent from an early age and performed as a soloist. In 1843, he played in Kiel and then in Copenhagen, where he befriended N. Gad. He then studied for three years in Leipzig, where he performed at the Gewandhaus and befriended Schumann. In 1845, he went on a concert tour (Gdańsk–Riga). From 1846 to 1848, he was a pianist at the court of King Christian VIII in Copenhagen. In 1848, he returned to Leipzig, where he remained on friendly terms with Mendelssohn and Liszt, thanks to whom he spent some time in Paris. In 1851, he moved to Cologne, where he taught counterpoint and piano at the conservatory run by F. Hiller, who held him in high regard as a conductor and recommended him for the position of music director in Barmen, which Reinecke held from 1854 to 1859. For a short time in 1859, Reinecke served as conductor of the Singakademie and director of music at the University of Wrocław, and then worked in Leipzig from 1860 to 1895 as conductor of the Gewandhaus, while also teaching at the conservatory (composition, piano) from 1860 to 1902. In 1875, he became a member of the Königliche Akademie der Künste in Berlin, in 1884 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig, and in 1885 he was appointed professor. Reinecke’s memoirs Erlebnisse und Bekenntnisse (1909) and his father’s Skizzen aus meinem Leben (1873) have been preserved in manuscript form.

Thanks to his multifaceted activity and prominent positions, Reinecke was a very well-known figure in the second half of the 19th century. His numerous travels, during which he gave concerts as a pianist and conductor, and his positions in Leipzig (conductor of the Gewandhaus for 35 years, teacher at the conservatory for 42 years) enabled him to establish contacts with the most outstanding composers of the time and consolidated his position in German musical life; he was a respected conductor and teacher. As a pianist, he was considered an excellent performer of Mozart’s works, and his repertoire also included compositions by Chopin, Schumann and Brahms. His cadenzas for Bach’s harpsichord concertos and Mozart and Beethoven’s piano concertos were highly regarded. As a conductor, he cared about precision of performance and purity of sound, and included works by contemporary composers, especially Brahms (the premiere of Ein deutsches Requiem), in his repertoire, but he preferred the music of the past: works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and others. The conservatory attracted not only German musicians, but also those from abroad; composers, conductors and music theorists studied there, including E. Grieg, H. Huber, Ch. Sinding, J. Svendsen, A. Sullivan, C. Muck, F. Weingartner, H. Kretzschmar, H. Riemann, and O. Klauwell. Reinecke’s extremely prolific compositional output belongs to the classical trend in 19th-century music; Reinecke did not join the discourse between the supporters of Brahms and Wagner, remaining faithful to tradition. He practised almost all genres of instrumental music, adhering to the classical principles of composition; he sometimes used Protestant chorale music (e.g. the fugue with chorale in In memoriam, variations on the well-known Luther chorale Ein feste Burg in the overture Zur Reformationsfeier – 1887). His oeuvre is dominated by piano music; in addition to sonatas and variations on themes by Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, he wrote many short, melodious pieces (often for four hands) intended for home music-making, so he can be considered a typical representative of the so-called Hausmusik.

Literature: C. Reinecke Verzeichniss der bis jetzt im Druck erschienenen Compositionen von Carl Reinecke, Leipzig 1889; W.J. von Wasielewski Carl Reinecke, Leipzig 1892; E. Segnitz Carl Reinecke, Leipzig 1900; J. Brahms. Briefwechsel, vol. 3, ed. W. Altmann, Berlin 1908, 2nd edition 1912 (contains Reinecke’s letters); N. Topusov Carl Reinecke. Beiträge zu seinem Leben und seiner Symphonik, Sofia 1943; M. Wiegandt Vergessene Symphonik? Studien zu J. Raff, Carl Reinecke und zum Epigonalen in der Musik, Sinzig 1997; Thema: Carl Reinecke, “Die Tonkunst. Magazin für klassische Musik und Musikwissenschaft“ IV No. 4 (2010), pp. 466–520, includes: K. Schmidinger: Carl Reinecke und das Leipziger Gewandhaus, H. Loos Reineckes Programmgestaltung, I. Sørensen Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von Niels W. Gade und Carl Reinecke, U. Bär: Clara Schumanns Konzertauftritte unter Carl Reinecke, M. Recknagel Das Alte stürzt: Carl Reineckes zweite Sinfonie, H.-M. Wang Reineckes Klavierkonzerte, K. H. Fan Aufführungspraktische Probleme und ihre Lösungen im Flötenkonzert D-Dur op. 283 von Carl Reinecke aus der Sicht des Dirigenten und des Instrumentalisten, e-book Saarbrücken 2017; Carl Reinecke (1824–1910) und das Leipziger Musikleben seiner Zeit, ed. Th. Schipperges, S. Schönknecht, Hildesheim 2020, includes: K. Schmidinger Carl Reinecke und sein Wirken am Leipziger Gewandhaus, U. Scholz Clara Schumanns Konzertauftritte unter Carl Reinecke, H. Loos Carl Reineckes Programmgestaltung, H.-M. Wang Carl Reineckes Klavierkonzerte, Th. Schipperges Carl Reineckes Serenade g-Moll op. 242, M. Kube Überlegungen zur späten Klavier-Kammermusik von Carl Reinecke, I. Capelle Die Flötensonate op. 167. Zum Verhältnis des deutschen und englischen Erstdrucks, J. Draheim Carl Reinecke und Frédéric Chopin, I. Sørensen Niels W. Gade – Carl Reinecke, R.W. Eshbach Carl Reinecke, Joseph Joachim and the Violin Concerto op. 141, J. Draheim Plädoyer für eine Ausgabe der Briefe von und an Carl Reinecke in: Carl Reinecke als Schlüsselfigur des Leipziger Musikbetriebs im späten 19. Jahrhundert, ed. A. Schultz, C. Böhm, Altenburg 2024, includes: S. Keym Carl Reinecke und die Leipziger Musiktradition des 19. Jahrhunderts, C. Böhm Carl Reinecke und die Eröffnung des Neuen Gewandhauses 1884, L. Hartmann-Enke Zwischen Kanon und Aushandlungsprozess. Das Repertoire der Gewandhaus-Konzerte zur Zeit Carl Reineckes, J. Schuler Carl Reinecke als Lehrer am Konservatorium der Musik zu Leipzig, N. Schächner Carl Reinecke und der Musikverlag Breitkopf & Härtel, A.-K. Zimmermann Zwei sich gegenseitig erhellende Werke. Carl Reineckes Oktett und Sextett für Bläser.