Background
Josef Reicha was born in Chudenice.
Josef Reicha was born in Chudenice.
He was the uncle of composer and music theorist Anton Reicha. In 1761 he moved to Prague, where he was taught cello by Franz Joseph Werner. In 1771 Reicha became first cellist in the Kapelle of Prince (Fürst) Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein.
Together with the famous violinist Anton Janitsch, who also played in the Kapelle, Reicha toured several European cities during the late 1770s and visited Leopold Mozart in Salzburg in 1778.
In his letters to Wolfgang Amadeus, Leopold praised Reicha"s cello playing and compared the style of one of his cello concerts to those by Wolfgang Amadeus. In 1785 Josef was made director of the Hofkapelle in Bonn by Maximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne.
The whole family moved to Bonn. Simrock would later publish Josef"s works.
In 1789 Josef became director of the orchestra of the new theater, Bonner Nationaltheater.
Unfortunately, his musical career was cut short in 1791, when he contracted gout. He died four years later in Bonn.