24 compositions pour piano

Volume 2.1 of Antoine Reicha’s Écrits inédits et oubliés/Unbekannte und unveröffentlichte Schriften contains three works which survive in manuscript form: Die Grundsätze der Harmonie, Kunst der practischen Harmonie und die Fragmente der Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library in Berkeley. Die Grundsätze der Harmonie is a comprehensive work on the theory of harmony. Kunst der practischen Harmonie examines matters such as compositional technique, style, variations, thematic work, contrapuntal accompaniments, and Reicha’s theory of the fugue, which was also important to Beethoven. This uncompleted study developed out of discussions with Beethoven and offers improved insights into the quality, intentions and significance of Reicha’s compositions, as well as providing a more certain basis on which to evaluate the relationship between Reicha and Beethoven.

The Fragmente von Berkeley are part of the framework of the Cours de Composition Musicale ou Traité complet et Raisonné d’Harmonie Pratique (1818).

Volume 2,2 contains the Practische Beispiele, 24 experimental compositions for the pianoforte in which Reicha demonstrates different ways of renewing compositional techniques and poses new challenges to the pianist. They are published here for the first time in a separate volume as a piano score.